QC Students Trade Their Way to the Top

QC students Daniel Baruch, Max Fruchter, and Shlomo Sandler placed first among a field of 2,507 students on 930 teams from more than 325 schools nationwide in the TD Ameritrade U 2017 thinkorswim ® Challenge, sponsored by TD Ameritrade Services Company Inc. Participants in this annual contest set up an account with $500,000 in virtual money; without risking any real cash, they spend four weeks trading stocks, options, and exchange-traded funds. The QC team finished with over $2.6 million.

As members of the team with the best profit/loss percentage, Daniel, Max, and Shlomo each received an Apple iPad Pro and $3,000 in a TD Ameritrade brokerage account. They also brought home a cash prize of $30,000 for QC. Their winnings will go toward three years of funding for the program that encourages QC students to participate in the thinkorswim® Challenge; it will also support students’ entry in other national academic competitions.

“We are so proud of Daniel, Max and Shlomo for their excellent work, which will help to ensure that our students can participate in these competitions for years to come,” says President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “These students’ sterling representation of the college on the national stage again confirms that this is an institution that prepares its students to excel in the most challenging fields.”

Exploring Immigration and Diversity, Step by Step

This year’s Fall Faculty Dance Concert centers on  Migrations. This timely theme reflects on barriers to U.S. immigration, as well as the extraordinarily diverse populations of Queens College—with a student body that is nearly 40 percent foreign-born—and our borough, sometimes called “The World’s Borough.” Featuring premier works by the college’s internationally renowned dance faculty and performed by students in the Department of Drama, Theatre, and Dance, this program will take place at the Goldstein Theatre on Thursday, November 30, and Friday, December 1, at 7 pm; Saturday, December 2, at 8 pm; and Sunday, December 3, at 3 pm. For more information, click here .  

The college’s Winter Session will run from January 2-23. Over 70 undergraduate and graduate courses from a variety of disciplines will be offered, including online and hybrid classes that give students extra flexibility in scheduling classes. Students can take advantage of this opportunity to earn credits in courses that often fill up quickly in the fall and spring semesters. Registration for Winter Session 2018 is open now through January 2. For more information, visit  qc.cuny.edu/winter ​.

What’s in a Building’s Name?

Razran Hall

Stark and windowless, the New Science Facility erected in 1970 was designed to provide a controlled environment. Since 1994 that building has been known as Razran Hall, after Gregory Razran, a professor who specialized in animal behavior and chaired the psychology department for 22 years.

SEEK Director Norka Blackman-Richards:

Living Her Life to Empower Others

Committed to ensuring the academic success of students from challenging backgrounds who may sometimes feel “We don’t belong in college.” Teaching English in her garage in Costa Rica so that locals could get jobs in that nation’s tourism industry. Establishing a nonprofit that has trained thousands of women in Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Panama, Canada, and the United States to be advocates and leaders for other women, helping them see the possibilities within themselves.

           

These are just some of the ways that Norka Blackman-Richards has dedicated herself to empowering others . Read more .

Mara Einstein (Media Studies) worked in advertising and marketing before joining academia, and she brings an insider’s insight to her research. Her latest book, Advertising: What Everyone Needs To Know ^R (Oxford University Press), documents the strategies advertisers use to reach consumers in every available medium, from print, radio and television, to gaming apps and YouTube. She calculates that as a result, the average American encounters 3000 marketing messages every day. More insidiously, much of this messaging is designed to look like objective news coverage instead of branded material that targets specific audiences and shapes their preferences. In Advertising, Einstein gives readers the tools to resist this relentless, round-the-clock manipulation.