Four Thought-Provoking Public Programs Coming to The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts in the 2025-26 Academic Year
The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts—a convening space where scholars, students, and professionals from all over the world engage in meaningful work on contemporary challenges—is excited to announce its schedule of symposiums for the 2025–26 academic year.
Known as Signature Programs, these symposiums will delve into an intriguing variety of topics of local, national, and global interest. All will be convened by members of the Vassar community whose grant proposals were accepted by the Institute Committee.
These programs will invite a variety of stakeholders to participate. Interested in learning more?
Now embarking on a second eventful year, the Institute is located on Raymond Avenue across from Vassar’s beautiful Poughkeepsie, NY, campus, in the same building as The Heartwood at Vassar hotel and The Salt Line Hudson Valley restaurant.
“From identifying and preserving Poughkeepsie Journal photos to exploring women’s work in independent films, from a national conference for students in museum work to constructing narratives around higher education, our 2025–2026 Signature Programs promise to address important challenges, share best practices, advocate for change, and provide valuable insights into some of today’s pressing problems,” said Robert K. Brigham, Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations and Faculty Director of The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts.
“The second cohort of Signature Programs continues to demonstrate the relevance of The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts and underscores the excellence and ingenuity of our students, faculty, and staff,” said Institute Program Director Wesley Dixon. This year’s programs will continue to raise important questions, prompt creative ideas, and bring dynamic people together to learn and grow from each other.”
Signature Programs for 2025–26
Storytelling for Change: Shaping and Sharing Inclusive Narratives in Higher Education, Media, and the Arts
November 7–8, 2025
This program about the power of narratives asks panelists to wrestle with timely questions about how stories can inform our views of ourselves and each other. There will be two main thematic pillars of this program: 1) the evolving narrative about the value of higher education and 2) how storytelling in the media and live performance can illuminate otherwise marginalized voices. Participants will hear from academics, higher ed leaders, journalists, podcasters, comedy writers, and producers/performers about the stories they tell, and how those narratives stand to impact the way we make sense of our lives.
Convened by: Dara Greenwood, Associate Professor of Psychological Science and Director of Media Studies; and Victoria Grantham, Vice President for Communications.
SIMS: Students in Museums Summit
November 14–16, 2025
This program will bring together student participants from different college-based museums across the northeast to discuss contemporary issues facing their institutions. With a mix of student panels, distinguished speakers, and opportunities to connect with others in the field, this event aims to generate ideas about the future of museums and to continue to support student leadership within these museums.
Convened by: The Student Advisory Committee at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, advised by Francine Brown, Coordinator of Membership, Events and Visitor Services.
Women’s Work: Preserving Independent Film and Video Histories, Connecting Media Futures
February 26–28, 2026
This program will excavate and celebrate the invisible organizing labor, often done by women, that makes independent film and video production possible. It will bring together key figures from innovative collectives of the 1970s to the 1990s, scholars, archivists, and members of media organizations active in the Hudson Valley today to discuss recirculating films and videos of the past and strategies for making this kind of work in the future.
Convened by: Erica Stein, Associate Professor and Chair of Film at Vassar; Noelle Giffis, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Arts at Marymount College; Fabio Andrade, Assistant Professor of Film; and John Hulsey, Assistant Professor of Art at Vassar.
Lessons From the Poughkeepsie Journal Photo Morgue: Empowering Communities to Preserve Their Visual Histories
March 6–7, 2026
Drawing on the expertise of preservationists, librarians, lawyers, journalists, and artists, this program will examine the importance and value of newspaper photo archives for local communities as well as the challenges they face in preserving them. The conference will coincide with an art exhibition featuring several local artists who have created art pieces using images or materials from the Poughkeepsie Journal photo archive.
Convened by: Jamie T. Kelly, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vassar; and Kafui Attoh, Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY).
These programs will invite a variety of stakeholders to participate. If you would like to express interest in receiving registration information about any or all of them, please complete this form.