[4] The college has a network of over 35 affiliated programs, institutes, and centers, spanning twelve cities, five U.S. states, seven countries, and four continents.

[11] With the promise of outside financial support, John Bard donated the unfinished chapel, and the surrounding 18 acres (7.3 ha), to the diocese in November 1858.

That same year, after Hamersley's combined estate was purchased by William Ward, it was donated to charity and served as a retirement home for almost four decades.

His adherence to classical education, decorum, and dress eventually clashed with the school's push towards Deweyism and secularization, and he resigned in 1933.

He also placed a heavy academic emphasis on the arts, something atypical of colleges at the time, and set the foundations for Bard's Moderation and Senior Project requirement.

[25] Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's experiences at Bard prompted them to write the 1973 song "My Old School" for their rock group, Steely Dan.

As part of this new initiative, the college received a US$100 million gift from the Open Society Foundations which ranks among the largest financial contributions to a U.S. institution in recent history.

[33] Bard president Botstein hypothesized that this tag was due their association with and funding from the Open Society Foundations which was also classified as undesirable in Russia and related conspiracy theories about George Soros.

[35] They are listed below: The campus of Bard College is in Annandale-on-Hudson, a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the town of Red Hook.

The addition of this property brings Bard's total campus size to nearly 1,000 acres (400 ha) along the Hudson River in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

The property, originally owned by the Livingston and later Aspinwall families, features a mansion designed by William Appleton Potter.

[57] Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:[58] In the three weeks preceding their first semester, first-year students attend the Language and Thinking (L&T) program, an intensive, writing-centered introduction to the liberal arts.

The interdisciplinary program, established in 1981, aims to "cultivate habits of thoughtful reading and discussion, clear articulation, accurate self-critique, and productive collaboration.

In 2011, the core readings included works by Hannah Arendt, Franz Kafka, Frans de Waal, Stephen Jay Gould, Clifford Geertz, M. NourbeSe Philip, and Sophocles.

[71] Notable artists and writers that have been affiliated with the Bard MFA as faculty and visiting artists include Marina Abramovic, Eileen Myles, Paul Chan, Robert Kelly, Tony Conrad, Okkyung Lee, Yto Barrada, Carolee Schneemann, Lynne Tillman, and Ben Lerner.

[74] The center also hosts public events throughout the year including lectures and panel discussions on topics in contemporary art.

[75] The museum, spanning an area of 55,000 square feet, offers a variety of exhibitions accessible to the general public throughout the year.

Artists such as Keith Haring, Julian Schnabel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Stephen Shore, and Cindy Sherman, among numerous others, are featured within these collections.

Through research, analysis, and informed debate, the institute aims to enable scholars and leaders from business, labor, and government to collaborate on common interest issues.

[82] The institute's findings are disseminated globally through various channels, including publications, conferences, seminars, congressional testimony, and partnerships with other nonprofits.

Notable individuals that have been affiliated with the Levy Economics Institute as professors, directors, and economists include Joseph Stiglitz, Hyman Minsky, William Julius Wilson, L. Randall Wray, Jan Kregel, Bruce C. Greenwald, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Lakshman Achuthan, Warren Mosler, Stephanie Kelton, Bill Mitchell, and Pavlina R.

In 1990, Bard College acquired, on permanent loan, art collector Marieluise Hessel's substantial collection of important contemporary artwork.

In 2006, Hessel contributed another $8 million (USD) for the construction of a 17,000-square-foot addition to Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies building, in which the collection is exhibited.

The center hosts an annual public conference, offers courses, runs various related academic programs, and houses research fellows.

[93] In February 2009, Bard announced the first dual degree program between a Palestinian university and an American institution of higher education.

[102] Student-run literary magazines include the semiannual Lux, The Moderator, and Sui Generis, a journal of translations and of original poetry in languages other than English.

Women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and squash.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Among the college's most well-known former faculty are Toni Morrison,[133] Heinrich Blücher,[134] Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy,[135] Arthur Penn,[136] Nathan Thrall,[137] Vik Muniz, Mitch Epstein, Larry Fink, John Ashbery,[138] Richard Teitelbaum,[139] Mary Lee Settle (part time),[140] Andre Aciman,[141] Orhan Pamuk,[142] Chinua Achebe,[143] Charles Burnett,[144] Bill T. Jones,[145] and Alexander Soros.

[146] Notable current faculty, as of 2024,[update] include Stephen Shore,[147] An-My Lê,[148] Neil Gaiman,[149] Jeffrey Gibson[150] Gilles Peress,[151] John Ryle,[152] Tan Dun,[153] Walid Raad,[154] Daniel Mendelsohn[155],Thomas Chatterton Williams, Hua Hsu,[156] Kobena Mercer,[157] Joseph O’Neill,[158] Ian Buruma,[159] Judy Pfaff,[160] Joan Tower,[161][162] Walter Russell Mead,[163] Nayland Blake,[164] Nuruddin Farah,[165] Mona Simpson[166],Sky Hopinka (MFA Faculty),[167] Masha Gessen (visiting writer),[168] Kelly Reichardt (artist in residence),[169] Francine Prose (writer in residence),[170][171] Susan Weber,[172] Lauren Cornell,[173] Ann Lauterbach,[174] Valeria Luiselli,[175] and Tschabalala Self (visiting artist in residence).