THE CIVIL DISCOURSE

#501 The Future of the University
“The Future of the University” is an in-depth panel discussion led by Host Paula Marantz Cohen and featuring Presidents of three very different academic institutions: Nora Demleitner of St. John's College; Jonathan Holloway of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; and John Fry of Drexel University. This discussion explores how each of these leaders sees their mission and what they understand to be higher education’s major challenges for the 21st century (including affirmative action policy, "U.S. News & World Report" rankings, and free speech on the college campus).

#502 Kay Redfield Jamison
Kay Redfield Jamison is a leading psychiatrist, professor, and Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is the author of numerous books on psychology, exuberance, grief, depression, and suicide. These include “Fires in the Dark: Healing the Unquiet Mind;” “Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character;” and Jamison’s groundbreaking introductory work, “An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness.” In this episode of “The Civil Discourse,” Host Paula Marantz Cohen explores these and other studies in conversation with Jamison, examining the range and effects of mood disorders and how the healthcare industry and greater society have come to respond. Note that this interview addresses the impact of depression and suicide.

#503 Contemporary Art in Crisis
“Contemporary Art in Crisis” is a probing discussion led by Host Paula Marantz Cohen and featuring four respected experts from the art world: Kelly Wang (interdisciplinary, multimedia artist); Richard Vine (art critic and former Senior Editor of "Art in America"); Leo Rogath (curator, dealer, and Founder/Director at New York City’s Prince & Wooster gallery); and Gary Carrion-Murayari (curator for the New Museum in New York). This discussion examines whether tensions around moral ethics, commercial sales, and style trends enrich the contemporary art world or augur its doom.

#504 Cynthia Ozick
Cynthia Ozick is an eminent short-story writer, novelist, and essayist. Her body of work includes dozens of entries spanning a decades-long career as an author and multiple winner of the National Jewish Book Award. In this episode of The Civil Discourse, Host Paula Marantz Cohen embarks on a personal conversation with Ozick—dubbed “the Emily Dickinson of The Bronx”—about her lifelong immersion in literature, discussing perspectives on topics such as Jewish-American identity in the shadow of the Holocaust and her affinity for novelists Henry James and George Eliot.

#505 Sunset on the Humanities?
“Sunset on the Humanities?” captures a live discussion at The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, moderated by The Civil Discourse Host Paula Marantz Cohen (Distinguished Professor of English and Dean of Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University) and featuring a panel of four experts in a range of humanities-driven fields: Andrew Delbanco (author, Columbia University professor of American studies, and President of the Teagle Foundation); Phillip Magness (author, economic historian, and Independent Institute chair); Dana A. Williams (Howard University professor of African-American literature, Dean of the Graduate School, and President of the Modern Language Association); and Laurie Zierer (Executive Director of PA Humanities). This conversation examines the importance of the humanities and the role of academic and cultural institutions in the future of a knowledgeable, informed, and well-rounded society.