The brainchild of WAMC’s Alan Chartock, The Academic Minute features professors from top institutions around the country, delving into topics from the serious to the light-hearted, keeping listeners abreast of what’s new and exciting in the academy with topics ranging from updates on groundbreaking scientific research to an explanation of how the board game Monopoly can help explain the economic recession.

The Academic Minute features a different professor everyday, drawing experts from institutions within WAMC’s listening area, such as Mount Holyoke College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and beyond, from places like Duke University, The University of Notre Dame and Columbia University.

The Academic Minute airs each weekday at 7:37 a.m  and 3:56 p.m.  Make The Academic Minute your ‘ah ha!’ moment of the day.



The Host
Lynn Pasquerella - A celebrated philosopher and medical ethicist, Dr. Pasquerella is President of Mount Holyoke College.

Pasquerella majored in philosophy and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Mount Holyoke in 1980. She received a full fellowship to Brown University, where she earned a Ph.D. in philosophy.

Pasquerella has written extensively in the areas of medical ethics, theoretical and applied ethics, metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law. She also is a passionate advocate for women’s education and credits her training as an ethicist with helping her reach beyond the academy to engage communities—both locally and around the globe—on issues of women’s empowerment. Previously, she was the principal investigator on a $3.5 million National Science Foundation grant to promote the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. Since 2008, she has served as project leader for a research team with the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions, working to improve the lives of women in an AIDS-ravaged section of Kenya.

The Theme

The Academic Minute opens with a selection by WAMC contributor and renowned cellist Yehuda Hanani, who appears on Classical Music According to Yehuda during The Roundtable. The piece is Bach's Suite No. 2 in D Minor.


Production support for The Academic Minute comes from Newman's Own Foundation in partnership with Mount Holyoke College.


Recent Installments