QView #168 | November 28, 2023

The Godwin-Ternbach Museum’s Family Day on Saturday, November 18, held in collaboration with School of Education's Teacher Opportunity Corps II, drew more than 100 visitors of all ages and abilities. Families from the Pomonok Afterschool Program, PS 201Q, MS 419Q, PS/MS 219Q, PS 499, and other sites participated in art-making activities and special story time with Caldecott award-winning author Javaka Steptoe and viewed the exhibition through a scavenger hunt. 

Observing Transgender Day of Remembrance on and off Campus

From left: Red Washburn, interim director of Women and Gender Studies Program at QC; Chanel Lopez, deputy director for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the New York State Governor’s Office; JC Carlson, Student Life Events Manager and LGBTQIAA+ Programs Coordinator at QC; Kim Watson-Benjamin, LGBTQ coordinator in the Office of the New York City Public Advocate

Chanel Lopez, deputy director for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the New York State Governor’s Office, and Kim Watson-Benjamin, LGBTQ coordinator in the Office of the New York City Public Advocate, were among the speakers on Monday, November 20, at QC’s Transgender Day of Remembrance. The annual campus event commemorated those who were lost to anti-transgender violence and highlighted the significant increase in hate violence against trans people, especially those of color. Lopez presented a proclamation from Governor Kathy Hochul; students, faculty, and staff read the names of 26 transgender and gender non-conforming people murdered this past year—a list that is incomplete, because may of these stories are unreported or misreported.

Interim Director of the Women and Gender Studies Program Red Washburn offered remarks, followed by a moment of silence. Students received transgender ribbons to wear, transgender flags, and free copies of TransVibin' magazine.

Dining Hall custodian, Berdena Simpson (right) speaks.

Remembering lives cut short.

This event, which was recorded and will be filed at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, was sponsored by the Office of LGBTQIAA+ Programs at Queens College in partnership with the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium and the New York City Council. Co-sponsors included the Queens College Gender, Love and Sexuality Alliance/GLASA, the Alliance of Latin American Students/ALAS at Queens College, the Queens College Hispanic Club, the Queens College Arts Club, the Women and Gender Studies Program at Queens College, and the CUNY Office of Student Inclusion Initiatives.

The following day, Tuesday, November 21, students Yaninza Ochoa, Ashley Cuatlacuatl, Alex Wright, and graduate Anthony Nino de Guzman ’23—members of the Queens College LGBTQIA+ Pride Team, the Queens College Alliance of Latin American Students and the Hispanic Club at Queens College—and QC Student Life Events Manager/LGBTQIAA+ Programs Coordinator/CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium Associate Director JC Carlson represented Queens College and the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium at the Transgender Day of Remembrance event that New York City Public Advocate Jumaane William held at Exponents in Lower Manhattan. (Queens College LGBTQIA+ Pride Team member and Queens College Hispanic Club Vice President Luis Villa is an intern in the office of the NYC Public Advocate.)

Queens College LGBTQIAA+ Programs, Queens College NYPIRG, and the NYC Public Advocate's Office are now discussing potential collaborations. In addition, Carlson is partnering with Exponents to offer services to male-identifying transgender CUNY students seeking support. Targeted support for this population is limited.

QC Students Excel in Recent Competitions

Computer science and business majors put Queens College on the map in contests in their respective fields.

Members of the QC club Code Resolve were among the top performers at HackHarvard, held at the Harvard Science and Engineering Complex October 20-23.

Code Resolve members in the lobby of Harvard's science building

Sophomore computer science majors Adam Mock and Maxwell Tawiah created OdinCare AI with teammates from Colby College, Maine. OdinCare AI is an AI-powered health care solution built in JavaScript, using speech recognition and ChatGPT 3.5 Turbo API. Serving as a health visual assistant, it allows users to report daily health status and receive AI-based diagnosis and recommendations. The OdinCare team was one of the finalists in the Healthcare track.

Tshetrim Llhendup, a senior CS major, collaborated with students from HEC Canada and the University of Oregon to develop HackAnalyzer. This AI-driven platform for hackathons assesses idea originality and similarity to existing projects using web scraping and OpenAI. The HackAnalyzer team won two prizes: “Most Creative Use of GitHub in a Project” and “2nd Best Overall Hack.” 

With only 36 hours to finish projects, participating QC students improved their ability to code under pressure. They also attended workshops and had the opportunity to meet with industry experts from Google, TerraAPI, CareYaYa, and more.

“I'd like to thank Tim Mitchell (Computer Science) for advocating for this activity and accompanying us on the trip,” says Cold Resolve Vice President Shalif Shaoul. “His support and guidance greatly enhanced our experience and ensured the trip's smooth execution.”

Meanwhile, the team of Andreia Duarte, Pavel Tchigirinski, Sujal Kumar, John Eliscu, Aviel Seltzer, and Abhinandan Gaba, advised by Dorian Abreu (Economics), made an impressive showing in the 2023 College Fed Challenge Federal Reserve Board - College Fed Challenge. A newcomer to the event, QC placed third in the New York area—behind Columbia University and Manhattan College—and among the top 18 nationally, out of 107 teams. 

The challenge asks participants to analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee. Unlike most teams, which prepare for this contest a year in advance, the QC contestants met for the first time in late August to present phase 1 to the Fed on October 5.

Duarte, founder and president of the Business School Club at QC, recalls the experience as intense, hectic, and educational. “We had to put together a presentation on the economic outlook, inflation, labor market, financial stability and policy recommendations, prepare a script, look up research papers, do our own graphs (about 30 of them), and check and double-check all the information to make sure that we had accurate numbers and well-founded arguments.”

QC’s performance established a baseline for the campus and, as of public record, for all of CUNY. “This was a glorious, successful event for the School of Business!,” exulted Associate Business School Dean Schiro Withanachchi.

Women’s Basketball Earns Comeback Victory Versus Felician         

The Queens College women’s basketball team earned a come-from-behind win against Felician University last Saturday by a score of 59-50.

The Knights trailed at halftime but rallied in the second half to win. Brianna Davis scored 21 points, including making 13 of 14 shots from the free throw line, to lead the comeback. Jalea Abrams added 14 points, and Gianna Henriques chipped in eight points and 12 rebounds.

Overall, the Knights are 2-5 on the season after going 1-2 last week. Coming up, the Knights will begin East Coast Conference (ECC) play on Wednesday, November 29 with a home contest against the University of the District Columbia (UDC) at 5:30 pm. They will then travel to the College of Staten Island on Saturday for a 1 pm tip-off.

The men’s basketball team lost its lone contest last week to Dominican University of New York and are 3-2 on the young season. This week, the Knights host UDC on Wednesday at 7:30 pm and visit Staten Island on Saturday at 3 pm.

For the latest Knights news, be sure to visit www.queensknights.com.

Fall Dance Concert

Students will perform the choreography of Nia Love, Carolyn Webb, Yin Mei Critchell, and Huiwang Zhang in Terrain: The 2023 Fall Dance Concert, Thursday-Saturday, November 30-December 2 at 7 pm and Sunday, December 3 at 3 pm, in Goldstein Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online at here.

Farm Museum Supports Campus Food Pantry

For the fifth year in a row, the Queens County Farm Museum (QCFM) is hosting a drive to support the Knights Table Food Pantry. Now through December 31, QCFM is asking visitors to bring nonperishable food items, as well as toiletries (such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products), to the farm store.

Last year’s collection generated nearly 500 pounds of canned and packaged goods for the pantry. “It showed how folks really care about their neighbors and the community,” says Jennifer Walden Weprin, the museum’s executive director.

“At a time of the year when food insecurity is felt even more keenly, the generosity of the Queens County Farm Museum’s patrons is especially appreciated,” says President Frank H. Wu. “Access to nutritious food is essential to helping our students thrive as they pursue their studies and goals. Many thanks to everyone in the community who is making this possible.”

Local Shopping Options

The holiday countdown begins after Thanksgiving Day. Want to find distinctive gifts for family and friends and support borough entrepreneurs at the same time? Made in Queens features clothing, accessories, jewelry, artwork, and food and beverages to please every palate.

Sheila Intner MLS ’76

Sheila Intner, professor emerita of the graduate program in library and information sciences (GSLIS) at Simmons College, passed away on October 22. She was 88.

An economics and political science major at Northwestern University, Intner earned a Master of Library Science at Queens College and went on to get a doctorate in the field at Columbia University. Over her long career, she was a faculty member of noted library and information sciences programs at multiple institutions, founded Simmons’ MLS program at Mount Holyoke College, wrote or edited 29 books, and went around the world to present and teach. Her professional honors included a Distinguished Alumna Award from Queens College’s GSLIS.

Intner is survived by her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

William Nuerge ’55

William Nuerge, whose career took him from the U.S. Air Force to the hospitality sector and then theatrical production and promotions, died on October 12. He was almost 90.

A basketball star at QC, Nuerge juggled sports and studies with work in the cafeteria, bookstore, and buildings and grounds. Right after college, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, seeing duty in Libya. Coming back home, he became the banquet manager at the Hotel Astor.

Switching gears, he joined the celebrated Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis as its marketing director. Three years later, he spun off his own company, eventually relocating to San Francisco, where he served on the board of the American Conservatory Theater.

Nuerge is survived by his wife, stepchildren, and other family members.

Zoe Beloff (Media Studies) is participating in a discussion in Utopia and Dystopia in Yiddish Culture: A Performance-Screening and Conversation presented by the CUNY Graduate Center on Wednesday, November 29, 6:30 pm, at Elebash Recital Hall . . . . Kara Schlichting (History) offered an online GothamEd course on Rethinking Robert Moses in New York City . . . . Sebastian Alvarado (Biology), Elizabeth Ijalba (Linguistics and Communication Disorders), and Nerve Macaspac (GSLIS) each received a $1000 grant from CUNY’s Office of Transformation for participating in the Career Success Fellows Program for 2023-24.