QView #139 | October 25, 2022

In a memorial service led by the Newman Center’s Father Jeremy Canna on October 19, members of the QC community and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn celebrated the life and dedication of his campus predecessor, Father Paul Wood.

From left: Bishop James Massa, Father Jeremy Canna

Hao Tu, superintendent of Queens North High Schools for the New York City Department of Education, got a tour of Townsend Harris High School and QC on October 19.

From left: President Frank H. Wu, Superintendent Hao Tu, Townsend Harris President Brian Condon

From left: White House Liaison Shelley Greenspan, Congresswoman Grace Meng

In an Oct. 19 visit arranged by Congresswoman Grace Meng, Shelley Greenspan, White House liaison to the Jewish community, met with leaders of the Jewish community in Queens and student members of QC Hillel. The focus was on combatting antisemitism in the state, nation and on college campuses. Assemblymembers Nily Rozic and Daniel Hevesi attended, along with representatives of City Councilmembers James Gennaro and Lynn Schulman.

Members of the Jewish community in Queens and on campus get in the picture with White House Liaison Greenspan (center, front row) and to her right, Congresswoman Meng. 

Numbers tell the story: Celebrated mathematician Yitang Zhang, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, generated as much excitement as a rock star when he gave a talk during free hour on October 19. Audience members—including attendees from Hunter College and the Graduate Center and even parents of some students—filled Kiely 258 and spilled into two overflow rooms.

Top-performing students—Presidential Scholars, Provost Scholars, and Dean’s List Scholars—had their achievements celebrated at the Academic Excellence Award Ceremony on Thursday, October 20, in Colden Auditorium. Alumna Freda Johnson received recognition, too; before she delivered the keynote speech, President Frank H. presented her with the President’s Medal, the college’s highest administrative honor. A member of the Queens College Foundation, Johnson broke the glass ceiling in the public finance sector, becoming the first female executive vice president of Moody’s Investors Service and leading Government Finance Associates, Inc., which advised state and local governments and public authorities on debt, financial management, and strategic planning. 

October 20 was designated by Mayor Eric Adams as "Allan Wernick Day" by proclamation presented by Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of Public Service Engagement Andrea Shapiro Davis ’81 and New York City Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Manny Castro. The announcement was made at a CUNY reception held in honor of Wernick's retirement as director of CUNY Citizenship Now, where CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, state and city officials praised the longtime immigration attorney and advocate for his exemplary dedication and expertise.

Salsa star Victor Manuelle got the large crowd singing, dancing, and cheering at Colden Auditorium on Saturday, October 22. A previous campus date scheduled for Bronx native Manuelle, a repeat Grammy nominee known El Sonero de la Juventud (“The Singer Of Youth”), was postponed because of COVID.

The life and work of John J. McDermott, a celebrated philosopher who taught at QC early in his career, was commemorated with a conference on Friday, October 21. President Frank H. Wu was among the speakers, who included former students of professor McDermott, colleagues, and McDermott’s widow, Patricia.

Men’s Soccer Clinches Playoff Berth, Sets School Record for Wins; Women’s Tennis to Host ECC Championship

The Queens College men’s soccer team stayed hot last week, earning a 2-1 win over St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday, giving them 12 wins on the season—a new school record. In the process, the Knights also clinched a berth in the East Coast Conference (ECC) playoff, set to begin in two weeks.

In other athletics news, women’s volleyball had a convincing 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-16) win over D’Youville College—their 10th win of the season and the most since QC’s 2015 season—while men’s tennis concluded the fall portion of its schedule with a 5-2 victory over Saint Michael’s College. 

Coming up this week, the women’s tennis team will host the ECC Championships on Friday and Saturday (times TBD). The Knights will be searching for their third conference title in four years. On Saturday, women’s volleyball (12 pm), women’s soccer (5:30 pm), and men’s soccer (8 pm) will host their “white out” games with T-shirt giveaways available to fans in attendance. (Saturday will be Senior Day for women's volleyball and soccer.) For more information, go to queensknights.com.

Three from QC on Board as TLH Student Advisors

Undergraduates Adina Black, Reyana Persaud, and Fabienne Renois have been named to the TLH Student Advisory Board for Fall 2022. Hundreds of CUNY students were invited to apply for the 12 positions on the board, which was created this semester to engage students directly in Transformative Learning Across the Humanities (TLH). Through this ongoing initiative, funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, faculty TLH fellows are working to "transform the classroom" in ways that center student learning in a just society. 

Adina Black

Reyana Persaud

Fabienne Renois

TLH Student Advisory Board members will be invited to several speaker engagements as a way to learn, will share their experiences with the TLH community, and are expected to assist in planning a virtual conference, “Student Summit on the Role of Humanities in a Just Society.” They will be compensated with a $300 stipend and a laptop.

Black, Persaud, and Renois are all minoring in BALA. They became eligible for the board after taking BALA 103W: Critical Thinking—led by TLH Fellow Susan Kuhn—and becoming Mellon Student Scholars by participating in surveys and engaging in a public project with their teacher.

Black and Persaud are sophomores, majoring in Computer Science and Psychology, respectively; Renois is a senior majoring in Dance.

Registration Open for 2023

To rephrase Shelley, if autumn comes, can winter, spring, and summer be far behind? Registration information for Winter, Spring, and Summer 2023 is already available to students in CUNYfirst; look in the Student Service Center under "Enrollment Dates." On October 31, students will be able to register for the Winter, Spring, and Summer 2023 sessions. For schedule details, please see the mailer sent earlier this month by QC Hub Director James Curry.

All about Tenure

Mystified by the tenure process? Learn all about it at “Getting to Tenure: A Road Map for Queens College Faculty,” a two-hour virtual forum offered on Friday, November 4, at 10 am by the QC chapter of the Professional Staff Congress. Recently tenured faculty Christopher Wagner (EECE), Elizabeth Riina (FNES), and Shuheng Wu (GSLIS) will discuss their experiences in the tenure process; Soribel Genao (ECP) will talk about the grievance process; and former and present chairs: Bobbie Kabuto (EECE), Igor Kuskovsky (Physics), and Larissa Swedell (Anthropology) will participate in a Q&A.

To attend the forum, register in advance here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the

Vote Early, Not Often

Early voting for New York’s general election will take place October 29-November 6. The hours vary with the days; click here for details. On Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, polls will be open from 6 am to 9 pm. To find your early voting site or your Election Day site.

This year, New Yorkers will choose their governor, lieutenant governor, and state comptroller, among other offices. Voters will also have the opportunity to weigh in on ballot proposals about issuing a bond to fund environmental projects; amending Article 1 of the New York Constitution to establish the right of each person to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment; eliminating the requirement that citizens be registered to vote at least 10 days before an election; and authorizing no-excuse absentee voting.

Center for Jewish Studies Offers Fall Events

The Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) will open its fall programming with a lecture—The Land Is Mine: Sephardi Jews and Bible Commentary in the Renaissance—on Friday, October 28, at 10 am over Zoom. The speaker, Andrew Berns, who teaches history at the University of South Carolina, published a book on this topic earlier this year.

On November 2, CJS will team up with QC Africana Studies to present “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide,” a virtual classroom conversation with Emory University professor and author Carol Anderson. The center’s Kristallnacht commemoration on November 8 will feature a talk by Eliyana Adler, author of Survival on the Margins: Polish Jewish Refugees in the Wartime Soviet Union.

Italian Cinema CUNY Holds Festival

Italian Cinema Today, the fourth annual festival from Italian Cinema CUNY, will take place October 31-November 1, with first-day events scheduled in LeFrak Concert Hall and the second day moving to Segal Theatre in the Graduate Center. The schedule will include U.S. premiere screenings and commentary by film critic Antonio Falduto, director-screenwriter Stefano Mordini, and screenwriter Luca Infascelli. Italian Cinema Today is co-sponsored by the School of Art, Department of European Languages and Literatures, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Aaron Copland School of Music, and the PhD/MA Program in Comparative Literature and the Italian Specialization at The Graduate Center.

Speaking of cinema: The 12th annual Queens World Film Festival will run November 1-6, with events at Flushing Town Hall, Kaufman Astoria Studios, the Museum of the Moving Image, Queens Theatre, and Local NY. On the lineup this year are 157 films, from 27 countries. From November 20 to December 4, the entire festival will be shown here.

Tech Day at QC

The Office of Information Technology has planned its first campus Tech Day, on November 2 from 10 am to 2 pm, for everyone: students, faculty, and staff who want to learn more about leveraging the available technology at Queens College. The free hybrid event will feature panel discussions, demonstrations, and more. CUNY/QC partners, including Microsoft, Linkedin Learning, Amazon Web Services, EAB, Gartner, and SPEAKHire, will be showcased. Reserve a place, a link for Tech Day will be sent out on November 11.

QC at the Latest Glance

QC at a Glance digests everything you need to know about the college into a single booklet, available in print and digital formats. The latest edition has just been released; see for yourself.

Ralph Molé

Ralph Molé, an award-winning producer of sports programming, passed away on Tuesday, October 18. He was 73.

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Ozone Park, Molé studied mass communications, film and television at QC, moonlighting as a rock musician—and meeting his future wife when she attended one of his performances. After graduation, he was employed by the Archdiocese of New York. Segueing into athletic events, he produced shows about tennis, horseracing and, for the newly founded ESPN, arm wrestling. Launching his own company, Windfall Productions, he spent more than 40 years supplying programming for ESPN and other networks, covering college sports, international contests, and pro leagues. He collected a trove of industry honors, including Emmys for his work in the Olympics and the X Games.

Predeceased by his wife, Molé is survived by their two sons.

Constance Wain Schwartz

Constance Wain Schwartz, an artist, art teacher, and art therapist, passed away on October 1. She was 91.

A New Jersey native transplanted to Queens with her family, Schwartz honed her creative talents at Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and Hunter College before leaving school to get married and raise a family. Settling in Huntington Township, New York, she found time to illustrate books and posters for local organizations that supported human rights.

Enrolling at QC after her youngest child started school, Schwartz completed a BA in Fine Arts, and then taught at all levels, ranging from K-12 to the School of Visual Arts, Hofstra, and Usdan Center for the Arts. She particularly enjoyed serving as the art instructor for the Town of Huntington’s Senior Division.

Schwartz earned an MFA in Printmaking from C.W. Post and, working in that medium and others, was exhibited in solo and group shows, winning raves in the New York Times and Newsday. Interested in the healing values of art, she became a registered arts therapist, working with individuals and groups and traveling to China as part of an art therapy delegation.

Predeceased by her husband and their son, Schwartz is survived their two daughters, a son-in-law, and grandchildren.

Caroline Hong and Amy Wan (English) received an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution grant for $1.76+ million over 5 years (2022–2027) to support QC Asian American and Pacific Islander students . . . . Ji Young Kim (CMAL) won a fellowship from the Academy of Korean Studies. The fellowship will enable her to conduct research in South Korea for five months in 2023 and share her work and ideas with the academy . . . . Ariadna Phillips MSEd ’20 was quoted by Gothamist, PIX 11, NY1, and other news outlets on the drawbacks of the temporary housing set up by New York City for the migrants swelling the homeless population. Phillips is the founder of South Bronx Mutual Aid, a self-help network . . . . Dana Weinberg (Sociology) was awarded $3 million by the Air Force Research Laboratory for her research on influence operations, extremism, and the role of narrative . . . . Penelope, published by the Calandra Institute’s Bordighera Press, received the Italian Prose in Translation Award this year from the American Literary Translators Association. Translators Anna Chiafele and Lisa Pike received $5,000. Penelope was written by Silvana La Spina.