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

QView #211 | September 30

No sartorial guidelines applied to attendees on September 25, when the Godwin-Ternbach Museum held an opening reception for Quinceañera: Dress and Memory in Latine Culture, on September 25. Speakers included President Frank H. Wu. The show, which explores a rite of passage observed in many Hispanic communities, was inspired by a QC student’s essay about her own quinceañera. WPIX’s Monica Morales did a story on the exhibition, which will run through December 18. QNS also provided coverage.

A welcome party for Asian American Asian Research Institute (AAARI) Dean John Chin (above, left) was held at Golden Unicorn in Manhattan on Friday, September 26; President Frank H. Wu was among the guests.

Photo credit: Wellington Chen

Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson shared his institutional knowledge by presenting "History of CUNY 101" on Monday, September 29. Among the documents he used to illustrate the talk (which began with the 1847 establishment of the Free Academy and concluded with the enactment of the 1979 CUNY Governance and Financing Law) is the New York State legislative resolution honoring Citizenship NOW, a CUNY program Hershenson co-founded with attorney Allan Wernick. Citizenship NOW has provided free and confidential citizenship and immigration law services since 1997.

State of New York Legislative Resolution celebrating Citizenship NOW!

Men’s Soccer Posts Two Thrilling Victories against Top Opponents  

The Queens College men’s soccer team earned two thrilling victories last week against a pair of regionally ranked opponents.



Last Tuesday, the Knights defeated East Stroudsburg University, 2-1, thanks to junior forward Tommy Gunn, whose goal in the final minute broke a 1-1 tie and secured the win. On Saturday, QC overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit, scoring three second-half goals to top Mercy University, 3-2, in a key East Coast Conference (ECC) contest. East Stroudsburg and Mercy are ranked fifth and eighth respectively in the United Soccer Coaches’ East Region rankings. 

The Knights are off to a strong start this season with an overall record of 5-1-2 and 1-0-1 in the ECC.

The cross country team also had two impressive performances when they competed at the Queensborough Invitational last Sunday. Rachel Mow led the women’s team with a sixth-place finish in the 5k race (22:42.35) and Daniel DeGregori paced the men’s squad, placing fifth in the 8k (29:37.79).

This week, men’s soccer travels to the University of the District of Columbia on Wednesday at 2 pm and Daemen University on Saturday for a 2:30 pm kickoff. Women’s soccer will host Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday at 6 pm and visit Daemen at 12 pm on Saturday. Women’s volleyball hits the road on Wednesday to take on Molloy University at 7 pm, then welcomes Pace University on Saturday for a 12 pm match. 

For the latest Knights news, schedules, and statistics visit queensknights.com.

This Week and Beyond in Hispanic Heritage Month

The sounds of Cuba will fill Colden Auditorium on Friday, October 3, when the Buena Vista Orchestra, an ensemble of top musicians, will take the stage.

Kelly Fernández ’15, MLS ’20—author of Manu: A Graphic Novel, and a children’s librarian at New York Public Library—will give two presentations on Monday, October 7, in Klapper 672. At 12:15 pm, she will speak about cartooning after college; at 6:30 pm, her topic will be the life cycle of a graphic novel. Refreshments and books will be available at both events, presented by the School of the Arts, Department of English, the MFA in Creative Writing and Literary Translation, Department of Art, and Latin American and Latino Studies.

The following day, poet Carlos Andrés Gómez will lead “The Power of Latinidad in a Fractured World” in Dining Hall 114 from 12:15 to 1:30 pm. This interactive workshop, which explores Latinidad through the lens of intersectionality, will be presented by the Office of Student Development and Leadership.

Information about upcoming programming is posted here.

Getting Comfortable with a Sensitive Topic

CUNY students put on sleepwear for QC’s annual Safe Sex Pajama Party on Thursday, September 18. Fun and games were on the agenda, which covered safer sex practices in a sex-positive way. The first 100 students in attendance received a commemorative Queens College Safe Sex Pajama Party plush blanket and won other prizes.

The Mt. Sinai Sexual Assault and Intervention Program/SAVI, the AIDS Center of Queens County/ACQC, the Mt. Sinai Young Adult Sexual Services Program/YASS, and ViiV Healthcare taught students about HIV and STI prevention and how to set boundaries, access resources, and exercise self-care. HIV and STI testing were available.

The event concluded in a Jammy Jam After Party featuring DJ Unico.

Highlights of the evening are captured in this video by Verne Molihan, graphic designer, Queens College Pride Team.

The Safe Sex Pajama Party was sponsored by the Office of LGBTQIAA+ Programs at Queens College in partnership with the Summit Apartments at Queens College, the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, and the New York City Council. Co-sponsors included the Queens College Gender, Love and Sexuality Alliance/GLASA; the Alliance of Latin American Students/ALAS at Queens College; the Queens College Hispanic Club; the AIDS Center of Queens County/ACQC; the Mt. Sinai Sexual Assault and Intervention Program/SAVI; the Mt. Sinai Sexual Services Program/YASS; ViiV Healthcare; Health Services at Queens College; the Queens College Counseling Services Center; the Queens College Committee for Disabled Students: and the CUNY Office of Student Inclusion Initiatives.

Two Shows To Open at QCAC

From Facing Franklin

Self-Portrait by Robert Barrell

Fat Canary Journal, a platform for contemporary and emerging artists, will mount two exhibitions at the Queens College Art Center (QCAC) in Rosenthal Library in October.

Facing Franklin is built around photography by Clarence John Guienze, a Black man raised in the segregated south. Images he took of family and friends in his hometown of Franklin, Louisiana, will be displayed with stories by his daughter, Regina Guienze Tinti.

The Legacy of Robert Barrell and the Forest Park School of Art will be presented at the same time. Barrell, a founding member of the Indian Space Artists of the 1950s, also founded the Forest Park School of Art in Queens. His work will be showcased alongside pieces by his former students, including curator and Fat Canary Journal founder Virginia Mallon ’85. (Last spring, Mallon participated in a two-person show at QCAC with Mary Ahern ’80.)

Facing Franklin and The Legacy of Robert Barrell will open with a reception at the QCAC on October 4 from 2 to 5 pm. The exhibitions will run through October 31.

A Day for Knights

Prospective students and their families will learn what Queens College has to offer at the Open House on Sunday, October 5, from 1 to 4 pm in the Dining Hall. The afternoon will include tours, workshops, and presentations. Faculty, staff, and current students are welcome to attend to support future members of the QC community.

Happening in the Borough

Drawing inspiration from the natural world, Emily Hockaday will lead a poetry workshop at the Queens Botanical Garden on Saturday, October 4, from 1 to 3 pm. Then she will read an excerpt from her ecopoetry collection I Dared the Storms to Come and give workshop participants the opportunity to read their work. The session will conclude at 4 pm. RSVP here.

That same day, the Garage Art Center—a space founded and directed by Godwin-Ternbach staffer Stephanie Lee—will open its next exhibition, Reflections. In this solo show, artist, composer, writer, video artist, and curator Tina Seligman will immerse viewers in a multimedia meditation on water. The gallery is open by appointment. To schedule a visit, use the Garage Art Center’s calendar or send an email to contact@garageartcenter.org.

Music, dance, tea, and mooncakes will be on the menu for the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sunday, October 5, from 2 to 4 pm at The Shops at Skyview. Attendees will be able to try on traditional Chinese and Korean attire and document the results in a photo booth. The festival is free; advance registration is recommended.

Rosemary Deen

Rosemary Deen, a longtime member of QC’s English faculty, passed away on September 9, about two months short of her hundredth birthday.

Deen earned a bachelor’s degree from Aquinas College and an MA in English literature from the University of Michigan and completed coursework for a doctorate at the University of Chicago, where she met her husband, late Blake scholar and QC professor Leonard Deen.

In collaboration with her English department colleague, poet Marie Ponsot, Deen published two instructional books: Beat Not the Poor Desk and The Common Sense: What to Write, How to Write It, and Why. She also released an essay collection, Naming the Light: A Week of Years, and for more than four decades was the poetry editor of Commonweal, stepping down in 2019.

After the Deens retired to their summer home in Stone Ridge, New York, Rosemary Deen served on the board of the Stone Ridge Public Library and led a poetry reading group there. She also donated daylily bulbs propagated from her own plants for sale at the library’s annual fair.

Predeceased by her husband, Deen is survived by their five children, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Leon Graubard ’52

Leon Graubard, an economics professor who had a second career as a lawyer, died on September 10. He was 94.

Shortly after graduating from QC as an economics major, Graubard joined the U.S. Army. He did a two-year tour in Korea and was awarded the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars. Demobbed, he did graduate work at Columbia University, the London School of Economics, and Brown University, where he earned his doctorate. He went on to teach economics at Boston University, Brown, Northeastern, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

Retired from academia, Graubard enrolled in Northeastern University School of Law at the age of 70. Upon earning his JD and passing the Massachusetts Bar, he joined the Boston Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project, which serves low-income families and individuals.

Graubard was predeceased by his wife, Pamela Sherer, whom he met at WPI. He is survived by their son, daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and other family members.

Julia Del Palacio (School of Arts/KCA) was among the honorees at the Mexican Independence Day observance at Queens Borough Hall on September 25 . . . .

From left: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Julia Del Palacio, NYS Assemblymember Claire Valdez, NYS Assemblymember Catalina Cruz.

Africana Studies Director Natanya Duncan was named co-winner of the 2025 Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize for An Efficient Womanhood: Women and the Making of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, published by the University of North Carolina Press in January 2025. The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH)—an organization cofounded by QC alumna Rosalyn Terborg-Penn—issues the award annually in a competition open to all books, biographies, and anthologies concerning Black women’s history in the United States and African Diaspora . . . . Anthony Tamburri (John D. Calandra Italian American Institute) has released two more books: Gli Americani Italiani: Cultura e Societa and Expanding Diasporic Identity: A Multi-Directional Path to the New Italian Writer . . . . President Frank H. Wu is quoted in “Prosecutors face suspension in wrongful conviction case,” published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.