Discimus ut serviamus:
We learn so that we may serve.
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Classrooms Receive Intelligent Upgrades
Not only is smart a quality attributed to Queens College students; it can also be applied to its classrooms.
“This year ITS (Information Technology Services) has managed to outfit 32 campus classrooms with new technology,” reports AVP and Chief Information Officer Troy Hahn, referring to the continually growing number of technology-enhanced or so-called smart classrooms on campus.
“Technology-enhanced classroom upgrades are budgeted and planned for from the technology fee that we collect from students, as well as from grant funding. There’s a committee that budgets for upgrades to classrooms and lecture halls. There’s also a committee that talks to faculty and researchers for their instructional needs.”
Yet another committee, comprising academic deans, representatives from the Registrar, and ITS media services, discusses faculty requirements and establishes priorities for classroom upgrades to be implemented by ITS.
Technology-enhanced classrooms at QC typically consist of a ceiling-mounted projector, a projection screen, a lectern, a computer, a laptop connection, a wireless video connection, and a document camera, as well as an audio system.
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Make Your Political Opinions Count
Today—Tuesday, September 24—is National Voter Registration Day. Register to vote by visiting
www.cuny.edu/vote and remind your friends to do the same.
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JV Fuqua of Women and Gender Studies (left) and JC Carlson of Student Life waved the flag at free hour on Monday, September 16, when Pride at Queens College celebrated the Queer Collection’s acquisition of new LGBTQ+ books and other materials with a reception in the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library Rotunda. The collection was launched in 2018 and expanded this year with the support of LaGuardia Community College and the New York City Council, through the offices of Speaker Corey Johnson and Councilmember Daniel Dromm.
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South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini—seen here in the front row, wearing a yellow cap—played and spoke to a standing-room-only crowd when he presented “The South African Songbook: Celebrating 25 Years of Democracy” at the Aaron Copland School of Music on the evening of Tuesday, September 17. Makhathini’s memorable appearance was sponsored by
CUNYArts and
Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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The weather—and, one hopes, the employment forecast—was seasonably bright on Wednesday, September 18, when the Center for Career Engagement and Internships held its Business & Technology Career Expo on the Quad. LBI Software, Revature, and the U.S. Census were among the employers represented at the fair.
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“Coffee with Bill” brought faculty and staff to the President’s Lounge on the morning of Thursday, September 19, for caffeinated conversation with Interim President William Tramontano.
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QC’s delegation at the Thursday, September 19 gala marking the 40th anniversary of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute included Interim President William Tramontano and student Alessa Farinella, a linguistics and anthropology major who won a Beinecke Brothers Memorial Scholarship toward graduate study.
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Business Forum Breakfast This Week
“High Tech Meets Higher Education,” the first Business Forum Breakfast of the year, takes place this Wednesday, September 25, from 9 to 11 am in the Student Union Ballroom. Panelists Martha Pollack, president of Cornell University, and Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, chancellor of CUNY, will discuss topics such as the role of a liberal arts education in a high-tech world and how to improve the digital literacy of all Americans. QC Interim President William Tramontano will serve as moderator. Seats can be reserved at
www.qc.cuny.edu/businessforumRSVP.
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Getting on Course Overseas in January
This winter, students have the opportunity to earn credits while taking courses in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. To learn more about learning overseas, attend the Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday, September 25, from noon to 3 pm, at the James Muyskens Conference Room in the Summit Apartments. Specific program information is available at
www.qc.cuny.edu/studyabroad; applications must be submitted by October 25.
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Fastest Meals on Campus
Expanding the options for those who want to eat and run, two
Farmer’s Fridge vending machines will begin operating on campus on Tuesday, October 1. The machines—which carry fresh salads, sandwiches, snacks, and more—will be located in the Student Union's main lobby (next to Avenue C and across from the coffee shop) and the Queens Hall lobby (outside of Avenue C). To save half the price of your first meal, sign up for
Farmer Fridge's email list.
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Mindfulness Displayed in Klapper Hall
Grace Kerr, a senior BFA student, had her works of ceramics, sculpture, and painting on display in an exhibition called “Freedom of Mind” in the Klapper Hall Student Gallery on September 16–20.
Influenced by her Buddhist background and her daily meditation, Kerr creates calm and organic shapes in her work. She particularly enjoys ceramics because it combines elements of drawing, painting, and sculpture. All the pieces on display were prepared while she was a student at Queens; many took several weeks to complete.
Some of the more prominent pieces included “What is True Happiness,” a sculpture that depicts young children and how their happiness is affected by materialism, and the exhibition’s title piece, “Freedom of Mind,” which represents the Buddhist idea of eliminating desires. She also displayed a number of beautifully decorated teapots and vases and even a painting of the Queens College campus.
Sin-Ying Ho (Art), who has taught Grace in several ceramics courses, coached her through the preparation for the exhibit. “She is really prolific,” said Ho. “She is determined and devoted and that’s allowed her to collect her work.”
Born and raised in Taiwan, Kerr moved to Pittsburgh in 1987 as a teenager. She struggled with the language gap in the United States, so she turned to art because it gave her a universal voice to communicate through the objects she created. “It makes me comfortable that I don’t have to worry too much about the language barrier to communicate with people,” explained Kerr. “Artwork helps bring out the conversation.” In Pittsburgh she was introduced to ceramics, and it became a lifelong hobby.
Kerr went to a two-year fashion school initially, but after many years, she decided to come to QC to earn her bachelor’s degree. She balanced a challenging workload, holding down a full-time job as a technical design manager for a clothing company and going to class in her spare time. After nearly 10 years as a part-time student, Kerr is expected to graduate in the spring.
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Building Futures Profile:
Albert Scanlon
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Teaching Practical Skills to Middle School Students
Albert Scanlon teaches Family and Consumer Sciences for grades 6, 7, and 8 at the Orville Todd Middle School in Poughkeepsie. He credits Queens College for giving him the ability “to be a professional anywhere.”
Born and raised in Queens, he’s the first in his family to earn a master’s degree. “I come from a traditional Irish, Italian-American family,” he says, noting he and his three brothers were raised by a stay-at-home mom while his father worked two jobs “in order to send the kids to good schools.”
Scanlon, who graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School, says as early as middle school he knew, “I wanted to be a teacher. It’s a rewarding and challenging career; you’re always on your feet and I just love it. . . Being able to have an impact on children, it’s just a rewarding field to go into.”
“In middle school I was always a very shy kid. So, I wanted to become the role model for that very shy kid who didn’t always fit in, who struggled in school,” he says, noting he’s proud and amazed that he can stand in front of dozens of middle school students every day.
“I wish I had had Family and Consumer Sciences in my school growing up. I feel like I would have been able to make better-informed decisions,” Scanlon continues. “We teach practical skills that kids are going to use in their career and in college and in their life: nutrition, consumerism, business, fashion, sewing, career planning, financial management and budgeting.”
“Teaching in content areas that I’m so passionate about makes my job the best,” he says. He also believes that by teaching in a field traditionally dominated by women, he helps break gender stereotypes in the eyes of students.
Scanlon says he particularly appreciated the online and hybrid programs at Queens, which allowed him to use time he would have spent commuting on his studies. “Also, being able to interact from the comfort of my own home, on my own time, I feel I was able to give more meaningful responses and communicate more appropriately with my colleagues and the professor. The Blackboard interface and the tools used on the hybrid and online courses are very helpful and really create a community of learning. “
Scanlon is also appreciative of the network of colleagues and former professors he can draw upon. “I take things that I learn and use them in my class the very next day, so it is continual professional development for me,” he observes.
"I think the graduate Family and Consumer Sciences Education at Queens College is the best in the state,” he remarks. “The number of professionals enrolled in the program, the professors teaching the program, how the program stays relevant with the ever-changing education field and the new tools and technologies used in education—I think it’s the best.”
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Peter Calandra (ACSM) wrote FOX Sports’
FIFA World Cup Theme, which was heard by tens of millions of viewers over five weeks of summer World Cup broadcasts on three platforms: FOX Network/FS1/FS2 . . .
QC Hillel’s leadership and career development work with Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish students was featured in E-Jewish Philanthropy this week . . .
Barry Katz ’75, senior vice president and general manager of US Studios for NEP Broadcast Services, has been named the first recipient of the Glen Robert Gary Corporate Excellence Award, to be presented on October 20 by the Giulio Gari Foundation, an international nonprofit arts organization . . . The European Association of Labor Economists
awarded "Immigration and the public-private school choice"--co-authored by
Francesc Ortega (Economics), Lidia Farre and Ryuichi Tanak--the EALE Labour Economics Prize for the best paper published in the organization's journal,
Labour Economics, during 2018 . . .
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The
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences gave
Gladys Sapigao, its office assistant, the SEES Career Award in recognition of her continued and dedicated service to the department’s faculty and students and the greater college community. She’s seen here, holding her plaque, with
SEES colleagues (from left) Tyler Mills, Mustafa Kamal, Jeffrey Bird, and Jessica Yin . . .
Social Practice Queens (Art) is hosting a
one-day event at Governors Island on October 5, featuring site-specific projects in which CUNY students, alumni, and faculty address environmental issues.
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