Recent Episodes
Daniel Bell, Blondell Cummings, and Lewis Lockwood | CUNY Laureates
On our season premiere of CUNY Laureates, we profile another three Guggenheim Fellows who graduated from the City University of New York.
Daniel Bell (Guggenheim Fellow, 1972) attended City College in the late 1930s, alongside a generation of graduates who would go on to become some of the most influential social critics of the 20th century. Collectively known as the New York Intellectuals, these writers came to represent a wide range of political thought in the ensuing decades. Daniel’s work took him across this spectrum, beginning with the left-wing publications The New Leader and Commentary, followed by a job at Fortune Magazine, and eventually as co-editor of The Public Interest, a neoconservative magazine he founded with fellow City College graduate Irving Kristol. Daniel eventually settled on a multi-dimensional view of society, with his assertion that economics, politics, and culture present distinct challenges that require distinct philosophies. He is known for his books The End of Ideology, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. Alongside his writing career, Daniel taught sociology at Columbia University and Harvard University until his retirement from academia in 1990.
Lehman College graduate Blondell Cummings (Guggenheim Fellow, 1999) was a pioneering choreographer who transformed the way dance could be experienced through movement, storytelling, and video. Cummings captured intimate stories, everyday gestures, and powerful human experiences, creating choreography that challenged traditional forms and connected deeply with audiences. Her celebrated work, Chicken Soup, designated a masterpiece by the National Endowment for the Arts, exemplifies her remarkable ability to transform everyday life and personal memory into compelling dance.
Lewis Lockwood (Guggenheim Fellow, 1977) graduated from Queens College where he studied under the influential musicologist Edward Lowinsky. Lockwood played the cello, but his education at Queens College led him in the direction of musicology, which led him to further studies at Princeton, where he studied the Italian Renaissance under other famous music scholars. But after a while, he drifted back to the music of Beethoven, which he had played as a youth, and from there his focus remained squarely on the iconic composer. His 2003 book, Beethoven: The Music and the Life, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography.
00:00 – Intro
00:53 – Daniel Bell
10:56 – Blondell Cummings
19:22 – Lewis Lockwood
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Guest List:
Recording date: 08/25/2026, Air date: 09/21/2026
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series about the lives and achievements of CUNY graduates who went on to win major awards in their respective fields. By reintroducing these exceptional minds to younger audiences, we hope to emphasize the value of a high-quality public education and demonstrate how it can transcend all social and political boundaries, even to this day.
Watch more at https://tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates
Subscribe to the Series Playlist: https://bit.ly/cunylaureates
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Special: Paule Marshall, Ben Katchor, and Sol Yurick | CUNY Laureates
On this special episode of CUNY Laureates, we look back at three CUNY graduates and Guggenheim Fellows who’ve all channeled the essence of New York City through the art of the pen.
After her father left the family to join a religious cult in Harlem, Paule Marshall (Guggenheim Fellow, 1961) grew up listening to what she called the “kitchen poetry” of her mother and the other housewives of their West Indian community in Bed Stuy.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College in 1953 and a master’s degree at Hunter College in 1955, Paule published her debut novel, “Brown Girl, Brownstones,” about Barbadian immigrants struggling to find the American Dream in Brooklyn, New York. She traveled internationally for her work as a travel writer for the African-American magazine Our World, and later on a State Department-sponsored European tour with the writer Langston Hughes. In addition to her Guggenheim, Paule received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1994 for her writing.
Ben Katchor (Guggenheim Fellow, 1995) is an American cartoonist who’s been working in the medium for over 50 years since getting his start at Brooklyn College. Perhaps best known for his work "Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer,” the graphic novel created a kind of alternate version of New York City as seen through the eyes of Katchor. A recipient of both a Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowship, he also writes plays and teaches at Parsons School of Design, the New School. He is also the author of The Dairy Restaurant, an illustrated history of these unique establishments.
Sol Yurick (Guggenheim Fellow, 1972) worked as a social investigator for the New York Department of Welfare in the 1950s before quitting to pursue a master’s degree at Brooklyn College, where he wrote his first novel, Fertig. Informed by his experience with “juvenile delinquents” in his previous job, and taking inspiration from the ancient Greek story Anabasis, he wrote his second novel, The Warriors, about a teenage gang in New York City attempting to escape enemy territory. The novel met with great success and was adapted 14 years later into a hit Hollywood film and franchise. Sol was also involved in political activism with student organizations in the 1960s, and wrote several more novels, receiving a Guggenheim for his work in 1972.
00:00 – Intro
00:58 – Paule Marshall
10:59 – Ben Katchor
18:47 – Sol Yurick
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Recording Date: 06/24/2026 First Air Date: 07/20/2026
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series about the lives and achievements of CUNY graduates who went on to win major awards in their respective fields. By reintroducing these exceptional minds to younger audiences, we hope to emphasize the value of a high-quality public education and demonstrate how it can transcend all social and political boundaries, even to this day.
Watch more at https://tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates
CUNY Laureates playlist https://bit.ly/cunylaureates
Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: https://bit.ly/2GmGb13
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Alex Rosenberg, Ruby Cohn, and Selena Kimball | CUNY Laureates
On this episode of CUNY Laureates, we profile another three Guggenheim Fellows who graduated from the City University of New York.
Alex Rosenberg (Guggenheim Fellow, 1981) is the R. Taylor Cole Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. After spending nearly twenty years writing about the philosophy of economics, he pivoted to the philosophy of biology, after which he ultimately committed himself to the school of thought sometimes called “scientism” – the idea that all questions about truth and reality can ultimately be answered by science. He has written several books on the subject, most notably his 2011 book The Atheist’s Guide to Reality. He has also written pieces for publications such as the New York Times, and appeared on programs to discuss his ideas, including Closer to Truth on PBS. Recently Alex has written several novels of historical fiction, including The Girl from Krakow in 2015 and Thurlow’s War in 2025. In addition to the Guggenheim Fellowship, Alex was awarded the Lakatos Award in 1993 for work in the philosophy of science.
Before attending Hunter College, Ruby Cohn (Guggenheim Fellow, 1965) grew up in Brooklyn, but then when World War II arrived, she trained to be one of the WAVES – a Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. After training at Hunter College and serving in WWII helping install radar, she later moved to Paris. It was in Paris where her life took a new direction after seeing the very first production of the play “En Attendant Godot,” also known as “Waiting For Godot,” Samuel Beckett’s iconic theater work. She dedicated much of her life to the academic study of Beckett’s work, publishing late in life “The Beckett Canon,” an overview of all of Beckett’s output.
What happens when fragments of the past are pieced together to tell a new story? Hunter College graduate Selena Kimball (Guggenheim Fellow, 2025) uses the art of collage to transform memory, history, and emotion into striking visual narratives. By cutting into the past and reconstructing it through layered imagery, her work challenges the way we see both personal and collective experiences. Each composition becomes a conversation between what was, what remains, and what we choose to remember. Step into a world where art reshapes the past to make sense of the present.
00:00 – Intro
00:43 – Alex Rosenberg
10:18 – Ruby Cohn
16:40 – Selena Kimball
Procreation by Little Glass Men is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Recording Date: 05/12/2026 First Air Date: 06/08/2026
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series that profiles graduates of the City University of New York who have earned some of the most prestigious honors in their fields. By bringing these remarkable individuals into the spotlight, the series highlights the enduring power of a high-quality public education and its ability to transcend social and political barriers while continuing to shape the world today.
Watch more at https://tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates
CUNY Laureates playlist https://bit.ly/cunylaureates
Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: https://bit.ly/2GmGb13
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About This Show
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series that profiles graduates of the City University of New York who have earned some of the most prestigious honors in their fields. By bringing these remarkable individuals into the spotlight, the series highlights the enduring power of a high-quality public education and its ability to transcend social and political barriers while continuing to shape the world today.
Regular Air Times
Monday – Thursday 5:00pm
Friday – Sunday 5:30pm
Featured Segments
Lisa Corinne Davis: The Mapmaker | CUNY Laureates
Lisa Corrine Davis has been a visual artist for more than 40 years, after earning a master’s degree from Hunter College. Over that span, her abstract work has explored different shapes and colors, with a strong focus on geometry, mapping, and networks. She moved from early work that explored race and identity to later works that, sometimes, took their inspiration from old maps of the Soviet Union. This interview took place in her studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Show Creator/Executive Producer: Petar Talijancic
Produced and Written by Craig Thompson
Edited by Darren E. Ryan and Craig Thompson
Cinematography by Michael Di Bartolo
Host: Duane Ferguson
Watch the full episode at https://youtu.be/Rq8Vh11Lg9c?si=P4QOF16X2mqoDxI1
Follow CUNY TV:
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https://www.youtube.com/@cunytv
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cunytv/
Find more from CUNY TV at https://tv.cuny.edu
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series about the lives and achievements of CUNY graduates who went on to win major awards in their respective fields. By reintroducing these exceptional minds to younger audiences, we hope to emphasize the value of a high-quality public education and demonstrate how it can transcend all social and political boundaries, even to this day.
Watch more at https://tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates
CUNY Laureates playlist https://bit.ly/cunylaureates
Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: https://bit.ly/2GmGb13
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Sol Yurick: The Long Road Home | CUNY Laureates
Sol Yurick worked as a social investigator for the New York Department of Welfare in the 1950s before quitting to pursue a master’s degree at Brooklyn College, where he wrote his first novel, Fertig. Informed by his experience with “juvenile delinquents” in his previous job, and taking inspiration from the ancient Greek story Anabasis, he wrote his second novel, The Warriors, about a teenage gang in New York City attempting to escape enemy territory. The novel met with great success and was adapted 14 years later into a hit Hollywood film and franchise. Sol was also involved in political activism with student organizations in the 1960s, and wrote several more novels, receiving a Guggenheim for his work in 1972.
Show Creator/Executive Producer: Petar Talijancic
Produced, Written, and Edited by Joseph Montalbano
Cinematography by Santiago Pineda Leyton
Host: Duane Ferguson
Watch the full episode at https://youtu.be/Rq8Vh11Lg9c?si=P4QOF16X2mqoDxI1
Follow CUNY TV:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTV
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cunytv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuny.tv/
https://www.youtube.com/@cunytv
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cunytv/
Find more from CUNY TV at https://tv.cuny.edu
CUNY Laureates is a documentary series about the lives and achievements of CUNY graduates who went on to win major awards in their respective fields. By reintroducing these exceptional minds to younger audiences, we hope to emphasize the value of a high-quality public education and demonstrate how it can transcend all social and political boundaries, even to this day.
Watch more at https://tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates
CUNY Laureates playlist https://bit.ly/cunylaureates
Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: https://bit.ly/2GmGb13
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