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

QView #237| October 6

Students enthusiastically participated in the Suicide Prevention Awareness Walk—and free CPR training—on Wednesday, September 30.

Members of the QC Psychological Center staffed a table at the event to distribute informational flyers.

Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey, seen here being vaccinated by nurse Ashley Chow, was among the QC employees who rolled up their sleeves to receive free flu shots on campus on Wednesday, September 30. Did you miss the clinic? New York City employees and their families can get free flu shots at participating pharmacies and in-network medical offices. Contact your health insurance provider for more information or visit the NYC Health Map webpage for more info. For questions, click here or email Damali Cooper damali.cooper@qc.cuny.edu.

The LGBTQIAA+ Resource Center, the Alliance of Latin American Students (ALAS), and friends attended the New York City Council's Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at City Hall on Wednesday, September 30. The program included food, awards, and live performances.

From left: Nami Fiallos, Joshua Martinez ’26, JC Carlson-Ortiz, Reign Nunez Bailey, Jamal Mark (BMCC '24, Baruch '25), and Blue Alvarez. Not pictured: Luis Villa.

Men’s Soccer Coach Vertullo Earns 250th Career Victory

Queens College head men’s soccer coach Frank Vertullo earned his 250th career win last Saturday when the Knights defeated the University of the District of Columbia, 3-0. 

Vertullo’s 250 wins are split between Suffolk Community College and QC, including nine seasons at the helm of the Knights. This year, he has Queens off to another strong start at 8-3-1 overall and 2-1 in the East Coast Conference (ECC). 

The women’s soccer team also had a solid week, defeating St. Thomas Aquinas College by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday and then earning a 1-1 draw with Molloy University on Saturday. The Knights have a 7-3-1 overall record and a 2-0-1 mark in ECC play. 

On the court, the women’s tennis team continues to roll, picking up two more victories last week. They knocked off Post University on Thursday and St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday, both by scores of 7-0. QC has now won seven straight matches and is 10-1 this season. 

Women’s volleyball also found the win column when they defeated Roberts Wesleyan, 3-1, on Saturday. 

Lastly, in cross country, Carly Koprowski led the Knights women’s team at the Queensborough Invitational last Sunday, placing third in the 5k race with a time of 21:11.7. Her teammate Jordyn Cruz finished sixth in a time of 21:17.7. For the men’s team, Daniel DeGregori placed 10th in the 8k race, finishing in 29:46.1.

Coming up this week:

Women’s tennis travels to Wilmington University for a 2 pm match on Tuesday before competing at the ITA East Regional Tournament over the weekend.

Men’s tennis will also compete at the ITA East Regional Tournament this weekend. 

Men’s soccer goes on the road on Wednesday to battle St. Thomas Aquinas at 3 pm. On Saturday, they head to Amherst to face Daemen University at 11 am.

Women’s soccer will also play at Daemen on Saturday starting at 1:30 pm.

Women’s volleyball is on the road on Thursday to face University of Bridgeport. On Saturday, they host St. Thomas Aquinas at noon and on Sunday, they travel to Molloy University at noon. 

Men’s and women’s cross country will compete at the NJIT XC Invitational this Saturday at 10:30 am. 

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

Replacing an Academic Bridge

Townsend Harris High School (THHS) and Queens College had something to celebrate on Wednesday, September 30: They revitalized their historic partnership, once again enabling THHS seniors to take college-level courses on the QC campus and earn credits without paying tuition. The proceedings are documented in this video produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing.

From left: Congresswoman Grace Meng, Assemblymember Nily Rozic, Justice Karen Lin, QC Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey, THHS Principal, Brian Condon.

The Bridge Program, which previously hosted THHS students at QC, was paused several years ago after a loss in funding. With funding from The City University of New York (CUNY) central office, the Bridge was replaced by a similar initiative, CUNY College Now. This semester, more than 330 THHS students are taking classes at QC through College Now.

To mark the occasion, a THHS faculty member baked a pair of cakes representing the high school and QC, linking them with a bridge.

Whetting Appetites for Success

The Queens College School of Business launched its Fall 2026 Business Breakfast series on September 24. That morning’s speaker, introduced by Dean Carmen Cotei, was Sujen Wu ’23, a financial reporting analyst at a private equity firm. Wu talked about the path that led from her native Venezuela to QC, where she majored in accounting and corporate finance, and became co-winner of the 2023 Blackstone Launchpad Ideas Competition. (With classmate Reginald Wills ’22, she co-founded Collabiversity, a platform for offering limited-edition merchandise and digital assets to students and alumni, using proceeds to raise scholarship funds.) Wu encouraged students to build meaningful connections, seek guidance from faculty, advisors, and peers, and have the courage to ask for help.

The next Business Breakfast, on Wednesday, October 14, from 8:30 to 10 am, will feature Jason Schwartz '04, a partner in Ernst & Young's Financial Services Assurance practice. A light breakfast will be served; kosher options will be available. Reserve a place here.

This Week and Next in Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month events continue tomorrow—Wednesday, October 7—from 12:15 to 1:40 pm in Dining Hall 120 with a lecture by Fidel Tavárez (History) to launch his book, Assembling an Imperial Machine: Spanish Commercial Reform in the Age of Enlightenment. The book explores an integrated free-trade system Spain introduced in the 18th century, linking it and its American territories; this experiment would influence Latin America's approaches to globalization and economic integration. Five copies of Assembling an Imperial Machine will be raffled off during the event, presented by the Department of History and Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS).

A Hispanic Alumni Business Forum will take place the following Tuesday, October 13, from 11 am to 2 pm in Rosenthal Library 525. Panelists will include portfolio property manager Fredy Hurtado ’24, Baccarat accounting manager Margarita Rubio Nicho ’22, and healthcare entrepreneur and technology innovator George F. Vermenton ’13. Karl Antonio Mitchell (Economics) and Zadia Feliciano (Economics and LALS) will moderate the discussion. The forum will be presented by the Economics Department, Office of Alumni Relations, QC School of Business, and LALS.

An Amazing Look at the Borough’s Baseball Team

“Can’t anybody here play this game?” groused Mets Manager Casey Stengel in 1962, the year the Mets first took the field, when they set a Major League Baseball record for losses in a single season. Notwithstanding five National League pennants, two World Series wins, and a high player payroll, the team remains a perennial underdog. That’s part of their appeal to writer A.M. Gittlitz, co-host of the podcast “This Wreckage” and author of Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People's Team.

Gittlitz will read from and discuss his work during The Anti-Team: A Subversive History of the New York Mets, a hybrid event presented by Writers at Queens on October 14 at 7 pm in the Choral Room of the Music Building and over Zoom. Sawyer Kemp (English) will moderate.

The Anti-Team event is co-sponsored by the School of Arts, the English Department, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation.

Author and Mets fan A.M. Gittlitz showed his new book, Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, to Mr. and Mrs. Met before a game at Citi Field in Queens on August 18. Photo: Brian Karlsson for The New York Times

Remembering Ali Jimale Ahmed

Family, friends, colleagues, and former students of Ali Jimale Ahmed, a professor of comparative literature who passed away in March, will gather on Monday, October 19, 12:15 – 1:30 pm in President’s Conference Room 2, Rosenthal Library, to honor his life and legacy. All are welcome. A Somali-born scholar and poet, Ahmed was part of the QC faculty for about 35 years and served as department chair. To learn more about his extraordinary career, see his obituary in QView 229.

NYC Salutes Italian Heritage

Metropolitan New York is home to one of the world’s largest expatriate Italian communities, and Italian American Heritage Month is being observed across town.

The New York City Council will host its Celebration of Italian American Heritage on Wednesday, October 7, at 5:30 pm in the Council Chambers in Manhattan. Honorees will be TV news anchor Rosanna Scotto and actor Calogero Lorenzo “Chazz” Palminteri. Admission is free; RSVP required.

The party will move to Queens Borough Hall on Thursday, October 8, at 6 pm; QC’s James Vacca (Urban Studies) will be recognized for his many decades of exemplary community service. Here, too, admission is free; RSVP here.

For leads on other events, as well as recommendations for novels set within Italian American families and neighborhoods, click on the New York Public Library’s spotlight on Italian American Heritage Month.

A Night or Two at the Opera

In concert with the NYC Mayor’s Office, the Metropolitan Opera will distribute 70,000 tickets each season to eligible New Yorkers—free of charge—via a lottery on the Met Opera app. Lottery participation is limited to New York City residents who have a valid ID, have not purchased a ticket to the Met since 2019, and have the Met Opera app downloaded on their device. (The app is available at Google Play and Apple’s App Store.) Residency and ticket history will be verified through the Met Opera app.

Free tickets will be offered via lottery the day before a performance. Eligible New Yorkers can win up to six tickets in the lottery, with up to two tickets per performance.

Julia George (Political Science) is quoted in the AMNY article, With TPS ending, Ukrainian refugees in New York stress over their future . . . . Tarry Hum (Urban Studies) is quoted in the Gothamist article, Flushing is getting a facelift. Some worry the project will fuel more displacement . . . .

Former faculty member Maaza Mengiste, now a professor of English at Wesleyan University, has been awarded one of this year’s MacArthur Foundation Fellowships—often described as “genius grants.” Mengiste is a widely published fiction writer; one of her novels, The Shadow King, was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.