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Three Bard College graduates have won 2025–26 Fulbright Awards for individually designed research projects and English teaching assistantships. The Fulbright program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. During their grants, Fulbrighters meet, work, live with, and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. Bard College is a Fulbright top producing institution.

Maia Cluver ’22, a joint Art History and Visual Culture and Human Rights major, has been selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Jordan for the 2025-26 academic year. As a student, Cluver was a language tutor in the Bard Learning Commons, and currently works in the Academic Resource Center at Al-Quds Bard.

Cecilia Giancola ’25, who majored in Historical Studies, has been awarded a Fulbright independent study/research grant to India. Giancola’s Fulbright is an archival research project focused on the operations of the Baroda (Gaikwad) state in western India during the 19th century. In her research, Giancola plans to investigate the operations of the Baroda–a “princely” state in colonial India–with the British Raj and their illicit trade and smuggling practices. 

Oskar Pezalla-Granlund ’24, an Art History and Visual Culture major, has received a Fulbright independent study/research grant to Spain. Oskar’s project investigates the history of Philippine-Spanish artistic and cultural relations through the history of Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar (1887-1908), a museum dedicated to displaying the art, culture, and history of the Spanish colonies. Pezalla-Granlund’s research aims to contribute to the often overlooked history of the artistic and cultural contact between the Philippines and Spain through the examination of a museum that crystalizes the contradictions of late-colonial society.

Fulbright is a program of the US Department of State, with funding provided by the US government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program. Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors, and the world and have included 62 Nobel Prize recipients, 80 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 42 current or former heads of state or government.

Yebel Gallegos, assistant professor of dance at Bard, has been awarded a New York State Choreographers Initiative 2025 Award of $11,500 through the New York State’s DanceForce, a network of dance activists working to increase the quality and quantity of dance, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. The award, which is designed to help awardees develop their choreographic skills by providing resources to advance their creative practice, will fund Yebel with a $2,500 stipend and paid support for both a mentor and creative time spent with dancers and other collaborators of his choice. Yebel’s choreography project will become a mini-residency designed to fit his specific artistic needs, and he has invited Dante Puleio, artistic director of the Limón Dance Company, to serve as his mentor. Puleio’s insight into how experienced dancers navigate inherited choreographic traditions makes him an ideal guide as Yebel explores new methods of movement generation with professionals in the field.

Two Bard professors received fellowships from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts for the 2025–26 awards cycle. Artist in Residence Adriane Colburn was named an Individual Artist Fellow in Sculpture. Assistant Professor of Music Angelica Sanchez was named a Individual Artist Finalist in Music Composition. The awards will support their artistic development, including Sanchez’s current musical composition.
The New Jersey State Council for the Arts awards grants to artists each year with the goal of promoting the arts and helping the general public understand their value. This year, 107 finalists were awarded across the artistic disciplines. The council says their awards “bring [artists’] work to the attention of organizations and communities everywhere to embrace and support this remarkable ‘creative capital’ that helps make New Jersey great.”