Strolling around campus, I am delighted to see fall semester in full swing—students heading to classes or the library, picnicking on the quad, tossing around a Frisbee or a soccer ball—ordinary activities. While it’s necessary for all of us to continue observing Cleared4 access protocols and participating in CUNY-wide COVID screening, it’s great to experience college life resuming as it was meant to be: in person, with an option for online to meet students where they are.
I hope everyone had a rewarding summer, however and wherever you spent it. For most of the season I was in Queens, working on plans for the coming academic year, and enjoying events here and throughout the borough and city. Although I have to admit that commuting to campus on foot meant working up a sweat, I was always glad to come to Kiely Hall because I feel at home here.
Of course, I never get tired of hosting campus events, meeting with faculty, staff and students, and showing guests—including alumni, donors, and educators—around our grounds. Last month, I had the chance to do both.
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On Tuesday, August 16, I welcomed my City College counterpart, President Vincent Boudreau, for lunch and a QC tour. We are working on projects together to create greater opportunities for students and faculty.
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Exactly a week later, we bid farewell to Special Advisor to the President William Keller with cookies and coffee. As documented in QView. Bill retired from QC in 2020 after nearly seven and a half years as vice president for finance and administration. Nonetheless, he remained actively involved with the college; he played a major role in setting up the cannabis business workshop QC launched in June in partnership with SUNY Farmingdale.
Speaking of this collaboration, I escorted Farmingdale President John Nader and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Laura Joseph around campus on Thursday, August 25. Troy Hahn and members of our senior administrative team joined us. Troy is now overseeing the next iteration of this project, with new Interim Education Dean Bobbie Kabuto.
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From left: Assistant Vice President for Facilities, Planning and Operations Zeco Krcic, Kupferberg Center for the Arts Executive Director Jon Yanofsky, President Frank H. Wu, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price, Farmingdale Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Laura Joseph, Farmingdale President John Nader
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In between Bill’s sendoff and the visit by SUNY Farmingdale executives, I held a lunch for the faculty chosen as provost’s fellows for 2022-2023: Mayank Goswami (Computer Science) and JV Fuqua (Women and Gender Studies, Media Studies), flanking me in the photo at left. QC launched the provost’s fellowships to facilitate faculty engagement in academic leadership projects. The fellowships usually last a year, but are sometimes extended. Elizabeth Ijalba (Linguistics and Communication Disorders) will be continuing her fellowship activities for another year. I thank Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price and her dedicated team for organizing and hosting this important program. The provost is still settling in, and I know she is eager to meet people—please do not hesitate to introduce yourself.
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Our MFA programs continue to attract talented graduate students from around the world. As someone who has always been a writer, I feel a kinship with those who attended the August 31 reception in Klapper Hall. I urge all students to develop multiple skill sets. Those in the sciences would do well to pen an essay while those in the humanities would do well to practice arithmetic in their head. | |
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At the request of Chief Diversity Officer and Dean of Diversity Jerima DeWese, Nancy Schick (Office of Compliance and Diversity), Camilla St. Louis (Public Safety) and former staff member Michael Das (Compliance and Diversity) looked into the Lloyd Delaney Hall incident involving hateful and harmful graffiti and its aftermath. As part of the investigation, the team reviewed what happened and extensively talked to Delaney Hall occupants. The report's summary and recommendations and my response were recently shared with those interviewed. I am making it available to the campus community. It recommends concrete follow-up action in five categories: Community Building and Trust Restoration; Transparent and Effective Communication; Safety and Well-Being; Infrastructure Creation and Implementation; and Training and Dialogue Facilitation. I enthusiastically accept the recommendations and am confident that with support across the college community, we will continue to realize significant and expeditious progress in these areas. In my work as a civil rights advocate on disability issues, LGBT issues, fighting for undocumented immigrants, and recommending that women be allowed to serve fully in the military, in addition to the longstanding cause of racial justice, I have emphasized that diversity, like democracy, is a process we must engage in, not end. As we make progress, we set higher standards for ourselves. This is an effort that depends on sharing our stories and cooperating on goals a consensus can support.
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This Friday, September 9, at 8:30 am, the college will mark 21 years since the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks, including on the World Trade Center, and in Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. The 40 alumni and family members of former faculty and staff who perished will be remembered by their families, college representatives, elected and religious leaders, and members of the campus community. It will be held at Cooperman Plaza right by Rosenthal Library. Please do join us at this solemn memorial occasion or watch the livestream here. Moments such as 9/11, and every commemoration of the date, reminds us of our common humanity.
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I’m very excited about a remarkable show opening at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum on September 26: Understatements: Lost and Found in Asian America. Understatements—which was organized by Herb Tam, curator and director of exhibitions at the Museum of Chinese in America, in collaboration with GTM co-directors Maria Pio and Louise Weinberg—features work by eight contemporary Asian American artists. This is truly a rare occasion, anywhere in the nation, but especially fitting for us to host given our context. We anticipate national and international interest in the show. This exhibition is the inaugural presentation made possible by the Thomas Chen Family/Crystal Windows $1.1 million endowment to help establish the Queens College School of Arts and highlight Asian contemporary art. I very much look forward to the grand opening. If you cannot come then, stop by the only art museum in the CUNY system, where this show will be on display through January 6, 2023.
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Another big and important event will take place next month, on Wednesday, October 12, when the “College of the Future" marks the 85th anniversary of the first day of classes in 1937. As part of the celebrations, the Queens College Rosenthal Library will premiere a special exhibition that Wednesday morning until late afternoon: Under Construction: 85 Years of Building Futures at Queens College, tracing the evolution of the college’s buildings, grounds, and leadership from the early days to the present (the exhibition will then be available throughout the fall semester). Beginning at 6 pm in Lefrak Hall in the Aaron Copland School of Music Building, an 85th anniversary program will be provided, free of charge, for the campus community and friends of the college. We will present presidential medals to Peter Archer '78, the Queens middle school teacher and musician who served as a consultant and role model for the leading character for the Academy Award-winning Disney-Pixar movie Soul, and to Robert Jacobs '70, president of Health ROI and founder of the QC Phi Epsilon Pi Endowed Scholarship Fund. There will be musical presentations by faculty and students coordinated by our renowned Music Department, surprise guests, and a new video about Queens College. The program will be followed by a celebratory reception in the Atrium of the Music Building. Please read The QView for more details on this milestone event.
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We can all take great pride in the fact that QC is one of five CUNY colleges that Degree Choices, a team of education researchers, listed among the nation’s top Hispanic-serving institutions. (The other CUNY schools were City College, Hunter College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Lehman College.) The Degree Choices report is just the latest ranking to attest to the value of a Queens College degree.
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I’ll close with a plug for a cherished borough institution and important college partner: The Queens County Farm Museum, which collects donations for QC’s food pantry every year, is holding its 39th annual county fair this weekend, September 9-11. The fair offers hayrides and pie-eating contests, entertainment tents, and lots of fresh produce. The complete schedule, as well as ticketing information, is posted on the museum’s website.
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We have all experienced many challenges over the past two years, some much more daunting than anticipated. Collectively, however, we have emerged with renewed determination and hope, encouraged where I began this message—by the positive energy I encountered on campus as the semester began.
Let me therefore wish you a most productive and enjoyable academic year. And stay safe and healthy.
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