Twenty-seven Bard Graduate Center students—twenty-three MAs and four PhDs—received their diplomas at Bard College’s commencement ceremony on May 24. We look forward to following the careers of these emerging scholars, and we are thrilled that two of the graduating MA students will continue their PhD studies at BGC.
* PhD dissertation titles and MA qualifying paper titles are listed below each student’s name.
Doctor of Philosophy
Erin Elise Eisenbarth, White Plains, New York
“Imagining the Founding Fathers: The Luther and de Lancey Kountze Collection of Washingtoniana”
Sarah Louise Scaturro, Cleveland, Ohio
“The Professionalization of Costume Conservation in North America and Britain, 1964–1986”
CINOA Award for Outstanding Dissertation
Amanda Thompson, Providence, Rhode Island
“Patchwork Politics: Crafting Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism in South Florida, 1880–1980”
Lee B. Anderson Memorial Foundation Prize
Leonie Sophie Treier, Berlin, Germany
“Reassembling George Calvin’s Indian Gallery: Material Culture and the Performance of Ethnographic Realism”
Master of Philosophy
Samrudha Avinash Dixit, Pune, India
“Non-aligned Design: Everyday Objects in India during the Cold War”
Deena S. Engel, Greenwich, Connecticut
“Machine Learning in Art: Making, Collecting, Conserving”
David Scott Gassett, New York, New York
“Art/Artifact/Ancestor: Museum Decolonization and Native American Material Culture Forty Years after Primitivism”
Joshua Baker Massey, Denver, North Carolina
“Cultivating the ‘Vernacular’: William Arnett and Black Art from the American South, 1980–2020”
Master of Arts
Jane Sutherland Ayers, New York, New York
“Romancing the Sleeve: A Case Study of an Early Nineteenth-Century Woman’s Garment”
Mya Rose Bailey, Snellville, Georgia
“A Sense of Enslavement: Constructed and Contested Sensory Experiences at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Poplar Forest”
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts Award
Lauryn Elise Bolz, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Knowing Nervenkunst: Exoticism, Eroticism, and Einfühlung in Vienna 1900”
Nicolas Cattelain, Paris, France
“An Experimental Lever for the Elevation of the Masses, the 1872 Exhibition of the Wallace Collection at Bethnal Green”
Allegra Emma Chapman, New York, New York
“Fluid Ontology: A Study of Drink-and-Wet Dolls”
Ev Christie, Detroit, Michigan
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Gift and Commodity Exchange in the Golden Age of Piracy”
Anna Van Lenten Crowley, Cleveland, Ohio
“Books of Gold: Portable Prayer Books for Women During the English Protestant Reformation”
Nishtha Asang Dani, Nagpur, India
“Talismans and Tails: Medieval Bronze Mirrors from China to Anatolia”
Daniela Díaz Blancarte, Mexico City, Mexico
“A ‘Bright New World’ of Plastic: The Filament Wound House and the Cold War Politics of Housing and Development”
Clive Wainwright Award
Lucy Linnea Haskell, Guilford, Connecticut
“Seasonality and the Souvenir at Niagara Falls”
Beatrix Henry, Toronto, Canada
“As Above, So Below: Colonization as Ideology and Practice in Space Colonies and NASA’s Spinoff 1976”
Dorothy Hudson, College Station, Texas
“Women in the Qing Dynasty: Embroidery, Avenues of Femininity, and Confucianism”
Jacqueline C. Mack, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Thinking in Blue and White: Sino-Portuguese Porcelain at the Intersection of Imperial Politics and Design, 1513–1620”
Eugene Francis Manning, New York, New York
“Royal Feathers and Problematic Gifts: A Divine Genealogy of Hawaiian Feather Cloaks”
R. J. Maupin, Salisbury, Maryland
“Illuminating the ‘Gillway’: Concealment of Black Women’s Labor at Gill Glass Company”
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts Award
Michael C. McCorry, Princeton, New Jersey
“Collecting Dust: Artifacts & the Artist in the Home of Ben-Zion”
Clara Grey Murphy, Melbourne, Australia
“From Textile to Text: Revisiting Alexander Shaw’s 1787 Barkcloth Catalogues”
Clive Wainwright Award
Abigail Lynne Kizirian Myers, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
“Unraveling the Vishap: Sacred Landscapes and Magic in an Armenian Liturgical Staff”
Elana Rose Neher, Springfield, New Jersey
“Ceramic Use-Wear: An Online Archaeological Resource”
Brielle Pizzala, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Admiration and Amnesia: Chinese Inspirations of Royal Worcester Porcelain’s ‘Japanese Style’ in 1872–1873”
Keelin Elizabeth Pogue, Walla Walla, Washington
“Common Ground: Re-Imagining Reciprocity on the Oregon Trail”
Vega Shah, Houston, Texas
“‘This is our world; we think this is beautiful’: Finding Brand Identity through Surrealism in SIX Magazine by Comme des Garçons”
Janelle Williams, Detroit, Michigan
“Black Neoclassicism: Sculpting Power Figures”
* PhD dissertation titles and MA qualifying paper titles are listed below each student’s name.
2025 Bard Commencement. Photo by Samuel Stuart Hollenshead.
Doctor of Philosophy
Erin Elise Eisenbarth, White Plains, New York
“Imagining the Founding Fathers: The Luther and de Lancey Kountze Collection of Washingtoniana”
Sarah Louise Scaturro, Cleveland, Ohio
“The Professionalization of Costume Conservation in North America and Britain, 1964–1986”
CINOA Award for Outstanding Dissertation
Amanda Thompson, Providence, Rhode Island
“Patchwork Politics: Crafting Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism in South Florida, 1880–1980”
Lee B. Anderson Memorial Foundation Prize
Leonie Sophie Treier, Berlin, Germany
“Reassembling George Calvin’s Indian Gallery: Material Culture and the Performance of Ethnographic Realism”
Master of Philosophy
Samrudha Avinash Dixit, Pune, India
“Non-aligned Design: Everyday Objects in India during the Cold War”
Deena S. Engel, Greenwich, Connecticut
“Machine Learning in Art: Making, Collecting, Conserving”
David Scott Gassett, New York, New York
“Art/Artifact/Ancestor: Museum Decolonization and Native American Material Culture Forty Years after Primitivism”
Joshua Baker Massey, Denver, North Carolina
“Cultivating the ‘Vernacular’: William Arnett and Black Art from the American South, 1980–2020”
2025 Bard Commencement. Photo by Samuel Stuart Hollenshead.
Master of Arts
Jane Sutherland Ayers, New York, New York
“Romancing the Sleeve: A Case Study of an Early Nineteenth-Century Woman’s Garment”
Mya Rose Bailey, Snellville, Georgia
“A Sense of Enslavement: Constructed and Contested Sensory Experiences at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Poplar Forest”
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts Award
Lauryn Elise Bolz, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Knowing Nervenkunst: Exoticism, Eroticism, and Einfühlung in Vienna 1900”
Nicolas Cattelain, Paris, France
“An Experimental Lever for the Elevation of the Masses, the 1872 Exhibition of the Wallace Collection at Bethnal Green”
Allegra Emma Chapman, New York, New York
“Fluid Ontology: A Study of Drink-and-Wet Dolls”
Ev Christie, Detroit, Michigan
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Gift and Commodity Exchange in the Golden Age of Piracy”
Anna Van Lenten Crowley, Cleveland, Ohio
“Books of Gold: Portable Prayer Books for Women During the English Protestant Reformation”
Nishtha Asang Dani, Nagpur, India
“Talismans and Tails: Medieval Bronze Mirrors from China to Anatolia”
Daniela Díaz Blancarte, Mexico City, Mexico
“A ‘Bright New World’ of Plastic: The Filament Wound House and the Cold War Politics of Housing and Development”
Clive Wainwright Award
Lucy Linnea Haskell, Guilford, Connecticut
“Seasonality and the Souvenir at Niagara Falls”
Beatrix Henry, Toronto, Canada
“As Above, So Below: Colonization as Ideology and Practice in Space Colonies and NASA’s Spinoff 1976”
Dorothy Hudson, College Station, Texas
“Women in the Qing Dynasty: Embroidery, Avenues of Femininity, and Confucianism”
Jacqueline C. Mack, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Thinking in Blue and White: Sino-Portuguese Porcelain at the Intersection of Imperial Politics and Design, 1513–1620”
Eugene Francis Manning, New York, New York
“Royal Feathers and Problematic Gifts: A Divine Genealogy of Hawaiian Feather Cloaks”
R. J. Maupin, Salisbury, Maryland
“Illuminating the ‘Gillway’: Concealment of Black Women’s Labor at Gill Glass Company”
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts Award
Michael C. McCorry, Princeton, New Jersey
“Collecting Dust: Artifacts & the Artist in the Home of Ben-Zion”
Clara Grey Murphy, Melbourne, Australia
“From Textile to Text: Revisiting Alexander Shaw’s 1787 Barkcloth Catalogues”
Clive Wainwright Award
Abigail Lynne Kizirian Myers, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
“Unraveling the Vishap: Sacred Landscapes and Magic in an Armenian Liturgical Staff”
Elana Rose Neher, Springfield, New Jersey
“Ceramic Use-Wear: An Online Archaeological Resource”
Brielle Pizzala, Minneapolis, Minnesota
“Admiration and Amnesia: Chinese Inspirations of Royal Worcester Porcelain’s ‘Japanese Style’ in 1872–1873”
Keelin Elizabeth Pogue, Walla Walla, Washington
“Common Ground: Re-Imagining Reciprocity on the Oregon Trail”
Vega Shah, Houston, Texas
“‘This is our world; we think this is beautiful’: Finding Brand Identity through Surrealism in SIX Magazine by Comme des Garçons”
Janelle Williams, Detroit, Michigan
“Black Neoclassicism: Sculpting Power Figures”
