QView #144 | December 13, 2022

In a photo op, Shaunette Renée Wilson ’13 is flanked by her mentor at QC, Claudia Feldstein (Drama), and Arts and Humanities Dean William McClure.

Shaunette Renée Wilson ’13, star of Bleu Beckford-Burrell’s play La Race, made an on-campus appearance in an informal conversation sponsored by QCArts and the Office of Alumni Relations on December 6. La Race, set in Far Rockaway, will continue running at the McGinn/Cazale Theater in Manhattan through December 23. Wilson’s other acting credits include the role of Mina Okafor in Fox’s medical drama, “The Resident.”

As seen above, members of the Personnel and Budget Committee—better known on campus as P&B—took a break from their usual business to celebrate the season on December 7. Right: President Frank H. Wu listens to the jazz musicians performing at the party.

CUNY students had their pick of packaged goods and fresh produce in Armstrong Alley on Wednesday, December 7, when the Knights Table Food Pantry and the Office for Student Development and Leadership held the last Harvest Fest of the semester. Students also had the chance to pick up GrowNYC bucks, useable at any GrowNYC location.

Ruth Becker ’56 visited campus on Thursday, December 8, for lunch with Sociology faculty and Development staff. Becker worked with the Sociology Department and the Office of Institutional Advancement to commemorate her late nephew Richard W. Lachmann, a widely admired sociology professor at the University of Albany, by endowing a chair in his name at Queens College. 

Back row (from left): Director of Donor Relations Joann Acquista; Sociology faculty members Dean Savage, Anahi Viladrich, and Amy Hsin; and Vice President of Institutional Advancement Laurie Dorf.

Seated (from left): Robin Rogers (Sociology), Ruth Becker, and her great-nephew Derrick Lachmann, Richard Lachmann's son.

Going across the Pond for Graduate Work

President Frank H. Wu and Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, president of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, received a $25,000 check on December 8 from Ira Schuman, vice chairman and New York branch co-manager of Savills, an international real estate services firm. The funding will enable a QC graduate to pursue master’s level study at Lucy Cavendish through a new institutional partnership. 

“We are grateful to Savills for its investment in a program that will support our alumni as they pursue graduate studies at Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge,” said Wu. “Our new and developing partnership stays true to Queens College’s values and mission to prepare our students to serve as innovative leaders in a diverse world that they make more equitable and inclusive. We dedicate ourselves to helping them thrive as global citizens by providing a learning community where multiple languages and cultures are part of the everyday social fabric. I’m delighted to know that our graduates will have the opportunity to enact Queens College ideals abroad through this new initiative.”

From left: Tom Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce; Dame Madeleine Atkins; Moyagaye Bedward Leverett, Queens College scholarship specialist and alumna; and Schuman.

Reeves’ 33-point Effort Leads QC Women’s Basketball to Win over Roberts Wesleyan

Reeves’s performance earned her ECC Player of the Week on Monday, December 12.

Chelsea Reeves scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Queens College women’s basketball team to a 61-58 victory over Roberts Wesleyan College last Friday. The win improved the Knights record to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the East Coast Conference. The Knights have one more game before the holiday break. They will host Assumption University on December 17 at 2 pm.



In other Knight news, the men’s basketball team dropped a pair of contests last week, falling to Roberts Wesleyan and University of Bridgeport. They’ll look to bounce back with two home games before the break. They host the College of St. Rose on December 16 at 6 pm and Saint Michael’s College on December 19 at 6 pm.

Last week also marked the beginning of the indoor track and field season. On December 9, the Knights competed in the Wagner College Seahawk Shootout held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. The Knights went up against several Division I schools in a highly competitive meet. Queens was led by Alyssa Lebron, who finished seventh in the weight throw (14.90 meters), and Naazir Noel, who placed seventh in the triple jump (13.55 meters). The Knights will be off until after the holidays and will return to action on January 6 at the Wagner College Invitational.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship

Students participating in the QC Blackstone LaunchPad Business Ideas Competition for fall 2022 had the opportunity to develop and pitch concepts for companies in four categories: Social and Climate Impact, Health and Life Science, Consumer Products and Services, and General. The contest came to an inspiring conclusion at the Business School Breakfast on Thursday, November 17, when Blackstone Program Director Rachel D. Latimore—who spoke about her vision of LaunchPad—and the program’s Campus Director Luc Marest (Economics) presented certificates and $2000 to each of the winning teams. 

The Social and Climate Impact prize went to Reginald Wills and Sujen Wu Wu. Health and Life Science was won by Atanas Peichev. The top entry in Consumer Products and Services was submitted by Rebecca Oppenheimer and Aliza Nagel. Juan Chacon and Mauricio Soriano won the General category.

Blackstone LaunchPad is a platform that helps students to develop entrepreneurial skills. It includes pitch competitions, workshops, speakers series, bootcamps, and other activities can be found here.

From left: Aliza Nagel, Rebecca Oppenheimer, Rachel D. Latimore, Mauricio Soriano, Juan Chacon, and Reginald Wills

It’s All in the QCard

The QCard—Queens College’s ID card—is the key to campus and so much more, such as visiting Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library during extended hours (which started December 13) or accessing printing services. Students can use their QCard to get discounted tickets for events presented by the Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts.

It is important to have your QCard on hand whenever you come to campus. For complete information on getting, replacing, or adding cash to your QCard, click here. For assistance, email qcard@qc.cuny.edu.

Once printed, QCards are held by the Public Safety Office at the Main Gate (Kissena Boulevard). To pick up your QCard, go to that office with a current government-issued photo ID as proof of identity.

Coat Collection

Have outerwear to spare? The Office of Student Development is holding a winter coat drive through December 19. New or gently used coats can be donated in boxes placed in the lobbies of the Student Union and Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library. Students in need of a coat should email volunteer@qc.cuny.edu; coats that aren’t distributed to students will be given to a shelter.

Appetite for Studying

MidKnight Breakfast will be served in the Dining Hall tonight—Tuesday, December 13—for four hours starting at 8 pm. QC students are invited to come to the Main Cafeteria, Knights Diner area, to fortify themselves while preparing for finals. The breakfast, a cherished QC tradition, is hosted by the Student Association to mark Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library’s 24-hour service during exam period.

Learn about Service Learning

In a presentation at the Q-Side Lounge on Wednesday, December 14, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm, students from Urban Studies, Environmental Studies, and Cities and Social Medicine will talk about the internships and research projects they completed this semester. This event will also highlight organizations that provided students’ experiential learning placements. Refreshments will be served.

Honoring Martin Luther King

Save the date now for QC’s annual celebration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which will be marked on campus on Sunday, January 15, at 3 pm. Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, the event’s honoree, will deliver the keynote; Grammy-nominated vocalist Samara Joy will perform. Tickets cost $20 apiece. QC students receive a 50 percent discount on tickets; alumni and non-CUNY students can receive 20 percent off by calling the Kupferberg Center for the Arts box office at 718-793-8080. Starting Wednesday, December 14, QC faculty and staff and students from other CUNY campuses who place orders online will receive 20 percent off by entering the code CUNY20 at checkout. 

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Scholarship Opportunities

The Women’s Forum of New York and TheDream.US offer scholarships likely to appeal to some members of the QC community. Both programs have February deadlines.

The Women’s Forum of New York, comprising more than 500 top female leaders across multiple professions and industries, awards $10,000 grants to women working toward their first associate’s or bachelor’s degree after age 35. Recipients must live in and attend college in New York City. The money can be used to cover any expense, from rent or child care to tuition. For eligibility information and the application form, click here. Applications are due February 1, 2023.

TheDream.US, a college access and success program for DREAMers, awards up to $33,000 in financial assistance to undocumented immigrants pursuing a bachelor’s degree. The scholarship is open to undocumented immigrant students with or without DACA or TPS who came to the United States before the age of 16 and before November 1, 2017. Candidates must have a high school diploma or GED. Requirements, instructions, and the application itself are available here. Applications must be submitted by February 28, 2023.

Amy Hsin

Núria Rodríguez-Planas

Ying Zhou

Peter Calandra (Music) wrote the theme for Fox Sports coverage of the FIFA World Cup . . . . Arturo Casadevall ‘79, a scientist and physician who received an honorary degree at Commencement last spring, was quoted in an NBC News story about the inefficacy of monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for the latest COVID variants . . . . Amy Hsin (Sociology) had two recent publications based on her work on undocumented CUNY students. In “Stratified Entry into Illegality: How Immigration Policy Shapes Being Undocumented,” published in Social Forces, Hsin and her co-author, CUNY SLU faculty member Sofya Aptekar, share results of a three-year qualitative project involving interviews with 100+ undocumented CUNY students. In “Local Policing and the Educational Outcomes of Undocumented College Students,” published in Sociological Sciences, Hsin and her co-authors merged CUNY administrative data with administrative data from the New York Police Department to examine how exposure to stop-and-frisk around college campuses affects the educational outcomes of undocumented CUNY students . . . . Mohammad Ali Miri (Physics) received a $10,000 exploratory grant from NASA for “Investigating the Commercialization Potential of Efficient Optical Power Beaming Systems based on Omnidirectional Coherent Absorbers" . . . . Tito Munoz, a QC alumnus who conducts the Arizona Symphony, was profiled by the Arizona Republic on December 4 . . . . Núria Rodríguez-Planas (Economics) was named a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation for the period from September 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024 . . . . President Frank H. Wu delivered the keynote at the December 9 gala in Detroit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Association of Chinese Americans . . . Ying Zhou (Tech Incubator) was joined by Deputy Queens Borough President Ebony Young at Tech Night on Thursday, December 1. Young stopped by to promote the incubator’s participation in the Venture Access NYC Founder Fellowship.

This is the last QView of the fall semester. Happy Holidays! The newsletter will resume publication in the spring semester.