What's Inside

One of Barnard’s most noteworthy institutions, The Center for Toddler Development, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. A radical idea in 1973, the center has become an important research site for early childhood development; toddlers enrolled at the center are encouraged to learn through creative play. Happily, the youngsters are also a sure bellwether of spring—what is a more cheering sight than a smattering of small fry playing on the lawn adjacent to The Diana Center?


Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner found her true calling, the law, while at Barnard during the tumultuous Sixties. Now a professor at Harvard, Gertner reviews her career as an activist, lawyer, and judge in her new book, and admits whatever case was being tried in her courtroom, she always had an opinion but steadfastly maintained her requisite impartiality on the bench.


History Professor Herbert E. Sloan scrutinizes the Constitution in a Q&A session that examines the document through the writing of founding father Thomas Jefferson, about whom the professor is an acknowledged expert. Jefferson’s idea of an always-changing Constitution remains unaccepted, but his excoriations about public and personal debt resonate today. 


Barnard’s science faculty members encourage and offer incredible opportunities to their students—advantageous teacher-student ratios, advanced studies, a major research university across Broadway. The researchers and scientists that grace the pages of our photo essay attest to the success of their efforts. Why does a student commit to a rigorous course of study in the “hard” sciences? Find out in our pages.


Interested in online study? Mary Gordon’s online webinars dealing with the modern novel drew double the number of expected enrollees. Do we lie? Do we ever…review what Professor Dan Ariely’s research reveals. 


And we can’t wait to see the Toddler Center’s children playing on the lawn, either…


—The Editor