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

QView #216 | November 18

From left: Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Graduate Studies Maria DeLongoria, School of Arts Dean and Interim Chief Librarian Simone Yearwood, CUNY Graduate Center Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joel Christensen, School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Dean Daniel Weinstein

Joel Christensen, a classics scholar who was recently appointed provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the CUNY Graduate Center, visited campus on Friday, November 7.

New York Law School President and Dean Anthony Crowell shared his expertise during a fireside chat at mid-day on Monday, November 10. Students stayed after the chat for a pre-law information session.

From left: Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson, Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs Maria DeLongoria, Queens College Foundation Chair Chaim Wachsberger, Psychology Lecturer Erica Doran, Student Life Events Manager and LGBTQIAA+ Programs Coordinator JC Carlson, New York Law School Assistant Director of Admissions Peter Kang, New York Law School President and Dean Anthony Crowell, General Counsel Dennis Cohen, President Frank H. Wu, CERRU Executive Director Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, Adjunct Associate History Professor Nourit Zimerman, Political Science Professor and Pre-law Advisor Keena Lipsitz

Yonghao Yan, a professor at Jingdezhen Ceramics University in Jiangxi, China, has been a visiting scholar at QC since April. From Screen to Clay: Exploring the Relationships Between Image and Material, an exhibition of her work, opened in the Klapper Hall Gallery with a lecture and reception on November 11. The show will be on display through November 24.

From left: “Here and Now” host Sandra Bookman and producer Tracey R. Bagley

A special episode of WABC’s “Here and Now”— the longest-running African American public affairs show in the country, hosted by Sandra Bookman—taped live at LeFrak Concert Hall on Thursday, November 13, before an appreciative audience. The special, “Legends & Future Leaders of Queens,” highlighted celebrated inventor Lewis Latimer and jazz icon Louis Armstrong and ambitious local high school students, among others.

President Frank H. Wu addressed the Academic Senate on Thursday, November 13, summarizing the developments and achievements of the college community across the campus. He answered questions from senators and thanked the governance body for its ongoing work. Academic Senate presentation (pdf)

Teaching was the topic at two conferences on campus Friday, November 14.

TIME2000’s annual event, Celebrating Mathematics Teaching, attracted high school students and their mathematics teachers—some of them QC alums—for dynamic lessons and a keynote by Po-Shen Lo, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former USA Math Olympiad coach.

NYC Men Teach’s 7th Innovation in Education Conference, exploring the theme “With Liberty & Educational Justice for All,” drew an audience of CUNY undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in teacher education programs, in-service teachers, and alumni. Commentator and former South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers, best-selling author and NAACP Image Award winner Hill Harper, New York State Senator John Liu, New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young, recording artist and actress Azure Antoinette, and New York State 2026 Teacher of the Year Prince Johnson were among the presenters. The conference was co-sponsored by the School of Education, NYC Men Teach, and the NYC Mayor’s Young Men’s Initiative.

From left: Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management Vivek Upadhyay, President Frank H. Wu, Guttman Community College Interim President Elizabeth de León Bhargava, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Chelsea Lavington

Guttman Community College Interim President Elizabeth de León Bhargava met with administrators at QC on Monday, November 17. Among the topics: supporting the transfer process for Guttman students.

Men’s Soccer Suffers Heartbreaking Loss in ECC Championship Game

The Queens College men’s soccer team saw its East Coast Conference (ECC) championship dreams end in heartbreaking fashion, falling to Roberts Wesleyan University on penalty kicks in the ECC Championship.

Regulation and overtime were not enough to break a 1-1 tie, so the match was decided by penalty kicks. After four rounds, both teams had converted three attempts. In the fifth round, QC missed its shot and Roberts Wesleyan converted theirs to clinch the victory.

In other Knights news, the basketball season is underway. The men’s basketball team earned a come-from-behind, 65-59, victory against Pace University on Sunday. Tahj-Malik Campbell led the Knights with 22 points. QC is 1-1 on the young season.

Coming up this week, the women’s basketball team will visit Caldwell University on Wednesday at 5 pm and the University of Bridgeport on Saturday at 1 pm. The men’s basketball team will compete in the Harlem Renaissance Classic in Riverdale on Saturday where they will take on Lincoln University at 2:30 pm.

To keep up with Knights’ news, visit queensknights.com/.

Observing Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, founded in 1975, calls attentions to issues afflicting countless people in the United States—problems worsened by the federal shutdown.

At QC, the Office of Student Development and Leadership began observing the week yesterday—Monday, November 17—with a turkey/chicken raffle and fresh food bag program in the Student Union Staff and Faculty Lounge.

Today, students have a chance to win a $25 Stop and Shop gift card and a basket of food through Knights Table Bingo. Come to Student Union LL23A at 2 pm.

Tomorrow, members of the QC community are asked to bring feminine products, toiletries, nonperishable food, and new or gently used items of professional apparel to the Student Union Underground (LL50) from 11 am to 3 pm.

On Thursday, November 20, volunteers are sought to help out at the pantry of the Pomonok Community Center.

QC’s Hunger and Homelessness Week projects concludes the next day at the Knights Table, which is asking for assistance in organizing its storage room.

U.S. Poet Laureate To Visit Campus

Arthur Sze, the new U.S. poet laureate, will meet students and read from his writing when he comes to campus on December 8.

The 25th person to hold this title, Sze has assigned himself a project: promoting the translation of poetry written in languages other than English. Toward that end, he will lead Queens College undergraduates in a series of translation exercises during free hour (12:15-1:30 pm). Born in New York to Chinese immigrants and raised in Queens, he chose this campus because of the borough’s linguistic diversity.

Sze’s visit will culminate in “Words Bridging Worlds: On Poetry and Translation” from 7 to 9 pm in Rosenthal 230. He will read from his work and discuss translation with Kimiko Hahn (English). Their conversation will be followed by a reception and book signing.

“Words Bridging Worlds,” a School of Arts event, is sponsored by the Office of Arts and Humanities, English Department, MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation, Writers at Queens, and the Library of Congress. Click here for more information as well as reservations.

Defying Age and Illness, Paul Cooper ’68 Lifts His Way into the Record Books

Paul Cooper, front center. Photo courtesy of Newsday

At 77, while battling cancer and a heart condition, Paul Cooper ’68 isn’t slowing down—he’s setting world records.

With his lift of 165.3 pounds, Cooper established a new world record in the bench press for men over 75 years old in the 114-pound weight class, according to openpowerlifting.org. While setting a world record is impressive in any instance, it is even more notable given the numerous health challenges Cooper has faced.

Seven years ago, Cooper was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In 2025, his cancer morphed into a rare variant called Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia, a blood cancer that affects antibody-producing cells. The cancer has caused Cooper substantial breathing problems. He has also battled heart issues, having his aortic valve surgically replaced back in 2003 and another valve replacement 20 years later. In 2024, he had a heart monitor implanted, then added a pacemaker in 2025.

But none of this has stopped him from chasing world records. He trains three times a week on squats, bench press, and deadlifts all while taking chemotherapy drugs daily.

Pushing his physical limits is nothing new. Cooper spent many years running marathons and ultramarathons, with his last marathon coming at the young age of 70. But his breathing problems caused by the cancer make it too difficult to continue running. However, weightlifting is easier to manage because he can take long rests in between sets, especially during competitions when he’s required to do only one rep at a time.

The Record-Breaking Journey

Cooper’s journey to a world record began 11 years ago when he came across an article in Newsday about three weightlifters in their 70s who competed in an organization called Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate (RPS), which sanctions powerlifting meets by age and bodyweight.

“I looked up the records for my age and bodyweight, and it seemed that with more training I could set a record, but I was too busy with work and family to train,” Cooper recalled. “When I retired in 2023, I looked up RPS and trained for about a month, and entered a meet in New Jersey, where, to my surprise I set the NJ all-time bench press record for men over 75 years old and under 132 pounds.”

From there, Cooper was motivated to break more records. He hopes to set additional records in the future, even as cancer treatment makes it hard to maintain his weight.

“I’d like to gain some weight and compete in the 132lb class,” Cooper added. “My goal is to set the world record for bench press [in that weight class], place second all-time for squats, and break the world deadlifting record.”

Cooper feels he is not far off from reaching those goals.



“The all-time deadlifting record is now 297 pounds; I have done 285 in training.”

Graduation ceremony from the 1980s when Cooper worked as an engineer at Queens College

A Lifetime QC Connection

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Cooper enrolled at QC in 1963 and majored in physics. But it was his physical education classes that would go on to shape his life the most, in more ways than one.

“I took weightlifting and found to my surprise I was good at it,” said Cooper. “For my second PE class, I took scuba diving and I loved it; it became my raison d’etre.”  

Cooper graduated in 1968 and in 1970, he was hired at QC as a part-time lecturer in Health and Physical Education, teaching scuba. It was there he met his wife, Linda, who was taking a sailing class Queens offered at Meadow Lake.

After graduation, Paul and Linda moved to the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands where they lived for about seven years and ran a dive shop, and later a home construction business. Eventually, they returned to New York and Paul got another job at Queens College as a university engineer, managing building construction and renovation projects. He eventually moved to Suffolk Community College, where he spent the last 23 years of his career as executive director of facilities.

Linda got her PhD and returned to Queens College as well, teaching at the Graduate School of Library and Information before retiring as a professor emerita. Paul and Linda have four daughters and eight grandchildren.

Inspiring Others

Cooper hopes his story can inspire other senior citizens to pursue strength training.

“I recommend strength training for everyone, especially older people,” he added. “The physical and mental benefits are enormous.” 

Before weightlifting, Cooper was on heavy doses of medication for high blood pressure. Since then, his blood pressure has returned to normal levels, and his heart rhythm has improved. He also says he sleeps better and is generally happier and less stressed.

“I have a lot of the normal age-related frailties,” explained Cooper. “But instead of getting worse this past year, they’ve been getting better. I attribute that to exercise.”

Viewbooks Go Online

QC's latest undergraduate and graduate viewbooks are now available online.

The publications, with details about the nearly 70 undergraduate majors and more than 100 graduate degrees and certificates awarded by the institution, illustrate why Queens College has been listed for 34 years in a row in Princeton Review’s Best Colleges and ranked sixth nationwide as a “Best Value College” by the Wall Street Journal.

Undergraduate programs include an innovative, multidisciplinary degree in fashion and design, which utilizes the college’s historic Fashion and Textiles Collection, with items spanning three centuries from both domestic and global communities. At the graduate level, QC offers a highly competitive Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology, housed in newly renovated Gertz Hall, and the only publicly funded, American Library Association-accredited Master of Library Science in the New York metro area.

Two Presidents To Headline Serica Event

President Frank H. Wu and his counterpart at Baruch College, President David Wu, will talk about the impact of student visa revocations on CUNY campuses and beyond on the evening of December 2 during Serica Storytellers. The panel will be moderated by Joan Kaufman, senior director for academic programs for Schwarzman Scholars, which subsidizes one-year master’s programs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. 

Tickets to the event, taking place 6:30-8 pm at the Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY (219 W. 40th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10018), cost $15 each and include drinks and networking with the speakers and guests; students may reserve seats for free.

The Serica Initiative, a nonprofit based in New York City, raises awareness of the Asian diaspora in America through storytelling, empowerment, and the power of convening.

Wanted: Women of Valor

Interested in sharing strategies and best practices for empowering women? Propose a session for next year’s Women’s Conference Week, which will be held in person and virtually throughout March 2026.

The theme, “CUNY Women Lead Loudly with Voice, Vision and Valor,” will be organized along four tracks:

Advocacy and Action, which will focus on organizing for systematic change;

AI Futures, which will explore how women at CUNY are leading the way in shaping the response to the rapid proliferation of AI usage and capabilities;

Access and Abundance, which will encourage active participation and leadership in financial direction and success, both personal and professional;

and Ascending Together, which will highlight how women across CUNY lift one another through sponsorship, allyship, and collaborative leadership.

Individuals and panels have to submit proposals for sessions that last 50 minutes, including Q&A, here on or before Friday, December 15, 2025. CUNY employees may need to log into their Office 365 accounts to complete the form (same username and password used for CUNYfirst). Notifications of acceptance will be sent by January 16, 2026.

All selected sessions will be delivered online via Zoom on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, and will be recorded.

Get Ready for Winter

There’s still time to shop—for Winter Session classes in multiple disciplines. Running January 2 to 23, Winter Session offers undergraduate and graduate courses in online and hybrid formats. Current students can earn credits in courses that often fill up quickly in the fall and spring semesters; new students can experience college-level classes. For more information, click here. 

Save the Date for MLK Event

Emmy-award winning television journalist, author, CUNY TV host and activist Carol Jenkins will deliver the keynote on Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 3pm, when QC will hold its annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. The event, co-sponsored by Queens Borough president Donovan Richards Jr., will feature the debut of the sixth installment in the original video series documenting the college’s connections to the civil rights movement, and a performance by prominent Haitian-American jazz vocalist Tyreek McDole.

Film Series Focuses on Women

The Museum of the Moving Image is showcasing the work of female performers and directors in the series American Woman: Reframing 1970s Cinema. With sessions on weekends through January 4, 2026, the series combines features (Klute, The Way We Were, Carrie) and documentaries (Harlan County U.S.A., Town Bloody Hall, Grey Gardens).Special guests will provide commentary at some screenings.

William Muraskin

Urban Studies Professor Emeritus William Muraskin died on October 11. He was 81.

In childhood deemed a slow learner, Muraskin defied that classification by graduating Phi Beta Kappa from University of California, Berkeley, two years early.

Upon earning a master’s degree from Columbia and a PhD in history from UC Berkeley, he returned to Queens—he had grown up in Jamaica Estates—and joined the Queens College faculty. He would teach here for 48 years, chairing his department for six years and subsequently serving as assistant chair for graduate studies.

Although his dissertation focused on Black American society, Muraskin pivoted to international health policy and related topics, winning multiple grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Children’s Vaccine Program. He wrote eight books, six of them based on his field work. His research led him to challenge the value of global efforts against certain diseases, such as polio, which causes many fewer deaths than measles. These contrarian stances cost him his foundation support.

Muraskin is survived by his life partner, Richard Gottlieb; his son from a previous relationship and daughter-in-law; a grandson; and three nephews.

Dána-Ain Davis (Urban Studies) has been appointed editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association, effective January 2027 . . . .

Dennis Torres (Veterans Support Services) has been appointed to the NYC Veterans Advisory Board, a 13-member body of veterans dedicated to advocating for the city’s 210,000+ veteran community

. . . . Art Department programs in Studio Art, Design, Photography & Imaging, and Art History made a memorable appearance at Queens College’s Transfer Fair at LaGuardia Community College on October 23 . . . . The Institute of Management Accountants Queens College Student Chapter (IMAQCSC) sent seven members to the IMA Student Leadership Conference November 13-15 in Cleveland, Ohio. While there, they visited the Progressive Corp. . . . President Frank H. Wu joined Congresswoman Grace Meng, Rich Baum (Educational Alliance), and Maryam Chisti (LUNAR Collective) in giving keynotes earlier this month, when United Jewish Appeal (UJA) and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York welcomed the Bay Area Jewish–AAPI Solidarity Delegation to New York.