Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve. | | |
To better serve Jewish college students from all over the borough, Queens Hillel established an off-campus home on 188th Street near Union Turnpike. At the ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, September 22, Queens Hillel Board President Dani Shulman and Director Jenna Citron welcomed attendees. Rabbi Menachem Creditor, Pearl & Ira Meyer Scholar-in-Residence of the UJA Federation of New York, hung a mezuzah. Speakers included Congresswoman Grace Meng; Assemblymembers Nily Rozic, David Weprin, and Sam Berger; Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz; Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey; and representatives of the Jewish Communal Fund and UJA Federation of New York. Assemblymember Rozic announced an allocation of $195,000 for student enrichment programs. The home serves students from Queens College, Queensborough Community College, and St. John's University.
| | International programs can open up a world of academic possibilities. Students had the opportunity to explore their options at the Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday, September 23. | | The LGBTQIAA+ Resource Center had a full house at its first student volunteer informational on Wednesday, September 23. Volunteering with LGBTQIAA+ Programs at Queens College and the Queens College LGBTQIA+ Resource Center is a great way for students to meet new friends and make a lasting impact on their campus community. Opportunities include assisting with events and activities, contributing to special projects, providing support in the resource center, and more. Twenty-four students joined the team! The resource center’s next student volunteer orientation will be held on Wednesday, October 21, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm in Queens Hall, Room 232. Cupcakes, coffee, and tea will be provided. Students should register to attend but walk-ins are welcome, too. | | Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey and Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Daniel Weinstein, hosted an on-campus reception on September 23 celebrating faculty achievement and milestones. Honorees included faculty recently awarded tenure and promotions as well as newly elected department chairs. | | From left: Shohjahor Usmanov, Joshua Jordan Morales-Diaz, Jayleen Torres, Gwyneth Ganigan Plamo, Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey, Jian Xiao (Accounting & Information Systems), Edward Avelino, Ivan Ng, Jias Jordan | | |
Colleagues and friends extended warm congratulazioni to Anthony Tamburri on Thursday, September 24, at a reception held in Manhattan marking his 20th anniversary as dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
| From left: Fred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies, Queens College and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute; Joseph Sciorra, director of Academic and Cultural Programs, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute; Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, Professor Antonio Marinoni and Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni Endowed Chair in Italian, director of International and Global Studies, University of Arkansas; Elizabeth Hendrey, interim president, Queens College; Alicia Alvero, Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost, CUNY. | | Soccer and Tennis Teams Continue Outstanding Seasons | | |
The soccer and tennis teams continued their strong play last week. The women’s tennis team won all three of its matches, women’s soccer notched a victory in its only match, and the men’s soccer squad split a pair of contests.
Women’s Tennis
The women’s tennis team started off the week with a convincing 7-0 win on the road over St. Thomas Aquinas College on Tuesday. The next day, they traveled to Philadelphia where they defeated Chestnut Hill College, 6-1. On Friday, they returned home to top Chestnut Hill again, this time by a score of 5-2. Lilie Bizouerne is a perfect 8-0 in singles matches this season, while Ela Vasic has a 7-1 record competing at #1 and #2 singles. As a team, QC is 7-1 this season.
Women’s Soccer
The Knights got a late goal from Ashley Kieblesz to defeat Saint Anselm College 1-0 last Wednesday in their only contest of the week. They hold a 6-3 overall record and are 1-0 in East Coast Conference (ECC) action.
Men’s Soccer
QC, who entered last week ranked #16 in the nation, lost in an upset to the College of Staten Island by a score of 2-0 last Wednesday. However, they bounced back to knock off Assumption University 3-1 on Saturday. The Knights are 7-2-1 overall and 1-1 in the ECC this season.
Coming up this week:
Women’s tennis visits University of the District of Columbia on Tuesday at 2 pm, then hosts Post University on Thursday at 1 pm. They finish the week with a home match against St. Thomas Aquinas at 1 pm.
Women’s soccer travels to St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday at 3 pm and welcomes Molloy University on Saturday at 5:30 pm.
Men’s soccer will be home for both matches this week. They battle Franklin Pierce University on Wednesday at 5 pm and take on University of the District of Columbia on Saturday at 3 pm.
Women’s volleyball is on the road on Wednesday to face Mercy University at 7 pm and then returns home on Saturday against Roberts Wesleyan University at 11 am.
Cross country returns to action on Sunday, October 4 when they run at the Queensborough Invitational held at Van Cortlandt Park. The race goes off at noon.
| For the latest Knights news, scores, schedules, and more, visit queensknights.com | | Taking Strides To Prevent Suicide | | |
In conjunction with Suicide Awareness Month, SEEK will hold a Suicide Prevention Awareness Walk tomorrow—Wednesday, September 30—at 12:30 pm. All are welcome. This is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to come together to show support, learn more about available resources, and help foster a culture of care and compassion on our campus.
Participants can register in advance at Suicide Prevention Walk-Registration – Fill out form or in person tomorrow at the Agora Café in the Student Union at 11 am. The walk will leave from the café at 12:30 pm.
SEEK students will earn a stamp for registration and attendance.
The Suicide Prevention Awareness Walk is being held in partnership with SEEK Med Track, SEEK Psych, Project ExCEL, Nu Beta Sigma (the QC chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho), and the Student Association.
| | Preserving Memories of September 11 | | In addition to collecting artifacts, museums put them in context, for the benefit of present and future audiences. That challenge looms especially large at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which documents the history of the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Tomorrow—Wednesday, September 30—from 12:30 to 1:15 pm, the Godwin-Ternbach Museum will feature Jennifer Lagasse, director of education programs at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, in a virtual talk, September 11, 25 Years Later: We Remember. She will discuss how museums preserve history, memory, and personal stories, and how they help future generations understand and remember events they did not experience firsthand. To RSVP and receive the Zoom link, email gtmuseum@qc.cuny.edu. | | As Chief Librarian, Edwin Maxwell ’09 Brings the Brooklyn Community Together | Photo courtesy of Gregg Richards/BPL, File photo by Susan De Vries | |
Edwin Maxwell ’09 was recently hired as the chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, one of the nation’s largest public library systems. Through his community-focused work, he is living out the motto of Queens College, Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so we may serve.
Two Decades of Community Building
Over his 20-year career at BPL, Maxwell climbed the ranks from a library trainee at age 22 to a youth services librarian, where his financial literacy program—the Growing Dollars and Sense Teens Virtual Investment Club—earned Library Journal’s national “Movers and Shakers” award. After serving as branch manager at New Lots Library and receiving a Revson Award for community service, he rose to senior director of neighborhood services. In that role, he spearheaded major capital renovations, expanded satellite services, launched the Teen Tech Center network, and deepened the library's environmental and civic engagement.
Now as chief librarian, Maxwell oversees public services in the Brooklyn Public Library System, which includes 61 branches. In addition to traditional library services, the BPL offers a wide range of outreach services, including job readiness and housing assistance; immigrant services such as multilingual programs and citizenship preparation workshops; programs for older adults, such as books by mail and art classes; library services for incarcerated individuals; and health and wellness programs.
“The Brooklyn Public Library stands out as being innovative and really community centered, so I'm extremely proud,” said Maxwell. “We continue to push the boundaries of what that means and how public libraries can service its communities.”
Discovering a Lifelong Calling
Though Maxwell has spent two decades reshaping Brooklyn’s libraries, he didn’t always aspire to be a librarian. At a young age, he knew he wanted to help his community in some way but didn’t quite know in what capacity. He landed a job at the Brooklyn Public Library as a librarian trainee in youth services at the Central Library branch. It was there he first discovered the powerful impact that libraries could have on the community.
“I started working at a library, and I did not realize all the services that were available. I thought, this is something I could potentially pursue as a career,” noted Maxwell.
Learning to Serve
Through the library training program, Maxwell received funding to help pay for his master’s degree. He chose to attend Queens College due to its excellent reputation in library science.
“The people that I looked up to [in the industry] had all gone to Queens for the most part,” explained Maxwell. “At Queens, I was taught by professors actually working in the field. For example, my cataloging teacher was cataloging at the time. This was something he was just doing before he left work to teach us.” (For the latest news about QC’s graduate library programs, see next story, “Broader Than Books.”)
Even after graduating, Maxwell continues to see the benefit of his degree thanks to the wide network of Queens alums who work in the industry.
“The network I've made at Queens are still people that I’m very close with,” he explained. “We've kind of risen through the ranks together. That’s the unheralded part of a QC education but should be the spotlight.”
Now in a leadership position himself, Maxwell is seeing the impact his career is having on the next generation of library leaders.
“I think I'm most proud of the number of librarians that have come from my family tree that I have worked with in different capacities who have become library leaders in their own right,” Maxwell added.
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A National Vision for Public Libraries
As Maxwell looks to the future, his goal is to ensure that libraries nationwide remain inclusive, adaptive, and deeply rooted in their neighborhoods.
“I want to make sure that not just BPL but all libraries become community focused. It's always going to be paramount to me to provide access, especially to those that historically have been marginalized in any way.”
He also wants to play a part in building the next generation of librarians who share the same vision.
“My biggest goal is ensuring we build the next generation of library leaders who have that same community-focused mindset. There is a generation of people leaving the field right now, and collectively, we aren't producing the workforce to sustain it. The need isn't going anywhere—we are expanding services every day—and I want to have the conversation about how we create a true pipeline for public librarians.”
By mentoring those future leaders and securing the pipeline for the next generation, Maxwell continues to fulfill the very mission he started at QC: learning so that he—and others—may serve.
| | Broader Than Books: GSLIS Rebrands as School of Information Studies | | |
Queens College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS) is going by a new name this year, having officially rebranded as the School of Information Studies (SIS).
The new name modernizes the school’s profile and aligns it with the global iSchools movement—an organization of higher education institutions dedicated to understanding the role of information in society. Through this change, QC aims to expand its interdisciplinary offerings, introduce new programs, attract prospective students, and secure external research funding. The transition began at the GSLIS faculty’s 2022 annual retreat with the adoption of an iSchool roadmap, followed by a unanimous vote to change the name in October 2023.
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“Queens College has long educated library leaders in New York City and beyond, and that won’t stop—it’s the lifeblood of our program,” said SIS Chair Emily Drabinski. “The new name reflects the fact that we do much more. Information studies explores how information is produced, circulated, preserved, and put to consequential use. Information exceeds the bounds of brick-and-mortar libraries, something our research and curriculum makes clear—and now our name does, too.”
QC’s School of Information Studies remains one of the college’s flagship programs. Continuously accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) since 1970, SIS has seen its alumni frequently earn regional and national honors from organizations like the ALA and state library associations, as well as recognition in Library Journal’s annual “Movers & Shakers” list.
To learn more about the School of Information Studies, visit the SIS website.
| | Fall Is Fair at Queens Farm | | |
Queens County Farm Museum will host its 43rd Annual Agricultural Fair October 3–4, from 10 am to 5 pm. Here’s a chance to browse among craft and food vendors, take in musical and theatrical performances, and test your ability to navigate the three-acre Amazing Maize Maze, the only corn maze in New York City.
Most agricultural fairs feature competitions, and this one is no different. You can sign up in person at the farm for pie eating and corn husking contests. More serious categories include arts and crafts; apiculture; livestock (think small: rabbits, cavies, goats); culinary arts; vegetables; flowers; and plants. Participants have to register and bring their entries to the farm in advance. For more information, click on Blue Ribbon competitions.
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Civil rights advocate Clarence B. Jones, an attorney who served as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter and advisor, passed away in May 2026 at the age of 95. Queens College had the previous honor of interviewing Dr. Jones for a video series about QC alumnus Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner and Freedom Summer.
In this clip, Dr. Jones recalls the Goodman family’s personal request in their search for Andrew.
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