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

QView #226 | April 14

QC students, faculty, and staff marked Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31 with an open mic event and identity activity at Klapper Circle. Free transgender pride flags and ribbons were available. Activist Rachel Krandall founded TDOV in 2009 to counteract the negative narratives often associated with transgender lives and provide a platform for visibility, advocacy, and education.

Track and Field Has Strong Showing During QC Invitational; Tennis Teams Continue Outstanding Seasons

The Queens College track and field team enjoyed hosting the QC Invitational on April 10 as the squad posted several top finishes.

For the men, Daniel DeGregori led the Knights as he won the 1,500-meter run in a time of 4:12.49. Teammate Christian Panameno came in third place in the same race in 4:29.90. Jalen George won the shot put with a toss of 12.85 meters to lead QC in field events. In the 800-meter run, Nathanael Hansen earned a second-place finish (2:01.56) and in the 5,000-meters, Nickolas Pirovolikos was third (16:58.94).

On the women’s side, freshman Jordyn Cruz placed first in the 400-meter hurdles (1:09.87) and Jenna Cruz won in the 1,500-meter run (5:23.72). Carly Koprowski was second in the 400-meter dash (59.01). The 4x400 team comprising Jenna and Jordyn Cruz, Koprowski, and Celeste Minkwe Jore also claimed first in a time of 4:24.84.

On the tennis courts, the men’s tennis team’s perfect season came to an end last week as they lost matches to St. John’s University and St. Thomas Aquinas, but they rebounded to earn consecutive wins against Morgan State University, Bentley University, and University of the District of Columbia. The Knights are 17-2 overall and 4-1 in the East Coast Conference (ECC) this season. The women’s team has also dominated. They won matches against Jefferson University and District of Columbia last week to improve to 13-3 overall and 8-0 in ECC play.

Coming up this week, men’s tennis has three matches on the schedule. (April 14 at Adelphi, 12 pm; April 16 at Fordham, TBD; April 17 vs. St. Thomas Aquinas, 1 pm). Women’s tennis will visit University of New Haven on Saturday at a time to be determined.

On the diamond, the baseball team will have six games this week. They host East Stroudsburg on Tuesday at 3 pm, visit Caldwell University on Wednesday at 3 pm, and then play a four-game series with the College of Staten Island from Friday through Sunday. Softball will host a doubleheader on Thursday versus Jefferson at 2 pm and travel to Staten Island for a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.



Be sure to visit queensknights.com for the latest athletics information.

President Frank H. Wu will present the State of the College Address today—Tuesday, April 14—at 3 pm in LeFrak Concert Hall. The State of the College will be immediately followed by the Faculty/Staff Awards Ceremony and a reception in the Atrium.

US News Highlights Grad Programs

Three QC programs—in Speech-Language Pathology, Fine Arts, and Clinical Psychology—made US News & World Report’s list of 2026 Best Graduate Schools. While hundreds of public and private institutions were invited to participate, the numbers and methodology varied with the discipline. Speech-Language Pathology was ranked 104; Fine Arts, 133; and Clinical Psychology, 152.

“We are proud to see CUNY ranked among the nation’s best, a reflection of the excellence of our faculty and the ambition of our students,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “These rankings affirm our longstanding commitment to expanding access to high-quality, affordable graduate education and ensuring that students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed and lead in their fields.”



QC is in good company. Programs at Baruch College, Brooklyn College, College of Staten Island, CUNY School of Law, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, CUNY Graduate Center, Hunter College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City College of New York, and York College also received US News recognition. 

Queens Magazine Is Published

The latest edition of Queens, the alumni magazine of Queens College, is available online. As always, the magazine is filled with news about alumni, faculty, staff and students. Featured in this issue: “A Legacy of Love at Queens College,” which tells the story of how alumnus Mehran Soroudi made a generous gift to the campus where he met his late wife; and “Reading the Room,” an account of a facilitated book group in which students of different backgrounds tackle selected texts by Israeli and Palestinian authors.

Classes in Session This Summer


QC’s Summer Session begins in less than two months! Students can choose from hundreds of courses in in-person, hybrid, and online formats and earn up to 15 credits. Classes last four or seven weeks and start as early as June 1. All registered students are eligible to receive a free on-campus parking permit.

Constructive Dialogue Initiative

QC is participating in the Constructive Dialogue Initiative, a CUNY-wide effort to foster an environment in which students, faculty, and staff can exchange ideas, even amid disagreement.

Poetry Month

Every April, QView shares work by poets on the QC faculty. In this issue, we feature poems by Nicholas Alexiou (Sociology, Hellenic American Project).

SHORT TRAVEL STORIES

1

Every day

I prepare my suitcase.

Every night

without a ticket or documents

I rejoice as if I’ve arrived. 

2

Like a bird

with clipped wings

forever crucified

between two airports

I collect clouds.

Q & A

 – What’s your name?

             – Same as that of the other dead:

           Nobody.

 – Where are you from?

             – From the night.

From the collection Queens, New York

Somerset Hall Press, Boston, 2026.

Chamber Music Wednesdays

Albert Cano Smit

The ACSM program Chamber Music Live will present free concerts on three consecutive Wednesdays at 12:15 pm in LeFrak Concert Hall.

The series will start tomorrow—Wednesday, April 15—with a recital by award-winning pianist Albert Cano Smit. He will play works by Bach, Fauré, and contemporary composer Katherine Balch. At 2 pm, Smit will give a master class on which QC piano students Abhay Saha and Jesse Sarembock will perform. Both events are supported through the Hugo and Shoshana Kaufmann Recital and Masterclass Fund.

Smit will join violinist Christina Nam and cellist Nagyeom Jang for an appearance by the Amara Piano Trio on April 22. They will play pieces by Mendelssohn and Schubert.



The series will conclude on April 29 with Music from the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, featuring pianist Robert McDonald, violinists Catherine Cho and Tianyou Ma, violist Todd Phillips, and Queens College Cello Professor Marcy Rosen. Bach and Dvorák will be on the menu.

Nights and an Afternoon at the Opera

This semester’s production from the School of the Arts, the Aaron Copland School of Music Opera Studio, and the Department of Dance, Theater, Drama and Fashion is Street Scene, opening on Thursday, April 16, and running through the weekend. Composer Kurt Weill, who created Street Scene in collaboration with poet-turned lyricist Langston Hughes, described it as an American opera, “a story of love and passion and greed and death.” With its setting in a Lower Eastside tenement and its multiethnic cast of characters, the show is eminently relatable to the QC community. Student performers will be joined by Thomas Lee (ACSM), playing a grumpy old socialist.

Exploring Loss through Modern Hebrew Poetry

This month and the next, the Center for Jewish Studies will present a miniseries in which Rabbi Wendy Zierler (Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion) explores grief, prayer, God-wrestling, feminist transformation of tradition, and creative response to loss through the study of modern Hebrew poetry and song. The three-part class is based on her book, Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry.

In the first session, on Monday, April 20, Zierler will examine the motif of knots and its significance in modern Hebrew poetry. She will focus on works about efforts to renew ties in the face of disruption. On the following Monday, April 27, she will look at how the poetry of Lea Goldberg models modern Zionist and feminist reinterpretations of liturgy and core principles. Zierler will wrap up the series on May 4 by discussing the poetry of Yehuda Amichai, focusing on his innovative metaphors and secular poetic theology of everyday life. She will also talk about a contemporary Israeli poet who reworks Amichai’s legacy.



All meetings will take place over Zoom from 7 to 8 pm EST. To attend, register here.

Honoring Louis Armstrong and His Biographer

A blizzard postponed the American Voices program celebrating the publication of the latest book by two-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Riccardi: Stomp Off, Let’s Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong. The snow date has been scheduled for May 12, at 7 pm, at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse (930 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan 10065). Here’s a chance to hear jazz and Broadway stars sing Satchmo’s music, accompanied by a six-piece band. Tickets are still available, but they’re going fast.

Applications Open for Paolo A. Giordano Memorial Scholarships

Applications Open for Paolo A. Giordano Memorial Scholarships

In honor of the late scholar and teacher Paolo A. Giordano, his family and friends established two memorial scholarships.

One scholarship, for MA students in Italian studies to support teaching of Italian in K-12, will cover tuition costs up to $4,000; it may be given to one student or divided between two. This award is for students who are not currently receiving funding from their MA programs and are not working full-time.

The other scholarship will provide funding (e.g., $4,000 for travel to archives and other related costs) for a doctoral student’s dissertation research pertinent to Giordano's areas of interest. These may include Italian Renaissance art history, Italian Renaissance literature, or any aspect of the Italian diaspora. Students enrolled in a bona fide doctoral degree program of a not-for-profit university in the United States recognized by any of the regional accreditation agencies in the United States are eligible to apply.


The application must be submitted by May 30, 2026. 

Fair Outlook for Seasonal Work at Forest Hills Stadium

Forest Hills Stadium is hosting a job fair on Saturday, April 18, from noon to 4 pm. Needed for this concert season: ushers, VIP staff, production assistants, concessions, security, and more. Must be at least 18 to apply. Enter at the corner of 69th Avenue and Dartmouth Street.

Nathaniel Siegel

Nathaniel Siegel, a sociologist who served Queens College in multiple administrative capacities—department chair, associate dean of social sciences, dean of faculty and provost, and acting president—passed away on Thursday, April 10. His daughter reports that he was just shy of his 97th birthday.

An army veteran, Siegel earned a bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College, followed by a master’s and doctorate at New York University. He began his career teaching at Columbia University. Then he immersed himself in health care settings. He spent four years at Hillside Hospital as a research sociologist, a year as an associate director of social sciences at the New York City Department of Health, and another three as chief of the social sciences training branch of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Seigel joined the Queens College sociology faculty in 1967, chairing his department until 1970. From 1969 to 1970, he was also an associate dean. Next, he became dean of faculty and provost. Siegel was named acting president in 1977 after the departure of the fifth president, Joseph S. Murphy. The campus was in turmoil, but Siegel assured The Phoenix, a student newspaper, “I don’t think this is a sinking ship. The school’s going to continue.’”



Upon Saul Bernard Cohen’s appointment to the QC presidency, Siegel moved to SUNY Purchase as sociology professor and senior vice president for Academic Affairs. He stepped down from the latter title in 1994 but continued to teach until 2000.

Elyse Wechsler Snyder ’54

Elise Snyder, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and a visiting professor at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, died on January 9. She was 91.

As Yale reported it in its obituary, the teenage Snyder found her calling while reading Freud in a Bronx public library. Against her parents’ wishes, she underwent psychoanalysis herself, paying for her sessions with her earnings from babysitting. Graduating from high school at 16 and from QC four years later, went on to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was one of only 10 women in in a class of 120. Then Snyder completed a psychiatry residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine–Jacobi Hospital. After moving to Connecticut, she joined the Yale Department of Psychiatry and the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute.



A leader in her field, Snyder was a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association Board of Directors for over 33 years and served as president of the American College of Psychoanalysts. Sharing her knowledge overseas, in 2006, she founded the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance, a nonprofit that offered psychoanalytic training, supervision, and clinical work to Chinese mental health professionals, relying on Skype before that was common.

Snyder is survived by her two daughters and five grandchildren.

Joanna Coleman (Biology) is a co-author of “The ornamental trade in painted woolly bats (Kerivoula picta or K. picta) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,” published in Global Ecology and Conservation. The study provides evidence that shops in Ho Chi Minh City sell wild bats, not captive-bred individuals. The bats have striking black and orange markings that make them desirable for sale as framed or mounted specimens; they are used as home décor and personal ornaments. Coleman’s past research, which found that the global trade in K. picta was facilitated by online marketplaces like Etsy and e-Bay, resulted in more stringent monitoring of online vendors . . . . Lizbeth Marte ’23 served on the College Access: Research and Action (CARA) Youth Research Council and contributed to the report Is College Worth It–For Me? Young People’s Lived Understandings of Postsecondary Value . . . . Joyce Tang (Sociology) has been reappointed to the University Advisory Council on Diversity (UACD). Founded in 1970 as the University Affirmative Action Committee, the UACD advises CUNY on ways to deepen its commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive workforce . . . . A book about leadership featuring an essay by President Frank H. Wu received a major review highlighting his contribution, in the Journal for Multicultural Education, Volume 20, No 2 2026 . . . . The ALPFA QC 2026 Summit, an all-day conference on March 27 dedicated to empowering excellence in business and leadership, attracted more than 500 attendees. The event featured workshops presented by Accenture, ALPFA New York, BDO, Becker Professional Education, Blackstone, Bloomberg, Capital One, CohnReznick, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, EisnerAmper, EY, JPMorganChase, Lazard, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, PwC, and TIAA. QC’s chapter of ALPFA—the Association of Latino Professionals for America—will hold Maximize Your Success on May 8.

. . . . The QC Center for Jewish Studies marked Yom HaShoah on Monday, April 13, by co-sponsoring a virtual lecture organized by the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College: “Remembering to Remember: What Memorial Monuments Teach Us About the Holocaust (and Ourselves).” Samuel Gruber, president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments, discussed how these memorials have both reflected and shaped Jewish and other collective memories over the past 80 years.