City College Videos

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For one of America s most beloved poets, writing poems is still a leap of faith. You hope that someone is going to read it, Billy Collins, who served two terms as the U.S. Poet Laureate, joked at a Book Talk lecture sponsored by City College s Center for Worker Education. A Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College, where he joined the faculty in 1968, the prolific Collins recently published his eighth volume of poetry, Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds. Reading from his 2001 collection, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems, Collins discussed his technique. It s all very exploratory, said Collins. I think of the pen as an instrument of discovery or a flashlight, which may lead me somewhere. Listen Now

For his new book Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, Jonathan Pieslak, an associate professor of music at City College, interviewed soldiers who have served in Iraq to learn about the roles music they compose, write, and listen to, play in the war and in American military culture. Some soldiers speak about how music puts them in a predatory mindset, said Prof. Pieslak, who analyzed some of the troops original lyrics and explored the impact of certain musical genres, including heavy metal and rap, in contemporary military recruiting campaigns and in combat. Listen Now

Forensic DNA expert John M. Butler says there are many more applications for DNA typing today than when it was first introduced in the mid-1980s. We are constantly finding new ways to use DNA testing, said Butler, a pioneer in the field and author of the seminal textbook Forensic DNA Typing: Biology, Technology, and Genetics of STR Markers. As a forensic tool, it has helped convict criminals, free the innocent and identify the faceless, including 9/11 attack victims and deceased military personnel. Because of DNA testing, there will be no more unknown soldiers, Butler said at the Louis Levine-Gabriella de Beer Lecture at City College. A research fellow and group leader of applied genetics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he detailed DNA testing advances in Beyond CSI: Exciting Applications of Forensic DNA. Listen Now

Harlem surpasses the rest of the city by more than 25% in cancer deaths, according to a city Department of Health study. A new federal collaboration between City College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hopes to address that disparity. Our focus is to go into the community and find out what the issues are and then try to strategize with them, said Karen Hubbard, a City College biology professor and co-director of the Partnership for Cancer Research, Training and Community Outreach. It s very hard for women to go to the clinic for mammographies, even though they know they should, because they can t take a day off from work. Hubbard says the project, funded by a $15.9 million grant from the NIH s National Cancer Institute, aims to educate residents about cancer screenings and choosing healthy lifestyles. Listen Now

When teaching English to students who speak other languages, Tamara Kirson, lead instructor of ESOL at the City College Adult Literacy Program, takes a holistic approach. It s very important that I think about how they re thinking, but also how they re feeling when they learn, said Prof. Kirson, named the 2009 ESOL Teacher of the Year by The New York Times. An ESOL teacher for 16 years, including 10 at CCNY, she mixes academic rigor, creativity and humor to teach her predominantly immigrant students. Jokes are absolutely allowed, she said, because the more you joke in a foreign language the more you understand it. Listen Now

View from the Bay features IDTV, City College's own half hour magazine style show. Mekela and I produced this first show. This clip shows our auditions for hosts.