Studying oysters can help us understand how Connecticut’s shoreline is changing. Studying lizards can help us understand the history of life on our planet. Biologists research living organisms. And in doing so, they help us understand not only ourselves, but also the way our lives are intertwined with those of every other species.

This hour— Connecticut biologists tell us how their work helps us see what’s going on in the world around us. We'll discuss everything from how someone growing up in New York City could become fascinated by nature to the impact of federal funding cuts on research.

GUESTS:

• Martha Muñoz: Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Yale Peabody Museum and recipient of a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship.

• Maria Rosa: Assistant Professor of Biology at Connecticut College.

This episode originally aired on July 25, 2025.

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For students and families, navigating the world of higher education isn’t easy. Some of the challenges, like student loan debt, have been going on for years. Other challenges come from more recent changes in how the federal government approaches universities.

To explore these challenges, we're talking to John Maduko, who was appointed Interim Chancellor of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system in June. We'll also hear from Jamal Watson, whose new book is The Student Debt Crisis: America’s Moral Urgency.

GUESTS:

• Jamal Watson: Journalist covering higher education. He’s also Associate Dean of the School of Professional and Graduate Studies and Professor of Strategic Communication and Public Relations at Trinity Washington University. His new book is The Student Debt Crisis: America’s Moral Urgency.

• John Maduko: Interim Chancellor of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system.

If you want to learn more about higher education, you can listen to our recent interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum. You can also listen to our 2022 interview with John Maduko.

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Being the first person to do something isn’t easy. There’s no blueprint for what you are doing, no conventional wisdom to fall back on when all else fails. There is also the pressure of expectations and all the people who are counting on your success. But it’s a way to show people what is possible. Being first means being a pioneer. And here in Connecticut, people are pioneering a wide range of fields every day.

GUESTS:

• Shelly Carter: Fire Chief at the Hamden Fire Department. She is the first woman and first person of color to serve in that role.

• Dawn Leaks Ragsdale: Inaugural Executive Director of the Center for Inclusive Growth, a group created through a partnership between Yale and the city of New Haven that seeks to build opportunities for economic growth for all New Haven residents.

• Shiang-Kwei Wang: Campus President at CT State Gateway. She’s the first person to hold the title of “Campus President” and the first Asian American leader of Gateway.

This episode originally aired on September 26, 2025.

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When Tracy K. Smith served as Poet Laureate of the United States, she used her platform to bring people together. In 2018, she traveled the country for a series called American Conversations: Celebrating Poems in Rural Communities. At these events, she encouraged people to share their thoughts, regardless of their background. While Tracy’s two terms as poet laureate ended in 2019, she is still using poetry to build connections. Her new book is Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times.

GUEST:

• Tracy K. Smith: Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard. She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. Her 2011 collection Life on Mars won the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest book is Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times.

You can find both of the poems Tracy reads on this episode, "Everybody's Autobiography" and "Charity," online.

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In Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning, author Vanessa Priya Daniel writes about the challenges that women of color face. She includes a satirical section formatted like a job description, where she details the duties of women of color leaders. They include “Be likable at all costs,” “Work with zero margin of error” and “Be a willing screen onto which your staff can project the other women authority figures who ever disappointed them in life.”

These are just a few of the barriers that women of color in leadership deal with. But despite these barriers, Daniel also points out that women of color are also often drivers of change.

GUEST:

• Vanessa Priya Daniel: Principal at Vanessa Daniel Consulting, LLC. She has worked in social justice movements for 25 years, and her book Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning came out in March, 2025.

Vanessa Priya Daniel will be speaking at the Community Fund for Women & Girls' 30th Anniversary Celebration on November 13th in New Haven. You can find out more at this website.

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The United Nations General Assembly is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its founding this month. This hour we look at the status of the organization today, and the challenges it faces.

Plus, historian Thant Myint-U has a new book out about his grandfather, U Thant, who was the UN’s first non-European secretary-general, and a leading ambassador of peace during the Cold War. Myint-U joins us to talk about his grandfather's role in the history of the United Nations and the lessons we can take from his example for the present.

GUESTS:

• Thant Myint-U: Author of Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World. He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, a Senior Fellow at UN Foundation, and he formerly served on three UN peacekeeping operations

• Eugene Chen: Senior Fellow at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. He is a former UN official

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This hour, we’re talking to a journalist and a member of the Biden administration to try to understand both sides of the press briefing podium.

CNN Senior Writer Matthew Vann tells us about how D.C. journalists are covering the current presidential administration. And former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's new book is Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. She talks about the challenges she faced as she broke barriers to become the first Black person, first openly queer person and first immigrant to serve as White House Press Secretary. She also discusses why she's leaving the Democratic Party.

GUESTS:

• Matthew Vann: Senior Writer at CNN and Adjunct Professor of Journalism Ethics and First Amendment Law at NYU’s Washington D.C. campus.

• Karine Jean-Pierre: White House Press Secretary in the Biden Administration. She was the first Black person, first openly queer person and first immigrant to hold that role. Her new book is Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.

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For decades, legendary author, TV host, instructor and chef Jacques Pépin has spread his love for cooking across the world. He’s cooked for heads of state and on numerous public television shows, appearing alongside Julia Child in Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. He’s also Executive Chairman of The Jacques Pépin Foundation. The foundation supports culinary training for adults who face barriers to employment. They recently awarded a ten thousand dollar grant to New Haven’s Sanctuary Kitchen.

This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience as part of New Haven’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

GUEST:

• Jacques Pépin: author, instructor, chef and Executive Chairman of The Jacques Pépin Foundation. He has hosted or co-hosted numerous TV shows including "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home."

For more information about Jacques Pépin's 90/90 birthday celebrations, you can go to CelebrateJacques.org

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