Political Science Professor Michael Krasner is a well-known source on New York City and state politics for news outlets ranging from New York-1 News to CNN.com. Among his other areas of expertise are the development of a September 11 high school curriculum and citizenship-training programs; and a focus on food politics and global warming, which explores the effect of industrialized farming on the evolution of the American diet. <\/strong><\/p>\nMichael Krasner has been teaching at Queens College since 1970, covering a wide range of topics from presidential, gubernatorial, and mayoral elections to American foreign policy, politics and media, and arms control. \u201cI grew up in a family that talked politics around the dinner table,\u201d Krasner says, recalling how his involvement in the peace movement of the early 1960s ultimately cemented his decision to teach politics.<\/p>\n
But teaching at QC, according to Krasner, is a unique experience thanks to the school\u2019s reputation as a champion of diversity. \u201cIt\u2019s great to call roll and hear all the different names,\u201d he says. \u201cYou really get a mental image of all the different places our students have come from: Africa, Central America, Dominican Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krasner\u2019s career is marked by impressive professional milestones, from lecturing in Haiti and providing political commentary to local media outlets such as 1010 WINS and NY1 to receiving two Fulbright Distinguished Professorship Awards.<\/p>\n
Krasner co-directs the Taft Institute for Government, an independent, not-for-profit organization located at QC that promotes better understanding of the political process among young people. \u201cThe institute developed a curriculum that helps high school teachers present the events of Sept. 11,\u201d Krasner explains. He also directs his department\u2019s internship program, which offers students experience working for elected officials, private attorneys, the Queens DA\u2019s office, media, advocacy groups, labor unions, and political consultants.<\/p>\n
Krasner\u2019s work often borders on activism. In 2002 he helped develop a community leadership, empowerment, and citizenship-training program for new immigrant, minority, and low-income groups in New York City. \u201cWe trained almost 200 parents and community leaders who have now become quite active,\u201d Krasner says. \u201cIn Brooklyn, they replaced a school that was causing health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Food politics and global warming are of particular interest to Krasner, who commutes weekly to his home on six acres of land in Vermont, where he raises lambs, hens, and chickens. \u201cThe course I teach on food politics looks at the connections between how Americans eat and how the American diet has evolved and been influenced by corporatized and industrialized farming,\u201d Krasner explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal warming is one of the most important issues our country now faces. If we don\u2019t do something about it soon, it will be too late,\u201d Krasner warns, citing a dangerous combination of powerful oil company lobbyists and right-wing conservatives that have waged a campaign to discredit the facts behind global warming.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany Americans think global warming is a hoax and a plot by liberals. But it\u2019s real and it\u2019s urgent,\u201d Krasner cautions. \u201cIt\u2019s a classic snowball rolling downhill. The rate at which it\u2019s getting worse is increasing. I think we\u2019re at a crisis point here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Books he recommends<\/b>: Michael Pollan\u2019s The Omnivore\u2019s Dilemma; <\/i>Bill McKibben\u2019s Earth<\/i> and Fight Global Warming Now; <\/i>Wendell Berry\u2019s The Art of the Common Place<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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Name: Michael A. Krasner Title:Professor Department: Political Science Degree(s): A.B., University of Chicago, 1964; Ph.D., Columbia University, 1977 Contact Information: Phone: (718) 997-5489 Office: Powdermaker 200N Email: mkrasner@sover.net “It\u2019s great to call roll and hear all the different names. You really get a mental image of all the different places our students have come from: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[137],"class_list":["post-1236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1879,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1236\/revisions\/1879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}