College Lays Foundation for Faster Master’s Degrees

QC’s accelerated graduate degree options are getting up to speed, reports Michael Wolfe, dean of the Division of Social Sciences. Wolfe and Interim Associate Provost William McClure are refining the details through discussions with the chairs of departments that offer graduate degrees.

 

While each department will be able to set its own standards, the concept is the same across the board: Outstanding undergraduates who wish to pursue master’s degrees at QC may, with the permission of the graduate director, enroll in graduate-level courses that will fulfill both undergraduate and graduate degree requirements. Up to 12 graduate credits may be used to meet requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Upon receiving their BA or BS degree, students will complete the remaining graduate courses for their master’s degree, thus saving considerable amounts of time and money.

 

To learn more about accelerated graduate degree options, visit  http://accelerate.qc.cuny.edu .

Strengthening U.S.­–Japan Education Collaboration

Provost Elizabeth Hendrey participated in a U.S.–Japan higher education roundtable March 10 at the annual American Council on Education Conference (ACE) in Washington, D.C. Hendrey serves on the ACE Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement, and was one of several commissioners invited to join the roundtable at what was ACE’s 100th annual conference.

 

The roundtable topics included ways to increase student exchange between the U.S. and Japan; ways to promote virtual linkages (e.g., collaborative online international learning) between the U.S. and Japan; and measuring, analyzing, and recommending policies for U.S.–Japan higher education relations.

 

Immediately following the roundtable, a ceremony took place at which ACE President Ted Mitchell and Juichi Yamagiwa, president of the Japanese Association of National Universities (JANU) and of Kyoto University, jointly signed an agreement aimed at strengthening U.S.–Japan higher education collaboration.

 

The event concluded with a group photo of the participants (above), in which Hendrey appears in the center of the second row, wearing a light gray jacket. Three places to her left appears someone familiar to many at QC: New Jersey City University President Sue Henderson. Two of the men seated (the third and fourth, going from right to left) are Ted Mitchell and Juichi Yamagiwa, the agreement signatories.

 

Emphasizing the importance of Queens College’s relationship with Japanese institutions of higher education that annually send significant number of students and scholars to our Flushing campus, Provost Hendrey offered the following statement:

 

“Queens College has formal relationships with seven universities in Japan as well as with the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN). Our first partnerships were short programs that served the interests of QC students and faculty in Japanese language, East Asian Studies, business, and media. Over time, we have added longer term exchanges and expanded offerings to include students and faculty in linguistics and education (TESOL, language pedagogy) and the sciences (e.g., research opportunities for graduate and minority undergraduates in Japanese labs).

 

“More recently, we built on an existing faculty collaboration to create an innovative partnership with Toyahashi University of Technology and the KOSEN schools to address the current Japanese priority to internationalize the university experience in Japan. Their faculty enrolled as students in our courses to improve their English and to engage with us on pedagogy. Our Center for Teaching and Learning designed a pedagogy course for this purpose. This partnership also includes direct student exchange (long- and short-term), online English language instruction (for their students, faculty, and staff), and specialized (not for credit) summer programs in the arts or English language instruction. 

 

“We also regularly host visiting scholars (we are a main host for KOSEN, for example). More than 100 Japanese students and scholars come to our campus annually. These relationships and programs have grown organically. We maintain regular contact with our partners, with faculty and administration visiting and interacting regularly. We are always reviewing existing programs for new ways to cooperate, for example, joint degrees or 2+2 programs.”

The 2018 State of the State on Campus March 21

Representatives of Governor Andrew Cuomo will be on campus on Wednesday, March 21 during free hour to present the 2018 State of the State. Among the topics they will discuss are criminal justice reform, combatting sexual harassment, Excelsior scholarship for free college tuition, student loan reform, ending student hunger, and more. To attend, RSVP with “Government at Queens College” in the subject line to [email protected] .

Second Avenue C Opens in Student Union

 Since its debut in Queens Hall in 2013, the first Avenue C market has proven to be extremely popular with the college community. About a year ago, after detecting a decline in revenue and traffic associated with the SA Diner in the Student Union, the college decided to replace that facility with an Avenue C. Opening the same market on the opposite side of campus offers many benefits, such as increased accessibility and convenience for students, including Summit residents and members of the campus community who use the shuttle bus. The new Avenue C operates from 6:30 am to 11 pm.

 

The decision to open the new market was reviewed with the college’s Food Service Committee of the Auxiliary Enterprises Corporation, which comprises faculty, students, and administrators. This decision provides students with more and varied food choices, including halal, kosher, vegan, and gluten-free items. Feedback on the new Avenue C has been positive; the majority of students using it create key card accounts that enable them to make purchases quickly and easily.

 

In addition to the new Avenue C, the college has opened Mangia Fresca on the second floor of Kiely Hall, which offers freshly prepared hot and cold items, and a Chinese food option in the Main Dining Hall.

March 23 Business Forum to Look at Sustainability & the City

                       

The next Business Forum on Friday, March 23 will feature a panel discussion on urban sustainability with four experts in this field: Rob Crauderueff, CEO of Crauderueff Associates; Annel Hernandez, Resiliency Planner, NYC Environmental Justice League; Jesse Scott, Customer Development Manager, New York Power Authority; and Tria Case, Director, Sustainable CUNY. President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez will make the opening remarks and Dean of Social Sciences Michael Wolfe will be the moderator. To learn more about the event or to RSVP, click here .

Rescheduled Career and Internship Fair Held on March 13

The QC Career and Internship Fair , which was cancelled March 7 due to snow, took place on Tuesday, March 13 on the fourth floor of the Student Union. Zavi Gunn, director of the Center for Career Engagement and Internships, noted a few highlights of the fair:

 

Arts Career and Internship Fair on April 25

The Kupferberg Center for the Arts and the Aaron Copland School of Music will be holding a Performing and Visual Arts Career and Internship Fair on Wednesday, April 25 from 12:15 to 3 pm in the Atrium of the Music Building. There will be representatives from nonprofit organizations and government sectors who support the visual arts, music, dance, drama, and media studies. Students will also have the chance to apply for internships and jobs, and explore career options in the arts. Among the participating organizations are the Kupferberg Center, Chamber Music America, Sing for Hope, New York Foundation for the Arts, Grammy U, Broadway’s Babies, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Queens Council on the Arts, Forest Hills Stadium, and the QC Center for Career Engagement and Internship. For more information, contact Jane Cho: [email protected]. edu or 718-997-3802.

Music and Art Libraries Holding Sales

The Music Library will be holding a book sale on Wednesday, March 21 between 11 am and 4 pm in the Atrium of the Music Building. Sale items include donated books on music, scores, recordings (CDs, DVDs, LPs, cassettes, VHS tapes, etc.), and other books. Hardcover books and scores will be $3, softcover $2, and recordings will be $.50 per LP/cassette, $1 per CD, $2 per DVD, and $.50 per VHS tape. All proceeds fund the purchase of new books, scores, and recordings. Items in the sale are donations to the Music Library.

 

The Art Library book sale runs through Wednesday, March 21 from 11 am to 6 pm in the Rosenthal Library entrance lobby. Sale items include donated art books; exhibition, collection, and auction catalogs; pamphlets; periodicals; and a sprinkling of publications on various subjects. Books: $1 to $5; pamphlets, periodicals, and auction catalogs: $.50. Proceeds will fund the purchase of new materials for the Art Library. Information or to donate materials:718-997-3770;  [email protected] ;  [email protected] ​

Fostering Health and Safety for Immigrant Laborers

With her PhD in environmental psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center, Isabel Cuervo is thoroughly grounded in theory. But her dissertation research with residents of government-subsidized “social housing” in Bogota, Colombia, put her on a path to the work she most loves: interacting with marginalized communities to learn their needs and “give voice to people not usually at the table.”

This passion stems from personal experience. Growing up in Sunnyside, Queens, Cuervo attended Townsend Harris High School and received scholarships from Barnard College (transferring there from Tufts University because she “missed New York too much”). Her mother, a native of Colombia, was a nanny and housekeeper in Manhattan. “When my mother lost her job, we almost lost our apartment,” says Cuervo, recalling that frightening time during her college years that inspired her to pursue community-engaged research.

A spirit of empathy permeates her work as a senior research associate at the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment, where Cuervo is on a team dedicated to improving the health of immigrant working populations in New York City. Reporting to project director Sherry Baron, MD, under center director Dr. Steven Markowitz, Cuervo writes grants and collaborates on community-engaged research projects with immigrant-oriented nonprofits.

Click here to read more.

Rosenthal Library

QC’s state-of-the art library was dedicated in 1988 to Benjamin S. Rosenthal (1923–1983), a legislator whose support for higher education earned him the nickname “the education congressman”; his papers are housed here, as is the Louis Armstrong Archives.



What, Me Worry?

Rosenthal once read a statement into the  Congressional Record   praising Mad magazine (his district included the part of Manhattan where the magazine had its office): “for the last 10 years [ Mad ] has humorously pointed out the laughable foibles of business, labor, advertising, television, sports and entertainment--to say nothing of politics.”

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.

Antonio Donato (Philosophy) has received a fellowship from the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies. The goal of his research is to produce the first book-length study of a 16th-century anonymous Italian text entitled  La Pazzia . . . On March 11 in Washington, D.C., President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez (right) was part of an American Council on Education Executive Search Roundtable examining The Complexity in Defining Diversity in the Search Process. He also co-chaired, with CUNY Trustee Mayra Linares-Garcia, the annual CUNY/SUNY Somos El Futuro Model Senate Luncheon in Albany. At the luncheon state and city officials spoke prior to the debate session in the State Senate chambers, with students playing the roles of senators . . . Student Tatjana Mustac recently received the Croatian Women of Influence Award—Future Leaders, which is conferred on “enterprising young women under the age of 20 who have demonstrated extraordinary talent at an early age.” The award was given by the Croatian Women’s Network . . . Jacek Polubiec ’95 (MA) has just returned from Lapland, where he went to learn about the Finnish educational system. In addition to learning about innovative and effective learning, teaching, and leadership, Jacek made a presentation on the role of school leaders in supporting teacher motivation at the Teacher Training School at the University of Rovaniemi . . . Berdena T. Simpson (B&G) recently published a volume of poetry, Poems That Nourish You , which is available as an ebook on Amazon .