Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.

QView #210 | September 23

Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, executive director of the Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding (CERRU), took QC faculty and students on a field trip to Manhattan on September 15 to see Anne Frank: The Exhibition at the Center for Jewish History. The exhibition recreates the space in the Amsterdam building where Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four others hid from the Nazis for more than two years. After the site was raided, all were sent to concentration camps; only Anne Frank’s father, Otto, survived.

From left: Isaac Borenstein, Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, Miguelina Martinez, Jatnna Bobadilla, Robin Hizme, Joyce Yuen-Toy 

Robert Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), came to campus on Monday, September 15, as reported in QView last week and summarized in this DASNY press release. His tour of DASNY-funded projects is captured in this video.

From left: President Frank H. Wu, DASNY President and CEO Robert Rodriguez, Interim VP for Facilities Planning and Operations Denese McFarlane

Members of the Psychology Department threw a surprise party on Monday, September 15, for their colleague Yoko Nomura to congratulate her on being named a CUNY Distinguished Professor. At right, President Frank H. Wu and the honoree; below, Nomura and her well-wishers.

How can colleges prepare students for the workplace? Career-Connected Learning in the Curriculum, a conference held on the morning of Tuesday, September 16, explored that topic through presentations by Niesha Taylor, director of Career Readiness for the National Association of Colleges and Employers, and Robin Kietlinski, history professor at LaGuardia Community College and a CUNY Strategy Innovation Fellow. Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs Maria DeLongoria offered opening remarks.

QC, famously, has more than 100 clubs and student organizations. Representatives of many of them conducted outreach during Club Day on September 17.

Key findings of QC’s Self-Study Report Draft - Accreditation were shared at the Accreditation Town Hall on September 17, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm, in the Dave Fields Lecture Hall, Kiely 170. As part of the town hall, President Frank H. Wu gave opening remarks. Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price, Associate Provost of Institutional Effectiveness Rebekkah Chow, Christopher Hanusa (Mathematics), deans of schools, and faculty members engaged in the college’s self-study process made presentations and responded to questions. Chow’s PowerPoint presentation has been converted into a PDF, for the benefit of those who missed the event. 

From left: Associate Provost of Institutional Effectiveness Rebekkah Chow, President Frank H. Wu, Mathematics Professor Christopher Hanusa, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price

Graciela Mochkofsky, dean of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, came to campus on Thursday, September 18, for a tour and discussion with faculty and senior administrators. 

From left: Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson, Annmarie Drury (English), President Frank H. Wu, CUNY Journalism School Dean Graciela Mochkofsky, JV Fuqua (Media Studies), School of Arts and Humanities Dean Simone Yearwood, Andrea Efthymiou (English)

The Queens delegation of the New York City Council presented President Frank H. Wu with a sizeable check on Friday, September 19. For fiscal 2026, council members allocated $5 million to QC for three capital projects: renovations and technical system upgrades at Rathaus Hall; renovations of an air pollution laboratory at the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment; and an overhaul of the Food Science Laboratory in Remsen Hall.

“I thank you for giving us the means to make campus improvements that our students and faculty deserve,” said President Wu. The capital allocations are the largest ever in a single budget year provided by the city’s legislative body. 

From left: Student Association President Shawn Rajkumar; Henry Yam, chief of staff and budget director for NYC Council Member James Gennaro; NYC Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers; Queens Delegation Co-Chair and NYC Council Member Nantasha Williams; NYC Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams; President Frank H. Wu; Queens Delegation Co-Chair and NYC Council Member Linda Lee; Keith Felsenfeld, chief of staff for Linda Lee

The Flavored Food & Wine Festival, hosted by the Pearls & Ivy Foundation of Queens, brought gourmets to the Quad on the afternoon of Saturday, September 20. To please the ears as well as the palate, the event featured a performance by singer-songwriter Raheem DeVaughn. Pearls & Ivy awards scholarships and holds community empowerment programs, fundraisers, and events year-round to enhance and serve the Queens community and those in need. Watch the WNBC TV story.

Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Graduate Studies Maria DeLongheria

From left: Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Vivek Upadhyay, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards

Knights Fall Teams Post Winning Performances

The Queens College men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and men’s tennis teams all delivered strong performances this past week.

The men’s soccer team opened with a commanding 7-1 victory over Pace University on Wednesday, highlighted by a hat trick from Brayden Brown. They later battled to a 0-0 draw against D’Youville University on Saturday.

Women’s soccer earned its first win of the season on Saturday, defeating D’Youville 1-0 behind a first-half strike from freshman Mia Goicochea.

Women’s volleyball picked up three wins in four matches last week. The Knights defeated Caldwell University (3-1) on Tuesday, and over the weekend added victories against Georgian Court University (3-2) and Southern New Hampshire University (3-1).

Men’s tennis kicked off its 2025 campaign with back-to-back wins last Friday. The Knights dominated Chestnut Hill, 6-1, before edging Jefferson University, 4-3.

Coming up this week, men’s soccer will host East Stroudsburg University on Tuesday at 7 pm and Mercy University on Saturday at 7:30 pm. Women’s soccer travels to Pace on Tuesday at 7 pm before returning home to face Mercy on Saturday at 5 pm. Women’s volleyball welcomes American International College on Tuesday at 7 pm, then hits the road to play D’Youville (Saturday, 12 pm) and Daemen University (Sunday, 11 am). After a week off, cross country will run at the Queensborough Invitational on Sunday at noon.

For the latest Knights’ news, schedules, and statistics, visit https://queensknights.com/.

QC “College Tour” Episode Premieres on Campus

The Queens College episode of “The College Tour,” Amazon Prime’s series about colleges and universities around the world, received an on-campus premiere on Tuesday, September 16, in LeFrak Hall. The stars of the occasion—the students seen in the show—got the Hollywood treatment, walking a red carpet into the screening. Over 400 attendees included local high school students, principals, guidance counselors, and advisors; SUNY and CUNY representatives; Queens County and Long Island legislators; and QC student leaders, scholarship recipients, and alumni from the last decade. The event culminated in a reception in the atrium, where college officials, school deans, and department chairs were on hand to field questions.

Everyone can watch the video on QC’s website and on “The College Tour” website. An interview with President Wu, “Coffee with the President,” by reality television host Desi Williams, is available on a new landing page accessible on the QC website.

The episode will debut nationally on Tuesday, November 18, on Amazon Prime Video, tubi, Apple TV+, Roku, YouTube, and Android TV. A promo for it is being shown in Regal movie theaters in Queens and the suburbs through October 13.

QC is the first CUNY school to be featured in “The College Tour.”

From left: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, New York State Assembly Member Sam Berger

College Tour Video

QC College Tour Ceremony

This Week and Beyond in Hispanic Heritage Month

QC’s Hispanic Heritage Month events continue on Thursday, September 25, with the Hispanic Alumni Professionals Forum, 12:15 to 1:30 pm, in Dining Hall 122. Speakers will include Justin Cintron ’21, an assistant vice president at StoneCastle, where he designs liquidity solutions for Fortune 500 treasurers and public funds; Lucas Martinez ’18, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Tumo, an AI-powered tax platform; and Saskia Van Horn ’22, a former Association for Latino Professionals in America (ALPFA) vice president and president, and recipient of ALPFA National and QC Senior Legacy Scholarships. Karl Mitchell (Economics) and Zadia Feliciano (Economics; Latin American and Latino Studies) will moderate. The panel is sponsored by the Department of Economics, the Office of Alumni Relations, the Percy E. Sutton SEEK Program, the Office of Student Development and Leadership, and Latin American and Latino Studies.

An opening reception for the Godwin-Ternbach Museum exhibition Quinceañera: Dress and Memory in Latine Culture will be held at the museum on September 25 from 6 to 8 pm. The show, which explores a rite of passage observed in many Hispanic communities, will run through December 18.

Afro-Indigenous symbols in modern and contemporary art is the topic of a talk Margarita Rosa will present on Monday, September 29, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm in Student Union 125. Rosa is a lecturer in Black and Latino Studies at Baruch College. This lecture is sponsored by the Office of Student Development and Leadership, the Center for Racial and Religious Understanding (CERRU), the Dominican Students Union, and Latin American and Latino Studies.

For details of upcoming events, click here.

Career Path Exploration for First-, Second-Year Students

The New York Jobs CEO Council will host CUNY Career Discovery Week for first- and second-year undergraduates from November 3 to 7. The week will give students the opportunity to visit a Fortune 500 company in New York City, experience the corporate work environment, and meet industry professionals. Amazon, BlackRock, Con Edison, Deloitte, Google, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, TD Bank, and United are among the 30 companies participating in this program. Spots are limited; students may attend only one session. Register by October 17 here.

John Dennehy Named Director of Ira Spar Biosciences Lab

Biology Professor John Dennehy has been appointed director of the Ira Spar Biosciences Lab at Queens College, effective July 1, 2025. He will lead the lab through June 30, 2028.

The Ira Spar Laboratory, founded in 2021 thanks to funding by QC alumnus Ira Spar ’64—a renowned orthopedic surgeon—was established to support cutting-edge research in public health. Dennehy’s appointment marks the next phase in the lab’s mission to expand Queens College’s contributions to the life sciences.

“It's an honor to be appointed the next director,” said Dennehy.

Dennehy has been part of the Queens College faculty since 2007, specializing his research in viruses, bacteriophages, gene expression control, cellular event timing, mathematical modeling, virus molecular biology, virus evolution and ecology, and systems biology. In addition to his role with the Biosciences Lab, Dennehy oversees students in the Wastewater Epidemiology Training Laboratory (WETLAB), which has produced strategies to detect dangerous pathogens in wastewater, including Covid-19—an effort that highlighted the public health relevance of his work.

As director of the Biosciences Lab, he is overseeing some other impactful public health projects. One of the lab’s central projects focuses on rotavirus, a highly contagious pathogen that infects nearly all young children. In the United States, it remains a leading cause of severe diarrhea, resulting in up to 70,000 hospitalizations each year. Globally, it is one of the primary causes of infant mortality. Recent studies have revealed that the rotavirus can hijack extracellular vesicles—normally used by cells for communication—to shield itself and deliver infection more efficiently, raising the potential for more severe disease.

“If we can target this means of infection, which is relatively new to science,” Dennehy explained, “then potentially new antiviral drugs could be developed.”

The lab is also advancing research into bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. This line of study has far-reaching implications for combating antibiotic resistance.



“There is no commonly known antibiotic that is effective against every bacterium. So, every antibiotic is giving rise to some antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We are looking at bacteriophages as an alternative because they are very specific for certain types of bacteria.”

In addition to conducting groundbreaking research, the lab provides students with invaluable opportunities to gain hands-on experience and receive direct mentoring from Dennehy. Under his mentorship, students are gaining the skills they need to lead tomorrow’s advances in bioscience.

“Professor John Dennehy is a highly productive researcher with a strong record of accomplishment across multiple subdisciplines of basic and applied bioscience,” said Daniel Weinstein, dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. “He has built and maintained a large, externally funded research laboratory, mentoring over 125 trainees at all levels, from high school students to postdoctoral fellows. Professor Dennehy has the exceptional talent, drive, and daring to continue to push the boundaries of scientific discovery; I am confident that as the second director of the Ira Spar Biosciences Laboratory, he will continue to amplify Queens College’s prominence in the life sciences.”

Fair Weather in Queens County

No need to head upstate to experience hayrides, pony rides, square dancing, and corn husking contests. The Queens County Farm Museum, one of the longest continually farmed sites in New York State, will offer all these activities and more at the 42nd Annual Queens Agricultural Fair on September 27-28. Attractions include a Blue Ribbon Competition for local artisans and an exhibit of historic farm vehicles. For an additional fee, adventurous types can test themselves in the Amazing Maize Maze. To date, no one has been lost overnight in this living, three-acre puzzle.

Betty Leong ’72, MS ’85

Betty Leong, high school math teacher and community volunteer, passed away on September 1. She was 74.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants who settled in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Leong completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in math and taught the subject at Forest Hills High School for 30 years. Diminutive and athletic, she made time for martial arts—she was a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do—dragon boat racing, tennis, and tai chi. In retirement, Leong poured her energies into the Chinese Center on Long Island, the Lakeville Estates Civic Association, the American Legion, and the Chinese American Association of North Hempstead. A friend credited her with sourcing face masks and sanitizers for distribution to senior citizens during the pandemic. She also pushed, successfully, for the installation of pickleball courts at two locations in New Hyde Park, her home for more than 20 years.

Leong is survived by her husband, whom she met at QC; their daughter; and her brother.

Rachel Pakan, a QC undergraduate, has been awarded a Belle Zeller Scholarship for 2025-26. Supported by the Belle Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund, Zeller Scholarships honor their namesake, a Brooklyn College political science professor, scholar, and founding president of the CUNY Professional Staff Congress. To qualify for these awards, students must have academic averages of over 3.75 and maintain volunteer commitments at their colleges, in their communities, and often abroad. The Barbara Bowen Awards, also issued by the Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund, are named for a professor in QC’s English Department and longtime president of PSC-CUNY . . . . Jay Boss Rubin ’23, an alumnus of QC’s MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation, and Annemarie Drury had a conversation at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco on Monday, September 29, to celebrate the recent publication of his translation of Euphrase Kezilahabi's novel Rosa Mistika . . . .