Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
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QView #124 | March 21, 2022
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Queens College President Frank H. Wu joined Wendy Phaff Gennaro, director of development for the Queens Centers for Progress (QCP), and her husband, New York City Councilmember James Gennaro (District 24), at an uplifting event on March 15: QCP’s gala at Terrace on the Park. The organization provides support and services for people with developmental disabilities. |
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After visiting the Louis Armstrong House Museum on Friday, March 18, with LAHM Executive Director Regina Bain, New York City Council Member Francisco Moya shared his excitement on Instagram. “My native Corona—home to jazz music legend Louis Armstrong, whose house today is a historic site and world-class museum. Coming this year, Corona will also be home to the new @louisarmstronghouse Museum Education Center. . . . It's going to be incredible.”
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President Frank H. Wu was among the speakers at the End to the China Initiative, a townhall held virtually on March 17 by Asian Americans Advancing Justice https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/. The China Initiative, introduced by the Trump administration in 2018 to combat theft of U.S. intellectual property, was scrapped by the Justice Department last month amid concern that the program encouraged bias against Asians.
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The Queens College community is horrified by the war in Ukraine, where Russia has spent nearly a month leveling urban areas, attacking civilians, and precipitating Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II. President Frank H. Wu issued his latest statement yesterday—March 21—with information about ways to support relief efforts. The History and Political Science Departments recently presented a panel discussion on the war; a video of the event is posted here.
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Vaccination Deadline Extended for Faculty and Staff
Under the latest agreement between the City University of New York and the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, staff and faculty members have nearly two additional months to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The deadline for uploading proof of vaccination to CUNYfirst has been moved from April 1 to May 27.
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Celebrating Black, Latinx and Caribbean Communities |
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On Wednesday, March 30—a week from tomorrow—QC will host Our Voices: Black, Latinx and Caribbean Students Day, organized by the Latino and Latin American Studies Program. The free event, (including refreshments) taking place in LeFrak Concert Hall, will explore the theme of overcoming COVID-19, with panels of prominent academics and community leaders discussing the pandemic’s effects on communities of color in Queens. The schedule will also feature the winners of student contests in art, writing, and media, and a performance by Yasser Tejeda & Palotré https://yassertejeda.net/, a group acclaimed for its Afro Dominican music. Some portions of Black, Latinx and Caribbean Students Day will be livestreamed. For more information and registration, go to https://kupferbergcenter.org/event/our-voices-black-latinx-and-caribbean-student-day/.
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QC Observes Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month continues to be eventful at Queens College.
Tomorrow—Wednesday, March 23, at 6 pm—the Office of Student Life will host Breaking the Bias: A Conversation with Angela Yee from the Power 105.1 Breakfast Club. An American radio personality, Yee serves on the boards of the We Are Family Foundation and the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies. She is also the New York Public Library system’s first ambassador. Everyone can watch the event live at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyV7EZARMdo.
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Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and the Queens County Women’s Bar Association will mark the month on Thursday, March 24, from 6 to 8 pm at Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library with a memorable presentation. New York State Attorney General Letitia James will give the keynote and Mary Murphy, WPIX reporter and QC alumna, will emcee. Former Acting Borough President Sharon Lee, LIFE Camp CEO Erica Ford, Queens County Clerk Audrey Pheffer, and Queens DA Office Human Resources Director Myrna Mateo will be honored; singer Jenna Esposito, BlaQue Resource Network Founder Aleeia Abraham, and the Fogo Azul Marching Band Drumline will perform. To attend, RSVP here. |
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Education as Radical Care will be the theme of this year’s Palmer Women’s History Month Celebration, taking place on Monday, March 28, from 6 to 8 pm. The discussion—the last of the events sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Program (WGS) this month—will feature speakers Joan Nestle, a QC alumna, former SEEK instructor, and co-founder of the Herstory Lesbian Archives, and Jessica Halem, LGBTQ+ inclusive educator and advisor. WGS Director JV Fuqua (Media Studies) will be the moderator. For details, visit WGS’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
In connection with Women’s History Month, Rosenthal Library staff assembled a guide on reproductive rights, a topic that also encompasses abortion, birth control, sex education, childbirth practices, and coercive “population control.” The resource collection comprises books, a documentary film, and a list of relevant U.S. Supreme Court cases. (The library also acknowledges the reproductive rights of transgender people and plans to highlight resources related to transgender health care in a future guide.)
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Annual screenings reduce lung cancer fatalities among blue-collar employees exposed to hazardous materials at their workplace and through smoking. That’s the innovation shared by Steven Markowitz (Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment), whose research shows that annual scans can identify workers’ cancers earlier, when they are curable. He explains his findings in “Commoner Sense: Lung Cancer Screenings Save Lives,” https://rebrand.ly/BIQC/EP017 the Big Ideas episode debuting this Thursday, March 24.
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Scavenger hunt design receives a tech upgrade in a collaborative exercise led by Matt Greco (Art) on two consecutive Fridays, April 1 and 8. On the first date, students will form teams of four to six people—at least one of whom has a digital device—get instructions, and download the free Goosechase Scavenger Hunt app. Using the app, teams will fan out across campus to gather photos and data and create a hunt. All hunts will be submitted to Greco. On the second Friday, teams will tackle a hunt they didn’t create. Hunts will be timed and rated; each member of the winning team will receive $50.
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Joyce Moy, CUNY’s AAARI Executive Director, To Retire
Joyce Moy, longtime executive director of CUNY’s Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI), will be retiring from her position effective March 31.
Since 2008, Moy has been the executive director at AAARI, a university-wide scholarly research and resource center that focuses on policies and issues that affect Asians and Asian Americans. As executive director, her duties included the support of scholars as well as disseminating and conducting research on Asian American and Asian issues and affairs. AAARI also engaged in educating the general public on Asian American and Asian affairs through seminars, conferences, research projects, collaborations with community-based organizations, public and private institutions, and other educational institutions.
“Joyce Moy has been an advocate for Asian and Asian Americans in higher education for decades, and her outstanding work has been of great benefit to so many people,” says Queens College President Frank H. Wu. “As a fellow Asian American, I am deeply grateful for everything she has done for CUNY’s AAARI. I wish her the best of luck in her retirement. She will be sorely missed.”
Prior to her work at the AAARI, Moy was the first Asian American appointed to the position of regional director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which was funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA). As founding director of the SBDC at LaGuardia Community College, she built a team of counselors who spoke English, Spanish, Korean and three dialects of Chinese to address the issues facing the large immigrant and marginalized business communities after 9/11. She was later appointed executive director of Economic Development at LaGuardia, giving her oversight of the SBDC, a Procurement Technical Assistance Center and corporate training. Her desire to be of greater service to the community, and the opportunity to use her advocacy skills as a former practicing attorney to support marginalized communities drew Moy to the work at CUNY.
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Advocating for Asian Americans
The role of executive director of AAARI was of personal importance to Moy because she is a first-generation Asian American (her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who emigrated from China were barred from US Citizenship by the Chinese Exclusion Act), and she wanted to help facilitate a greater understanding and education about the Asian American community and its history. The job opportunity also came at a time where Moy felt that she could make the most of her role.
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“Modern-day technology allows communications and relationships to be maintained. The ease of travel allows for tremendous connections to the home country, which was not possible in the days when my family came over,” noted Moy. “The dynamic changes and diversity of the Asian American community presented a challenge and need to help New Yorkers and beyond to understand the Asian American community.”
Moy has many fond memories of her time at AAARI. She will miss the ability to share ideas with her colleagues and faculty across the university and the ability to connect to students and to connect students to individuals that ultimately become mentors and friends. She noted that she is especially grateful for the opportunity to work with colleagues on the University Advisory Council on Diversity, who have shown an extraordinary dedication and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at CUNY.
However, her proudest achievement as executive director came in 2016 when AAARI produced a report about the state of Asian American leadership—or lack thereof—in higher education. The data showed that just 1.2 percent of over 4,000 colleges and universities had Asian Americans in high-ranking positions. CUNY had no Asian American representation in the higher ranks of leadership at the time.
“That report, along with conversations within the university, really led to a change,” said Moy. “It opened the doors for greater diversity in the ranks of higher leadership positions within CUNY.”
CUNY now has two presidents of Asian American descent, with QC’s own Frank H. Wu being one of them, and S. David Wu of Baruch College as the other. Prior to that, there had never been an Asian American president on any campus in CUNY or in an executive leadership position at the central office, according to Moy.
“These historic appointments are even more meaningful because it took place under the leadership of Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, whose own appointment as chancellor is historic.”
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Looking Ahead
As her time with CUNY comes to a close, she is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. Moy plans to return to economic development and community development, working to help build affordable housing and to build communities with strong support for minority- and women-owned businesses, while also supporting financial education and financial empowerment in communities.
“I’ve always been interested in economic development and community development,” she added.
Although Moy’s decision to retire and leave the AAARI was difficult, she felt the time was right.
“I have been in this position for over 12 years. There were some interests that I wanted to pursue that I had put off for quite a while. I decided it was time to do so.” added Moy. “I feel that CUNY is in good hands, and I am hopeful that the support for Asian American studies and Asian American faculty, staff, and students will continue and grow.”
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Diane Shults, associate director of alumni and employer engagement for the Center for Career Engagement and Internships, retired on Friday, March 18. For eight years, she drew on her extensive experience in human resources and recruitment to help Queens College students transition from college to employment.
“I have been fortunate to work with Diane on coordinating and expanding career services for the new business school,” says Social Sciences Dean Kate Pechenkina. “I admire her inexhaustible enthusiasm for innovative approaches to career coaching. A Queens College alumna herself, Diane understood and empathized with the challenges faced by our students, many of whom she served as a mentor and an ally.”
Shults's own trajectory was nontraditional. She attended Katharine Gibbs after high school, finding placement in the finance sector. “I started as a secretary at Merrill Lynch and worked my way up at Credit Suisse,” she says. Recruiting recent college graduates was among her responsibilities. Eventually, to advance further in human resources, she was told she needed a degree, too. “Thought that wasn’t in the job description,” she observes.
Finding Herself at QC
Born and bred in Queens, Shults enrolled in QC’s Adult Collegiate Education program, attending classes at night, weekends, and over the summer to graduate at the age of 41. “I was a first-generation college student,” she says. “I didn’t know the term then. Most of my friends didn’t go to college.” It was a different time.
Higher education transformed Shults and her approach to her job. As a recruiter for Bank of America, she realized her employer wasn’t reaching out to QC’s diverse and talented student pool. She contacted the college’s economics department and began making presentations on campus. “I didn’t realize I was so passionate about working with students until I got here,” she says. Building on her desire to help students as an alumna, she joined the college’s business advisory board in January 2013.
By 2014, Shults had left Bank of America and become an academic internship manager and career coach in what was then QC’s Division of Social Sciences. She helped undergraduate and graduate students in accounting, business, economics, finance, and risk management learn about resume writing, preparing for an interview, and personal branding. At the same time, she cultivated relationships with employers to create opportunities for students.
Sharing What She Learned
“I’m very good at relationship building,” Shults notes. “I tell students, ‘Never burn a bridge.’ I’m in touch with almost every manager I ever had. I’m still in contact with some of my students.”
A particularly memorable moment occurred during her second year at QC, when a student she worked with got an interview with J.P. Morgan, which later offered him a summer internship. “I was so proud and happy for him,” Shults recalls.
Eager to have even more impact, Shults went back to school, earning a Master of Science in Industrial Labor Relations and Human Resources Management from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. That credential enabled her to lead a World of Work course, From College to Career, and a course for BALA, Business and Society. She cites real-life examples in her classes and brings in guest speakers.
“Teaching became my passion,” Shults says. “I’m so inspired by my students. They are the sugar in my coffee. When they get a job offer, I cry.”
When QC switched to remote learning in March 2020, Shults set up her Zoom camera in the house she and her husband own in Florida. With the pandemic waning, she realized that she could retire early if they sold their home in New York and settled full-time in the Sunshine State. She plans to continue teaching as an adjunct.
Wherever Shults goes, she will always maintain a presence on campus. “My colleagues in the Career Center purchased a brick with my name on it, and gave it to me at my going-away party,” she reports. “I cried. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.”
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Eggs-acting Exhibition
The latest exhibition at the Garage Art Center —display space Godwin Ternbach Museum staffer Stephanie Lee founded to showcase local artists—is Egg. In this Women’s History Month show, Dong Hee Lee used hot glue to create biomorphic shapes that suggest the cellular structure of the human embryo. Egg, running through April 17, is free and open to the public by appointment. To schedule a visit, send an email to contact@garageartcenter.org. (The Garage Art Center was covered in QView 103.)
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Jaclyn Doherty, a graduate student in psychology, received a grant from the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society . . . . Christine Ginalis, a graduate student in psychology, received a research award at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual meeting . . . . Lon Kaufman, an alumnus, published a poem—“Man of Faith”—in the American Journal of Poetry on January 1. A biologist, Kaufman held positions at the University of Chicago and Hunter College before retiring from academia in 2019 . . . . QC President Frank H. Wu was interviewed by CBS New York on the connection between COVID-19 and the rise of anti-Asian violence President of Queens College Frank Wu on pandemic's role in growing number of anti-Asian attacks . . . . Frank Yu, a QC alumnus, has been elected to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s board of trustees. Yu is the founder, chief executive officer, and chief investment officer of Ally Bridge Group, a global life science investment group with dual headquarters in New York and Hong Kong . . . . Psychology faculty Carolyn Pytte and Josh Brumberg are on a team awarded a CUNY planning grant to work on developing a CUNY Institute for Inclusive Neuroscience . . . . Maria Pio (Godwin-Ternbach) and SEYS faculty Susan McCullough, Jay Shuttleworth, and David Gerwin won a grant through the Library of Congress to develop teaching/curriculum guides using the collection of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum.
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