NEW Lynn Pasquerella
Alan is joined by the incoming president of Mt. Holyoke College, Lynn Pasquerella, who becomes the South Hadley, Massachusetts' school's 18th president in July. They discuss her hopes for the institution and Pasquerella's background as a philosopher and medical ethicist.

NEW Susan Scrimshaw
Alan is joined by new Sage Colleges president Susan Scrimshaw, an expert social scientist who grew up in Latin America and has forged a career as a professor and administrator.

NEW Lloyd Constantine
Alan is joined by corporate lawyer and Eliot Spitzer confidante Lloyd Constantine to discuss his book Priceless, about the credit card cartel he helped to break up.

NEW Tony Trischka
Alan is joined by Tony Trischka, one of the premier banjo players in the world, who discusses his rise from childhood in upstate New York to the top of the folk and bluegrass worlds.

Jay Gallagher
Alan is joined by veteran Albany reporter Jay Gallagher, the author of The Politics of Decline. Gallagher is battling pancreatic cancer and has spent the months since his diagnosis chronicling his fight on a blog and writing his memoirs. They also discuss the state of politics at the Capitol.

Roger Sailant
Alan talks to Roger Saillant, a former Ford official and the co-author of the environmental novel Vapor Trails, about sustainability and how Saillant rose from virtually nothing to the top of the business world.

Peter vam Agtmael
Alan speaks to Peter van Agtmael, war photographer and author of 2nd Tour: Hope I Don't Die, about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and on other assignments around the world.

E.D. Hirsch
Alan is joined by author and educational critic E.D. Hirsch, writer of the landmark Cultural Literacy, to discuss his new book The Making of Americans and what still needs to be improved in American public schools.

James Barba
ames Barba joins Alan Chartock for an interview about health care reform and how it could affect hospitals in our region. Barba is the president and CEO of Albany Medical Center. This interview was taped July 15th at WAMC studios.

James Barron and Mitchel Levitas
Alan is joined by journalists James Barron and Mitchel Levitas to discuss "The New York Times' Book of New York: Stories of the People, the Streets, and the Life of the City Past and Present."

Dr. Robert Baker
Alanis joined by Dr. Robert Baker, Director of the Union Graduate College Bioethics Program to discuss medical ethics.

Anthony Wood
A preservation activist, historian, writer, teacher and grant maker, Anthony Wood is currently Executive Director of the Ittleson Foundation. Mr. Wood is the founder and chair of the New York Preservation Archive Project..

Dr. Dustin Swanger
Dr. Dustin Swanger is the 8th President of Fulton Montgomery Community College. He has a broad range of experience in higher education with a career spanning more than 20-years. His career started at BOCES in Mt. Morris, NY. He then moved on to Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY; Rochester Institute of Technology; and then to Francis Marion University in Florence, SC. After a year at Francis Marion, Dr. Swanger returned to Monroe Community College in Rochester but was on the move again as he was offered a position at Luzerne Community College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Dr. Swanger has been President of Fulton Montgomery Community College since April 2007.

David Bornstein
David Bornstein specializes in writing about social innovation. He is the author of "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas" which was described by The New York Times as "must reading" for "anyone who cares about building a more equitable and stable world" and a "bible" in its field. The book, which has been published in 20 languages, chronicles and analyzes the work of social innovators who are successfully addressing social problems at scale in several countries.

Mike Hein
Mike Hein was elected Ulster County Executive in November 2008. He became Ulster County's first executive after residents voted in favor of changing the county form of government. He had previously served as the County Administrator and Deputy County Treasurer. He talks to Alan Chartock about some of the challenges of running a county government.

Ralph Gardner Jr.
Ralph Gardner is a freelance writer whose work has appeared frequently in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and the New York Observer. He also writes for The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast websites. He talks with Alan about his ongoing coverage of Brooke Astor's son, Tony Marshall, who is charged with taking advantage of the New York socialite to plunder her $185 million fortune.

Alex Storozynski
A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, former member of the New York Daily News editorial board, founding editor of amNewYork and former city editor of the New York Sun, Storozynski has also been published in the European edition of The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Newsday and other publications. He joins Alan to talk about his new biography of Thaddeus Kosciuszko entitled The Pesant Prince.

Julianne Boyd
Julianne Boyd founded the Barrington Stage Company in January, 1995. She has directed many productions at BSC, including last season's critically acclaimed West Side Story and the 2005 production of Follies, the world premiere musical The Game, based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Mack and Mabel, A Little Night Music, South Pacific, Cyrano de Bergerac and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Harold Varmus
Nobel Prize winning scientist and a leading figure in the fields of science and politics, Harold Varmus currently serves in the Obama Administration as co-chair the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The talk about his remarkable career including how he won the Nobel Prize, his time as Director of the National Institutes of Health and his current role as President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. They'll also talk about the relationship between science and politics and touch on a number of health related topics including cancer research, stem cells and universal health care.