Leon Botstein has been president of Bard College since 1975. He is also the Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Bard. He received the B. A. degree with special honors in history from the University of Chicago and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in European history from Harvard, as well as having received several honorary degrees. He was a National Arts Club Gold Medal recipient in 1995, and in 1996 he was awarded the Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Botstein formerly served as president of Franconia College, lecturer in history at Boston University, and special assistant to the president of the New York City Board of Education. He is past chairman of the Harper's Magazine Foundation and of the New York Council for the Humanities, a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, and a member of the board of the Central European University and of numerous other boards and professional associations.