The First Annual Founder’s Day Lecture at Bard College at Simon’s Rock will be held Wednesday, November 16, at 7:00 PM with keynote speaker Joan Countryman.

The Founder’s Day Lecture will take place in the McConnell Theater in the Daniel Arts Center and is open to the public. The event will also be live-streamed on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89381147004

Founder’s Day at Bard College at Simon’s Rock takes place each year on November 16 to recognize the birthday of Simon’s Rock founder Elizabeth “Betty” Blodgett Hall. Betty changed education with the radical idea that curious and independent adolescents deserve a new path to college in a fast-changing world. The birth and legacy of this remarkable educator is celebrated with Founder’s Day. This year marks the first annual Founder’s Day Lecture.

Countryman’s keynote address, “Will the House Always Need an Overhaul?” references Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s essay The house of education needs overhaul: The theory behind Simon’s Rock, which Hall wrote in 1967 at the request of the National Association of Independent Schools. The complete essay is available in the Early College Folio: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 1., available here.

More information about the first annual Founder’s Day Lecture is available on the Simon’s Rock Event Calendar.