QView #170 | January 30, 2024

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), the largest Asian American direct services provider in the United States, promotes the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities. On January 8, Brian Chen, chief strategy officer of the CPC, and Mitchel Wu, director of CPC’s Queens Community Services, came to QC, where they met Ying Zhou (Tech Incubator), Diana Pan of AA/ARI, and President Frank H. Wu and discussed partnerships and student recruitment.

From left: Chen, Wu, Zhou

From left: Salvatore Garofalo (Secondary Science Education), President Frank H. Wu, Gopal Subramaniam (Chemistry), Victoria Pirulli, Shuai Ma, and Henry Shum

Faculty and alumni showed great chemistry during the Hayden Lecture Demonstration, which drew hundreds of high school students to campus on January 9. The annual event, which gets teens excited about science, honors the memory of Thomas J. Hayden, long-term director of laboratories for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a chief college laboratory technician. He served the college for 40 years.

University of Seoul President Yongkul Won (left) exchanged gifts with President Frank H. Wu on the evening of January 9, when Won and his colleagues enjoyed coffee, cookies, and a tour of Queens College.

Jennifer Jones Austin

Chuck Schumer

Queens College’s Annual Commemoration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—described by Time Out New York as the second-best MLK celebration in New York City—lived up to that billing on January 14. Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, delivered a stirring keynote and received QC’s 2024 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award. The program, moderated by President Wu, also featured guest speakers such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, NYS Senator John Liu, student leaders and singers, a performance by the Queens College Treble Chorus, and the debut of Heroes in Harm’s Way, the fourth episode in The QC x MLK Legacy Connection Legacy Connection: QC & Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - YouTube docuseries. Those who were unable to attend can watch the entire ceremony here. A short highlights video was also produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing. Simone Yearwood (School of Arts and Humanities) and Chelsea Lavington (Undergraduate Admissions) co-chaired the MLK Planning Committee of faculty, staff, and students.

John Liu

Heroes in Harm's Way

MLK Day Highlights

MLK Entire Ceremony

Entrepreneurs met, mingled, and learned about ways to grow their companies at the Small Business Resources Sharing Event hosted by the QC Tech Incubator on January 18. Dawn Kelly, a member of the New York City Small Business Advisory Commission, initiated and co-hosted the event; Kelly is the founder and owner of the Nourish Spot, which she refined at the incubator. The other co-hosts were the New York City Department of Small Business Services; Rosa Figueroa, director of the Queens-LaGuardia Small Business Development Center; Mark Rothenberg, director of New York Metro Area chapter of SCORE; Ibrahima Souare, executive director of NYPACE, New York Professional Advisors for Community Entrepreneurs; and Yanki Tshering, founder and executive director of Accompany Capital. President Frank H. Wu delivered greetings by videotape.

On January 17, Lissette Delgado-Cruzata (John Jay College), standing, led the first of two workshops on enhancing student engagement in STEM. The second session took place on January 24.

Participants in CUNY’s wheelchair basketball program saw court action at FitzGerald Gymnasium on January 21. From left: Ryan Martin, director of Inclusive and Adaptive Sports at CUNY; Rodger Shelton; New York State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, chair of the committee on disabilities; and Chris St. Remy. Shelton and St. Remy are seniors at QC.

At the spring orientation for QC’s Global Student Success Program (GSSP) on January 22, President Wu welcomed international undergraduate GSSP and general admission students to campus.

Jennifer Jarvis, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, was the keynote speaker at the ceremony.

The Shirley Chisholm Fellowship (CLF), a leadership development program, held its second annual inaugural ceremony on January 24, inducting new members. CLF was founded last year under the direction of Norka Blackman-Richards (SEEK) and alumna Carmine Couloute in partnership with Zavi Gunn (Center for Career Engagement and Internships). The program honors the legacy of Chisholm, who represented Brooklyn in the New York State Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives and co-founded the Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK program at CUNY.

2024 Shirley Chisholm Leadership Fellows

The 14th congressional district, which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represents in Washington, D.C., comprises parts of the Bronx and Queens, including Corona—an excellent reason for her to visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) and Center on January 25. In the photo above, she holds one of Armstrong’s trumpets, passed to her by Ricky Riccardi, the museum’s director of research collections. As it happens, AOC lists LAHM on her website as one of her district’s points of interest. Tag along on her tour through this video.

Dragons—and lions, peacocks, and acrobats—filled the stage of Goldstein Theatre in Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year program on January 27-28. The Year of the Dragon, named for the only mythical animal in the Asian zodiac, starts on February 10.

Men’s Basketball Team Makes Playoff Push

While most students were away from campus during the winter break, the men’s basketball team was busy racking up victories against East Coast Conference (ECC) opponents. The Knights are 11-8 overall this season, with a 5-3 record in the ECC, and are in good position to make the playoffs with just over a month left in the season. 

Senior forward Malik Bentinck has been one of the top players in the league, ranking second in the ECC in rebounds per game (9.6), fifth in blocks per game (1.4), and fifth in steals per game (1.8), while averaging 13 points per contest. This week, the Knights host a pair of ECC games. They’ll take on Mercy University on Wednesday, January 31 at 7:30 pm and St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday, February 3 at 1 pm. 

The women’s basketball team (5-14, 1-7 ECC) has struggled in ECC play but have had some notable individual performances, namely from Brianna Davis, who ranks sixth in the ECC in scoring (14.4 points per game), and Nkiru Awaka, who is second in the conference in rebounds per game (9.0). This week, they will host Mercy University and St. Thomas Aquinas on the same dates as the men’s team, with start times of 5:30 pm and 3 pm respectively. 

The track and field team was also busy during the break, competing in three meets in January. So far this season, Damilola Babalola has the fourth-fastest time in the ECC in the 60-meter hurdles, while Khareena Primus ranks fourth in the ECC in the 60-meter dash and Fatima Morrobel has the ECC’s sixth-best 800-meter time. The Knights’ next meet will be this Sunday, February 4 at the DeSchriver Invitational in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. 

The baseball team was also in the news during the break, even though the season is still a month away from starting. Junior second basemen Marc Cisco was named to the Preseason All East Region Team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Cisco batted .345 with 60 runs scored last season while leading the Knights to an ECC Championship. The Knights will begin the season on February 23. 

For the latest Knights news, be sure to visit https://queensknights.com.

Center for Jewish Studies Events

QC’s Center for Jewish Studies is offering programs tonight—January 30—and the following Tuesday, February 6. Both will take place at 7 pm over Zoom.

This evening, Nourit Zimerman, an Israeli law professor and visiting scholar in the Jewish Studies Program, will present “Israel between the War in Gaza and the Constitutional Crisis: Personal Reflections.” In a talk about the year that preceded October 7 and what we can expect in the near future, she will explore the latest Israeli Supreme Court rulings, current political events, and the procedure at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. She will also discuss being a liberal Israeli at this moment. To attend this event, register at Meeting Registration - Zoom.

Next Tuesday, Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty member Miriam Goldstein will present “The Life of Jesus: A Polemical Parody from the Near East.” The lecture will examine the Judeo-Arabic Life of Jesus, a notorious satire of Christian narratives about Jesus, composed by Jews in Late Antiquity. (Judeo-Arabic was spoken by Jews who lived in Arab lands.) For Jews, the work was humorous; for Christians and Muslims, it would have been insulting. Nonetheless, Arabic-speaking Jews read, copied, and possibly performed the work, which stands as important evidence of competition between religious minorities under Islamic governance. To attend this event, register at Meeting Registration - Zoom.

Focusing on Black History

QC is celebrating Black History Month with a full calendar of exhibitions and performances.

Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library and the Queens College SEEK Program are marking the month by cosponsoring “Struggle to Learn, Learn to Struggle”: The Impact and History of the SEEK Program at Queens College, 1966–Today. The exhibition showcases the history of the Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) Program, which—through the efforts of activists and legislators—grew out of the civil rights movement. Originally intended mainly for African American and Puerto Rican students, its aim was and remains to make college education more accessible to underserved communities, notably by offering select courses for students’ first and second years, individualized academic advising and services, community, and financial assistance.

The multimedia exhibition features holdings of the SEEK History Project (part of Special Collections and Archives). Mounted in the library’s Barham Rotunda, it includes photographs, ephemera, publications, clippings, and reports. Additional cases in the Tanenbaum Room highlight oral histories conducted with SEEK faculty, staff, and alumni.

The exhibition showcases the 58-year trajectory of the SEEK Program from its grassroots origins to its emergence as a national model for higher education. Emphasizing SEEK’s innovations, resilience through changing times, and impact, the exhibition was curated by Annie Tummino (head of Special Collections and Archives) with the assistance of the SEEK Exhibit Advisory Committee, consisting of faculty, counselors, and alumni active with SEEK: Norka Blackman-Richards, William Modeste, Carmine Couloute, Cicely Rodway, Rajvir Kaur, Sandra M. Córdoba, Michael Robinson, James Mellone, and Seymour Hodge.

The exhibition will be on display February 1–May 2. A reception open to the public will be held on Thursday, February 8, 5:30–6:30 pm; it will start with a ceremony in the rotunda, followed by refreshments in the Tanenbaum wing. In addition, throughout the Spring semester there will be weekly day and evening events featuring past and present stakeholders in SEEK.

Mississippi Land

Black History Month events at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts start on February 4 at 3 pm with a staged reading of Mississippi Land. Set in 1945 and inspired by a real story, the play explores an African American family’s efforts to keep property they acquired after the Civil War. On February 10 at 3 pm, Cubop to Hip-Hop explores Afro-Latin music. The following Friday, February 16, Kupferberg features the String Queens, a classically trained violin-viola-cello trio described as “schoolteachers by day and concert performers by night.” Their repertoire spans baroque music, jazz, and Billboard Hot 100 hits.

As usual, the Louis Armstrong House Museum is highlighting Black History Month with a tour centered on Armstrong and civil rights in America. The tour is available Thursdays through Saturdays during February; advance ticket purchase https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/visit/ is required. 

Welcome Imam Fahim

The campus ministries at Queens College just announced a new Muslim chaplain: Imam Mohammed F. Biwas, known as Imam Fahim.

A native of Queens, Imam Fahim studied traditional Islamic science at Darul Quran WasSunnah in Woodside, where he became a teacher. He has inspected food for Halal Monitoring Services, a nonprofit organization that provides services for free, and delivers sermons at multiple borough mosques. Learn more about Imam Fahim.

Other New Faces on Campus

The Summit has a new director of Housing and Residence Life: Jeffrey (Jeff) Sulik. He considers Cleveland, Ohio, his home. But work and other life events have moved him and his family—his wife Michelle and their three children—far from the Midwest. Sulik came to QC after holding positions in campus housing at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, and Texas A&M University at Qatar in Doha, Qatar.

Yu Yan “Irene” Cheng joined Counseling Services as associate director in November. A clinical psychologist with experience at hospitals, community mental health, and other college counseling centers, she holds a Doctorate in Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, and a BA from New York University. “I am passionate about promoting mental well-being and working with college students, particularly the diverse student population at Queens College,” says Cheng, who previously worked at Borough of Manhattan Community College. “I hope to expand counseling’s presence on campus, decrease mental health stigma, increase utilization, and provide support to QC students in different ways.”

Jeff Sulik

Irene Cheng

COIL Keeps Global Learning on Course

This semester, through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Grace Davie (History) and Tochukwu Okeke, a history professor at the University of Abuja, Nigeria, are jointly teaching a course on the economic history of 19th century West Africa. Using icebreakers and SLACK as the technology platform, their students will discuss short readings and film clips on the topic of European imperialism, “the Scramble for Africa,” and African responses to economic and political transformations, primarily in the 1880s. For their final presentation, students will post videos or present written work.

Grace Davie

Jill Carvajal

Shia Levitt

Gina Minielli

Joshua Rogers

Davie is one of six QC faculty members chosen for the 2023-2024 COIL cohort. The other COIL faculty fellows are Jill Carvajal (Educational and Community Programs), Robin Hizme (English), Shia Levitt (Media Studies), Gina Minielli (Art), and Joshua Rogers (Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures). Under the guidance of Jean Kelly (Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership), Mari Fujimoto (Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures), and Schiro Withanachchi (Economics, BALA), these fellows added a COIL component to their Spring 2024 courses. The resulting projects span the globe, with Carvajal teaming up with a colleague in Mexico; Hizme and Levitt, respectively, collaborating with counterparts in Morocco and Egypt; Minielli working with a teacher in Montenegro; and Rogers linking to a faculty member in Japan.

These projects benefit faculty and students alike. Faculty incorporate multicultural learning into their courses, advance research with international colleagues, and expand QC’s global presence. Students gain cross-cultural skills through virtual interaction and enhance their international opportunities without leaving New York City.

In related news, QC collaborated with LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC) to train 11 faculty through COIL modules of curriculum development, technology, and research. 

The training seminars introduced participants to COIL pedagogy and supported them in developing COIL projects with their international faculty partners. Faculty teaching courses articulated with Queens College were encouraged to apply. During five 1.5-hour seminar sessions in Fall 2023, QC and LAGCC faculty learned how to develop content for their COIL modules in accordance with their course learning outcomes, select relevant technology platforms, and develop assessment tools. At the end of the current semester, LAGCC students and faculty will visit QC to participate in a COIL Faculty & Student Showcase. The goal is to strengthen student transfer pathways between LaGuardia and Queens and encourage triangulated partnerships between international and CUNY faculty.

COIL was launched at QC in Fall 2019.

Tesfaye Asfaw

Tesfaye Asfaw, retired director of QC’s Career Development Center—subsequently renamed the Center for Career Engagement and Internships—passed away on January 9. He was 75.

Asfaw was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he grew up and attended school in the Arat Killo neighborhood. Continuing his education at Haile Selassie I University, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work and found a position with the Ministry of Community and Social Affairs. When the Derg took power in 1974, the political atmosphere changed; in 1977, Asfaw fled to Germany. The next year he resettled in New York City, where he would spend the rest of his life.

After completing an MSW with concentration in the world of work at the Hunter College School of Social Work, Asfaw devoted decades to the field of career services. As coordinator for career development and internships at the College for Human Services, he prepared and placed students with non-traditional career trajectories in internships and full-time opportunities. Coming to Queens College in the 1980s, he revitalized the career development and internship program, improving communication with students, academic departments, and employers. He was a member of the Career Services Association of CUNY (CSAC) and collaborated with colleagues at different campuses.

Asfaw is survived by his wife, daughter, and grandsons.

Richard Benda ’68

Richard Benda, an internist who specialized in cardiology, died on January 21 at the age of 75.

Only 20 when he graduated from QC, Benda subsequently earned his MD degree from Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia. Returning to his native New York, he joined Lawrence Hospital Medical Center in 1977, serving as its director of medicine from 1993 to 2003.

Settled in White Plains with his wife and their five daughters, Benda coached Little League and recreational league softball. He was also a dedicated ham radio operator—his handle was WB2QJA—and active in St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Benda is survived by his wife, daughters and sons-in-law, nine grandchildren, and many other family members.

Jeff Bennett ’65

Jeff Bennett, drama teacher and founder of the Bare Bones Theater Company in Northport, Long Island, died on January 4. He was 81.

A media major at Queens College, Bennett taught drama at Long Island high schools for just over three decades, spending 12 years at Wantagh High School and 19 at Shoreham-Wading River High School, which named an auditorium after him upon his retirement in 1997. Seven years later, he launched Bare Bones in space at the Posey School of Dance.

During its 14-year run, the company presented challenging material. Newsday credits it with the Long Island premieres of plays by Tracy Letts, Stephen Adly Guirgis, and David Lindsay-Abaire and the world premieres of Danielle Burby’s Hooked and Frederick Stroppel’s two one-act plays under the title Dead Of Night.

Bennett is survived by his wife, stepson, daughter, two grandchildren, brothers, and sister.

Irmgard Carras ’76

Irmgard Carras, a historian and archivist, passed away on January 4 at the age of 88.

Originally employed as a nurse, Carras enrolled at Queens College in her forties. After earning a doctorate in history from New York University and teaching there as an adjunct, she became an archivist for Trinity Church in Manhattan and North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. For more than a decade she served as Sands Point Village’s official historian, documenting and preserving historically significant sites.

Carras is survived by her husband, three children, and six grandchildren.

Jack Eichenbaum

Queens Borough Historian Jack Eichenbaum died on December 30, 2023. He was 80.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Cooper Union, Eichenbaum completed a doctorate in urban geography at the University of Michigan. Eventually he returned to his native Queens, settling here for the rest of his life. An expert on the urban geography of New York, he taught at Queens College and Hunter College and led walking tours on topics such as Nieuw Nederland, the changing cultures of Queens, and the “Amazon basin”—the Long Island City area where Amazon had sought to build its secondary headquarters.

“Much of what I know about digital NYC comes from a career in the Property Division of the NYC Department of Finance, collecting data and modeling valuation of tax parcels,” he noted in his biography for his company, The Geography of NYC. “I continually update my familiarity with NYC by walking, walking, and walking in all five boroughs.”

In 2010, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall named Eichenbaum to the unpaid position of borough historian, in which capacity he continued doing what he loved: leading tours, making presentations, adding materials to archives, and participating in the work of the Queens Historical Society, the Guides Association of NYC, and The Municipal Arts Society of New York.

Richard Gambino ’61

Professor Emeritus of Italian American Studies Richard Gambino died on January 12. He was 84.

Gambino grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and then in East Rockaway, Queens, where he developed his lifelong love of the ocean; he snorkeled, sailed, and in high school worked as a Jones Beach lifeguard. At Queens College, he majored in philosophy. He earned a master’s in the subject at the University of Illinois, followed by a doctorate from New York University.

Joining the QC faculty, Gambino founded the college’s Italian American Studies program, the first such program in the United States. He was also a distinguished visiting professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His books include Blood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian Americans, and Vendetta: The True Story of the Largest Lynching in the United States. The latter title, an account of the lynchings of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891, was the basis of the fictionalized HBO movie Vendetta. Gambino eventually tried his hand at drama, establishing the Peconic Theatre Company with his wife and writing two plays for it.

Among many distinctions, he was appointed to the U.S. Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford and was appointed to the New York State Council for the Humanities by Governor Mario Cuomo.

Gambino is survived by his wife, daughters and step-daughter, and grandchildren.

Carl Hodges ’67

Carl Hodges, a psychotherapist, passed away on November 15, 2023, at the age of 78.

Born in Kentucky, Hodges was shaped by multiple New York institutions: He graduated from Stuyvesant High School, QC, the Hunter College School of Social Work, and the New York Institute of Gestalt Therapy. In addition to his private practice, he taught and guest lectured locally and abroad, and served a two-year term as president of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy.

An active member of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, he participated in many of its committees and ministries. He also served as president of the Queens chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality.

Hodges is survived by his former wife, their daughter, four brothers, and other relatives.

John Joseph Lee ’55

CUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology John Joseph Lee died on November 6, 2023. He was 90.

Lee’s academic inclinations manifested themselves early. He earned Boy Scout merit badges in science and, at his father’s prompting, brought a fossil he found to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) on a public outreach day. A staff scientist told him about the creature imprinted in the rock, inspiring the future professor and laying the foundation for his lifelong relationship with the museum.       

After completing a BS at Queens College, an MS at the University of Massachusetts, and a PhD at New York University, Lee joined the City College faculty. Director of the college’s Marine Microbial Ecology Laboratory for more than 50 years, he taught microbiology, wastewater engineering microbiology, electron microscopy, general biology, and science writing.

Applying training he received at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he served as the first radiation safety officer at AMNH, where he worked with the electron microscope facilities, trained students, and contributed to exhibits. Over the summer, he often conducted fieldwork at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Lee’s influence extended overseas. He was a visiting scientist at the H. Steinitz Marine Lab in Eilat, Israel, and led field-based courses in Australia, Japan, and Kenya. Author and editor of several microbiology texts, he had artistic talents, too; his drawings are featured in the Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa, published by the Society of Protozoologists. 

A recipient of numerous teaching awards, Lee is remembered as supportive mentor who made a point of introducing women and minority students to research. Away from the classroom, he volunteered with the YMCA, was an elected trustee of the Hillsdale, New Jersey, Board of Education, and was active in his synagogue.

Lee was predeceased by his wife, Judy, whom he met at QC. He is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

Jules Mitchel ’63

Jules Mitchel, founding president and CEO of the consulting firm THI Pharmaservices and the contract research organization (CRO) Target Health, died on December 3, 2023, at the age of 82.

A biology major at QC, Mitchel went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Oregon, a doctorate from New York University, and an MBA from Pace University. He worked at American Home Products, Wyeth, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals before founding Target Health with his wife in 1993. As he reported on LinkedIn, the firm handled all aspects of drug and device regulatory affairs and strategic planning, clinical research, biostatistics, data management, internet-based clinical trials, medical writing, and strategic planning. Upon selling Target Health, Mitchel launched THI Pharmaservices to provide strategic advice to pharmaceutical, biotech, and device companies. All told, he spent more than 30 years in the field, helping to win multiple regulatory approvals.

Mitchel is survived by his wife and three of his four children.

Nicholas Rescher ’49

Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, passed away on January 5. He was 95.

Rescher was born in Germany, the son of a lawyer and a legal secretary. Unable to maintain their practice once the Nazis came to power and fearful that that Nicholas would be forced to join the Hitler Youth, the family immigrated to the United States, where Rescher thrived. He attained citizenship, majored in mathematics and philosophy at QC, and earned a doctorate in philosophy at Princeton University. After serving in the Korean War with the Marines and working for the Rand Corporation, he returned to academia.

In a long and productive career spent almost entirely at U Pittsburgh, Rescher wrote more than 100 books and 400 articles, exploring epistemology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of science, and political philosophy. He founded the American Philosophical Quarterly, History of Philosophy Quarterly, and Public Affairs Quarterly, and served as president of multiple organizations, including the American Philosophical Association, the American Catholic Philosophy Association, the American G.W. Leibniz Society, the C.S. Pierce Society, and the American Metaphysics Society. 

William Zimmerman ’62

William Zimmerman, former editor in chief of American Banker, died on December 31, 2023, at the age of 82.

Armed with a bachelor’s in English from QC, Zimmerman started at American Banker in the 1960s as a copy editor. Rising in the ranks, he held the top editorial job from 1980 through 1989. Next stop was Newsday, where he was a senior editor for 14 years. At both publications, he is remembered for his efforts to diversify the masthead. He wrote and released more than 20 books through the company he founded, Guarionex Press; he also launched MakeBeliefsComix.com, a platform that allows users to create their own comic strips.

Zimmerman is survived by his wife and daughter.

Stephen Kalm MA ’80, professor of voice at the University of Montana has released a recording of Jewish music for the High Holy Days . . . . Nerve Macaspac (GSLIS) was awarded the CUNY Henry Wasser Award for Outstanding Research . . . . Chen Wang (Chemistry) received a five-year, $624,000 NSF Career Award for “Rational Design of Dual-Functional Photocatalysts for Synthetic Reactions: Controlling Photosensitization and Reaction with a Single Nanocrystal” . . . . President Wu is among the contributors to The Rise of Chinese American Leaders in U.S. Higher Education: Stories and Roadmaps. His chapter is “Everything My Asian Immigrant Parents Taught Me Turns Out to be Wrong,” pp. 283-295. In other news, Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) has chosen Wu to be a recipient of its CEO Award for 2024. The honor will be presented on April 5, the third day of APAHE’s annual conference . . . . Queens College Opera’s production of The Turn of the Screw won second place in Division Three of the National Opera Association Opera Production Competition for the 2022-2023 cycle. Judges, who reviewed videos submitted by competition participants, said The Turn of the Screw was distinguished by outstanding singing, diction, musicianship, and staging . . . . Legacy of Making: 21 Contemporary Italian American Artists, an exhibition on display at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute through April 2024, received coverage in la Repubblica, a major daily newspaper in Italy.