Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture

Higher EducationNew York, United States51-200 Employees

Bard Graduate Center is a graduate research institute in New York City. Our MA and PhD degree programs, Gallery exhibitions, research initiatives, and public programs explore new ways of thinking about decorative arts, design history, and material culture. 

At Bard Graduate Center, we study the human past through its material traces. We study objects—from those created for obvious aesthetic value to the ordinary things that are part of everyday life. Learning is what Bard Graduate Center is all about and we offer two courses of study, an MA program and a PhD program, each leading to a degree in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. Our accomplished faculty inspire students to strive for excellence drawing on methodologies and approaches from art and design history, economic and cultural history, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology in their teaching and research. We encourage students from diverse academic majors, including art history, anthropology, English literature, and museum studies to apply. Over the past 25 years, we have graduated over 400 alumni who have gone on to pursue careers in academia, in museums, and in the private sector. This high standard is equally the hallmark of the Gallery’s acclaimed exhibitions and related public programs.

The Center’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building and library at 38 West 86th Street, the Gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center is an academic unit of Bard College through which it is accredited and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

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