Discimus ut serviamus:
We learn so that we may serve.
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New Accolades for QC's “Genius” Awardee
Time
magazine’s annual list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People includes in its section on Icons one of the college’s most distinguished graduates: Cristina Jiménez Moreta ’07. According to
Time
, the “
annual list of the world’s most influential people is a designation of individuals whose time, in our estimation, is now.” In the magazine an appreciation of Cristina, who received the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Award” last fall, is written by musician and actress Selena Gomez. She notes that “
Cristina Jiménez dreams. She dreams big. She dreams because she wants there to be a future for the roughly 700,000 young people who, by no choice of their own, were brought to the U.S. as children by their undocumented immigrant parents.” (For the complete
Time
article,
click here
.) Cristina
will be returning to campus on May 31 as the main speaker at the college’s 94th Commencement ceremony.
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Times
Columnist Gail Collins Visits Campus
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On Monday, April 23 during free hour,
New York Times
columnist Gail Collins (ctr.) was on campus for a Q & A with students, faculty, and staff. Collins was the first woman to serve as editorial page editor of the
Times
and is the recent winner of a George Polk Award for her career in journalism. She is shown above with Distinguished Lecturer Sheryl McCarthy (Journalism) and
Knight News
editor Ameila Inderjeit.
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Olivier Noel ’11 Will Speak at Event Honoring Congresswoman Louise Slaughter
Olivier Noel ’11, founder and CEO of the genetics research company DNAsimple, has been chosen as special guest speaker for an event this week to memorialize the life and legacy of Louise M. Slaughter. The long-serving New York congresswoman, who died in March, was well known for her advocacy on behalf of genomics research and the rights of Americans to not be discriminated against based on their genetic information.
Noel will be the first speaker for the Louise M. Slaughter National DNA Day Lecture at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.
At QC Noel earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and honors in biomedical science research. His undergraduate research studies were with Nathalia Holtzman (Biology). Noel went on to the Pennsylvania State University MSTP MD/PhD program, and in 2015 launched DNAsimple,
an online registry providing genomics researchers access to DNA samples from people all over the world.
Forbes
magazine recognized his innovative achievement by including him in its annual “30 Under 30” list. Last November Noel appeared on ABC’s
Shark Tank
, where venture capitalist Mark Cuban recognized the value of DNAsimple by investing $200,000 in return for a 15 percent stake in the company.
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“What a Wonderful World” Celebrated at Queens Libraries
With a grant from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Queens Library has joined the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Kupferberg Center for the Arts to create a system-wide program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Armstrong’s popular song, “What a Wonderful World,” at all 63 branches of the library. The program runs through June 30 and will include workshops, concerts, lectures by LAHM staff (in English and Spanish), video, and surprise events.
“There’s so much in ‘Wonderful World’ that brings me back to my neighborhood where I live in Corona, New York,” Armstrong said in 1968. “Lucille and I, ever since we’re married, we’ve been right there in that block. And everybody keeps their little homes up like we do and it’s just like one big family. I saw three generations come up on that block. And they’re all with their children, grandchildren, they come back to see Uncle Satchmo and Aunt Lucille. That’s why I can say, ‘I hear babies cry/ I watch them grow/ they'll learn much more/ than I’ll never know.’”
For a list of programs at library branches,
click here
.
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Unique 80th Anniversary Gifts
The Queens College Foundation is offering uniquely personalized ways for alumni and friends of the college to support its mission while they become a permanent part of the campus. You may give a brick for our Alumni Plaza, a bench or tree plaque, a seat plaque in Colden Auditorium or Goldstein Theatre, library books, or now--to commemorate our 80th anniversary--a plaque on an executive chair. These gifts can be inscribed to your taste, such as having the college motto combined with your own message or name on the chair. More information is available
here
.
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The Marriage of
Figaro
April 26–29
Disguise, deception, and divine melodies will help couples achieve happy endings when the Aaron Copland School of Music, the Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance, and Queens College Opera present Mozart’s
The Marriage of
Figaro
. Undergraduates, graduate students, and guest artists will pool their talents in a traditional staging of one of the funniest and most popular works in the operatic repertoire. QC alumna Elizabeth Hastings, a veteran of the Toledo Opera, the Washington Opera, the Sarasota Opera, the New York City Opera national touring company, and the Kennedy Center, will direct this production; alumnus Alex Wen will conduct.
Performances will take place in Goldstein Theatre from Thursday, April 26, through Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 pm, and on Sunday, April 29, at 3 pm. Seats are $20 for general admission, $18 for seniors, and $10 for students with QC ID. Tickets are available through the Kupferberg Center Box Office at 718-793-8080, online at
http://www.kupferbergcenter.org
, or at the door one hour prior to each performance.
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Remembering the Lavender Line
Students and staff involved in the Lavender Line Queens Museum exhibit of last year will describe their work with this inspiring project at a panel discussion and exhibition. Titled
The Lavender Line at Queens College--Then and Now,
the event will be held Friday, April 27, at 5–7 pm in the Faculty and Staff Lounge of the Student Union. The panel and exhibition form part of the 2018 CUNY PRIDEFEST, a series of events held this academic year, both on campus and throughout the borough, to celebrate the 25th Annual Queens Pride Parade. To let the President’s Office know you will be attending,
click here.
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MFA Artists on Exhibit
Sixteen student artists are being showcased in
A Fresh Civility: CUNY Queens College MFA Show, a multimedia exhibition curated by John Yau at LIC Artists’ Plaxall Gallery (www.licartists.org/). Organized around the theme of today’s threatening climate of intolerance, the show explores questions of identity, place, ecology, equality, mental health, media, communication, and global politics. The Plaxall Gallery, located at 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, is open Thursdays, 6–10 pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12–5 pm; and Friday, May 4 and May 11, 6–10 pm.
For updates and events, follow the MFA program on Instagram, @qcmfa, and Facebook
facebook.com.qcmfa
.
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Active Shooter Presentation by New York FBI Office
An agent from the New York office of the FBI will make a presentation on active shooters on Wednesday, April 25, at 12:15 pm in Kiely Hall 170. The presentation will cover both pre-attack behavioral indicators, or red flag behaviors, and how to identify, assess, and manage these to prevent future acts of violence. There will also be a brief overview of the Run, Hide, Fight protocol.
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More Poems for National Poetry Month
Of Nostalgia
Nicole Cooley
Originally a medical condition--
In the eighteenth century:
severe homesickness,
a disease.
From German,
heimweh
; Greek,
nostos
,
homecoming
, +
algos, grief
.
Mine never feels like lovely wishing,
and when I find my mother’s jewelry box--blonde leather, impossibly
fifties teenage--desire is stuffed in my chest like dirty
shredded Kleenex – desire for my mother’s sixteen year old self.
Beside a place for pearls: a drawer labeled
Mad Money
.
inside a blue-wrapped soap crumbled to dust
and three dimes I set in my mouth, wanting silver bitterness.
Money my mother saved so she could run away?
From my father?--
The first
nostalgics
were men at war: mercenaries
in the French army longing for their villages.
When I open her jewelry box, I want to lie
in my mother’s twin bed, on clean white sheets, let go
of my body, become the girl she was, mother-not-mother--
while soldiers march through yellow fields, dizzy with nausea.
Under my tongue, her coins are cool and slick,
and I’m homesick for a life I never lived--
I slip on my mother’s pink coat from high school,
color of a Dairy Queen dipped cone,
color of a flushed cheek after a slap--
From
Girl after Girl after Girl
, Louisiana State University Press, 2017.
Ghazal 1
By Hafez, the 14th-century Persian master of the ghazal; translated by Roger Sedarat
Hey wine boy! Keep giving us more to drink
Love’s not something we endure or outthink.
The musky flower’s perfume in the breeze
Buzzes bees blindly to its core to drink.
Bound to the world, my beloved jangles
Chains of existence to sever the link.
The holy man knows best. If he insists,
Paint prayer rugs with rags and wine-colored ink!
We who’d drown in love know the wave’s terror.
Those with closed hearts, safe on the shore, don’t sink.
My selfish verse made me notorious.
(Truth remains hidden when the liars speak).
Hafez, don’t run away from his presence.
When caught by him, release the world and sing.
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Men’s Tennis Team Wins the East Coast Conference
For the second consecutive year, the Queens College men’s tennis team reigns over the East Coast Conference as the Knights swept away top-seed NYIT Bears by a 5-0 score on Saturday, April 21, to claim the hardware at the QC Tennis Center.
Richard Sec had the championship-winning victory at fourth-singles for the Knights, as Rares Ispas’ return volley missed wide for the Bears on match-point as the junior claimed a 6-2, 6-1 win to earn the title. Roman Laga had
earlier taken down Maxton Cook at third-singles by a 6-2, 6-0 score to put Queens in position for the title.
With the win, Queens claimed its nineteenth victory of the season and will await word on its NCAA Tournament berth as the selection show will air on Tuesday evening, April 24.
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Register Now
Now is the time to consider registering for summer classes at QC. Students can earn up to 15 credits and get a jump on completing their degree, or on meeting the requirements for the Excelsior Scholarship or on advancing in QC in 4--and still have time left over for a long vacation. Summer Session features:
- hundreds of undergraduate and graduate courses, including 30 online courses
- choice of four sessions (lasting four, six, or ten weeks)
- affordable tuition
- free on-campus parking
- inexpensive and exceptional on-campus housing
For information on schedules, courses, tuition, and to apply, visit
www.qc.cuny.edu/Summer
.
If you have questions, contact Academic Advising at 718-997-5599.
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Special Offer for Student Parents
Athletics has announced a plan to help student parents enroll their children in this year’s Summer Camp. Anyone pursuing coursework in one of Summer Session’s four sessions will receive a 20% discount for his or her child at QC’s Summer Camp. All they need do is inform Athletics when they register their children that they have enrolled for a summer class themselves. This will be the 30th annual Summer Camp, with children’s sports, dance, theatre, and computer workshops scheduled on campus July 2 to August 23.
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Building Futures:
Luc Marest
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Teaching Hands-On Finance
In November 2017 three QC students placed first in TD Ameritrade’s annual virtual stock market challenge, turning their initial simulated investment into more than $2.6 million--a gain of 427 percent. They trounced 930 other teams, including second-place Columbia University, winning--in real money--$3,000 each and $30,000 for the college. The students had all been urged to participate by Professor Luc Marest (Economics).
“Our good students are really good--at the Ivy League level--and some are brilliant,” says Marest, who wants to boost participation in national contests sponsored by TD, Bloomberg LP, and other financial firms and organizations. “Through these competitions, students apply theory to real life,” he says, explaining that participants have to learn how to use the news and organize and analyze complex data in order to make wise buy-sell trading decisions. “Making money is a very difficult task,” he says. “This hands-on experience is a huge advantage for students in a very competitive job market.”
Marest himself has the kind of international experience favored by high-powered finance corporations, but he has happily changed career paths, teaching at QC since fall 2015.
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L–r:
Max Fruchter, President Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Shlomo Sandler, Luc Marest (Economics), and Daniel Baruch celebrate after winning TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim competition.
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What’s in a Building’s Name?
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Goldstein Theatre
The Goldstein Theatre is named for two QC alumni: telecommunications executive Irving Goldstein ’60 and his wife, actress Susan Wallack Goldstein ’62.
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The late Distinguished Professor of Hispanic Languages Gregory Rabassa, the translator of Gabriel García Márquez’s
One Hundred Years of Solitude,
was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence.
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Gregory Rabassa at the White House in 2006 with Laura and President George W. Bush after he received the National Medal of Arts.
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The
Q View
is produced by the
Office of Communications and Marketing.
Comments and suggestions for future news items
and the 8Oth Anniversary Website
are welcome.
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