Jonathan Becker is Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bard College as well as the Director of the Center for Civic Engagement and Professor of Political Studies. He also serves as Vice Chancellor of the Open Society University Network.

Through Bard, Dr. Becker provides support to several of Bard’s international partner universities including Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences/ Smolny College (St. Petersburg, Russia), Al-Quds University (Palestine), and AUCA, where he has served on the board since 2008.

Dr. Becker earned his BA from McGill University and his D. Phil from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. Specialization in Soviet, Russian, and Eastern European politics; media and politics. Taught at Central European University, University of Kiev Mohyla Academy, Wesleyan University, Yale University. Author of Soviet and Russian Press Coverage of the United States: Press, Politics and Identity in Transition (1999; new edition, 2002). Articles in European Journal of Communication, Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly, Slovo, among others. 

Previously, he served as Assistant Vice President of the Central European University in Budapest and the European Director of the Civic Education Project. He has also served as co-chair of the Higher Education Group of the US/Russian Civil Society Partnership Program and as a consultant to the National Intelligence Council on its Global Trends 2020 project.

Academic Expertise: Politics
Area of Specialization: Russian and East European Politics, Media and Politics, Comparative Politics
Research Interests: Russian media; democratization and media; non-democratic media; globalization and sport
Other Interests: international education

October 10, 2022
Jonathan Becker, "The Global Liberal Arts Challenge, Ethics and International Affairs," Fall, 2022, pp. 
ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org LINK >>

August 30, 2022
Jonathan Becker, “New York Must Build a Better Election System,” Albany Times Union, August 30, 2022,
https://www.timesunion.com/ LINK >>

July 2022
Liviu Matei and Jonathan Becker, “Internationalization through Integration: The Trend and a Case Study,” Internationalisation of Higher Education – Policy and Practice, July 2022, pp. 45-58,
https://www.researchgate.net/ LINK >>

April 13, 2022
Jonathan Becker, “It Takes a Higher Ed Network,” Liberal Education, April 13, 2022, 
https://www.aacu.org LINK  >>

January 27, 2022
Jonathan Becker, "New York State Can Help Overcome Voter Suppression of College Students," WAMC, January 27, 2002,
https://www.wamc.org/ LINK >>

January 2015
Jonathan Becker, "Liberal Arts and Sciences Education: Responding to the Challenges of the XXIst Century", Voprosy Obrazovaniya/ Educational Studies Moscow 2015(4):33-61,
https://www.researchgate.net/ LINK  >>

January 2014
Editors: Jonathan Becker, Philip Fedchin, In book: Contemporary Liberal Arts and Sciences Education: Experiences form the United States and Europe (Svobondyi iskusstva i nauki na sovremennon etape), Chapter: "What a Liberal Arts and Sciences Education is... and is Not", Publisher: St. Petersburg State University,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >> 

January 2010
Jonathan Becker, "Television and Culture in Putin's Russia: Remote Control. BASEES/Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies by Stephen Hutchings; Natalia Rulyova", The Russian Review 69(4):741-742,
https://www.researchgate.net/ LINK >> 

July 27, 2008
Jonathan Becker, Review Article: The Perfect Storm: George W. Bush and the American Press, European Journal of Communication, Col 23(2): 211-222 (2008),
https://www.researchgate.net  LINK>>

30 November 2007
Jonathan Becker, "Putin and the Dawn of the Neo-Authoritarians," The Globalist, November 30, 2007,
http://www.theglobalist.com LINK >>

April 2007
Jonathan Becker, "Governing Soviet Journalism: The Press and the Socialist Person after Stalin", Slavic Review 66(1): 163, April 2007,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >>

July 2006
Jonathan Becker, “Bush and Putin as Leaders: The Ties that Bind”, Soft Skull Samizdat Publication No.1, Soft Skull Press, Inc, Brooklyn NY 2006,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >>

July 14, 2006
Jonathan Becker, “Bush and Putin as Leaders: The Ties that Bind”, The Globalist, Globalist Perspective > Global Diplomacy, Friday, July 14, 2006, pp.1-4,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >>

June 2004
Jonathan Becker, “Lessons from Russia. A Neo-Authoritarian Media System”, European Journal of Communication 19(2):139-163,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >> 

March 2003
Jonathan Becker, Review Article: Keeping Track of Press Freedom, European Journal of Communication 18(1):107-112, March 2003,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >>

September 2002
Jonathan Becker, "Gorbachev's Glasnost: The Soviet Media in the First Phase of Perestroika", Slavic Review 60(1): 199, September 2002,
https://www.researchgate.net LINK >>