From City to the World

For Harlem-based experts in educational leadership, imbuing local students of all ages with an understanding of the importance of living, learning, and thriving at the very center of Black life in America is one of the most important lessons of all. Teacher education, postmortems on the pandemic's effects, and curriculum development may look different in neighborhoods that are some of the richest in culture yet most under-resourced in New York City. The stark politicization of education nationally and extreme discourse around race, equity, and Black studies heightens the work to be done to mobilize communities and families in the service of education.

In this episode, President Vincent Boudreau of The City College of New York explores challenges and solutions with Dr. Sean L. Davenport, a longtime District 5 principal now serving as community superintendent of the Harlem School District, and Dr. Terri N. Watson of City College, a specialist in effective school leadership and the ingenuity of Black women in their roles as mothers, other mothers, teachers and school leaders.

Host: CCNY President Vincent Boudreau
Guests: Sean L. Davenport, Ed.D., Community Superintendent of the Harlem School District, NYC Public Schools. Terri N. Watson, Ph.D., CCNY Provost Fellow; Director of the Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, CCNY School of Education; also affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center.

Recorded: April 10, 2023

How does one lead in an atmosphere of uncertainty? As leaders, where do we go when no one has ever gone there before? When information is incomplete or ambiguous? When objectives may differ across perspectives and cultures? For Dr. Jane Chu, there are leadership lessons in the experiences of individuals who have immigrated to the United States. The former chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2014-2018, Chu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, a practicing visual artist, and a leader whose expertise spans academic research and professional practice in the arts, philanthropy, and business administration. In this special episode of From City to the World, hosted by City College President Vincent Boudreau, hear Chu deliver the 2023 Sternberg Family Lecture in Public Scholarship. Opening remarks are by Andrew Rich, Richard J. Henley, and Susan L. Davis Dean of CCNY's Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership. Students engage Chu with questions following her talk, and President Boudreau provides closing remarks.

Host: CCNY President Vincent Boudreau
Speakers: Andrew Rich, Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean of CCNY's Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership; Dr. Jane Chu, former chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts and Leader-in-Residence at CCNY's Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership; CCNY students
Recorded: March 15, 2023

On February 9, The City College of New York holds its 44th Langston Hughes Festival and awards its Langston Hughes Medal to a highly distinguished writer of the African diaspora: Lynn Nottage. With a mission to celebrate and expand upon the legacy of Harlem Renaissance icon and "poet laureate of Harlem" Langston Hughes, the Festival awarded its first medal, in 1978, to James Baldwin, followed by an honor roll of the greatest Black writers of our time—among them Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, and Rita Dove.

In this episode, host Vincent Boudreau, president of City College, previews the 2023 festival by convening a conversation with Nottage and Jodi-Ann Francis, associate director of the CCNY Black Studies Program —one of the first established in the U.S. Francis is also the moderator of the Langston Hughes Festival symposium, prior to the award ceremony. Hear from Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, and librettist, how she centers Black lives, listens deeply to create resonant characters, and views her work as both artist and activist.

Host: CCNY President Vincent Boudreau
Guests: Jodi-Ann Francis, Associate Director of the CCNY Black Studies Program; Lynn Nottage, playwright, screenwriter, librettist, and 2023 Langston Hughes Medalist
Recorded: January 19, 2023

Health, wellness, and food security in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and economic environment are paramount concerns globally, as they are in New York City's minoritized communities. At The City College of New York, where efforts to combat food insecurity are underway year-round, World Food Day is an annual fall observance dedicated to raising awareness, raising funds, and mobilizing campus and community partners. In keeping with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's 2022 World Food Day theme, "Leave No One Behind," City College President Vincent Boudreau presents "Prioritizing Wellness in Our Community," a special episode of From City to the World. It captures the panel discussion with community organization leaders that Boudreau moderated this month at CCNY World Food Day.

Host: CCNY President Vincent Boudreau
Guests: Jaclinn Tanney, president of The Migrant Kitchen Initiative; Richard Cox, managing director of Market in the Heights Farmers' Market and CSA at CCNY; Angelo Lampousis, Ph.D., interim executive director of CCNY’s Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative

Recorded: Oct. 13, 2022

A historic moment for economic development is here: Government is investing in strategic sectors like infrastructure and the green economy. It has never been more pressing, City College of New York (CCNY) President Vincent G. Boudreau argues, to rebuild our communities along with our infrastructure and to gather allies and collaborators in this effort. In neighborhoods like Harlem, the South Bronx and northern Manhattan, for example, houses of worship are vital resources for residents: a growing conduit to economic opportunities and a space for building trust in those opportunities, among people structurally disadvantaged for centuries.

Boudreau's first guest on this episode of From City to the World is Rev. Dennis Dillon, who has recently served as a convener of the Resurgence Conference, an effort to harness the power of Black churches in the service of community and economic development. Joining the conversation is Dr. Angelo Lampousis, interim executive director of CCNY's Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative. This dynamic new state- and federally funded program aims to take workforce development to the next level, lifting local communities through training for existing and emerging careers in the growing infrastructure sector.

Host: CCNY President Vincent Boudreau

Speakers: Rev. Dennis Dillon, pastor of Rise Church New York and publisher of New York Christian Times; Angelo Lampousis, Ph.D., Interim Executive Director of CCNY's Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative

Recorded: Sept. 13, 2022