Conversations: Hosted by NYU President Andy Hamilton

Latest Episodes:

03 - Marion Nestle May 22, 2019

Show notes

Marion Nestle, NYU's Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, founded the nation's first academic food studies program at Steinhardt in 1988, helping to forge an interdisciplinary field that looks at food as a complex social and political issue. As a research-based scientist with a PhD in molecular biology, she has examined the role of food marketing on food choice, obesity, and food safety, and emerged as an eminent public voice in challenging the food industry's claims about the nutritional value of its products.

The author of nine books—most recently Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat— Nestle received the James Beard Leadership Award in 2013 and was named the #2 most influential foodie in America (after Michelle Obama) by Michael Pollan in 2011

Visit the Conversations homepage at http://www.nyu.edu/president/conversations or contact us at conversations@nyu.edu.

02 - Anthony Appiah Apr 16, 2019

Show notes

Anthony Appiah, NYU professor of philosophy and law, was named in Forbes magazine in 2009 as one of the "world's seven most powerful thinkers" by then-Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman. Appiah's pioneering philosophy on identity and our individual role in the global community have gained acclaim through his numerous books—including 2007's Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, which former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called an "appeal for mutual respect and understanding" that he hoped would be heard "far and wide." Many will surely know him, quite simply, as "The Ethicist"—which is the title of the weekly New York Times Magazine column in which he answers questions posed by readers facing moral dilemmas.

Appiah was born in London, where his parents, Joseph (who would become a member of Ghana's parliament, an ambassador, and president of the Ghana Bar Association) and Peggy Cripps (a novelist, art collector, scholar, and children's writer) met. On his father's side, his ancestry is traced to the king of Ashanti, a constitutionally protected state in union with Ghana; his mother's lineage extends back to William the Conqueror. Appiah moved as an infant with his parents to Kumasi, Ghana, where he was raised, and eventually earned his PhD in philosophy at the University of Cambridge in 1982. Since then he has also taught at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Ghana, among other institutions. Visit the Conversations homepage at http://www.nyu.edu/president/conversations or contact us at conversations@nyu.edu.

01 - Ruben Blades Feb 22, 2019

Show notes

Rubén Blades is one of the most successful artists in the history of Latin music. His Afro-Cuban albums touched with rock, jazz, pan-Latin, and other influences have won 17 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards. As an actor, he has starred in the AMC television series Fear the Walking Dead, and has worked with directors including Robert Redford, Spike Lee, and Ridley Scott.

Away from the arts, Blades is equally active, holding degrees in political science and law from the University of Panama, and an LLM from Harvard Graduate Law School. In 1994, he ran for president of the Republic of Panama, coming in third place, and later served as Panama's minister of tourism from 2004–2009. Blades has been a UN World Ambassador Against Racism, and was recipient of ASCAP's Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.

Visit the Conversations homepage at http://www.nyu.edu/president/conversations or contact us at conversations@nyu.edu.

Conversations—Hosted by NYU President Andy Hamilton Feb 19, 2019

Show notes

In these Conversations, President Andy Hamilton illuminates the ideas and endeavors of NYU's most interesting minds. As host, he interviews faculty, students, and alumni to examine the origin stories of their passions, the current project that captivates them most, and the vision they have for future pursuits.