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

QView #242 | November 10

Seasonal bounty and clothing were distributed to students on November 4, when the Knights Table and the Office of Student Development and Leadership held this month’s Harvest Fest. Parking Lot 1 was closed for the day to accommodate the event.

Omar Barrios, community coordinator of Safety Education and Outreach, New York City Department of Transportation.

Members of the college administration joined the Campus Climate Muslim Initiative Team (CCMI) for lunch. QC is one of eight CUNY schools selected to bring CCMI to the campus community. The visit was meant to explore and examine the climate and experiences of Muslim students, staff, and faculty. In addition to a tour, the day’s agenda included discussions with key individuals about campus facilities, operations, and roles, as well as the responsibilities of staff and faculty in educating, supporting, guiding, and assisting community members who identify as Muslim.

From left: Lee Kelly, assistant vice president of Human Resources; Meghan Moore-Wilk, chief strategy officer and chief of staff; Imam Khalid Latif, director of Campus Support for the Muslim Institute; Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey; Jerima DeWese, chief diversity officer and dean of diversity; Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, director of CERRU; Mandana Limbert, Anthropology chair; Thomas Plummer, Anthropology professor

Since March 2023, over 85 students have participated in QC’s Arts Leadership Bootcamp, a signature School of Arts (SoA) professional development initiative that equips CUNY students for careers in arts leadership, administration, and entrepreneurship. More than 20 alumni are showcased in a display of works—such as photography, paintings, digital design illustrations, and multimedia pieces—at the QC Art Center on the sixth floor of Rosenthal Library. The Arts Leadership Bootcamp Alumni Exhibition, curated by recent SoA alum Ahanaf Tashin, will run through December 1. SoA will welcome its fifth bootcamp cohort in March 2027, with applications launching in early December. 

State of the College

Interim President Elizabeth Hendrey will deliver the State of the College Address today—Tuesday, November 10—in LeFrak Concert Hall from 3 to 5 pm (not, as previously announced, in Music Building 264). This change is intended to accommodate more faculty and staff. The speech will be followed by a reception in the Music Atrium.

Cruz and Koprowski Earn All-Conference Honors at ECC XC Championships

The Queens College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the 2026 East Coast Conference Championships last Saturday. Two members of the Knights earned All-Conference honors with their performances. Jordyn Cruz placed tenth overall in the women’s 5k race (19:05.6) and Carly Koprowski finished in 14th place (19:21.6). Both runners earned Second-Team All ECC Honors.

Overall, the women’s team finished in sixth place, while the men’s team placed seventh. The Knights have now wrapped up the cross country season and will set their sights on the indoor track season starting soon.

Speaking of winter sports, the men’s and women’s basketball teams get their season underway this week. The men’s team had their season opener last night at Franklin Pierce University (the game ended too late to appear in this issue of QView).

This weekend, the men’s basketball team will compete at the ECC x NE10 Challenge. They’ll host Pace University on Friday at 5 pm and then welcome Adelphi University on Saturday at 3:30 pm. The women’s basketball team will play its season opener on Saturday at Chestnut Hill College beginning at 1 pm. On Sunday, they’ll visit Jefferson University at 2:30 pm.

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

Honors Students Take Learning Beyond the Classroom

Queens College Honors students recently explored two of New York City’s iconic cultural institutions—the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum—through experiential learning opportunities intentionally integrated into their first-year honors curricula.

Freshman Honors Program students visited the Met as part of an interdisciplinary project developed by Professors Christopher Williams (English), Thomas Hilgers (Philosophy), and Rosa Amatulli (Comparative Literature). Working collaboratively, students explored themes of friendship, community, morality, and storytelling, connecting artworks with course texts and concepts. The project culminates in student presentations showcasing their critical thinking, collaborative inquiry, and interdisciplinary learning.

Meanwhile, Macaulay Honors College first-year students participated in Night at the Museum, a signature event of the Arts in New York City seminar. With exclusive after-hours access to the Guggenheim, students joined Macaulay scholars from eight CUNY campuses for an evening of artistic exploration, intellectual exchange, and community building.

Through curriculum-integrated experiences, these honors programs transform New York City into an extension of the classroom, fostering academic inquiry, cultural engagement, and meaningful connections beyond campus.

Writing Is Their Jam

LGBTQIAA+ Programs & Resource Center opened its doors to students interested in expressing themselves creatively at its second Writing Jam on Wednesday, November 4.

Back by popular demand, this workshop was led by English Department faculty members Sawyer Kemp and Meghan Paslawski. 

Writers worked independently and collaboratively as they eagerly created storylines and characters. Most remained beyond the end of the workshop to learn more about how they can continue writing creatively in a space designed for queer, trans, and ally students. Students enjoyed cupcakes and each received a free notebook and pen courtesy of LGBTQIAA+ Programs & Resource Center.

The application for the Spring 2027 cohort of Queer Writers at Queens College was launched at the event. Founded in 2022, QW@QC is a six-week creative writing program for LGBTQIA+ and ally Queens College students to develop their writing skills and build community with other LGBTQIAA+ writers. Students can access the application here and should contact JC Carlson-Ortiz at jc.carlson@qc.cuny.edu with their questions.

This event was sponsored by LGBTQIAA+ Programs & Resource Center, the English Department, and the Special Collections & Archives at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library and funded by the CUNY Institute for LGBTQIA+ Community Engagement & Public History and the New York City Council.

Shots at Better Health

In partnership with Walgreens, QC will be holding vaccination clinics on campus Monday, November 16 through Wednesday, November 18, from noon to 2 pm, in Dining Hall 120. Vaccinations are available for the flu, COVID-19, or MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella); to schedule an appointment, register here. Walgreens will process all immunizations through insurance. For people who aren’t insured, a limited number of vouchers for the regular flu vaccine will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Borough Film Festival To Spotlight First Amendment

Queens World Film Festival—an international festival that debuted in 2011—will focus on the first amendment at this year’s event on November 13–14 in Astoria. Queens World will host the programming in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and the Queens Memory Project, a community archiving initiative.

The schedule will begin on Friday, November 13, at 11 am at Sac’s Place in Kaufman Astoria Studios with The Right To Assemble: A Queens Memory Listening Tour Stop. At tables anchored by artists, community organizers, and other thought leaders, participants will devote two hours to discussing opportunities created by the first amendment.

The listening tour will move to the Museum of the Moving Image from 2:30 to 4:30 pm with The Right to Petition, a discussion involving MOME Commissioner Raphael Espinal, Deputy Commissioner of Film Kwame Amoaku, indie filmmakers, and members of the community.

The festival will conclude on Saturday, November 14, from 6 to 8:30 pm at the Zukor Screening Room in Kaufman Astoria Studios with Watch This! A Mixed Media Screening and Performance. Dance, poetry, live performances, and of course, film will be presented.

Living Landmark

According to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the tallest and oldest living organism in the city is the “Alley Pond Giant,” a tulip tree in Alley Pond Park. (The Giant, enclosed in a protective fence, can be seen along Alley Pond Park’s Tulip Tree Trail; access the park from the Horace Harding Expressway entrance and look for the commemorative sign.) When measured in 2000, the tree reached 133.8 feet with a girth of 18.6 feet; it’s thought to be about 350 years old. The Park Department reports that tulip trees can live 600 years and soar over 150 feet, so the Giant has time and room to grow.

Whatever the weather, the academic forecast this winter is promising. Students can choose from over 70 undergraduate and graduate courses from a variety of disciplines. Online and hybrid classes provide extra flexibility in scheduling classes. Learn more.

Irene Hasenberg Butter ’53

Public health scholar Irene Hasenberg Butter, professor emerita at the University of Michigan, died on October 2. She was 95.

Born to a Jewish family in pre-Nazified Berlin, she was six and a half years old when they fled to Amsterdam. They were incarcerated in the transit camp Westerbork and then for about a year in Bergen-Belsen. Ecuadorian passports secured by her father enabled them to be exchanged for German prisoners held by the Allies, but he was beaten and died two days after their departure—a story she recounts in her website.

After WWII ended, Butter, her mother, and her brother were reunited in the United States. Butter resumed her education, graduating from QC and earning a doctorate in economics from Duke University. Specializing in health economics, women’s healthcare, and global health workforce policies, she taught at U Michigan from 1962 through 1996. She also became a Holocaust educator, co-founding the Raoul Wallenberg Medal to accompany U Michigan’s Raoul Wallenberg Lecture Series, and writing the memoir Shores Beyond Shores: from Holocaust to Hope. To promote intercultural understanding, she co-founded Zeitouna, a Palestinian-Jewish women’s dialogue group.

Predeceased by her husband and fellow U Michigan professor, Butter is survived by her daughter; son and daughter-in-law; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Antonio Hart (ACSM) led the Queens Jazz Orchestra in a concert at Flushing Town Hall on November 7 celebrating the centennial of late saxophonist, composer, and arranger Jimmy Heath, a core member of the jazz faculty. The program included Heath compositions never previously performed in public . . . .

The School of Business has released More than Just Business, a video produced by the QC Office of Communications and Marketing about the value of studying at the school . . . QC faculty members Natalia Candelo-Londoño (Economics), John Dennehy (Biology), Amy Herzog (Media Studies), Hillary Miller (English), Peter Vellon (History), Natalie Vena (Urban Studies), and Christopher Wagner (Elementary and Early Childhood Education) were among the finalists at the PSC CUNY Research Awards Showcase in October . . . .

the Localized History Project (LHP), based at AAARI, was honored by the Brooklyn Nets on AAPI Night on Wednesday, November 4. LHP Director Shreya Sunderram (center) was named an honorary captain for the evening and met with the captains of both teams to start the game.