Thomas Hull Appointed Head of Information Technology

Following a national search, Thomas A. Hull has been appointed assistant vice president for the Office of Information Technology and chief information officer. Tom was most recently the chief information officer and chief technology officer at Florida Polytechnic University and at the Moffitt Cancer Center, affiliates of the University of Southern Florida.

 

“In today’s world, our ability to deliver up-to-date computing and communication facilities is key to fulfilling our promise of providing excellent public education. Thomas Hull will help us face and meet the challenges in this dynamic area,” says President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. For more about Tom, click here .

Rescheduled: Career and Internship Fair

The QC Career and Internship Fair that was cancelled last week due to snow will now take place on Tuesday, March 13, from noon to 2 pm on the fourth floor of the Student Union. Internships, part-time, and full-time job opportunities are available. Students should dress professionally and bring their QC ID card and multiple copies of their resume.

College Celebrates Leonard Bernstein at 100 and Maurice Peress

The Queens College Orchestra will be observing the centennial of Leonard Bernstein with a series of concerts. On Wednesday, March 14 at 12:15 pm in LeFrak Concert Hall, the orchestra will perform Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 ( Jeremiah), Chichester Psalms, and “Make Our Garden Grow” from Candide. Tong Chen and James John will be the conductors. The QC Choir (James John, director) and the Nassau Community College Vocal Ensemble (Ben Arendsen, director) will also perform. This program will be repeated on Sunday, March 18 at 3 pm at the Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street, Manhattan (admission $20). This performance will also celebrate the life of Maestro Maurice Peress (1930–2018 ), who planned this concert. Peress (above) began his career as assistant conductor under Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On Wednesday, March 28 at 12:15 pm and Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 pm, the QC Orchestra will perform Bernstein’s  Candide  Overture, Halil for solo flute, and Meditations for solo cello from Mass . Both concerts will take place in LeFrak Concert Hall.

STEM Advocate Knatokie Ford To Speak on Campus

On Wednesday, March 21 at 12:15 pm, the Women and Gender Studies Program and the Office of the Provost will sponsor a talk by Knatokie Ford, a pioneering researcher and advocate for women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her topic will be “STEM Diversity and Inclusion.”

Ford will share insights from her work in the Obama administration on parental engagement, STEM education (K–12 and postsecondary), and workforce issues, as well as the role of entertainment media as the next frontier of STEM inclusion. Her talk will take place in the Student Union’s 4th Floor Ballroom West.

New MAT Program Speaks to a Critical Need

Queens College has begun a new degree certification program designed to address both a significant educational need and a critical national security issue.

 

The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Critical Languages Education program was three years in the making, according to Jennifer Eddy (SEYS), program director of World Language Education. It was created in response to STARTALK, a 2006 initiative launched by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to increase the number of U.S. citizens learning, speaking, and teaching critical-need foreign languages.

 

Overseen by the National Security Agency, STARTALK is administered by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. Eddy’s own involvement with the initiative extends back to 2008, when she began working in curriculum and assessment, designing and assessing STARTALK programs.

 

QC’s MAT in Critical Languages Education is a 39-credit graduate program that provides initial and professional New York State certification in Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, and Russian for teachers of 7–12 public school students. Taking an additional course, says Eddy, allows for that certification to be extended to teaching K–6, as well. This unique program prepares future leaders who will be responsible for designing and sustaining their new language program, says Eddy, who observes that it addresses the shortage of Critical Language teachers in New York City and across the country. 

 

Eddy has been promoting Critical Languages Education before political and cultural groups who’ve enthusiastically endorsed it. These have included a conference for Korean language teachers last November in Flushing as well as a Hindi Day celebration this January at the Indian Consulate in New York City, where Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty promised the support of the Indian government for promoting Hindi outside of India. She will be presenting on the MAT for the New York Arabic Teachers Council Spring Conference on April 14 at Columbia University.

 

“And what better place to offer this kind of program,” says Eddy, “than here at Queens College, where so many of these languages are already being spoken daily on our campus.”

 

More information about the program can be found here.

Calling All Alumni Authors

Rosenthal Library is in the process of creating a permanent exhibit of books published by our alumni. Currently the library has about 100 books, which mostly consist of the Queens College Alumni Publications Collection donated by Joseph Brostek in 2003.

 

If you would like to donate a book, send it via interoffice mail to Rosenthal Library Special Collections and Archives, Room 317, c/o Alexandra Dolan-Mescal, or to

 

Alumni Publications Collection Project

Special Collections and Archives

Rosenthal Library, Room 317

Queens College

65-30 Kissena Boulevard

Queens, NY 11367-1597

Help with Your Taxes

Now through April 17, Queens College is offering free income tax preparation through the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). VITA offers free tax help to people who make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their tax returns. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing. This service is available on a walk-in basis to all Queens College students, faculty, and staff on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 10 am to 5 pm, in Kiely Hall, Room 102. The service is also open to the general public by appointment only on Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm. To make an appointment, email qcvita@qc.cuny.edu or call (718) 997-2980. Be sure to bring along:

 

Breaking Barriers, Making History, and Advocating for Youth

At the age of 18, while a student at SUNY–Orange County Community College, Roy Paul campaigned for a seat on the Middletown Board of Education. “I had no idea how to run and didn’t think I’d win, but thought it would be a great experience,” says Paul, who recalls the “wonderful time” he had knocking on doors, showing up at baseball games, and talking to people. He won by 26 votes. Having turned 19 by election night, he was “the youngest African American in New York State elected to anything,” he says, adding that his interest in politics dated back to high school, when he got involved in a statewide debate on educational standards.

           

ABC covered the story on the trail-blazing teen, which led to Paul’s part-time work as a political commentator for the network. While attending SUNY as a political science major, Paul also juggled a job as a reporter on the political beat for Midhudsonnews.com, covering stories throughout the Hudson Valley and New York region. “I made news and covered news,” he says.

Click here to read more.

Zarin Alumni Hall

Zarin Alumni Hall recognizes Renée Kroll Zarin ’54, who served her alma mater in a number of positions, including director of alumni affairs, before joining the Queens College Foundation. The Alumni Relations Office is based in Zarin Alumni Hall.

Register Now

Now is the time to consider registering for summer classes at QC. Students can earn up to 15 credits and get a jump on completing their degree, or on meeting the requirements for the Excelsior Scholarship or on advancing in QC in 4--and still have time left over for a long vacation. Summer Session features:

 

 

For information on schedules, courses, tuition, and to apply, visit www.qc.cuny.edu/Summer . If you have questions, contact Academic Advising at 718-997-5599.

Venue Rentals Reviews 2017's Top Campus Shoots

The Venue Rentals Office continues to attract film and television crews to campus, including this week’s visit by the TV show Elementary. Recently the office came up with a list of the top film shoots they were involved in during 2017, where they took place, and the stars who appeared on campus:

 

Films

Life, Itself , Rosenthal Library, Summit Apartments, Remsen Hall; Olivia Wilde, Annette Bening, Oscar Isaac

Maniac, Science Building; Emma Stone, Jonah Hill

Luce, Rosenthal Library; Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth, Norbert Leo Butz

Second Act , Music Building, LeFrak Concert Hall; Jennifer Lopez, Leah Remini, Vanessa Hudgens, Treat Williams

 

Television Shows

Instinct (CBS), Remsen Hall; Alan Cumming

Saturday Night Live (NBC), Colden Auditorium; SNL cast members

Elementary (CBS), Summit Parking Garage, Colwin Hall, G Building; Lucy Liu

The Tick (Amazon), Remsen Hall

The Blacklist: Redemption (NBC), Kupferberg Center Tunnels, Student Union Parking Garage

America’s Got Talent (Auditions; NBC), Dining Hall, FitzGerald Gym, Rathaus Hall

 

NBA Commercial Shoot

FitzGerald Gym; Enes Kanter of the New York Knicks

Even at Queens College, where we are lucky to find so many languages and cultures close to home, “world literature” is elusive. Any reader who follows contemporary fiction has felt their imagination stretched by novels whose protagonists live in places far away--novels by Kirhan Desai, for example, Kazuo Ishiguro, or Chimananda Ngozi Adichie. But if world literature has the potential to expand readers’ understanding of the globe we inhabit, it also poses problems for many literary scholars, who see it signaling dubious relationships between writers and global capitalism, facile international translation of ideas and thematics, and instrumental readings that force novels and writers into playing a didactic role for Western readers who seek transparent windows into other cultures. Gloria Fisk (English) has been debating the merits and demerits of these criticisms for a long time and, in Orhan Pamuk and the Good of World Literature (Columbia University Press), she offers an in-depth study of the engagement of Anglophone readers, publics, and markets with the work of the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author Pamuk. In her view, such engagement too often shapes and constrains the imaginative reach of literature, rendering it a vehicle for soothing Western anxieties and reinforcing Western cultural institutions and values. Fisk’s work suggests that readers would do well to become more thoughtful about literature, the practice of reading, and where we are situated in the real and imagined world.

Richard R. Barakat ’81 was recently appointed to lead all of Northwell Health’s cancer services and research. He is an internationally recognized surgeon and clinical investigator who specializes in the robotic and laparoscopic treatment of uterine cancer and radical debulking procedures for ovarian cancer . . . On March 7 Kristin Beck, who served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and is the first openly transgender former U.S. Navy SEAL, appeared on campus to talk about her life. Beck gained public attention in 2013 when she came out as a trans woman. Her memoir, Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL’s Journey to Coming out Transgender , details her experiences . . . Mara Einstein (Media Studies) has been named one of the 100 Significant Women in Native Advertising by the Native Advertising Institute . . . A review in the New York Times said that the new book by Joshua Freeman (History), Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World , “should be required reading for all Americans” . . . Charlie Harary ’99 is the author of the just-released book Unlocking Greatness: The Unexpected Journey from the Life You Have to the Life You Want (Rodale). He is the senior director of Capital Markets at RXR Realty, a real estate company based in New York, and hosts a weekly radio show on the NSN radio network and the Unlocking Greatness podcast . . . Although he is hearing-impaired, pianist David Holzman ’75 has performed around the world, including at the Schoenberg Festival in Vienna and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Considered the world’s foremost authority on avant-garde composer Stefan Wolpe, David was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003 for his album Stefan Wolpe: Compositions for Piano . . .  Sociology graduate Stan Hsieh ’05, now a senior analyst at Abt Associates, recently led a multiyear, multimillion-dollar study of the travel behavior of business and recreational visitors to the New York metropolitan region. His work was presented in January at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC

. . . A commentary by Mary Anne Madeira (Political Science), “Our Last Trade War Was a Global Disaster. This Time Won’t Be Any Different,” recently appeared on Fortune ’s website . . . This May James Muyskens , QC’s president from 2002 to 2013, will be the commencement speaker at his alma mater, Central College in Iowa . . . Steven R. Sabat ’69 is the author of  Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press) and is professor emeritus of psychology at Georgetown University, where he taught for 40 years. He notes that “Prof. Charles W. Hallberg (Contemporary Civilization II) and Dr. Lawrence Eisman (History of Music I), Dr. Michael Wreszin (American History), and Dr. Jack Kirman (Abnormal Psychology) were outstanding teachers who made an indelible impression on me and I shall be forever grateful for their presence in my life”

. . . Frederick A. Zenz , a member of the Queens College class of 1942, recently died at the age of 95. During World War II Frederick worked on the Manhattan Project, the research program that produced the world's first nuclear weapons. He also was the coauthor of one of the most influential books in engineering,  Fluidization and Fluid-Particle Systems . His most recent book was published in 2015.