 Message from the President
Dear <<First Name>>,
We’re winding down on a year never imagined and looking ahead with cautious optimism. Within this framework, LLI is moving through May, one of our busiest months.
First up are course evaluations. Our spring courses were timely, expertly presented, and impressively Zoom-managed. Remember to fill out one evaluation for each of your courses, and please include your feedback. We read every comment.
This year’s SummerFest offers more great courses from the Curriculum Team. Again on Zoom, we’ll limit the courses to members only. Register soon!
I hope you’ll attend our online Annual Meeting on Friday, May 14, when we’ll note the efforts of our past year, hear more about the potential for hybrid learning, and introduce our newly elected and re-elected Council members. I’ll share more about what’s unfolding and will answer your questions. Our treasurer, Robert Beaury, will present the tentative 2021-22 budget, and members attending will be asked to vote their approval. We’ll end the meeting with a short entertainment created by some of the extraordinary students at the Bard Conservatory of Music. It’s a fine gift to LLI, I promise.
Watch your inbox for the Annual Member Survey on Monday, May 17. As with the course evaluations, member responses are critical in planning our programs, and we want to know what everyone thinks!
The Council is beginning to discuss the complex issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is a serious, thoughtful process as we look for an appropriate path within LLI to address these challenges before us all.
Behind the scenes, Membership Development and Admin/Infrastructure are finalizing the June applications and renewals process, which begins on June 1. Now is the time for us to spread the word about joining LLI as we renew our own memberships. Please email me at president@lli.bard.edu to inquire about confidential scholarship assistance. We’ve shared so much while seeing each other’s faces on Zoom for these many months. Let’s plan to stay together and welcome others to become part of our rewarding LLI community.
The extravagance of daffodil blooms this spring heralds bright days ahead. I am so very grateful that we have this lovely month of May to revisit LLI’s shared success and envision our contributions to a better tomorrow.
Yours,
Nanci
nkryzak@lli.bard.edu
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by Linda Stanley
Bard LLI has met the challenge of this difficult year with amazing resilience and a most dedicated group of volunteers, including our officers, committee chairs, presenters, session managers, producers, and all the members who got us on Zoom and kept us there. And our new officers are dedicated to keeping us moving forward, whether with online, hybrid, or in-person classes.
So I am pleased to report that Bard LLI has once again conducted a successful election to elect the officers and members at large, who will guide us over the next two years. One hundred ninety-five members voted, which is a great turnout. Felice Gelman was elected 2nd vice president, Deborah Lanser was re-elected secretary, and Carol Goss and John Mathews were elected as members at large.
I want to thank the members of the Nominating Committee and the Election Committee for all their hard work from October 2020 to March 2021: Barbara Burns, John Mathews, Emily Michaels, Chuck Mishaan, Marge Moran, and Navin Sharma. A great group to work with!
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LLI Requests Your Presence
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by Deborah Lanser
We will hold our annual meeting on Friday, May 14, at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom. You received an invitation earlier this week, including links to the documents to be voted on, and you will get a reminder the day before the meeting. But you won’t have to preregister. Just click on the Zoom link a few minutes before the meeting, as you’ve been doing for your classes, and you are in! This is your chance to comment or ask questions about what LLI is doing, to approve last year’s annual meeting minutes and the tentative budget for next year, and to hear about our plans for the future. Plus we will enjoy a video from the Flute Studio created by a graduating senior at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Please come. Your participation matters.
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Joyce Carter-Krawczyk Remembers
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In February of 2015, LLI President Lou Klein needed to retire to deal with personal issues. Joyce Carter-Krawczyk was unanimously elected by the Council to fill out his term of office until September of 2016. In that time, she accomplished so much. Here is what Joyce remembers.
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by Margaret Shuhala
Mark your calendar to renew your LLI membership between June 1 and June 21. As a reminder, you will be sent the renewal application link on June 1. This is also the time for nonmembers to apply to join LLI. If you have friends who are interested, tell them to go to our website, lli.bard.edu, to find directions on applying to LLI. As always, new members will be selected by lottery if there are more applications than openings, with a few exceptions for those with skills needed by LLI.
The annual membership fee will go back to $175.00, allowing us to fund the tools for remote and hybrid learning, to continue to contribute to Bard College, and to keep LLI on a solid financial footing.
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by Deborah Lanser
SummerFest is returning this June, and now that we all have gotten used to classes on Zoom, we should be able to relax and explore our options. And thanks to our presenters – many familiar, some new – we have 10 interesting courses to consider. You can learn more about them when the catalog is released on May 14. Nine of the courses will be held on the four Fridays in June (4, 11, 18, 25), while one will be presented on four Thursdays (3, 10, 17, 24). There will be two periods, 9 a.m.–10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m., which will leave the afternoons free to enjoy our favorite summer pastimes or just to laze around in the sunshine. This year, enrollment is limited to members.
Registration starts on May 21 and closes on June 11. Mark your calendars so you don’t miss out. Summer school was never this much fun.
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Wanted: Mentors for LLI’s Class of 2021
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by Cathy Reinis
LLI’s mentor program has made an enormous difference in the experience of new members— perhaps even more during the pandemic. With the help of seasoned members, new LLIers have felt connected to the world of LLI, welcomed warmly by their mentors, and included in activities for new members.
It’s easy to be a mentor—making a few phone calls, participating in an online social event organized by Member Services, answering questions from your mentees. There will be an online session for mentors before you talk to your mentees. Member Services will also organize online orientations for new members, so you are not responsible for telling them everything about how LLI works! And who knows? One day you may get to take your mentees for a walk around campus! Current members will be paired with one or two new members.
If you would like to be a mentor, write to Robert Inglish at ringlish@lli.bard.edu or Maddy Watterson at mwatterson@lli.bard.edu.
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Seniors-to-Seniors Event Was Captivating!
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By Felice Gelman
Three dozen LLI members were held captive by five graduating Bard students. That should be the headline for the Bard Seniors-to-Seniors Zoom event April 6. The two-hour event in which students presented the senior projects Bard LLI had helped fund was that engrossing. Every year, LLI donates several thousand dollars in memory of Dean Stuart Stritzler-Levine to help graduating students finance their senior projects. In normal times, the event is held as a tea where we seniors ply the Bard seniors with brownies and pastries and learn about their work. In this pandemic year, the event was held on Zoom and the brownies and pastries were supplanted by a gift basket delivered to each of the students.
But you really want to hear about their projects, and for that you must click more.
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by Cathy Reinis
LLI member Mindell Dubansky will give a special Zoom presentation on Wednesday, May 19 at 11:00 a.m. Mindy has had a long career in book conservation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is now working on the Bard College Stevenson Library archives. She will be talking about two of her special projects: the amazing Paper Legacy Project, a collection of American decorative papers in the Met’s collection, and her private collection of “blooks,” which were exhibited at the Grolier Club in New York City, with a smaller exhibit at Stevenson Library in 2016. A blook looks like an elaborate book but is actually a container that might hold anything from a sewing kit to a portable bar. All LLI members are invited to her presentation.
LLI members are also now members of the Friends of Stevenson Library. You can read more about the Friends and their newsletter here. In their newsletter, you will see that LLI’s donation helped Mindy to restore a very precious book in their collection.
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The Council voted to raise the membership limit for 2021-2022 to 350 from the current 330. The primary way LLI attracts new members is word of mouth (tell your friends), but flyers will also be posted in libraries, supermarkets, and other venues.
For Membership Development, Linda Still resigned as chair and Robert Inglish will take over. Linda will remain an active member of the committee.
The LLI tentative 2021-22 budget was approved for presentation at the annual meeting and request for approval from the members attending.
The Council discussed at length a proposal from the Who,Us? Class of 2020 group working on diversity, equity, and inclusion. A special meeting is planned for June to talk about the issues raised by the group. A question was also added to the Annual Survey.
The agenda for the Annual Meeting on May 14 was discussed. The meeting will be, of course, on Zoom, in Webinar format, like last year.
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Highlights of the Bard Calendar
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by Felice Gelman
With the ending of the academic year, Bard’s calendar is winding down in May, but there are still some great events to attend.
On Saturday, May 8 at 8 p.m. The Orchestra Now will be presenting its second concert in a belated celebration of Beethoven’s birthday. The concert, dedicated to the memory of the late Dean Stuart Stritzler-Levine, will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 “Wellington's Victory,” his Symphony No. 3 "Eroica," and “Drei Equali” (Three Equals) for four trombones. You can register here for the upstreamed performance.
On Saturday, May 15, from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., you can tune in to a Conservatory Degree Recital featuring Bach, Brahms, Glière, Naigus, Persichetti, Liri Ronen, and Schumann. It will be livestreamed to the Conservatory YouTube channel. This is also a treasure trove of Bard Concerts. Pour yourself a cup of tea or a glass of wine, choose your concert, sit back and enjoy.
Throughout May, the Graduate Exhibitions and Projects of students in the Masters of Arts program are on exhibit at the Hessel Museum. Museum hours are Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You must reserve your ticket in advance here.
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May 11: Curriculum Committee Meeting. If you would like to attend, please email Bill Tuel at btuel@lli.bard.edu.
May 14: Annual business meeting will be held on Zoom at 9:30 a.m. The budget will be presented and election results announced. All members are welcome to attend.
May 14: SummerFest catalog available.
May 17: Council Meeting.
May 17: Annual survey sent to members.
May 21: SummerFest registration opens.
June 1 - June 21: Member renewal and electronic payment take place. New membership applications are accepted.
June 4 - June 25: SummerFest 2021 – Four Fridays in June (June 4, 11, 18, 25).
June 11: Last day to register for SummerFest.
June 15: Curriculum Committee Meeting. If you would like to attend, please email Bill Tuel at btuel@lli.bard.edu.
June 21: Council Meeting. If you would like to attend, please email Linda Stanley at lstanley@lli.bard.edu.
June 30: End of the academic year.
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This newsletter is a publication of Bard LLI Council. Communications Team Chair: Cathy Reinis. Writers and editors: Rory Carlton, Susan Christoffersen, Felice Gelman, Carmela Gersbeck, Deborah Lanser, Jill Lundquist, Dona McLaughlin, Chuck Mishaan, Kathy OConnor, Susan Phillips, Deborah Schwartz, Margaret Shuhala. Photographers: Gary Miller, Chair, Carmela Gersbeck, Kathy OConnor
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