08/25/2025
Most graduate students at SUNY Cortland don’t return to school after decades as a lawyer and educator. Then again, J.C. Polanco has made unique opportunities for himself his entire life.
Working online toward a master’s in history is, for Polanco, just another step from being a child of immigrants in the Bronx to his most recent project as a podcast host getting some of the biggest names in New York City politics.
“They came in with that immigrant spirit to achieve the American dream and that was something that was instilled in me very early,” he said of his Dominican parents. “They said ‘You’re an American, you’re part of this American fabric.’ I'm here to seek the American experience success.
“They told me early on that education was the key.”
Still calling the Bronx his home, Polanco’s career has seen him go from a social studies teacher who took evening classes for his law degree to an attorney running his own firm, Polanco Law PLLC. He’s also been president and commissioner of the Bronx for the New York City Board of Elections, and the director of the New York City Regional Office for the State Assembly.
And throw in being a batboy for the New York Yankees for good measure.
Now, Polanco is making a name for himself in Cortland’s History Department. He said he’s always found understanding history to be a valuable aid in his work, a belief that led him to begin to pursue a master’s in 2023.
“Every one of my subjects has been understanding that topic through the historical perspective, every single one of them,” Polanco said. “Constitutional law through the historical perspective, common law — when we look at cases today, everything has been through that prism. Having a graduate degree from Cortland in history will give me that edge I would like professionally in academia and elsewhere.”
The courses have challenged him and helped him grow, he added.
“I’ll be a much better writer, and I think I’ll be a well-rounded graduate history student at the end of this.”
While that would be enough to keep anyone busy, he’s also gained attention for his new podcast, “Centered with J.C. Polanco,” that brings in some of the biggest names in New York politics.
This isn’t Polanco’s first journey into the subject, as he’s been a contributor and analyst for local and national networks including CBS New York 1, Univision and CNN. Using that experience, he was able to welcome Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor and current independent New York City mayoral candidate, as his first guest. It was a big name get that surprised Polanco.
“It was one of those things where I thought, ‘Let’s just give it a shot,’ and we did and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be on,’” Polanco said.
After Cuomo came Curtis Sliwa, current Republican candidate for New York City mayor and founder of the Guardian Angels. Soon, Polanco plans to host progressive voices like the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams.
The goal, he said, is a centrist show that appeals to the moderates that Polanco believes are a large — and largely ignored — audience in a political world too often dominated by divisionary rhetoric.
It’s a project where Polanco has found his time as a Cortland student to be a help. He was previously more interested in economic history, based on his business law firm and earlier MBA from Fordham University. But since his new classes, he’s enjoyed developing a wider range of knowledge.
“We had a whole summer where we immersed ourselves in all these readings that I never came across before and it just completely made me interested in new aspects of history that I was never exposed to before,” Polanco said.
Polanco also said he’s been enjoying Cortland’s way of teaching online students. As an adjunct professor for Borough of Manhattan Community College during the COVID-19 pandemic, he saw how difficult it can be to build connections over a distance. Since then, he’s also become an assistant professor for the University of Mount Saint Vincent.
“(Cortland’s online students) get to network, they get to know each other,” Polanco said. “They get to participate in breakout rooms, and there’s constant communication between the students. Not everywhere does that.
“I’ve made some lifelong friends here. I had one of my classmates come down from the Adirondacks this summer to have dinner here in the city. We’re going to remain lifelong friends. You get that opportunity because of the way the professors create the environment.”
If having a second academic life in Central New York while running a law firm and developing podcast seems like it would be exhausting, Polanco says he enjoys it all. For now, he looks forward to being challenged in his next semester at Cortland.
“The different classes that I’ve taken here, they’ve just awoken a whole new interest in me,” Polanco said. “I thought that that would be impossible after 25 years out of the classroom.”