Manohla Dargis ’85

Manohla Dargis is the 2016–2017 Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature. Dargis, who graduated from Purchase College with a degree in literature in 1985, went on to become a film critic at The Village Voice and The Los Angeles Times. Widely acclaimed as a preeminent critic, she is now co-chief film critic (with A.O. Scott) for The New York Times. She has won numerous awards for her work and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.