May 2025

Two weeks into spring, the campus has erupted in beautiful bloom, creating an idyllic backdrop for everything taking place here. It is wonderful to stroll across our Quad and see students of all backgrounds throwing a frisbee or playing volleyball.

On Tuesday, April 29, students from the Queens High School of Teaching visited campus and learned more about their opportunities at Queens College.

I spent the morning at a convening of the CUNY and Hillel Campus Climate Initiative (CCI). The event assembled CCI teams from seven participating CUNY senior college teams led by presidents to collaborate, strategize, and build on the momentum of previous efforts. Associate Provost for Innovation and Student Success Nathalia Holtzman was among the speakers, who included Hillel International and CUNY officials.

From left: Laurie Dorf, Nathalia Holzman, Meredith Katz, Priscilla Deleon, Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, me, Jerima DeWese, Jenna Citron Schwab, Judith Krinitz, Sascha Owen, Jay Hershenson; kneeling in front: Felix Matos Rodriguez

Returning to QC, I welcomed Ralf Wüstenberg and Zaineh Barakat, faculty from the Wasatia Graduate School of Peace and Conflict Resolution at Europa University, for a tour and coffee break. Thanks to Professor Azriel Genack for suggesting the visit and then helping with arrangements.

From left: Azriel Genack, Ralf Wüstenberg, Zaineh Barakat, and myself

From left: Nourit Zimerman (Jewish Studies/History), Zavi Gunn (Center for Career Engagement and Internships), Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price, Zaineh Barakat (Europa University), Simone Yearwood (School of Arts and Humanities), me, Patrick O‘Connell (QC Global), Ralf Wüstenberg (Europa University), Azriel Genack (Physics), Lev Deych (Physics), Maria Pio (Godwin-Ternbach Museum), Ying Zhou (Tech Incubator)

Afterward, Wüstenberg and Barakat met students for a lively and informative discussion.

On Wednesday, April 30, I had the great pleasure of speaking at the induction ceremony for the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, which offers membership to select undergraduates based on academic achievement in the arts and sciences. We talked about Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great Transcendentalist philosopher, whose essay about the American Scholar gave its name to the Phi Beta Kappa magazine. An orator and essayist when the general public would frequent the Lyceum or read the newspaper on a daily basis, he continues to inspire. An intellectual community is based on dialogue among equals. The best teachers train students who will surpass them. 

That afternoon, I joined members of the senior class in raising a glass to their upcoming graduation. The Senior Toast is a cherished and joyful QC tradition.

In the evening, the Math Department held a lovely reception for alumni and friends in the Kiely Hall Courtyard. Attendees took time to appreciate the department’s exhibition in the newly renovated space on the second floor of Kiely. I encourage all to visit and learn about the history of the department and many of its past members and graduates. Like literacy, numeracy is crucial to being a critical thinker and engaged citizen. The Math Department has trained graduates who continue to be mathematicians through and through as well as those who blend that crucial skill with other pursuits, such as business. Our ability to use data and logic is what distinguishes civilization.

Coffee was served on Thursday, May 1, as Kara Schlichting (History) and Daniel Cumming, a post-doctoral fellow in history, talked about their Melting Metropolis research project. Funded by Wellcome Trust, Melting Metropolis examines the evolving relationship between urban heat and health. The study is based at Queens College and the University of Liverpool; project partners are the Living Centre in Somers Town, London, and Queens Memory Project, New York.

I shared a photo op with, from left, Melissa Checker (Urban Studies), Kara Schlichting (History), Daniel Cumming, Julia Sneeringer (History).

Faculty presenters shined on May 2 at the latest Teaching and Learning Showcase organized by the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership (CETLL). I appreciate CETLL’s ongoing efforts to promote best pedagogical practices.

With a public presentation on Sunday, May 4, followed by a schooltime performance yesterday, Kupferberg Center for the Arts’s Cinco de Mayo show reached more than 2,500 people. A festive time was had by all.

It will be an exciting week ahead for our athletics program. Our East Coast Conference champion (ECC) men’s tennis team will compete in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The information for their first-round matchup was announced too late last night to appear in this week’s issue, but sports fans can learn more at queensknights.com.

Additionally, our baseball team qualified for this week’s ECC playoffs. The Knights will compete in the double elimination tournament held at D’Youville College beginning Thursday. In their first-round contest, Queens will take on top-seed Molloy University at 3 pm.

I’d also like to congratulate two members of our outdoor track and field team who had record-breaking performances at last week’s ECC Championship. Sophomore Carly Koprowski set an ECC Championship record in the 800-meter run, placing first with a time of 2:14.49. Junior Dami Babola also established a new ECC-meet record with his first-place finish in the men’s 400-meter hurdles (55.25).

Good luck to all our teams in the post-season!

I’m delighted to write about progress in areas of great consequence for the college community.

As previously reported in QView, our partnerships with LaGuardia and Queensborough Community Colleges are generating results. As a trio of institutions in the CUNY system, we were selected for the prestigious Aspen program to enhance the process of continuing higher education from our sister institutions. From day one, students at LaGuardia and Queensborough see a clear, supported pathway to a bachelor’s degree at Queens College. These partnerships build on the momentum of associate degree completion, preparing students to enter Queens College as juniors and welcoming them into a vibrant community where they thrive, are empowered to achieve their educational goals, and make a lasting impact in their communities.

Kenneth Adams

Christine Mangino

I especially thank LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams and Queensborough Community College President Christine Mangino and their teams for their exemplary collaboration. I gratefully acknowledge the offices of Academic Affairs, Undergraduate Admissions, and Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, as well as deans and department chairs, for facilitating opportunities, providing support, and building bridges for transfer students. Our partnership benefits from the generous financial support of the Heckscher Foundation for Children as well as participation in the Aspen/AASCU Transfer Student Success Equity Initiative. 

We are working with CUNY and SUNY community colleges to further enhance the welcoming environment at QC.

In a related development, the Academic Senate reduced the college’s residency requirement—the minimum credits that must be completed here to for an undergraduate degree from QC—to 30, from 45, in line with our CUNY four-year peers. They voted to remove the “last 30 credits in residency at QC.” These rules were enacted in 1978, well before the advent of ePermits and the Internet. This update serves today’s students. It is a testament to effective shared governance at Queens College, and aligns with our support for student success. 

I’ll close with news of upcoming events.

The Thomas Chen Family/Crystal Window Endowment has been enriching the campus by supporting artist residencies. Theater State, a solo exhibition by Jian Yang, the second Chen artist-in-residence, will be on display May 14-24 in the Queens College Art Center on the sixth floor of Rosenthal Library. I’ll be at the opening reception on May 14, 6 to 8 pm. I hope you will join us.

Commencement is around the corner. The stars of the occasion will be the talented, hard-working students receiving degrees and/or certificates. In addition to recognizing our graduates, the college will confer honors on three exceptional and distinguished people. At Baccalaureate on May 27, scholar, athlete, lawyer, and philanthropist Douglass Ress ’76 will speak and receive a President’s Medal—the highest administrative honor I am authorized to award.

At Commencement two days later, television host, columnist and print reporter Errol Louis, longtime adjunct professor at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, will deliver the keynote; he, too, will receive a President’s Medal. He will be joined on the dais by journalist, essayist, and memoirist Brent Staples, a Pulitzer Prize-winning member of the editorial board of the New York Times, whom I will present with an honorary doctorate. I trust that these highly accomplished individuals will inspire our graduates for years to come. Together with the faculty, families and friends of graduates, and elected officials, we much look forward to graduation on the Queens College Quad on Thursday, May 29, 2025.  

Errol Louis

Brent Staples

PS: I was very saddened to learn of the passing of Robert Wayne Kenny—husband of former QC President Shirley Strum Kenny—on April 4 at the age of 92. Something of a Renaissance man, Bob Kenny was a painter as well as a veteran of the U.S. Army in counterintelligence. He taught British and Irish history for a quarter century at George Washington University (GWU) and spent five years as dean of its Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School. He retired from GWU in 1992 to focus on his art full-time. I offer my deepest condolences to his family.