On February 19th, we were pleased to host Ambassador Adalnio Senna Ganem, Consul General of Brazil in New York, at the Spring 2026 Brazil Seminar.
Ambassador Ganem is not only a distinguished representative of Brazil but also a professor of International Relations in São Paulo, making him both a practitioner and a teacher. He has represented Brazil across the globe: as ambassador to Panama, Consul General in Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, and now New York, and as Chargé d’Affaires in Paris and representative to the OECD. He has advised Brazilian vice presidents and served in key roles in São Paulo and in Brazil’s Senate Commission of External Relations.
Also present were founder of the Brazil Seminar, Professor Regina Castro McGowan; seminar teacher Gregory Duff Morton; and Director of Academic Advising, Herbert Seignoret, who has been instrumental in setting up the course.
In his opening remarks, Dean Marc Ostfield noted that Ambassador Ganem’s presence reminds us of Brazil’s extraordinary achievements in public higher education and of a shared commitment to making education the “property of the people,” as Townsend Harris envisioned for City College. He went on to say:
“Now we may call it a coincidence, but after Townsend Harris founded our school, he went on to become… a Consul General, the U.S. Consul General to Japan. Harris must have known the joy of building bridges across nations and cultures, and it’s that same joy that we feel in today’s event.”
About the Brazil Seminar
The Brazil Seminar is a practicum designed to discuss major cultural, economic, political, and social issues of contemporary Brazil through a combination of readings and presentations by guest speakers. Guest speakers include leading scholars as well as analysts, activists, business leaders, and public figures from Brazil or working with Brazil.
