WAMC Launches Academic Minute

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Alan Chartock and Dr. Lynn Pasquerella

ALBANY, NY (06/30/2010)(readMedia)-- WAMC Northeast Public Radio is proud to announce the launch of a new daily segment called The Academic Minute, which will air starting July 6th at approximately 7:37 a.m., 11:10 a.m. and 3:56 p.m. WAMC anticipates other stations across the country picking the segment up as well.

Featuring professors from a range of institutions across the country, The Academic Minute is an opportunity for leading experts to explain their research and discoveries in to an engaged listening audience. It is made possible through the support of Mount Holyoke College.

"Some of the most productive people in the United States are college professors. Their work is interesting, often informative and often groundbreaking," says WAMC President and CEO Alan Chartock, himself professor emeritus at the University at Albany. "The problem is that very few people know it, and only a few people read the refereed academic journals that publish their work. We thought it would be a great idea to make this information available to the larger public in an interesting way. We think the Academic Minute is that."

The Academic Minute is hosted by incoming Mount Holyoke president Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, a prominent medical ethicist whose voice has also been heard on WAMC's The Health Show. Pasquerella, a philosophy professor, is a Mount Holyoke graduate who previously served as provost at the University of Hartford. She will introduce each day's professor to open the segment.

"For Mount Holyoke, The Academic Minute represents a superb way to highlight the power of higher education by focusing on the excitement of ideas," Pasquerella says. "It's a succinct, cost-effective, and powerful model for demonstrating the value of education at a time when our nation needs more than ever to recognize the contributions of the academy in meeting current challenges."

The Academic Minute spotlights professors from various colleges and universities, including but not limited to: Skidmore, Western New England College, UConn, Lock Haven, Monmouth, Hamilton, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, St. Michael's, Williams, Vassar, Western Connecticut, Amherst, Springfield, UAlbany, SUNY ESF, RPI, Columbia, Duke, and Pepperdine.

The Academic Minute strives to keep listeners abreast of what's new and exciting in the academy, from updates on groundbreaking scientific research to how the board game Monopoly can help explain the economic recession. Participating professors will be featured on WAMC's dedicated webpage, http://www.wamc.org/academic-minute.html.

Pasquerella, an accomplished scholar, medical ethicist, and global advocate for women's education and empowerment, was named the 18th president of Mount Holyoke College this past October. A 1980 alumna of the College, she will officially assume the presidency on July 1, 2010.

Founded in 1837, and the first of the Seven Sisters - the female equivalent of the once predominantly male Ivy League - Mount Holyoke was the model upon which many other women's colleges were patterned. Throughout its long history, the College has been known for brilliant teaching and academic excellence, and it has a longstanding record as one of the most successful producers of women in the sciences in all of U.S. higher education. In recent years, the school has radically expanded its international reach, and now features the most internationally diverse student body of any American college of its kind.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day with information and cultural programming from stations reaching parts of seven Northeastern states. WAMC is an award-winning producer of regionally based programming. WAMC is a member station of National Public Radio and is affiliated with Public Radio International and American Public Media. http://www.wamc.org/

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