DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES – SPRING 2025 VIDEOS

Coordinators: Arlynn Greenbaum, Bob Reiss, Karen Levin, Estelle Selzer

The Distinguished Guest Lecture Series enhances the Quest program experience by inviting recognized experts in their fields to present on varied subjects.

To view a video click on the link above its description.

DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
Roman Year: A Memoir

Presenter: Andre Aciman, Kenneth Leedom/Peter Cott Memorial Speaker
Presentation Date: September 10, 2025

• Roman Year

Andre Aciman is an author and teacher best known for his book, Call Me By Your Name, which became an award-winning film. He will discuss his latest memoir, Roman Year, and his recently published collection of three novellas, Room on the Sea. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he and his family moved to Rome when they were exiled.

His other books include Find Me, Out of Egypt, Eight White Nights, False Papers, Alibis, Harvard Square and Enigma Variations. He teaches comparative literature at the Graduate Center of CUNY and is the editor of The Proust Project.

DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURES
Local History: Creating the Skyscraper Museum

Presenter: Carol Willis
Presentation Date: September 24, 2025

• Skyscraper Museum

Carol Willis is the founder, director and curator of the Skyscraper Museum, created in 1996. She is also an adjunct associate professor of Urban Studies at Columbia University. She wrote Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago. The book received an AIA book award and the “Best Book on North American Urbanism” in 1995 by the Urban History Association.

She gives a “show and tell” about the Skyscraper Museum and the history of lower Manhattan, and, even more locally, the Financial District since the mid-1990’s.