The QView #129

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Queens College Skyline, view of Manhattan

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

QView #129 | May 17, 2022

What’s News

Getting down to earth science, geology students shared their research in a poster presentation on May 9.

President Frank H. Wu officiated at his first in-person Queens College Gala on Wednesday, May 11, when the annual fundraiser returned to Guastavino’s in Manhattan. Paulette Mullings Bradnock ’84, chief audit executive for BNY Mellon, received the President’s Leadership Award and Matt Higgins ’98, CEO of RSE Ventures and vice chairman of the Miami Dolphins, received the Distinguished Alumni Award. The late Steven Gerard ’67, who was CEO and chair of CBIZ, Inc. and former chair of the Queens College Foundation, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously. Gail Marquis ’80, a two-time All-American women’s basketball player at QC, served as host and emcee. Marquis was a member of the silver-medal 1976 USA Women’s Basketball Team. She had a long career on Wall Street and a second career as a broadcast commentator.

Reginald Bradnock and his mother, Paulette Mullings Bradnock ’84, Vice Chair, Queens College Foundation

Ekaterina Kalmanson—a recipient of the Linda Higgins Scholarship—and Matt Higgins ’98, who created the scholarship in memory of his mother

Queens College Foundation Chairman Lee Fensterstock ’68 and Andrew Heller, accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award for Steven Gerard

Gail Marquis ’80

In collaborative online international learning (COIL), the classroom knows no borders. On Tuesday, May 10, through a COIL grant from the U.S. State Department and the Stevens Initiative, students in Foundations of Sociological Theory (Sociology 331), taught by Suzanne Strickland, worked with counterparts at American University of Cairo in Egypt to explore systems of inequality in their respective countries. The Stevens Initiative, named after J. Christopher Stevens, a career diplomat killed in Benghazi while serving as U.S. ambassador to Libya, promotes virtual international exchange projects (QView 98, QView 107).

The QC chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success inducted new members in a ceremony on Monday, May 9. Chapter Advisor Shonelle George gave the keynote; President Frank H. Wu, Director of Student Life Dwayne Jones, and Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Program Director Norka Blackman-Richards received leadership awards.

From left: Christen De Ocampo, chapter vice president; Christen Malika Pegues, chapter president; Sneha Vinod, chapter secretary; Michelle Nguyen, publicity chair; Shonelle George, chapter advisor; Ilana Dandridge, community service chair

A good time was had by all on Wednesday, May 11, when Spring Fest turned the Quad into a carnival with rides, zip lines, inflatable jousting, and a rock climbing wall. Students fortified themselves for activity with ice cream, cotton candy, and pretzels.

President Frank H. Wu took a turn at the podium during the town hall held on Tuesday, May 10, by City Council Member James Gennaro (seated, right of Wu) to address the community's safety concerns.

Political Science faculty Francois Pierre-Louis and Patricia Rachal flank John Kastanis, who received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Department of Political Science on Thursday, May 12. Kastanis is a health care consultant who held top administrative positions in metropolitan area hospitals.

Knights to remember: The Student-Athlete Banquet on Thursday, May 12 was an all-star event, with desserts served from an ice cream truck.

Godwin-Ternbach Museum Co-Director Louise Weinberg, Queens Museum COO Debra Wimpfheimer and President and Executive Director Sally Tallant, and President Frank H. Wu enjoyed lunch and artful conversation on Friday, May 13.

Executive Moves

Meghan Healey—chair of the Department of Drama, Theater, and Dance (DTD) since 2015—has been appointed interim associate provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs. That title was previously held by Alicia Alvero, who decided to step down from the position.

An award-winning stage designer with an extensive resume in experimental and conventional theater, Healey holds a BA in Political Science and Theater Studies from Emory University and an MFA in Design for Stage and Film from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She joined the QC faculty in 2005, became an assistant professor in 2008, and was recently promoted to full professor. She has been part of the Latinx Studies and the School of Arts working groups and, as an inaugural Provost’s Leadership Fellow in 2017, developed the pilot for QNS 101.

Fusco

Healey

Interim Education Dean Dana Fusco will leave Queens College to take a position as dean of the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University.

In her two years at QC, Fusco led the School of Education through a probationary visit by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation and secured accreditation through Fall 2025. Among other achievements, she secured over $1.6 million in New York State Education Department funding for the Teacher Opportunity Corps (TOC II), and implemented initiatives to support faculty, staff, and students of color, and celebrate first-generation scholars.

Knight Named ECC Baseball Player and Rookie of the Year

Queens freshman baseball player Marc Cisco became just the second person in East Coast Conference (ECC) history to be selected as both the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season, and Head Coach Chris Reardon was named Co-Coach of the Year after they led the Knights to a 26-win season and a berth into the ECC playoffs. Five other Knights earned All-Conference honors with third baseman Lou Antos, utility player Colin Diez, and pitcher Julien Arcos making the ECC First Team and first baseman Matt Filip and outfielder Jayson Rodopoulos being selected to the second team.

The six All-Conference selections are the most since the 2019 season, which saw the Knights earn five All-Conference honors. The four First-Team Conference honors are the most in program history.

Cisco, a second baseman, earned the triple crown this season leading the ECC in batting average (.435), runs batted in (49), and home runs (10). His batting average ranks 13th in all of NCAA Division II as of May 16.

Antos batted .423 and finished tied for the league lead in home runs with 10. Diez batted .319 for the season, Filip hit .314 with five home runs, and Rodopoulos sported a .339 batting average with five home runs. Arcos led the team on the mound with six victories and a 3.18 earned run average.

In one of their best seasons in recent history, the Knights advanced all the way to the ECC Championship in 2022, but lost to top-seeded Molloy College in the finals last weekend. The Knights finished with a 26-17 record and had their most wins in a season since 1998.

Sharing in Buffalo’s Grief

Queens College flew its flag at half-mast in response to the mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo on Saturday, May 14. President Frank H. Wu issued a statement in response to the racially motivated assault. The QC community stands with the people of New York’s second-largest city, a diverse place with a rich cultural history, at this tragic time.

Thinking Big

In “Cultural Evolution,” the latest video in the online series Big Ideas, Chief Diversity Officer and Dean of Diversity Jerima DeWese talks about ways that Queens College can become even more inclusive.

The Office of Communications and Marketing launched Big Ideas last year to call attention to the research and projects of QC faculty. Faculty featured this semester include Kimiko Hahn (English), Dennis Mackrel (ACSM), Steven Markowitz (Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment), and Cecilia McHugh (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences). The current season is described here.

Senior Wins Salk Scholarship

David Musheyev is the latest Queens College student to be awarded a Jonas E. Salk Scholarship, one of CUNY’s highest honors. Over four years of study, he will receive $8,000 toward the cost of attending SUNY Downstate Medical School.

Musheyev, previously a recipient of the Salman Hamdani Memorial Scholarship, will graduate this June from Macaulay Honors College with a double major in neuroscience and biology and a double minor in chemistry and health sciences. He’s also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He volunteered in New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s emergency room and at the therapeutic equestrian program Gallop NYC. On campus, he served as president and treasurer of Future Healers of America, president of the Biology Honors Society, and as vice president of the Bukharian Cultural Club.

Recently Musheyev has been working under world-renowned surgeon Ash Tewari at Mount Sinai’s Department of Urology, where he helps coordinate clinical trials of prostate cancer patients. His faculty research mentor at QC is biology professor John Dennehy, a virologist who has been at the forefront of monitoring pathogens—like COVID-19—in wastewater (QView 119).

“At Queens College, we offer our undergraduate science students the opportunity to participate in laboratory research under faculty mentorship,” says President Frank H. Wu. “We consider that absolutely essential to our mission of offering superior public education. It sets us apart from many other undergraduate institutions, and has enabled generations of our talented students to excel at the highest levels. This award recognizes David Musheyev’s hard work, achievement, and exceptional promise as an emerging researcher in the medical sciences.”

Dollars for Scholars

Since 1955, the Salk Scholarship has been awarded annually to eight academically gifted students in the CUNY system who have been admitted to medical school or a graduate program in biomedical sciences. They are selected based on their demonstrated potential to make significant contributions to medical research.

The Salk Scholarship represents the scientific and humanitarian values of its namesake, Jonas Salk, a 1934 graduate of City College. After developing the first polio vaccine, he famously refused to patent or profit from it; instead, he made it freely available for worldwide use. When offered a tickertape parade in New York City, he asked that the money go toward scholarships.

“I hope to live up to Dr. Salk’s legacy by helping the many New Yorkers who lack access to quality medical care,” says Musheyev. His goal is to uncover immunotherapy treatment options for the one in six men who will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes, and to make clinical trials more accessible to medically underserved populations. “Queens College gave me a platform for addressing this issue, which will be the focus of my studies in medical school and beyond,” he notes.

Hillel Offers Perspectives

This summer, QC Hillel is bringing back the Perspectives Trip to Israel, a guided educational tour in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Ten to 12 student leaders will have the opportunity to join this heavily subsidized, interfaith experience, taking place August 2-12. The application deadline is May 23; a recommendation from a member of QC faculty or staff is required. Trip details and an application form here.

QC Veterans Take on Historic Mission

Later this spring, after a dozen years as a mobile program, the Armed Forces Heritage Museum (AFHM) will welcome visitors to its new headquarters in the historic Captain James Lawrence House in Burlington, New Jersey. AFHM, a nonprofit run by volunteers, documents New Jersey’s military history; programs include a stunning, multigenerational oral history archive of men and women who served in diverse capacities. In 2020, the museum received the History Program of the Year Award for Education from the Burlington County Parks Service and Commissioners. Critical to this success is the work of two Queens College alumni—retired U.S. Air Force officers Colonel Bob von Bargen ’58, who on May 27 will receive Burlington County’s History Award for Achievement and Leadership, and Colonel (Dr.) Lewis Wetstein ’68.

AFHM grew out of a smaller project. In the late 1990s, the Air Force replaced its venerable C-141 Lockheed Starlifter. One disabled aircraft, with a broken wing spar, remained at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. As a member of a cadre of retired military, community leaders and retired New Jersey State Police, von Bargen built a park on the base with the aircraft as its focal point. At the dedication ceremony, he recalls, “A man came up to me and said, ‘What you’ve done here is beautiful. This is really a top-notch job. But what this base needs is a museum that the public can get to. Existing museums and exhibits are all behind the security gate and inaccessible to the public.’”