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Dispatches
News. Musings. Insights.
PHOTO BY NINA WURTZEL
Headlines
From Barnard College, With Love: Welcome, Class of 2026!
Get a sneak peek into the fabulous and diverse first-years joining campus this fall.
Every fall semester, Barnard’s campus buzzes with the excitement of new students, transfers, and those returning to Morningside Heights. Year after year, New York City’s only all-women’s college has broken its own application record, and this year is no exception — the College received 12,009 applications, compared with last year’s 10,395, and admitted 9% of those applicants, beating out last year’s lowest record-breaking admissions rate. Of the 1,080 students admitted this year, 66% chose to enroll.
A diverse cohort, the incoming Class of 2026 represents 29 countries — such as Australia, Colombia, Indonesia, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe — 41 states/territories, and Washington, D.C. Nineteen percent identify as first-generation college students, and 24 were recruited via Barnard’s first year partnering with Questbridge, which connects the College with high-achieving, low-income students from around the country. Whether it’s academics or sports, these firstyears cover a lot of ground: Nearly 300 students expressed an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), with 39 coming from Barnard’s PreCollege Program, 10 from the Pathways Bridgewater Scholars Program, and six from the Science Pathways Scholars Program (SP)2. A total of 16 athletes will join the community to compete in a range of sports, including rowing, track and field, and swimming and diving.
“We are so excited to welcome the Class of 2026 to Barnard,” says Leslie Grinage, Dean of the College. “The creativity, interests, and knowledge they will bring to campus will only be strengthened over the next four years, and our entire community — faculty, staff, and alumnae — are honored to be a part of their journey into adulthood.”
Learn more about the incoming Class of 2026 and why the College is so excited to welcome them.
ATHLETES IN ACTION
More than a dozen athletes from around the world will join the Columbia/Barnard Athletic Consortium to compete in NCAA Division I athletics, including sabre fencing, squash, swimming, and track & field.
CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE
From Arizona to Pakistan, first-years find ways to create space for others wherever they are in the world, such as starting a nonprofit to provide all-girls schools with educational supplies; working with a senator to ban corporal punishment in schools; co-founding E-Waste Warriors and recycling over 10,000 pounds of electronic waste; and establishing Chicas for Change to empower female students inside schools.
PASSION PURSUERS
The Class of 2026 follow their own leads and interests, such as raising goats, working as a sushi chef, training for a pilot’s license, and launching a rural COVID-19 care packages initiative.
RENAISSANCE (WO)MEN
Before Barnard, many members of the Class of 2026 had already acquired diverse skill sets. One first-year was an a capella captain, field hockey player, debate club president, and swim teacher; another founded a two-week musical theatre summer camp; and there’s an inaugural Bridgewater Scholar cohort participant who is also an owner of a convenience store.
Headlines
Emma Wolfe ’01 Is Back at Barnard
by Mary Cunningham
Emma Wolfe ’01, who first walked through Barnard’s gates as a new student in 1997, has returned to the College after more than two decades working in activism and city government — including 12 years with Bill de Blasio during his tenure as NYC’s public advocate and then mayor. In her role as the Associate Vice President for External Relations and Leadership Development, she will enhance Barnard’s relationships with government officials and expand leadership development opportunities for students, staff, and faculty.
Wolfe filled us in on her time at Barnard and what it means to participate in community activism.
How did your studies at Barnard inform your career?
I was in the Urban Studies Program, and it was this great mix of learning how cities worked, the histories of them, and interesting research. In our coursework, we got assignments that forced us out into neighborhoods where we interacted with New Yorkers from all walks of life. The program was a direct pipeline to the work I would end up doing. It really opened my eyes to the different ways that people impact change in urban environments. Once you get a dose of that, it’s incredibly compelling, and I didn’t want to let it go.
What does leadership development look like on a granular level?
It’s thinking about how to move people into leadership roles. To have any kind of functional organization, people have to step up in all kinds of ways. Organizing is not just the things that people often associate it with, like going door to door and getting petitions signed or standing up with a bullhorn. Some of the best organizers I’ve ever met have a real keen sense of how to build a team who can really feel like they’re growing and maximizing themselves. That’s leadership.
Why is it important for Barnard to cultivate relationships with the New York City community?
New York City is a rich place for policymaking and for innovation. There’s such an opportunity for impact. There are people and places in the public and the private sector, plus effective nonprofit organizations and grassroots, that make up the fabric of the city. If we can connect the work that’s happening there with the desire for activism and service here at Barnard, it’s a win-win.
Any advice for students interested in community organizing or politics?
I think it’s important to understand that there are different ways to make change. Students shouldn’t feel like they are pigeonholed into social or publicfacing roles. Nowadays, there’s this association with politics and organizing with speaking truth to power. That has a place, but it is one very distinctive place. And if that is not something that you vibe with, that doesn’t mean you cannot contribute. You can do research, you can start up your own company, you can work in public service, you can volunteer, you can organize behind the scenes. The beauty of creating change in New York is there are a million ways to do it. B
Record-Breaking Year at Barnard for Fulbright Grants
This year, out of the approximately 2,000 grants given to U.S. scholars annually, 11 Fulbrights were awarded to Barnard alumnae — the College’s highest number of honorees to date. In addition, three alumnae were chosen as Fulbright alternates. The grants will support students’ work abroad as English Teaching Assistants (ETAs), researchers, and graduate students. “What’s especially exciting to me about the record number of recipients is that it will almost certainly encourage even more students and graduates to apply,” says A-J Aronstein, Dean of Beyond Barnard and Senior Advisor to the Provost. —Mary Cunningham
Lehman Hall on Canvas
Those nostalgic for Barnard’s architectural past can now revisit Lehman Hall — the midcentury monolith that formerly housed the library — in Cynthia Talmadge’s pointillist oil painting displayed in Milbank Hall. The artwork arrived in May 2022, via an anonymous loan, and is a part of the painter’s Seven Sisters series. —Mary Cunningham
Playwriting Residency Honors Ntozake Shange ’70
The Public Theater, the Barnard Center for Research on Women, and the Ntozake Shange Literary Trust recently established the Ntozake Shange Social Justice Theater Residency. Conceived by inaugural playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza, this two-year playwriting residency is named for the late Ntozake Shange ’70, a revered writer, playwright, and fierce advocate for women and the dignity of humankind. Awarded to a distinguished woman, femme, trans, or nonbinary playwright of the African Diaspora, the residency will provide a salary with benefits and full support to pursue their creative work as a playwright.
‘Deeply Concerned’: Six College Presidents on the Abortion Ruling
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, President Sian Leah Beilock joined the presidents of five other colleges founded for women — Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, and Vassar — in writing a letter to The New York Times, published on June 28. Together, the presidents pledged “to work to inform students of the best way to obtain access to the full range of reproductive health care.” —Zuyu Shen ’24
