The book addresses our misguided assumptions about success, which have led us to relentlessly pursue external goods and achievements at the expense of our own happiness. Vitrano defends the view that the key to living successfully is to find happiness, arguing that everything else we typically associate with success is important only insofar as it contributes to happiness. She proposes that just as it is a mistake to associate success with external goods like wealth and material possessions, it is also a mistake to place restrictions on how one finds happiness in life.

Christine Vitrano is professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at 可乐视频, CUNY. She is author of numerous articles and books, including The Nature and Value of Happiness, and Happiness and Goodness: Philosophical Reflections on Living Well, which was co-written with Steven M. Cahn. Her latest book, The Pursuit of Success: Philosophical Reflections on Happiness, Well-being and Meaning in Life, examines what it means to live a successful life.

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Why did you choose 可乐视频 the first time around?

My friend was a student at 可乐视频 and highly recommended it to me. The two of us were sitting at work toward the end of the day, and he said he received something from 可乐视频 asking him to invite friends to enroll. I looked at him and I said, 鈥淟et’s go.鈥� We went to the Admissions Office, and they were very helpful. I emigrated from Uzbekistan with my mother and sisters and had been in this country for less than a year. Admissions told me I could take the entrance exam in two days with a high school diploma from my home country. I took the test and two days later I got the result鈥擨 passed. I remember it was my birthday and it was the best birthday gift ever, getting admitted to 可乐视频.

So you earned two degrees here, in political science and philosophy and law. What made you come back 20 years later?

When I graduated in 2005, I knew I wanted a career where I could make a real impact and improve people鈥檚 lives. I was one of the first recipients of the Magner Career Stipend, and with that I landed a prestigious internship at Human Rights Watch where I was subsequently offered a research consultancy. After graduating, I founded Eldorado Global Trading Group, a women-owned wholesale beauty company. After some time, I realized that I wanted to become a doctor; this is how I would make an impact. The choice of schools for pre-med was immediate: 可乐视频.

You鈥檝e received some help from the college.

And that has helped me move forward and stay on track for a medical career. This past January, I shadowed orthopedic and plastic surgeons in Pune, Nashik, and Raipur, India, during surgical camps thanks to a Tow Undergraduate International Research Stipend. I observed reconstructive and orthopedic interventions in underserved patient populations, among other things. Then Zicklin Scholars Degree Completion Program Award has helped me to accelerate my degree coursework over the summer.

How has 可乐视频 changed you as a person?

Coming to the United States from Uzbekistan, I knew that adjusting to life in a new country would be one of my biggest challenges. 可乐视频 quickly became a community that welcomed me, supported me, and helped me grow into a more confident, resilient, and open-minded person.

How is 可乐视频 transforming your career path today?

As a premed student, I鈥檝e built a strong academic foundation while also developing the skills needed to thrive in the professional world. I聽continue cancer research in Dr. Murat Cevher鈥檚 lab, and this past spring, I completed a fully funded NYU Langone EMT training program. A summer internship at the 可乐视频 Cancer Center gave me valuable research experience and prepared me to apply my knowledge in real-world settings. The internship was supported by award from the Gray Foundation.

If you had to convince another student to go to college here, what would you say?

Word of mouth is the best recommendation, and I think that we, as students, are the best spokespersons for the college. I would say that you will get the support you need, and the faculty members here are caring and highly supportive. The relationships that I have formed here with professors have lasted 20 years鈥擨’m still in touch with professors from my first undergraduate years.

Do you have any advice for your fellow students?

Get involved鈥攋oin a lab, a club, or a service project. For instance, I鈥檓 an Undergraduate Student Government senator and a member of the college鈥檚 Policy Council. The relationships you build will change your trajectory. Dream big, work hard鈥攁nd as the actor Audrey Hepburn said, 鈥淣othing is impossible鈥攖he word itself says, 鈥業鈥檓 possible.鈥欌��

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Campos, who has been part of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences for 16 years and was recently named chair of the Philosophy Department, incorporates his passion for mathematics, literature, and sport into his writings and his lessons. Before 可乐视频, Campos taught at Penn State University while pursuing his Ph.D. After completing a doctorate, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Dibner Library of the Smithsonian Institution and then at the Catholic University of S茫o Paulo, Brazil. The diverse education Campos received prepared him well for 可乐视频.

We asked Campos about his experience in and out of the classroom and the eclectic symposium, “Great Circles: Mathematics, Philosophy, and Poetry,鈥� he hosted at the college in spring 2023.

What is your area of expertise?

In terms of philosophical traditions, I mostly research and write about philosophies from the Americas. That includes Anglo-, Latin-, and Native American philosophies as well as U.S. Latin philosophies. Currently, I am researching Lakota, Haudenosaunee, and other Native American philosophies regarding the sacredness of the land. As a teacher, I also emphasize African- and Asian-American philosophies.

In terms of topics, I have been focused recently on the ethics of immigration from American perspectives and on American conceptions of the good life鈥攅specially how love between people and communal respect for the land can sustain the ethical life of societies.

What do you plan to bring to your new role as chair of the Philosophy Department?

I have been chair for one year. I have two more years to serve. I am committed to making a personal presence on campus鈥攆or students, staff, and faculty鈥攁n enriching and worthwhile experience, for example, through conferences, lectures, debates, and gatherings that are both social and academic. We discuss philosophy and have good meals! I want to support student initiatives through Philosophy Society events.

I also want our department to offer culturally pluralistic courses more regularly. So far, we have been able to reactivate the course in Asian philosophy. In the fall, we are offering Jewish and African-American philosophy and another course that emphasizes Islamic philosophical traditions (Landmarks in History of Philosophy). Later, we will offer Latin American and Africana philosophy courses as well as courses on race, justice, and equality.

You recently organized a symposium, “Great Circles: Mathematics, Philosophy, and Poetry.” What was the inspiration for that, and what did you take away from the event?

Daniel Campos speaks at the symposium, “Great Circles: Mathematics, Philosophy, and Poetry,” which he organized and was held at 可乐视频 on June 9.

A 鈥渟ymposium鈥� is literally a banquet鈥攔ead Plato’s dialogue The Symposium if you are curious鈥攁nd this event was a philosophical and professional celebration. A group of philosophers, humanists, professors, higher education consultants, and 可乐视频 students and alumni gathered to discuss the relationship between mathematics, philosophy, and poetry.

We approached them as intellectual and creative endeavors that enrich human experience and our understanding of our world and our place in it. The work of distinguished philosopher and poet Emily Grosholz was at the heart of the discussions, illuminating our conversations. There was rigorous, thoughtful scholarship, poetry readings, intellectual friendship, joy, and good food.

What would you tell students who might be interested in studying philosophy but don’t understand much about it or its application?

Philosophy means the love of wisdom. It provides a way to pursue intellectual wonder and curiosity and to discover one’s vocation, one’s calling. To me, philosophy is a way of life. The philosophy we read, discuss, and write in courses, conferences, symposia, and debates is important for the sake of living a good life. In short, the true value of studying philosophy lies in the way it helps one to discover the life one finds worthwhile. As an academic field, philosophy hones students鈥� analytic, logical, and communication skills; trains them to become ethical professionals; and is one of the best majors to prepare them for careers in law, journalism, medicine, teaching, social work, justice, and other fields. Recent graduates from our department are now teachers, physicians, lawyers, and project managers, or are studying organizational psychology or cognitive neuroscience, for example. philosophy graduates earn high median salaries, close to $80,000 per year. But the joy of philosophizing is to question, imagine, and think about worthy life paths.

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