QView #194 | December 10

CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategy and Policy Implementation Sascha Owen came to Queens College on Tuesday, December 3, for a tour and lunch. Owen oversees the office of the chancellor, governmental affairs and university advancement, as well as executive search and evaluation.  

From left: School of Arts Associate Dean Julia Del Palacio, Assistant Vice President for External and Governmental Relations Jeffrey Rosenstock, Vice President for Institutional Advancement/Alumni Relations Laurie Dorf, Manager for External and Governmental Relations Liza Marquez, Director of Leadership Giving Sara Kahan, CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor Sascha Owen, Associate Director of Leadership Giving Christina Rosa, GTM Co-Director/Director of Education and Administration Maria Pio, Director of Donor Relations Joann Acquista, GTM Co-Director/Director of Exhibitions/Collections and Curator Louise Weinberg, Executive Director of Development David D’Amato, KCA Director Jon Yanofsky

Renowned art collector and philanthropist Sir Nasser David Khalili ’74—whose Khalili Foundation promotes interfaith and intercultural dialogue—returned to his alma mater on the morning of Wednesday, December 4, accompanied by Nizam Uddin, a foundation trustee. Not surprisingly, their campus itinerary included a stop at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum.

From left: Assistant Vice President for External and Governmental Relations Jeffrey Rosenstock, School of Arts Associate Dean Julia Del Palacio, Interim Arts and Humanities Dean Simone Yearwood, Sir Nasser David Khalili, President Frank H. Wu, Nizam Uddin, Director of Leadership Giving Sara Kahan, Vice President for Institutional Advancement/Alumni Relations Laurie Dorf

Khalili at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum

The Study Skills Workshop: Unlock Your Academic Potential attracted students to the James Muyskens Conference Room on Wednesday, December 4, at free hour to learn about strategies for coping with exams. In comments to the group, President Frank H. Wu shared his own experience.

Business leader Frank Fan Yu met aspiring movers and shakers last month at a reception celebrating his gift to the QC Business School; here are highlights of the event.

The School of Arts and Humanities threw itself a holiday party on December 4 in Queens Hall.

A combo of ACSM students provided music.

On Wednesday, December 4, sixth-grade students at Middle School 419Q displayed puppets they made during the Godwin-Ternbach Museum’s latest ARTtistic Afternoons residency. Led by a GTM teaching artist, the eight-week afterschool program—GTM’s third at 419Q—was inspired by Indonesian puppets from the museum’s collection.

Knight News editors and reporters met with Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Jennifer Jarvis, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Loughren, and Interim Director of the Office of Student Development and Leadership Craig Blodgett over lunch on Thursday, December 5. Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson, a student journalist in his days at QC, participated remotely.

Faculty and staff from all over campus connected with each other and made presentations at QC’s first Assessment Showcase on Friday, December 6, in the Student Union Ballroom. The event, sponsored by the Offices of the Provost and Institutional Effectiveness, emphasized data and how to use it to make decisions. But there was also time for games, a raffle, and refreshments.

Asian American Community Studies held a faculty social yesterday—Monday, December 9—in Powdermaker 333, joined by one of the program’s biggest campus boosters. Recently relaunched as a minor, Asian American Community Studies offers interdisciplinary knowledge of the Asian American experience and provides service-learning opportunities.

Basketball Teams Top Molloy; Indoor Track and Field Begins Season

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams earned a conference win over Molloy University last week, while the indoor track and field team opened the 2024–25 season last Friday.

The men’s basketball team (3-6, 1-0 ECC) earned a convincing, 105-90 victory over the Lions. Jaden Pena scored 25 points and Nasan Ayala netted 23 points to lead the Knights. For the women, Jalea Abrams finished with 28 points to lead QC (3-3, 1-0 ECC) to a 67-70 victory over Molloy.

On Friday, the indoor track and field team competed in their first meet at the Fastrack Season Opener inside the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. Leading the way for the Knights was Fatima Morrobel, who placed seventh in the 800-meter run (2:28.13) and ninth in the 500-meter run (1:21.95). In distance events, John Ray placed fifth in the 5,000 meters (15:46.63).

This week, men’s basketball visits Caldwell University on Tuesday at 7 pm and Roberts Wesleyan University on Saturday at 8 pm. Women’s basketball also travels to Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday for a 6 pm tip off. Additionally, indoor track and field will compete at the Seahawk Shootout on Saturday beginning at 12 pm. 

A team from Macaulay Honors College (MHC) came to QC on Monday, December 9.

From left: MHC Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Roblin Meeks, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Chelsea Lavington, Associate Provost for Innovation and Student Success Nathalia Holtzman, President Frank H. Wu, MHC Dean Dara N. Byrne, Provost Patricia Price, and MHC Interim Associate Dean for Student Services and Engagement Curtis W. Hoover. 

Dollars for a Scholar

QC student Abhinandan Gaba, a JK Watson Fellow and Udall Scholar, is among the scholarship recipients being honored at tonight’s reception and awards ceremony for the Belle Zeller Scholarship Fund. Gaba is a double major in mathematics and economics. He served as president of the Speech and Debate Team, president of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and as a student senator. Currently he is an editor of the student newspaper, the Knight News.

Abhinandan Gaba

Belle Zeller

Belle Zeller Scholars uphold the legacy of Zeller—a Brooklyn College political science professor, scholar and founding president of the CUNY Professional Staff Congress—by earning academic averages over 3.75 while maintaining volunteer commitments at their colleges, in their communities, and often abroad.  

Artificial Intelligence and Math

Since 2022, the Queens College Mathematical Discovery Series has presented lectures by celebrated mathematicians. For the third installment of the series, taking place on December 11 at free hour in Kiely 150, Akshay Venkatesh, winner of the 2018 Fields Medal—sometimes called the Nobel Prize of Mathematics—will discuss the potential for AI in mathematics. All students, regardless of major, are encouraged to attend.

Venkatesh is a researcher at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study. To date, the Mathematical Discovery Series has showcased Yitang Zhang (University of California, Santa Barbara) and John Hubbard (Cornell University).

In the Finals Stretch

Fun is in the forecast on December 12 from 6:30 to 10:30 pm, when the Office of Student Development and Leadership, the Student Association, and the College Union Programming Board will host the Winter Lighting Snowflake Social in the Dining Hall. Students, staff, and faculty are welcome to enjoy hot chocolate or tea, decorate a snowflake cookie, and take a photo in a giant snow globe.

In a QC tradition the same evening, the Student Association invites students to take time out from exam preparation and savor MidKnight Breakfast, to be served in the main Dining Hall from 8 to 11 pm. The evening will include performances and giveaways.

From the last day of classes through the last day of finals, December 14-21, Rosenthal Library will be open from 6 am through midnight. An active QCard, CUNY ID card, or QC Alumni ID is required for library entry.

Choral Society To Present Winter Concert

The Queens College Choral Society will perform Joseph Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacemon Sunday, December 15, at 4 pm in Colden Auditorium of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts. Haydn’s choral work is associated with Admiral Horatio Nelson’s victory over Napoleon. Williams’ piece juxtaposes words from the Latin Mass with poetry by Walt Whitman. 

More than 200 local high school and middle school student singers will join the choral society in an excerpt from 1001 Voices: A Symphony for a New America, which reimagines “The New Colossus”—the poem by Emma Lazarus inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty—as an alternative national anthem.  

Tickets are $25, $5 for students with a valid QCID. Free parking is available.  

Focusing on Immigrants’ Rights

Know Your Rights, a workshop presented by the Department of Urban Studies on Monday, December 16, at 6 pm over Zoom, will cover legal protections and resources for immigrants, regardless of status. New York Assembly Member Catalina Cruz and Urban Studies alumnus and immigrant rights activist Enrique Pena Oropeza will lead the workshop; Do J. Lee (Urban Studies) will provide introductions. All are welcome; attendees will be kept confidential. Registration.

A Dozen Facts about QC

There are so many reasons to apply to Queens College; this recruitment poster, distributed locally, lists the top 12.

Happening in Queens

For those who want to live large, the Museum of the Moving Image is showing classic films on its big screen now through January 24, 2025. The lineup includes wintry features such as Dr. Zhivago, Nanook of the North, and The Shining. Dates and times are posted at See It Big: Let It Snow – Museum of the Moving Image.

The Tianyu Lights Festival NYC | Buy Tickets, in New York City for the first time, is illuminating two Citi Field Parking lots through January 19. In this family-friendly experience, people explore a magical forest in the company of a virtual seven-year-old boy and his dad.

Sebastian Alvarado (Biology) is quoted in an Inside Higher Ed article about faculty’s role in career development and mentorship. . . .

Alicia M. Alvero, a former associate provost in Queens College's Office of Academic Affairs, has been named interim executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs of CUNY . . . . Kimiko Hahn (English) gives a reading tonight—Tuesday, December 10, 7:30 pm—at the Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute at Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Poet and civil rights lawyer Sunu Chandy ’13 MFA will moderate a post-reading conversation, followed by a book selling and signing in the Great Hall. For those who can’t attend in person, the event is being livestreamed Folger Shakespeare Library . . . . Mikael Karlsson ’05 composed an opera based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Fanny and Alexander; the opera, which debuted in December, is the subject of New York Times article . . . . Emily Wilbourne (ACSM) received the Judy Tsou Critical Race Studies Award - American Musicological Society for her recent book, Voice, Slavery, and Race in Seventeenth-Century Florence . . . . President Frank H. Wu was quoted in “What the US can learn from Wicked,” published in the Financial Times.

This is the last issue of QView for the fall semester. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all. The newsletter will resume publication in the spring semester.