For Derek Fordjour, an alumnus of Hunter College’s MFA program, the turmoil of 2020 was a canvas for a breakthrough year featuring two critically acclaimed exhibitions. He talks about his life and how he turned his work as a multidisciplinary artist into dazzling and emotional social observation.

CUNY Podcasts

Derek Fordjour Captures the Eye — and the Moment

A new year conversation with Dr. Bruce Y. Lee of the CUNY School of Public Health on the state of vaccines, the threat of the mutated virus and what the Biden administration needs to do to turn the tide of the pandemic.

Vaccinating America: ‘There’s some chaos going on. And we can’t have that’

In his novel Missionaries, Phil Klay--Hunter College MFA alum, Iraq War veteran and National Book Award winner--explores the globalization of war through the stories of four people caught up in the nearly 60-year conflict in Colombia.

We Are the Wars We Wage

Stan Wolfson looks back on his 60-year career as a photographer and photo editor for New York newspapers and, for the past 16 years, for CUNY.

Photo Finish: Stan Wolfson’s Life in Pictures

Renowned author Walter Mosley, a City College creative writing alum, is the 2020 recipient of the National Book Foundation's lifetime achievement award. He talks about his life, his work, and the program he helped create at CCNY to open doors for minorities in the publishing industry.

CUNY Is the Plot Twist in Walter Mosley’s Life

Citing President Obama's intent to strengthen community colleges, "second lady" Jill Biden told the 2009 graduates of Kingsborough Community College the two-year schools are "one of America's best-kept secrets," and "the education gained on campuses like this one will provide the knowledge that will power the 21st century." Dr. Biden, an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College who taught English full-time at a Delaware community college for 16 years, referred to Obama's higher education proposal, which includes a community college initiative to better prepare students for the job market and encourages their transfer to four-year schools. "The president wants the U.S. to have the highest proportion of college graduates (in the world) by the year 2020...and he knows community colleges will play a major part in achieving this goal." Listen Now 

When Jill Biden Rallied Kingsborough Grads

Jessica Harris taught at Queens College for 50 years--and became the country's foremost authority on African American cuisine along the way. The author of a dozen books, she was honored this year with the James Beard Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. She talks about it all on the CUNYcast.

The Doyenne of African American Cuisine

CUNY legal scholar Julie Suk discusses "We the Women: The Unstoppable Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment," her book about the women behind the long battle to enshrine full equal rights for women as a Constitutional amendment.

Still They Persisted: Inside the Long Battle to Adopt the ERA

How Harrison Sheckler, a pianist in the masters program at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, has brought together hundreds of singers and musicians for virtual performances of two American classics--and a little joy to the world in this dispiriting year.

Maestro of the Virtual Flash Mob

A conversation from Mexico City with Carmen Boullosa, one of the world's most celebrated Spanish-language writers and a CUNY literary treasure whose 18th novel, "The Book of Anna," has just been translated into English.

Carmen Boullosa Takes on Tolstoy’s Problem With Women

CUNY TV's third virtual town hall special on COVID-19 is a conversation on CUNY's transition to distance learning with Executive Vice Chancellor José Luis Cruz, Lehman College Provost Peter Nwosu, the Graduate Center's Cathy N. Davidson and students Sally Zieper and Kalli Siringas.  

Zooming in on Distance Learning

The beloved Brooklyn Bridge was one of the most daring feats of 19th Century engineering. The man who designed it was equally daring and a paradox of personality: An oddball who engineered a structure that was a marvel of stability at a time when suspension bridges routinely fell down. Richard Haw, a professor in the […]

Ingenious Engineer: The Brilliant, Eccentric Life of John Roebling

In "A Crisis in Motion," CUNY TV's second virtual town hall special on COVID-19, host Mike Gilliam talks with guests including Angie Kamath, University Dean for Continuing Education and Workforce Development, Dr. Bruce Y. Lee of the School of Public Health and students from Baruch, Hunter and the College of Staten Island.

Voices of the Crisis

A weekly tracking survey by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy is revealing important insights about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on New Yorkers--and vice versa. Dr. Scott Ratzan discusses what the results tell us about our collective attitudes, behaviors and beliefs--and how they might inform efforts to fight the spread of this pandemic and maybe help prevent future ones.

Taking the Pulse of New York in the Time of Coronavirus

In February 1861, Abraham Lincoln journeyed 13 days and 1,900 miles by rail from his Illinois home to his inauguration in Washington. It was a long, tumultuous and dangerous trip through hundreds of towns where millions saw and heard Lincoln as the country hurtled toward the Civil War. Macaulay Honors College's Ted Widmer tells the dramatic story in "Lincoln on the Verge."  

Lincoln’s 13-Day Journey to Save America

Podcasts from The City University of New York

hubhopper

CUNY Podcasts

hubhopper