David Shein spent more than 25 years at Bard College, where he built programs that opened doors for students who might otherwise never walk through them. A first-generation college student himself, he knows what it feels like to navigate higher education without a map. That experience became the foundation of the Learning Commons, Disability Support Services, the Center for Student Life & Advising, and other programs he helped to create. He developed the Clemente Course in the Humanities at Poughkeepsie and co-developed a second location in Kingston, bringing free, college-level courses to adults in those under-resourced neighborhoods. He advised hundreds of students and helped many secure Fulbright Scholarships and Watson Fellowships.