QC and Harvard Collaborate on Professional Development Program

 The college has embarked on a professional development program in conjunction with Harvard University to cultivate future leaders in education, with a particular emphasis on leadership positions in CUNY. Diversifying CUNY's Leadership: A CUNY–Harvard Consortium is based on nationally recognized higher education leadership programs at the  Harvard Institutes for Higher Education (HIHE) and the  American Council on Education's ACE Fellows Program . It will provide training, support, development, and networking opportunities to QC faculty and staff interested in leadership positions within CUNY. The program includes leadership development training at HIHE, shadowing, and mentoring from established CUNY leaders, intensive cohort meetings, and the opportunity to work on a project that addresses CUNY's commitment to diversity and inclusion. The program also advances the college’s strategic goal of supporting faculty and staff excellence. Additional details, including eligibility requirements, can be found here . The application deadline is 5 pm on Friday, December 22. 

Business Forum Panel Will Explore the Healthcare Industry and the Affordable Care Act

Our next Business Forum Breakfast takes place on Friday, November 17, with a panel of healthcare industry leaders who will discuss the state of the industry and what might come after the Affordable Care Act. Panelists include President & CEO of Public Health Solutions Lisa David, President & CEO of Emblem Health Karen Ignagni, New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera, and VP of New York-Presbyterian Hospital System Kate Spaziani. It will be moderated by Distinguished Lecturer of Journalism Sheryl McCarthy. The forum will take place from 8 to 10 am on the fourth floor of the Student Union. An audience Q&A session will follow, and breakfast will be served. The event is free and open to the public , but seating is limited. RSVP deadline is November 14: Email Business.Forum@qc.cuny.edu , call (718) 997-5252, or register online here .

What’s in a Building’s Name?

Remsen Hall

At the end of World War II, veterans filled college classrooms all over the country, courtesy of the G.I. Bill. With enrollment soaring, QC embarked on a series of improvements. Remsen Hall, erected in 1950, was the first major new campus building. Its namesake, Ira Remsen (1846–1927), scion of a wealthy College Point family, started the nation’s first doctoral program for chemistry; saccharin was invented in his lab. Appropriately, QC’s chemistry department has its office in Remsen.

Charles Swarns, Jr.

Like almost all Queens College students, Charles Swarns, Jr. ’80, a managing director of SunTrust, wasn’t born with the proverbial silver spoon. Growing up in St. Albans in southeast Queens, he attended public schools, enrolling first at Queensborough Community College before transferring to QC, where he earned a BA in economics. While working at JP Morgan as an intern, a job he was offered by a campus recruiter, he attended classes both day and evening .

Promoted to ever-higher levels of responsibility during his 35 years at the company that came to be known as JP Morgan Chase, Swarns could have focused single-mindedly on the demands of his finance career. Instead, he took the time to give promising students from his alma mater personal introductions to his company, which often led to internships. That work experience, in turn, gave them a leg up in their own careers, and the most talented were hired for full-time jobs. Read more .

Celebrated culinary historian Jessica Harris (SEEK), author of a dozen books, explores her own history in her dishy memoir, My Soul Looks Back. Raised in St. Albans, Harris had an enviable childhood marked by piano lessons, dance recitals, etiquette classes, and travel. She attended the United Nations International School--source of the French fluency that would prove so valuable to her--followed by the High School of Performing Arts, where she studied drama, and Bryn Mawr, where she didn’t. Back in New York after a year at the Université de Nancy in France, Harris began teaching at SEEK, then a new program. She earned a master’s degree at Queens College and a doctorate at New York University, but she’s more interested in describing the rich cultural education she gained through her relationship with SEEK colleague Sam Floyd, whose circle encompassed James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, and their families and friends. Harris also reports on experiences that helped shape her career: cooking, dining out, and visiting francophone African and Caribbean countries. The book includes a playlist of music that evokes the era of each chapter, and recipes for soups, curry, roast poultry, and more. The “ersatz sauce gribiche,” an enhanced mayonnaise, is a gift to home cooks looking for creative ways to deploy that jar of capers sitting in the back of the refrigerator.