Rate My Professor Leon Botstein

Leon Botstein has served as president of Bard College since 1975 and holds the position of Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Chicago in 1967 and completed a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in history at Harvard University. Prior to his appointment at Bard, Botstein was president of Franconia College from 1970 to 1975, becoming the youngest college president in American history at age 23.

Botstein is a historical musicologist and conductor who has served as music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He founded the Bard Music Festival in 1990 and The Orchestra Now in 2015. His publications include Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture (1997), Judentum und Modernität (1991), and Von Beethoven zu Berg: Das Gedächtnis der Moderne (2013). He has received numerous honors, including honorary doctorates from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Goucher College, and Sewanee: The University of the South, as well as the Carnegie Foundation’s Academic Leadership Award and the Austrian government’s Cross of Honor, First Class. Botstein has edited The Musical Quarterly since 1990 and contributed to education initiatives including Bard’s Prison Initiative and early college programs.