The Thought Project Podcast is recorded at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. In this space, we talk with faculty and graduate students about the big thinking and big ideas generating ground breaking research --  informing New Yorkers and the world. Hosted by Tanya Domi.

The Thought Project

Anne Valk, a specialist in women’s history and public history, joins The Thought Project for a Pride Month conversation that touches on the curtailing of LGBTQ rights and of women’s rights by the Supreme Court and state legislators. 

Valk is a professor of History and director of the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the CUNY Graduate Center. As a public historian, Valk focuses on the ways history is preserved and presented to people through monuments, museums, libraries, and more. Also a noted oral historian, she has written about the history of second-wave feminism and of racial segregation in the U.S. Next month, the American Social History Project will host 30 middle and high school teachers for a National Endowment for the Humanities–funded institute on teaching LGBTQ history.

Valk takes a long view of the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, noting that, “Roe has been eroded almost immediately since it was decided.” She adds, “The only way that positive change has happened is because of people pushing for it at all different levels and in lots of different forms.”

Valk also talks about LGBTQ rights and the importance of teaching of LGBTQ history in schools, touching on research showing its benefits in boosting students’ mental health and reducing bullying.

Listen in for a timely conversation about women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and what the past reveals about both.

Post Roe, How to Advance Women’s Rights, LGBTQ Rights

In this Pride Month episode of The Thought Project podcast, we talk to Max Osborn, a recent graduate of the Criminal Justice Ph.D. program at the CUNY Graduate Center who has carved out a niche as a queer criminologist, studying how LGBTQ individuals are affected by the criminal justice system. 

For his doctoral dissertation, Osborn, who is transgender and uses he and they pronouns, interviewed 42 LGBTQ individuals living in New York City to understand what their encounters with the police and with social services were like and how these interactions impacted their well-being, behavior, and sense of safety. 

He found, for example, that queer people, depending on the context, “altered their presentations to be more gender normative, to stand out less, to kind of anticipate what was being expected of them and sort of conform to that.”

Osborn says that the LGBTQ people he spoke to described anticipating what would happen if the police or other authority figures discovered they were queer or trans. A persistent concern is whether they can pass as cisgender, knowing that gender nonconforming individuals are often targeted by law enforcement officials. 

Osborn learned too about the obstacles that LGBTQ individuals encountered in accessing social services and health care, including cost barriers and discrimination. Some LBGTQ interviewees shared wrenching stories about being misunderstood, mis-gendered, or mistreated. Osborn also interviewed service providers and observed that many of them were doing excellent work but were overloaded with clients.

Osborn has published his work across multiple disciplines in journals including Violence Against Women, Trauma, Violence & Abuse, and the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services. 

Later this year, he starts a tenure-track faculty position at Villanova University.

Listen in to learn more about his timely research.

How LBGTQ Individuals Experience Criminal Justice

Imagine being identified as a male on your driver’s license but a female on your birth certificate. That’s the Kafkaesque experience of many transgender individuals including scholar and author Paisley Currah, whose important new book, Sex Is as Sex Does, examines how sex functions as a tool of government.    

Currah, a professor of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, joins The Thought Project to talk about his book and why the state should stop regulating gender identity.    

He emphasizes that ending the policing of sex is an important step toward eradicating misogyny and unequal power structures that are based on gender.    
“Women still do all this care work,” he says, citing one example. Marriage is another. “Gender is always about hierarchy,” he says.    

He makes the case for moving beyond identity politics to make the U.S. a more humane place for trans and queer people through broad policies that promote equality. These include implementing national health care, abolishing prisons, and attacking income inequality.    

Listen in to hear more about his groundbreaking book and his vision for true gender equality.

How to Make the U.S. Safe for Transgender People

Eric Adams, the second elected Black mayor of New York City, inherited a city embattled by the the Covid-19 pandemic, a slow recovering economy, and a sustained spike in crime that continues to rise. 
 
Distinguished Professor John Mollenkopf (Political Science and Sociology), a consummate analyst of New York City politics, says there’s a widespread feeling that public spaces have become less enjoyable, more insecure, and even more threatening. He says this feeling goes beyond violent crime to pedestrian safety from cars and cyclists.He also discusses how homelessness and associated mental illness makes obvious the need to build affordable housing. 

Listen to hear the full episode of the Thought Project podcast that explores the first six months of Eric Adams mayoralty and the challenges that confront his administration in America’s biggest city.

Distinguished Professor John Mollenkopf on Mayor Adams’ First Six Months

New Yorkers have many reasons to worry about crime, from the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s gun-carrying restrictions to a city-wide rise in felony assaults and rapes. CUNY Graduate Center Professor Candace McCoy, a criminal justice expert, joins The Thought Project to discuss crime in New York – both the perception and the reality. She touches on issues ranging from gun control to bail reform and helps listeners delineate false notions from truths. 

McCoy has written extensively on recent Supreme Court decisions on states’ rights to regulate gun licensing and the increase of crimes with guns. She takes exception to the accusation that bail reform has allowed violent individuals to be released from jail only to commit more crimes. In this conversation, she offers a bail-reform fix that will better protect the public and still reduce the excessive imprisonment of people awaiting trial. 

Listen in to learn more.

Professor Candace McCoy on Why New Yorkers and Americans Feel Unsafe

Since 2001, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) at the CUNY Graduate Center has worked to promote the study and understanding of Latin American and Caribbean cultures and Latino and Caribbean communities in the United States.

Founding Director Laird Bergad, a distinguished professor of History at Lehman College and the Graduate Center, recently announced the appointment of his successor, Director John Guttierrez, a professor of Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College, and Associate Director Mila Burns, a professor in the Latin American and Latino Studies department at Lehman College.
The Thought Project caught up with Guttierrez and Burns, who are Graduate Center alumni, delighted to return in their new roles at CLACLS.

Gutierrez and Burns expressed their respect for the work done by CLACLS, especially its flagship program, the Latino Data Project, which has drawn national attention since Bergad launched it in 2023. 
They also spoke about their interest in integrating CLACLS with the scholarly mission of the Graduate Center and making it a welcoming home for anybody at CUNY “who identifies with all things Latino and Latin America and Caribbean.” Gutierrez and Burns intend to establish CLACLS as a meeting place for CUNY faculty working on Latino studies or Latin America to discuss their research and new books. 

In addition to their academic credentials, Gutierrez and Burns bring practical experience to their new roles. Guttierrez was a political consultant on Latino politics in New York City and state elections, and Burns is a journalist for the Brazil television network O Global. Both are interested in contemporary U.S. Latino politics and politics in Latin America.

Listen in to learn more.

Two Alumni Lead the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Professor David Bloomfield, a member of the Urban Education faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center and a professor of education leadership, law, and policy at Brooklyn College, joins this episode of The Thought Project to discuss what’s ahead for K-12 education in a time of deep political division. 

Schools have long been places for students to learn and to learn how to become citizens. What happens, though, when parents and lawmakers on the right and left disagree about fundamental rights and freedoms and what it means to be a citizen? 

Books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, are being banned from reading lists and school libraries. Approximately 33 states have introduced anti-transgender legislation that disproportionately targets transgender youth and restricts their access to sports, health care, even bathrooms. Bloomfield asserts that the attacks on LGBTQ youth could be curbed by the application of Title IX, which the Biden administration is currently rewriting.

Education has made headlines in New York, too. A New York Times investigative story sparked a recent ruling from the state department of education ordering the city to work with a large yeshiva in Brooklyn to ensure that it introduced secular instruction and complied with state standards, which it was failing to meet. Bloomfield has commented on the issue over the past several years, calling it a classic case of “education rights.”    

Bloomfield also weighs in on the contentious reductions of the New York City Department of Education budget. He calls the cuts a “green eyeshade decision” that essentially ignored schools as community hubs that served multiple purposes during the height of the pandemic. 

Listen in on this timely and informative conversation.

Professor David Bloomfield on Education as a Political Football

Lilianna Quiroa-Crowell, an Anthropology Ph.D. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, recently received a Fulbright to conduct research in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, on the marginalized Indigenous Q’eqchi’ women in the Caribbean port city. A shipping capital for the banana industry since the early 20th century, Puerto Barrios was once a thriving metropolis. Today, the city is downtrodden and considered dangerous.  

Quiroa-Crowell is focused on the Mayan women who play key roles in supporting the banana trade but whose contributions, experiences, and perspectives have largely been overlooked by scholars. She intends to make the women’s labor, creativity, and challenges more visible through participatory mapping and photography projects. She spoke from Guatemala about her research.

Listen in to learn more in this Thought Project conversation.

An Anthropologist Studies Overlooked Mayan Women

In the run-up to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, several Republican-led state legislatures passed bills that effectively banned abortions at pre-viability gestational ages, undermining the right to abortion once protected by Roe v. Wade. At the time, many abortion advocates, including CUNY Graduate Center alumna Brenna McCaffrey,Ph.D. ’22, (Anthropology), said that abortion medication pills sent via the U.S. mail constituted a viable option for women living in states that restricted abortion access.

Last week, however, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by antiabortion groups and doctors against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which aimed to invalidate the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medical abortions. The Department of Justice has appealed Kacsmaryk’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

McCaffrey joins The Thought Project to discuss the prospects for medical abortions in light of present politics. She is currently writing a book on the history and cultural impact of abortion pills on global reproductive politic. See: Women on the Web to access abortion medication.

Brenna McCaffrey on the Politics of Abortion Pills

Born the same year as the United Nations was founded — 1946 — Presidential Professor Thomas G. Weiss has both worked for and spent decades studying the organization and its impact on international peace and security. He is retiring this year after a quarter century at the Graduate Center, but he is not stepping away entirely from scholarship. 

He joins The Thought Project to discuss his long career and the current state and future of the U.N. In his words, this is “not a high point of the U.N.’s 77-year history, but we've seen lots of such nadirs in the past, and I'd like to just say that this too shall pass.” 

Recently, Weiss has contributed research to the protection of world heritage. He plans to continue this work and is currently involved in a project on the protection of Asian art with former Graduate Center President Chase F. Robinson, who now directs the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. 

Weiss says he leaves the Graduate Center with great appreciation to so many current and former students who have since become colleagues. 

Listen in to learn more.

Professor Thomas G. Weiss on the U.N. and a Career Studying It

How well do New York City schools equip teachers to practice restorative justice? How do Latinx immigrant-origin teachers incorporate their cultures in their lessons and interactions with students? These are some of the questions that Graduate Center Urban Education Ph.D. students Michael Alston and Veronica Paredes are exploring in their research.

Both are taking Communication with Public Audiences with David Bloomfield, a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College and an often-quoted expert on education policy. 

Alston and Paredes join The Thought Project to discuss their research and how they plan to use podcasting and other journalistic approaches to engage educators and the public in their work.

Listen in for a compelling discussion about public scholarship at the Graduate Center.

Urban Education Students Learn Podcasting from David Bloomfield

The Graduate Center’s midtown Manhattan campus is humming after a quiet summer. Fall classes are in session, and a new campus café and bar is bustling. One person who is excited about the revived energy is President Joshua C. Brumberg. 

This is Brumberg’s first year as the permanent president of the CUNY Graduate Center. A neurobiologist and CUNY faculty member for 22 years, he is well known on campus and at CUNY. 

But what is his vision for the Graduate Center? What are his priorities for this year? 

He recently joined The Thought Project to talk about where he sees the school going and his thoughts on how the Graduate Center can make a difference in the lives of students, in the city of New York, and in society at large. 

Listen in to this conversation as The Thought Project kicks off a new series in partnership with CUNY TV.

Meet the New Prez

CUNY Graduate Center Distinguished Professor John Mollenkopf joins The Thought Project podcast to discuss the legal challenges facing New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his administration as multiple investigations involving top city officials unfold. Mollenkopf, an esteemed political scientist and sociologist who directs the Graduate Center’s Center for Urban Research, examines historical parallels, drawing comparisons to previous administrations, and offers a thoughtful analysis of how the ongoing investigations could affect New York's political landscape. With his vast experience in and deep understanding of urban politics, he sheds light on the delicate balance between loyalty and accountability in public office. 

Listen in to this conversation for a deep dive into the challenges facing New York City’s leadership.

John Mollenkopf on the New York Mayor’s Crises

Education policy expert David Bloomfield, a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College joins The Thought Project podcast to discuss the challenges facing New York City schools amid a shakeup at City Hall. As Mayor Eric Adams grapples with a five-count criminal indictment, and Schools Chancellor David Banks steps down, Melissa Aviles-Ramos has been named the new chancellor. Bloomfield discusses the potential impact of this leadership change, raising concerns about continuity and Aviles-Ramos' ties to the administration under investigation.

The conversation also covers critical issues such as the lack of a cell phone policy in schools, the implications of Project 2025's proposed elimination of the Department of Education, and the growing problem of chronic absenteeism, especially in low-income areas. 

This episode is essential listening for anyone invested in the future of New York City’s public schools and the broader education landscape.

David Bloomfield on NYC Schools Amid the City Hall Shakeup

In this episode of The Thought Project podcast, we discuss the current state of abortion and reproductive health care in in post-Dobbs America with Brittany Brathwaite and Frances Howell, Ph.D. students who are studying critical social psychology  at the CUNY Graduate Center. Howell, whose research focuses on assisted reproductive technologies and racial disparities, and Brahwaite, a reproductive justice activist and co-founder and CEO of Kimbritive, discuss the far-reaching effects of abortion bans, particularly for Black women and marginalized communities. They emphasize the intersection of reproductive justice, race, and systemic inequalities, with Howell linking today's challenges to a long history of medical racism. Brathwaite stresses the importance of grassroots organizing and community advocacy, urging a broad definition of reproductive justice that includes bodily autonomy for all. Both scholars highlight the limitations of focusing solely on federal actions and argue that meaningful change often comes about by activists advocating at the local and state levels. They call for urgent, intersectional action to protect reproductive freedoms.

The State of Reproductive Health Care with Brittany Brathwaite and Frances Howell

In this episode of The Thought Project podcast, Georgie Humphries, a Ph.D. candidate in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center, talks to science journalist and CUNY Newmark J-School graduate Saugat Bolakhe about her work to fend off toxic algal blooms.  

Humphries delves into the fascinating yet alarming world of phytoplankton – microscopic algae that produce up to 80% of the Earth’s oxygen and serve as the foundation of the marine food web. Certain species of phytoplankton, however, are behind harmful algal blooms. These blooms, which are being fueled by climate change and nutrient pollution, threaten marine life and human health, with consequences ranging from manatee deaths to water supply contamination.  

Humphries describes how she and fellow scientists at the Graduate Center’s Advanced Science Research Center are monitoring and addressing this growing scourge as they seek to preserve our oceans and protect public health. 

Listen in to learn more about how Graduate Center scientists are safeguarding our planet and its people.

Fighting Toxic Algal Bloooms to Protect Our Oceans

In this Domestic Violence Awareness Month episode of The Thought Project, Tanya Domi speaks with Jessica Morak, executive director of institutional equity and chief diversity officer at the CUNY Graduate Center, about her work to implement new Title IX policies, which prohibit sex-based discrimination in schools. 

The updated policy includes new protections for pregnant individuals and expanded employee obligations for support and information sharing. The conversation touches on broader issues of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, sex trafficking, and digital abuse. Morak shares insights from her past roles as a prosecutor for the Bronx district attorney’s office and her work at Sanctuary for Families, focusing on combating gender-based violence and providing holistic support for student survivors. The discussion highlights ongoing challenges and systemic issues, emphasizing the importance of addressing gender-based violence through education, legal frameworks, and comprehensive policies.

Listen in to learn more.

What the New Title IX Means for Gender-Based Violence Prevention

In this episode of The Thought Project, we bring you a Celestial Bodies podcast recorded by science journalist Rebecca Rand and astronomer Mark Popinchalk in which they explore the surprising connection between trees and cosmic events. 

Popinchalk, a CUNY Graduate Center alumnus (Ph.D. ’23, Physics) and postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History, discusses how trees serve as natural records of space activity, storing traces of radiocarbon from solar flares and supernovae. By examining tree rings, scientists can trace these cosmic events back through history, linking radiocarbon spikes to phenomena like the northern lights observed centuries ago. 

Through their conversation, Rand, a graduate of the CUNY Newmark J-School, and Popinchalk shed light on how trees help us understand outer space and the and the potential risks posed by high-radiation events. 

Listen in to learn more.

Celestial Bodies: What Trees Reveal About Outer Space

In this episode of The Thought Project podcast, Tanya Domi talks with Professor Van Tran about the launch of the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ph.D. and master’s programs in Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies (BRES), the first of their kind in the New York metropolitan area. 

Tran, a sociologist who led the development of the programs with Professor Martin Ruck, discusses the mission to expand multidisciplinary research on race and ethnicity and train the next generation of scholars and practitioners. Funded in part by the Mellon Foundation, the programs build on CUNY’s longstanding commitment to ethnic studies. Tran shares how the programs will prepare students to address complex social issues, with coursework that integrates sociology, history, and various humanities and social sciences disciplines. The BRES programs, Tran says, will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of race and ethnicity, equipping them to make significant contributions in academia and in fields such as public health, medicine, education, law, and social work.

Listen in to learn more. 


BRES at the CUNY Graduate Center

In this episode of The Thought Project, Tanya Domi speaks with Charles Tien, a professor of Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter, about the implications of the 2024 Presidential elections. 

They discuss Donald Trump’s historic re-election, shifting voter demographics, and parallels with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. Drawing comparisons to Reagan’s landslide victory and its impact on U.S. politics, Tien explains how economic anxiety and inflation influenced voting patterns. The conversation also delves into the challenges ahead for governance in a closely divided Congress and the potential impact of Trump’s return to the presidency. The conversation offers a nuanced look at the new political landscape and the future of American democracy.

Listen in to learn more. 


How Economic Anxiety Shaped the Election With Charles Tien

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