Past Events
Join us at the Olmsted Greenhouse for a calm doodling session with Vassar’s Counseling Center! No artistic skills necessary—we are just doodling for fun and to calm the mind. All ages welcome.
James Osborn, conductor
This event is open to the public.
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Join us for free drop-in family programs on select Sundays this fall. Each date will feature different hands-on art activities inspired by art on view. Activities can be modified for all ages, but are best suited for children 5 and up.
Christine Howlett, conductor
This event is open to the public.
This is an in-person event that will also be streamed live
Baye and Asa will perform their recent work Suck it Up. The program will also feature their dance film Second Seed. A Q&A session with the artists will immediately follow the performance.
This program on the power of narratives will wrestle with timely questions about how stories can inform our views of ourselves and each other. Participants will hear from academics, economists, journalists, comedy writers, and performers.
Day One: The evolving narrative about higher education
Day Two: Using media and theater to tell meaningful stories
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Hilton Als will lecture on the photographer Diane Arbus in Manhattan. An Agnes Rindge Claflin Lecture sponsored by the Art Department.
This event is open to the public.
Acclaimed writer Lydia Millet will deliver the 2025 William Gifford Lecture on November 5, 2025. The event is free and open to the public.
Professor Omer, of the University of Notre Dame, will present this year’s annual Frederic C. Wood Lecture.
This event is open to the public.
Professor Rosalind Galt of King’s College, London will be giving a giving a Dean’s Lecture on “Imperfect Archives.”
Please join us as Vassar Anthropology Professor April Beisaw discusses her recently published new book, The Archaeology of American Protest.
Explores how storytelling rooted in personal experience, Zambian proverbs, and mother tongues can heal colonial harms and preserve culture, featuring Mubanga Kalimamukwento, an award-winning Zambian author, magazine founder, and University of Minnesota Feminist Studies PhD student.
Free and open to the public.
Beyond Survival is a documentary that tells the story of New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) and the powerful leadership of currently and formerly incarcerated survivors in creating change. Through compelling interviews with legislators, judges, and advocates, including survivors of abuse and long-term incarceration, Beyond Survival narrates the 10-year Coalition for Women Prisoners campaign for the DVSJA and spotlights critical efforts to implement this groundbreaking sentencing reform.
Looking for a spook-tacular way to start off your Halloweekend? Check out our Halloween events!
This lecture examines literary and historical narratives to elaborate “colonial domesticity.”
Campus community only, please.
Oct. 30: 8:00 p.m.
Oct. 31–Nov. 1: 7:00 p.m.
A gathering of Emeritae/i, Vassar College members, guests, and the public to hear a lecture followed by conversation at a reception immediately following the lecture.
This event is open to the public.
This year marks the 650th anniversary of Giovanni Boccaccio’s passing. We explore his legacy in a interdisciplinary panel of Vassar faculty, followed by a keynote speech by Grace Delmolino (University of California, Davis) titled: “Boccaccio and Consent.” No reservation required
Campus community only, please
Join us for Vassar’s “College Bowl” during National Chemistry Week 2025. A fun night filled with challenging Chemistry questions, competitive teams from various schools, and prizes!
Campus community only, please.
Artist Lyle Ashton Harris will give a lecture which will explore the intersections between his practice in photography and collage, examining ideas of gender, sexuality, and belonging.
This event is open to the public.