Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke will address graduates at the 44th commencement ceremony of Bard College at Simon’s Rock on Saturday, May 18, at 11:00 a.m. Bernanke's son and daughter-in-law are both alumni of the College, and his wife, Anna Bernanke, is a member of the Board of Overseers.

Junior Ali Martinelli has just been selected for a summer NSF REU fellowship (that’s the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates) at the University of Southern California Wrigley Institute. Ali was one of 8 candidates (out of 120) awarded a fellowship. Way to go, Ali!

The Huffington Post article “Are You College-Age?’ says “younger students often prove to be both eager and ready for the academic and social experience of college”, citing several examples of early entry programs, including Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

Current student Jan Jurchak ’12, who has been designing and composing music from a very young age, puts his talents on display in Leigh Strimbeck’s play, The Trojan Women. The play was performed on campus in March as part of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.

Chef-owner of Nudel Restaurant in Lenox, MA, Bjorn Somlo ’96 continues to make news with another nomination as one of the top 100 chefs for The People's Best New Chef award for Food & Wine magazine. The winner will be profiled in July’s issue of Food & Wine.

Being pregnant doesn’t stop Tony Award winner and Simon’s Rock alum Daisy Eagan ’96 from stripping down and showing off her baby bump in a live performance with New York City–based cover band, The Skivvies! Daisy also took part in the inaugural evening of The Supper Club: Broadway At The Federal on March 12 at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood.

Business Review Weekly named Upworthy.com the fastest growing media website and for good reason: launched in March 2012, by October the site claimed 8.7 million unique views per month. BRW posted tips on how to make a media site grow from Upworthy co-founder Eli Pariser ’96.

Kyle Bella ’06 surpassed his goal on indiegogo.com for his project, Queer Embraces, a book exploring the role of “home” in understanding queer identity. He recently shared his experienced experience with hate crime in the Huffington Post article, “How 60 Seconds of Violence LastTwo Years.” Follow Kyle’s travels and experiences for his book project his blog.

In a recent TED talk, linguist John McWhorter ’81 tells his audience texting may not be the demise of written language as many think; in fact, it may even be a linguistic miracle. Read more about his theory on the TED talk blog.

In the New York Times Sunday Review piece, "A Cure for ‘Senioritis", Provost Peter Laipson explains that research shows starting college early has long-term academic and social benefits leading to occupational success and personal satisfaction.

Ronan Farrow ’99, former Senior Foreign Policy Official at The White House and is the founder of the Office of Global Youth Issues for the U.S. Department of State, was recently awarded the Youth Leadership Award at the 2013 NCAFP Gala Awards Dinner in New York City.