Poetry, politics, and sci-fi: Graduating students receive hand-selected gifts from their faculty advisors as part of decade-long Commencement tradition

When graduating students cross the stage at Commencement, they receive not only their Bard College Berlin diploma, but also a book specially selected by their faculty thesis advisor. Dating back to the graduating Class of 2014, this decade-old tradition is a way to “pay tribute to the research work graduates have done, while also offering them a gift of further reading that might be of interest given the expertise they have already acquired,” according to Dean Prof. Dr. Catherine Toal.

The chosen books are most often related to the graduating student’s BA thesis topic, as well as other academic, professional, or personal interests. For this year’s class of 66 graduates, the topics of books ranged from politics, philosophy, film, finance, and historical fiction, and took the form of novels, short stories, essay collections, poetry, and visual art books. 

Dr. Geoff Lehman, a long-serving faculty member of art history, advised four graduating students’ senior theses this year, picking out a unique book for each of them. “When I reflect on book gifts I have given over the years,” he says, “these four reflect pretty well the different approaches I have taken in choosing. I usually choose literature, philosophy, or books of images, mainly because they tend to be the books I consider most worth reading. I try to find a book that I consider great in itself and that also fits the specific interest of the student to whom I am giving it.”

For Zoë Whiteman, who wrote her thesis on “Metamorphic Digestion: The Aesthetics of Fear in La Casa Lobo,” Lehman chose a book by the philosopher Gaston Bachelard whose work Zoë had discussed in her thesis, explaining that “since this author in particular seemed to resonate with her, she might enjoy reading him further.” For Lily Ellerbrock, who is a native German speaker, he selected a collection of German-language essays by Walter Benjamin. Benjamin had frequently come up in their discussions about Lily’s thesis, titled “Soft Facts of Education: A Student's Guide to Creativity,” and Lehman noted that she would likely appreciate reading him further in the original German.

Katie Lyle wrote her senior thesis on “The Connection Between Death and Nightmare in the Art of Bosch and Redon.” Thus, Lehman found a high-quality reproduction of prints by Redon which would “give her a chance to look at images by Redon in physical form and in something close to their original format, as opposed to online images.” And for Lilith Gao, Lehman’s fourth advisee, he chose a story collection by one of his favorite science fiction authors, Ray Bradbury. “Over the course of the year,” he says, “I had seen that Lilith was passionate about sci-fi, which came up tangentially in relation to her thesis (‘Limits of Universality: Reassessing Xu Bing's Language Experiments’), and I wanted to share one of my favorites in the genre with her.”

In addition, Dr. Martin Widmann, who teaches German literature, advised two graduating fourth-years this spring. One student, Leonie Hüppe, wrote her BA thesis on “More-than-human storytelling and interspecies communication in Richard Powers' The Overstory.” Spurred by Leonie’s interest in environmentalism and nature writing, Widmann presented her with Upstream, a collection of essays and short prose pieces by American poet Mary Oliver. He notes, “Leonie is planning to work in a field in which questions of sustainability are central. Literature can offer genuine perspectives on such questions.”

For his second advisee, Andjela Despotovic, Widmann chose the 2023 novel Minihorror by Barbi Marković, a Belgrade-born author who now lives in Vienna and writes award-winning books in German. This choice of book was inspired by Andjela’s interest in German writers whose first language is not German, as reflected in her thesis on Dinçer Güçyeter’s novel Unser Deutschlandmärchen. Additionally, Widmann notes, “Since both of my advisees had chosen to write their theses on novels by male authors, I decided to give them books written by women as further reading.”

Senior theses are an essential and cherished aspect of completing a Bard College Berlin education. The tradition of giving books at Commencement reflects the close relationship students form with faculty members and the research work they pursue, while providing students with a resonant memento to take with them as they continue to explore their interests after university.

By: Sophia Paudel, Bard College Berlin Communications

Post Date: 06-11-2024