Dr. John Mischler Joins Bard CEP as Environmental Sciences Faculty and Assistant Director

The Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) at Bard College is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. John Mischler as a new faculty member and Assistant Director beginning in the Fall of 2026.

Mischler holds a PhD in Ecology from the University of Colorado, and an MS in Geosciences from Penn State. His research and teaching center around the environmental effects of agriculture and their ramifications for human health and well-being. His research projects have explored:

• Agriculturally-induced sedimentation impacts on Lake Tanganyika in East Africa
• Antarctic Ice core methane isotopes analysis, searching for signs of agricultural forcing of the methane cycle over the last 2 millennia
• Phosphorus loading from feed lots and cropping systems leading to pervasive nitrogen limitation in freshwater systems
• Nutrient pollution and anthropogenic change impacts on the prevalence of a parasitic aquatic snail that causes Schistosomiasis
• Forest fragmentation and the prevalence and distribution of tick-borne disease.

John comes to Bard most recently from Goshen College in Indiana, where he served as Associate Professor of Sustainability and Environmental Education, and helped lead Goshen’s Masters in Environmental Education program. Among other projects at Goshen, he worked with students to develop an educational partnership with a Burmese immigrant farm community. He has also led study abroad programs for students in Indonesia and Zambia.

John is a strong advocate of experiential education, focused particularly on food systems. As a scientist, he notes that “so many relevant subject areas intersect across the farm landscape-- nutrient cycling, botany, entomology, soil science, parasitology, water rights/law, water quality, environmental justice, sociology – just to name a few.” He adds that “everyone has a personal connection to food. Agriculture as an educational tool is immediately accessible to any student, and helps cultivate a citizenry that has a better understanding of the interconnectedness of scientific disciplines.”

Bard CEP offers Masters of Science degrees in Environmental Policy and Climate Science and Policy, and a Masters of Education in Environmental Education. Dr. Eban Goodstein, Director of CEP is excited about what Mischler will bring to Bard. “John combines a student-centered, experiential approach to graduate education with a deep background in frontier bio-geo sciences”, Goodstein said. “He is really well equipped to support students through Bard’s unique approach to a professional masters  grounded in rigorous academic training, combined with the second year high-level professional internship and thesis .”