May 2023

The end of the semester and academic year finds me running from one great event to another—among the rewarding aspects of my job.

I hope everyone had the opportunity to participate in Queens College’s first Diversity Week. So many people worked on Diversity Week that it’s not possible for me to acknowledge all of them by name. But I would like to thank the members of the planning committee: Jerima DeWese (Committee Chair and Chief Diversity Officer/Dean of Diversity), Estefanie Lliguichuzca, and Vivian Cheung of the Office of Compliance and Diversity; Simone Yearwood (Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library); Jennifer Jarvis (Office of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management); JC Carlson, Kristin Berkey, and Kya Simmons of the Office of Student Development and Leadership; Lillian Zepeda (Office of Communications and Marketing); Natanya Duncan (Africana Studies); Norka Blackman-Richards (SEEK); Trina Yearwood (School of Education); JV Fuqua (Media Studies, Women and Gender Studies); Jenna Citron (QC Hillel); and Aysa Gray (CERRU). They created a broad sweep of programming and established a model for the campus to use in future years. Thanks as well to the speakers and panelists who provided important sessions and workshops, many featured in last week’s issue of The QView.

Here's a photo from the last event, Diverse Careers in Service to Urban Communities, presented on Friday, April 21, by James Vacca (Urban Studies) and the Urban Studies Club.

Diversity includes neurodiversity. April is Autism Awareness Month, and the Sigma Delta Tau sorority called attention to it on campus with an informational table on the Quad.

Colombia’s Presidential Counselor of Youth Gabriela Posso Restrepo and her assistant, Laura Maria Florez, had reached out to us to explore an articulation agreement which would allow Colombian youth to come to the United States for educational opportunities, some perhaps needing English language instruction prior to matriculation. QC is the first institution of higher education Restrepo and Florez contacted. On April 27, I met them on campus. I expressed enthusiasm for the idea with external funding, especially given QC’s status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the diversity of the Borough of Queens. I offered to introduce Restrepo and Florez to others in the CUNY system, explaining that it includes two-year colleges and the possibilities of transfer. Sean Pierce (Student Affairs), Trina Yearwood (School of Education), Liza Marquez (External and Governmental Relations), and Alejandro Mendez—a student from Colombia—joined us for breakfast. 

From left: Wu, Mendez, Restrepo, Florez, Yearwood, and Pierce

Princeton Review's Best Value Colleges ranking came out last week and QC made the list for the sixth consecutive year. I cannot say that I’m surprised. Congratulations to the faculty and staff responsible for our consistent success.

I also congratulate the faculty responsible for hosting the fifth annual Reimagining Science & Technology Education Conference on campus last Friday: Salvatore Garofalo (SEYS), Stephen Farenga (SEYS), Gopal Subramaniam (Chemistry), and David Laurenson (SEYS). The conference, for junior high and high school science teachers and their students, is part of the SciTech Program, an NSF-funded project that helps prepare educators for positions in high-needs urban schools. This is critical work, and I’m proud that Queens College is involved in it.  

May is shaping up as a busy month.

The Kupferberg Center for the Arts will offer its first Cinco de Mayo Festival, albeit on May 6—this Saturday—at 3pm. The family-friendly program, presented with promotional support from the Consulate General of Mexico in New York and the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, will showcase four celebrated ensembles specializing in traditional Mexican music and dance. It’s sure to be an entertaining afternoon.

I’m looking forward to the Queens College Gala, which will return to Guastavino’s in Manhattan on the evening of Wednesday, May 10. Silver medal Olympian and Queens College Foundation member Gail Marquis ’80 will emcee, people from the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM) will perform, and three highly accomplished alumni—surgeons Richard Barakat ’81 and Amber Guth ’79, and investment banker Celeste Guth ’82—will be honored. Tickets are still available.

Richard Barakat

Amber Guth

Celeste Guth

Would-be entrepreneurs on campus have honed their concepts through the Tech Incubator’s Pitch Fest and the Blackstone LaunchPad Business Ideas Competition. On Friday, May 12, Queens and Long Island high school students will vie for startup funding or scholarship money at the first-ever Lobster Tank Entrepreneur Competition, presented by Schneps Media’s Long Island Press and Long Island Press Business, in partnership with QC and Long Island University. Our School of Business will be providing judges to help with the competition. The event will be held at LIU’s Tilles Center for the Performing Art from 9 am to 3 pm. Participants can enter as individuals or on teams. Know any likely contenders? Contest rules and the entry form are posted here.

Lawrence Eisman, a double QC alumnus and professor emeritus of Music Education at ACSM,  passed away in 2021. After teaching in Long Island public schools, he became a full-time faculty member at QC, chairing the music department and founding the college’s Center for Preparatory Studies in Music (CPSM), which he led for 29 years. From 1978 to 2002, he directed the Queens College Choral Society. On Saturday, May 13, James John (ACSM) will lead the Queens College Choral Society, Treble Choir, Vocal Ensemble and Orchestra—more than 200 musicians in total—in a performance of the Brahms Requiem dedicated to Eisman’s memory. ACSM faculty members Jennifer Grimaldi, soprano, and Andrew Wannigman, baritone, will be the vocal soloists. Alumni guests who will take part in the program include Edward P. Norris, III, choral director at Glen Cove High School on Long Island, whose Select Chorale will open the concert with a special tribute to Eisman. Tickets are available here.

Baccalaureate and Commencement are just a month away! The stars of these events are of course the students being celebrated. But I’m excited to report that alumnus Jon Favreau—writer, creator, actor, sometime director, and executive producer of “The Mandalorian”; director of Iron Man and Iron Man II and portrayer of the title character’s factotum, Happy Hogan, in the franchise—will be the Commencement speaker and receive an honorary doctorate on Thursday, June 1. I will have the privilege of giving a President’s Medal to New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. Another medal recipient, Judith Heumann, an advocate for people with disabilities, passed away earlier this year, so I will present the medal to members of her family.

Jon Favreau

Antonio Delgado

Judith Heumann

Earlier on, at the May 30 Baccalaureate Awards Ceremony honoring student academic achievers, I will present a President’s Medal to Noel Hankin ’68, business and civic leader, author, and champion of African American education and culture.

I am pleased to announce the formation of a search committee for the position of provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. The committee, formed pursuant to the Queens College Academic Senate Charter, Section X.C. and in accordance with guidelines from the Office of Compliance and Diversity, will be chaired by Chief of Staff Desirae Colvin (Office of the President). The other members are faculty and staff Hefer Bembenutty (Secondary Education and Youth Services), Claudia Brumbaugh (Psychology), Zadia Feliciano (Economics and LLAS), Carolyn Pytte (Psychology), Simone Yearwood (Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library), Lillian Zepeda (Office of Communications and Marketing) and students Taylor Caine and Isa Mitchell.

The search will begin this semester, go on hiatus during the summer, and resume in the fall semester with the goal of bringing finalists to campus before Thanksgiving. I have asked the search committee to provide three to five unranked finalists who will be interviewed in person by the search committee, an additional panel of faculty and staff, and my cabinet. Finalists will also participate in an open forum for faculty.

I offer my deep thanks to the search committee members for their service and to all those participating in this important process.

As some people already know, Father Jeremy Canna has been appointed pastor of Saint Bernadette, in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. We thank him for his years of service to the QC community, bid him the fondest of farewells, and wish him all the best in his new pastorage. He will be replaced at the Newman Center by Father Jose Diaz. The official changeover will take place on June 30. I look forward to welcoming Father Jose to campus.

This is my last newsletter for the semester. I wish all students good luck on their exams. I hope to see the campus community at Commencement on June 1.

PS: Earlier this year, 40 influential leaders from many different fields were named Kings of New York by Schneps Media, which has a companion “Queens” event. I was honored to be among the faux “royalty” feted at a celebration at Terrace on the Park on Wednesday, April 26. A raffle to benefit the Zara Charitable Foundation was on the menu.

I never miss a chance to learn more about the Borough of Queens. Jane’s Walk Weekend, an annual event that commemorates journalist and urban booster Jane Jacobs on or around her May 4 birthday, features tours led by volunteers, self-guided routes, and virtual talks. Events are being held in Flushing, Jackson Heights, Rockaway, and other neighborhoods. This post from the It’s in Queens blog lists activities.

Stay safe and well.