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

QView #240 | October 27

From left: James Vacca (Urban Studies), New York City Council Member Rita Joseph, Jeff Rosenstock (External and Governmental Relations), Ying Zhou (Tech Incubator)

New York City Council Member Rita Joseph, who chairs the council’s Committee on Higher Education, visited campus on Monday, October 19. She toured the Tech Incubator and spoke at a class led by former City Council Member James Vacca (Urban Studies).

From left: James Vacca (Urban Studies), New York City Council Member Rita Joseph, Jeff Rosenstock (External and Governmental Relations)

From left: Maria Flores, Sara Restrepo, Ahanaf Tashin

Plenty of careers are rewarding without being remunerative. The School of Arts teamed up with Maspeth Federal Savings to present Financial Literacy for Creatives on Monday, October 19. The workshop addressed issues such as managing irregular income streams and building stability.

From left: Sara Restrepo, Jon Yanofsky (Kupferberg Center for the Arts), Neophytos Ioannou (School of Arts), Maspeth Federal Savings Director of Credit Akshay Mehandru, Maspeth Federal Savings Community Outreach Coordinator Teagan Brown, Maspeth Federal Savings President and CEO Thomas Rudzewick

Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey joined Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez for a photo op on October 21, when the chancellor delivered his State of the University Address at John Jay College. Matos announced CUNY’s continuing enrollment growth and record fundraising, among other achievements; for details, see the press release.

Late Political Science Professor Andrew Hacker, a prominent scholar and author, taught at Queens College for more than 50 years, never taking a sabbatical. A plaque outside Powdermaker 204, his favorite classroom, maintains his presence on campus. During the 1970s, Hacker relinquished his tenured position on the condition the funding would be used instead to hire more faculty in his department. He served for many years on a part-time basis and furnished the classroom at his own expense. Colleagues, former students, family, and members of the college administration were present for the unveiling of the plaque on Thursday, October 22. The Office of Communications and Marketing produced a short video featuring several speakers. 

From left: Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey presents a special proclamation about the classroom plaque to Claudia Dreifus, journalist, educator, and widow of Andrew Hacker.

Soccer Teams Finish Regular Season Strong; Start Postseason This Week

The Queens College men’s and women’s soccer teams finished the regular season strong and will now set their sights on the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship, which begins this week. 

The men’s team earned a scoreless draw against D’Youville on Saturday, and the women’s team defeated D’Youville 1-0 in their final regular season matches. The men finished the regular season with a record of 10-5-3 overall and 3-3-2 in the ECC and earned the #5 seed in the ECC tournament. They will travel to Mercy University on Thursday, October 29 in their opening round match. 

The women (8-4-4 overall, 3-1-1 ECC) are the #3 seed and will host #6 Daemen University on Wednesday at 7 pm.  

Should the Knights win, they will advance to the semifinals. The women’s semifinal will take place on Saturday, October 31 at 1 pm, while the men’s semifinal is set for Sunday, November 1 at noon.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams are also gearing for the ECC Championship. They competed in their final regular season meet last week, running at the Adelphi Short Course Showdown held at Bethpage State Park. Carly Koprowski led QC, placing 12th in the 5k race (19:10.0). The ECC Cross Country Championship will take place on November 7 at the Matt St. James Cross Country Trails in Rochester, New York. 

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

Vote at Your Convenience

New York State introduced early voting in 2019 to increase access to voting. For the current elections, early voting began on Saturday, October 24, and will continue through November 1. QC is among the CUNY campuses serving as early voting sites. Please see Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey’s recent mailer. As usual, general elections will be held on the first Tuesday of November—this year, November 3. 

Not sure of your polling place? Enter your address in findmypollsite.

Alumna Makes a Career of Expanding Library Resources for Immigrants

Selina Sharmin (MLS ’10) arrived in this country in 2000 with a mostly reading knowledge of English and a master’s in library science earned in Bengali at Dhaka University. Today she is a nationally recognized librarian at Queens Public Library (QPL). Her service to immigrant communities won her a place among Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers of 2026 in the category of Team Players.

Sharmin traveled a long and arduous road to success. Married in 1996, she waited four years for her immigration paperwork to be processed so that she could join her husband, who had immigrated in 1990 and owned a business in the financial district. Their business, which printed T-shirts, was always crowded with tourists, and she immediately began working there on weekends.

As the holder of a coveted green card, she also worked part time as a page for QPL. “Things were wonderful in America,” she recalls. “I was a new wife. America is beautiful. It is my dreamland.”

Dreams Deferred

But everything took a turn on 9/11. Their $200,000 business, located near the Twin Towers, went under in the aftermath of the attacks. Their American dream was “broken,” she says, as they faced a hostile wave of Islamophobia, and she became pregnant with their first child just as her husband suffered the first of two strokes. “I told my husband, ‘Let’s go back. We should not live here. We are Muslim.’ I was worried. He said, ‘Honey, we cannot go back. It’s a one-way road.’”

Sharmin needed a better income, but her library science degree was not equivalent to an American master’s. In Bangladesh at that time, there were few library computers or public libraries, whereas the high-tech training in this country emphasized library management and computer skills combined with community education, literacy, and outreach services for a large, diverse public. A cousin who had graduated from Columbia advised her to go back to school for a U.S. degree—a heavy lift with her limited proficiency in English and the high cost of graduate education.

Like so many before her, she threw herself into the challenge: attending graduate classes; working at QPL in Jamaica, which hired her to serve as children’s librarian, making her the first Bangladeshi woman librarian in the Queens system; and intensively studying written and spoken English. Sharmin—a gregarious, confident person with a quick sense of humor—came from an educated family where her father, a businessman, encouraged all the children to aim high.

“All my life I was very studious. I got scholarships in fifth, eighth, and tenth grades. I was very good in math and science,” she says. “I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help the poor people in our country. My father built a mosque, and he built schools for girls. He was a philanthropist.” Unable to pursue medical school in Bangladesh, she switched goals to study library science. “I wanted to do something. And I am passionate about my profession.”

Indeed, Sharmin made her work at QPL count for something. Although Bengali speakers were a fast-growing demographic in the city and tended to live and own businesses near the Jamaica library, they had very limited access to appropriate literacy resources. 

Livening Up the Library

She introduced a bilingual Bengali-English story time at the Jamaica branch. Through her work in coordination with the Bangladeshi consulate, QPL was able to create a new permanent collection seeded by the consulate’s remarkable donation of 500 Bengali books. On a trip to visit family, Sharmin even snapped up a Bengali edition of the Harry Potter series, which she donated to the library.

Sharmin’s whirlwind of work and study led to not one, but two American master’s: an MLIS from St. John’s University and, with QPL’S tuition support, an MLS from Queens College—which she credits with encouraging her to push through English-language difficulties. With her American credentials earned, she was promoted to coping skills librarian in QPL’s New Americans Program. “Part of the job was to organize workshops in languages other than English,” she says—workshops on everything from job to study skills.

She played an instrumental role in launching the first Bengali-language computer classes for adults at QPL. She also worked with public and private organizations in the city to support library classes and workshops for immigrants. Sharmin was recruited by then-Borough President Helen Marshall ’75 to serve on the Queens Borough President’s Immigration Task Force. The results of her outreach speak for themselves. In 26 years at QPL, she says, “I found I have coordinated 10,000 programs in other languages at 65 locations.”

In 2022, Sharmin moved up to assistant community library manager of QPL in East Flushing. There she builds on her teaching and outreach experience to not only develop new programs and materials, but also train other librarians in working with diverse communities. She created the Immigrant Pioneer Women in America series, which presents interviews with women from all backgrounds about their lived experience as immigrants and contributions to American society.

Helping Immigrants 

Sharmin has made working with immigrant women one of her signature achievements, especially through confronting the problem of isolation. “Over the years I recognized that many Bangladeshi immigrants could be difficult to reach through traditional library outreach and programming,” she explains. “I wanted these women to see the library as a place where they belonged even if they were not yet comfortable speaking English or participating in more traditional educational programs.” She runs educational programs for women on citizenship, Medicaid, and a number of usable skills, and also spearheaded a domestic violence program, created in partnership with the NYPD.

Notably, she introduced sewing classes for women who enjoy the sense of community and might wish to start their own businesses. Domestic skills are part of the traditional upbringing for women in Bangladesh. “I grew up in a dynamic family as one of five daughters. My mother raised all five of us with strong family and cultural values, and she taught us many practical skills, including cooking, baking, and sewing,” says Sharmin. “What I learned from my mother, however, eventually became much more than a domestic tradition. It became a way for me to connect with other women and create a sense of belonging.”

Sharmin was able to draw on her background to build a bridge for Bangladeshi immigrant women. “By creating opportunities around sewing and other culturally familiar activities, I could encourage women to come into the library, spend time together, build relationships, and gradually become connected to library resources and the broader community,” she explains. Today she has a contact list of 125 sewing classes in different libraries. An enthusiastic hobbyist, she hopes someday to teach crochet classes herself.

That concern for women’s well-being extends to her own certified nonprofit organization, NOLAK Women for Bangladeshi Women USA, of which she is president and CEO. Its mission is to empower Bangladeshi and Bangladeshi American girls, women, and families through education. NOLAK’s work has received two awards from BASA, a nonprofit organization in Dhaka.

Sharmin’s extensive work improving resources for immigrants living in Queens, and her skill at collaborating with public and private partners, have earned official accolades. In 2019 State Senator John Liu issued a certificate of recognition for her leadership in the immigrant community, and she has been honored twice by the Queens Borough President’s Office. In 2015, then-Borough President Melinda Katz awarded Sharmin a citation of honor for her achievements in creating bilingual library programming, financial literacy resources, and citizenship workshops. In 2025, she received a second citation of honor during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Moving Forward

Today Sharmin is not only fluent in English, but has also become an experienced, in-demand public speaker, teacher, author, and change agent, frequently giving papers at professional conferences—four this year alone. In 2016, her persistence in mastering English paid off when she won an international essay contest that funded her attendance at an International Federation of Library Associations Conference. Professionally, she holds many leadership positions, notably in the New York Library Association and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Organization. Moreover, she exercises leadership in numerous non-profit organizations, among them Probashi Tangail Somity USA (a community organization for Bangladeshi immigrants from Tangail district) and World Human Rights Development USA (a philanthropic foundation in Jackson Heights).

Sharmin’s record of volunteer and outreach work has garnered many governmental and non-profit honors and awards. Among them are a 2021 President’s Bronze Volunteer Service Award given by President Joe Biden, who wrote, “On behalf of the American people, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to you for your volunteer leadership, and I encourage you to continue to answer the call to serve.” The award recognized her work with the Farah Delancy Foundation, a part of the United Nations Women’s Forum that coordinated with the White House on the Global Women’s Forum Empowerment and Leadership Symposium.

Sharmin’s life has changed dramatically from the post–9/11 setbacks she and her family experienced. Her husband now owns a taxi business, and their two children are in college. Son Ryeem is a senior in economics at Queens College while daughter Rudmila is a sophomore in data analytics at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech). “This is our country now,” she reflects. “We got our citizenship. We are raising kids in two different cultures, and we’re proud of our two different cultures.”

As for her profession, it is a source of deep pride. “Every single day I come home fulfilled,” she says. “I love my job and found my niche.”

More Spooky Doings in Queens

In a big borough, there are many ways to Halloween. After covering this topic last week, QView can’t resist sharing a few additional listings that just crossed our virtual transom.

Dia de los Muertos at the Queens Zoo, Saturday, October 31–November 1, 11 am–4 pm, will celebrate Latin American cultures with puppetry, face painting, animal meet-and-greets, and other activities. A Zoo Ofrenda will honor extinct animal ancestors.

Socrates Sculpture Park’s 2026 Halloween Harvest Festival October 31, noon–5 pm, will offer pumpkin-decorating and costume-making workshops, a community resources fair, a planted culture vegan food market, and New York’s second-largest dog costume contest co-presented with Chateau le Woof.

Halloween at Queens Botanical Garden will include a trick-or-treat trail, live performances, and the opportunity to learn about some decidedly eerie plants. Adults will be able to savor seasonal foliage and beverages and check out the wares of local vendors.

Hand-carved, all-natural jack-o’-lanterns have a short shelf life. That saggy squash can get an ecologically appropriate sendoff at the Queens Botanical Garden’s annual Pumpkin Smash on Sunday, November 1, 11 am–3 pm. Attendees bringing pumpkins to sacrifice will be admitted free of charge.

Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey was among the honorees on October 21, when Schneps Media celebrated its Queens Power List 2026 at Russo’s on the Bay . . . . 

Liza Marquez (External & Governmental Relations) received a Hispanic Heritage Month Award last week from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.