Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
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QView #147 | February 22, 2023 | |
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College Graced with Congresswoman’s Presence
President Frank H. Wu welcomed Congresswoman Grace Meng to campus on Wednesday, February 15, to acknowledge her efforts on behalf of the college. Through the 2023 government spending package signed earlier this year by President Joe Biden, Meng obtained more than $2 million in federal funds for Queens College’s Business School and Colden Auditorium.
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From left: Jon Yanofsky, director, Kupferberg Center for the Arts; Kate Pechenkina, dean of the Schools of Social Science and Business; Wu; Meng; Rebecca Oppenheimer, Queens College School of Business student; and Tulani Browne ’18, a Drama, Theatre and Dance major who works at Colden Auditorium and is pursuing an MFA in acting at Brooklyn College. | |
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“We are enormously pleased to celebrate this generous support, secured thanks to the outstanding efforts of Congresswoman Grace Meng,” said Wu, who noted that Congresswoman Meng obtained the original support to establish the college’s Small Business Development Center.
“After securing nearly $2 million last year for Queens College’s WETLAB, I’m proud to once again deliver another big check to the school, this one for more than $2.2 million for building partnerships with local small businesses and renovating Colden Auditorium,” said Meng. “As New York’s senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I’m thrilled to fight for Queens College, and I look forward to these projects benefiting the college and borough residents for years to come.”
To conclude the event, which was covered by QNS, Wu and Meng unveiled an oversized check for the funding amount. Their comments and the unveiling were recorded in a video.
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On a recent trip to Albany, President Frank H. Wu and Jeffrey Rosenstock (External and Governmental Relations) visited elected officials, including Queens legislator David Weprin, who represents District 24 in the New York State Assembly, and his aide, QC alumnus Alejandro Avellaneda. | |
With QC's Kessler Scholars last week were Taruna Sadhoo (standing at far left), director of Honors and Scholarships and Macaulay Honors College at Queens College; Gail Gibson (standing at far right), executive director of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative; (seated at center, left to right) Chrystle Claire Greene, program director of Kessler Presidential Scholarship at Queens College, and Robin Wilpon Wachtler, Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation. | |
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Robin Wilpon Wachtler enjoyed lunch in the Tanenbaum Conference Room with President Frank H. Wu and QC Kessler Scholars on Wednesday, February 15. Wachtler is the daughter of Judy Kessler Wilpon and Fred Wilpon, who founded the Kessler Scholarships to support first-generation college students. Fred Wilpon was the first member of his family to pursue higher education. Queens College is the only public higher education institution in New York State that was selected to participate in this innovative program.
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ACSM graduate student Duncan Henry, who is pursuing an advanced certificate in bassoon performance, was invited to play during the initial part of CUNY Board of Trustees meeting on February 15. Duncan’s solo was live streamed on the board’s website. President Frank H. Wu was part of his cheering section. | |
Dressing for access: (from left) Senior Stationary Engineer Brian Grady, AVP Zeco Krcic, Senior Stationary Engineer Daniel Tracey, President Frank H. Wu, and Stationary Engineer Daniel Pospishil don hard hats to pose in front of Boiler #2. The college's heating plant is getting a multimillion dollar upgrade in preparation for next winter. | |
QC’s BFA program in photography and imaging, launched in 2019 as the only program of its kind in CUNY, is holding its inaugural thesis exhibit in the Student Art Gallery in Klapper Hall. The exhibition, curated by Antonio Gonzalez (Photography), opened with a reception on Thursday, February 16, and will be on display through March 2. | |
Reading the room, from left: Tummino, Buron, Rosenstock, Walcott, Wu, Yearwood | |
Prominent borough bookworms met on campus on Friday, February 17, as QC's Annie Tummino (Special Collections and Archives), Jeff Rosenstock (External and Governmental Relations), President Frank H. Wu, and Associate Dean/Chief Librarian Simone Yearwood gave Queens Public Library President/CEO Dennis Walcott and Chief Librarian/Senior Vice President Nick Buron a tour of Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, followed by a business lunch to discuss future collaborations. | |
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Knights Seek Postseason Slots in BBall
The 2022-23 regular season for basketball ends on Senior Day this Saturday, February 25; both men’s and women’s teams are hoping for postseason tournament spots.
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The indoor track and field season concluded with the East Coast Conference Championship at Ocean Breeze Track and Field on Staten Island, February 19. Khareena Primus led the women's team with a third-place finish in the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.99, her personal best. On the men's side, senior Myles Jackson, competing in his final indoor meet, earned the bronze medal in the 500 meter with his season-best time of 1:06.66. | |
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Men’s and women’s tennis opened their spring schedule over the weekend in contests against Division 1 teams. Playing at home, women took on St. Francis College, recording their first victory of the spring; men fell to Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Baseball and softball get their 2023 spring schedules going this weekend as baseball travels to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while softball sees action at home.
Keep up with QC athletics at queensknights.com.
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This Week in Black History Month
Upcoming Black History Month events at QC examine the impact of post-colonial Caribbean art and the connections between self-care and social justice.
In “Art of Independence: Nationalism and Early Modern Art in the Caribbean,” taking place today—Wednesday, February 21—at 12:15 to 1:15 pm in the Student Union Underground, Lawrence Waldron (Art History) will discuss how modern Caribbean art offered a powerful counternarrative to idealized images of the Caribbean produced during the colonial period. This lecture is presented by the Office of Student Development and Leadership.
“Community Conversation: Because We Love Ourselves: 21st Century Love, Self-Care, and Social Justice,” to be held on Monday, February 27, from 5 to 7 pm in President's Conference Room 2 in Rosenthal Library, explores how to live, love, and laugh in the time of Breonna Taylor and Tyre Nichols. This event, featuring special guests Treva B. Lindsey and Brittney Cooper, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies faculty at The Ohio State University and Rutgers University, respectively, is presented by Africana Studies and the Political Science Department.
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Since 2021, Big Ideas, an online video series produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, has been highlighting the cutting-edge work of Queens College faculty. “Stepping Up,” the episode debuting this week, showcases Edisa Weeks (Drama, Theatre, and Dance) and includes excerpts from her project, Action Songs/Protest Dances. Weeks conceived, directed, and choreographed the project as the inaugural resident of the Kupferberg Arts Incubator, commissioning work by composers/musicians Taina Asili, Spirit McIntyre, and Martha Redbone. Three of the songs are inspired by the life, speeches, and writings of activist James Forman, who donated his papers to the Civil Rights Archive at Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library.
Previous Big Ideas videos can be seen here.
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Workshop, Concert Cover Bass-ics | |
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Rufus Reid, a jazz bassist with credits on hundreds of albums who serves as the director of the Jazz Studies and Performance Program at William Paterson University, is coming to QC on Thursday, February 23. From 3 to 4:30 pm, Reid will be teaching a master class in the Music Building, Room 264. At 7 pm, he’ll be performing in concert with the Queens College Jazz Ensemble and the Queens College String Quartet. The program will be live streamed on ACSM’s YouTube page.
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Cultural Assets on Display
QC’s Godwin-Ternbach Museum (GTM), Fashion and Textiles Collection, Art Department, Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Louis Armstrong House Museum, and Daghlian Collection of Chinese Art hold an astonishing array of works. Now, paintings, 19th-century clothing, ceramics, and scrapbooks will be displayed in a single exhibition, The Gift: Queens College Collects. Oscar de la Renta, Kara Walker, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol are among the artists represented in the show.
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The Gift, an initiative of the QC School of Arts, opens at the GTM tomorrow—Thursday, February 23—and will run through May 25. (The opening reception will be held at the museum tomorrow night, from 6 to 8 pm; to attend, send an RSVP to gtmuseum@qc.cuny.edu.) This exhibition is funded in part by the Friends of the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, and Queens College, CUNY. | |
After decades of service, QC’s Knight isn’t up to the task of representing the campus. Athletics will put the old, gendered mascot to the torch on Thursday, February 23, at 6:30 pm in Parking Lot Six. Everyone is invited to the bonfire; smores will be served. | |
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Making Filing Less Taxing
Confused by state and federal income taxes? The IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program might be able to help. VITA prepares tax returns for free for individuals in certain categories: those who earn no more than $60,000, have disabilities, or have a limited command of English. QC’s Department of Accounting and Information Systems will be holding the first of its six VITA sessions on February 25, 10 am-4 pm, in I Building 213. Appointments are recommended. To schedule an appointment and find out what documents you need to bring with you, go to http://bit.ly/3XaWgfD. Additional sessions will take place on March 5, March 15, March 25, April 2, and April 15. Questions? Send an email to qcvita@qc.cuny.edu
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B School To Serve a Breakfast
Networking will be on the menu at the next QC Business Breakfast on February 28, 8:30 to 10 am, in the Q-Side Lounge. Investment sales broker James Nelson, principal and head of Avison Young’s Tri-State Investment Sales group in New York City, will speak. This free event is open to QC students, alums, faculty, and staff; tickets are available here.
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Town Halls Explore Transfer within CUNY
Simplifying transfers within the university—enhancing the overall experience of transferring among colleges, helping students transfer credits within the same major when moving to another campus—is a goal for CUNY. Faculty, staff, and students can learn more about this initiative in virtual town halls. RSVPs are not required for attendance.
Faculty- and staff-focused town hall
February 28, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Zoom link: https://cuny.zoom.us/j/86534843887
Phone-in option: 1-646-931-3860; Webinar ID: 865 3484 3887
Student-focused town hall
March 2, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Zoom link: https://cuny.zoom.us/j/86534843887
Phone-in option: 1-646-558-8656; Webinar ID: 835 6684 4198
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Faculty Discuss War in Ukraine
Since attacking Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has killed thousands of civilians and displaced many millions more, precipitating one of the worst humanitarian crises in European history. Marking the grim first anniversary of the invasion, QC’s History and Political Science Departments will present a cross-disciplinary discussion, Russian’s War on Ukraine: One Year Later, on March 1, 12:15-1:30 pm via Zoom. Peter Liberman (Political Science) will moderate a panel comprising Elissa Bemporad (History), Julie George (Political Science), Igor Kuskovsky (Physics), and Thomas Ort (History). To attend, register here.
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Ivan Scott Lee Helps Transfer Students Graduate on Time | |
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Ivan Scott Lee, who previously worked as an academic advisor at Queens College, has returned to QC to lead the new Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE QC) program, a comprehensive support program designed to build on transfer students’ academic momentum and help them complete their bachelor’s degree on time.
A CUNY Mainstay
Lee has long been a part of the CUNY system. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from the College of Staten Island (CSI) and an MSEd from Baruch. He then went on to work in various roles at both the College of Staten Island and Queens College. In 2004 he was hired at CSI, where he worked in college recruitment and marketing until 2007, when he accepted a position at Queens College as the coordinator of transfer advising services. He eventually was promoted to assistant director for transfer advising programs and then associate director for transfer and transition programs.
In 2018, Lee received his Doctor of Education from Northeastern University; he credits his first stint at Queens College for providing the motivation to get his doctorate.
“Even though I didn’t go to school at Queens College, Queens really opened a lot of opportunities for me, professionally speaking,” Lee recalled. “A lot of the work I did at Queens College ultimately formed my decision to pursue doctoral studies.”
Lee, who is originally from Hong Kong, found his calling in advisement because he found the liberal arts structure of many American schools appealing, particularly Queens College.
“When students attend university outside of the U.S., they go directly into a specialization. In the U.S. system, you can explore the disciplines and decide what you want to major in,” explained Lee. “That’s why I think the role of academic advising is so fun. The notion and the benefit of an American liberal arts education is that you have the opportunity to explore when you get to college.”
Serving an ACE
Although he enjoyed Queens College, in 2015, Lee was presented with a professional opportunity he couldn’t refuse—to return to the College of Staten Island as the founding program director of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), a comprehensive program designed to help associate’s degree-seeking students earn that degree, with a goal of graduating at least 50 percent of students within three years.
Recent Return
Lee held this position until last fall when he returned to Queens College for another pioneering opportunity—to serve as the founding program director of ACE QC. The program is built upon the framework of ASAP but focuses on helping transfer students earn their bachelor’s degree on time.
“The opportunity to launch a brand-new program and to go back to my roots of supporting transfer students was very, very appealing,” noted Lee.
Helping Students Reach the Finish Line
ACE QC is exclusively for transfer students with an earned associate’s degree. The program provides a range of financial, academic, and personal support, including intensive academic advisement, career development, early course registration options, assistance with textbooks and transportation, and more. Students do not need to demonstrate financial need in order to apply and undocumented students are also eligible.
Students enrolled in ACE QC are assigned a dedicated advisor who supports them from acceptance until graduation. They have the opportunity to connect twice a month with advisors who check in on their progress and look for areas that require additional support.
“The advisor acts as a mentor, advocate, and intellectual guide,” explained Lee. “They are the student’s biggest cheerleader. Ultimately, the goal is to cheer them on and to see them at the finish line.”
Students who would like to know more about ACE QC should go to its website and fill out the interest form. Fall 2023 information sessions will also take place later this semester at a time and date to be determined.
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Putting Organic Waste to Work in the Garden | |
Organic waste represents a third of what the New York City Department of Sanitation collects. When dumped in landfills it decomposes, generating enormous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent that carbon dioxide. Talked about for years, the goal of collecting the city’s daily production of 3,500 tons of organic waste for conversion to compost instead of dumping got a significant boost last August, when Mayor Eric Adams announced that in October 2022 Queens would be the first borough to make curbside collection of organic waste available to anyone wishing to participate. In his January 26 State of the City Address, he announced that the program would be extended to all five boroughs by 2024. | |
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For several months, Queens College has also been actively exploring how it could not only collect organic waste generated on campus, but also carry out the process of converting it to compost, a scenario in keeping with the recycling goals of Sustainable CUNY. In their efforts to assess how this might come about, the departments of Buildings and Grounds and Facilities, Planning and Design have received considerable guidance from George Giannopoulos, the senior CLT at the Department of Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences (FNES), where composting has figured in the curriculum for several years.
In 2014, Giannopoulos inherited management of the FNES Organic Garden from the late Clare Consiglio, the faculty member who created it in the early 2000s. With assistance from Buildings and Grounds, he has since expanded both the garden and the on-site composting effort by which scraps from FNES kitchens and coffee grounds from QC cafeterias are converted to compost used to grow the garden’s considerable bounty of produce.
Securing a grant from Citizen’s Campaign for New York City, he explains, allowed him to significantly expand composting at the garden. At that point, he says, “I started taking some classes and became a master composter through the New York City Department of Sanitation, because it interested me as far as the whole process.”
Giannopoulos explored community and volunteer composting projects around the city, including largescale efforts on Governor’s Island. “Having all that knowledge,” he says, “I came to FNES and proposed to build a three-bin system because we had leftovers from our labs. And by leftovers, I don’t mean anything cooked.”
Leaving Leftovers
He means leftover green vegetables, eggshells, and other things which in turn could be mixed with leaves and landscape trimmings from around campus to achieve the one part greens to three parts browns formula for creating compost. “So, I created some compost and we spread that around our garden,” he recalls. “We saw that it was enriching our soil and cutting back on our volume of waste organic material that we were throwing out.”
It was also helping educate FNES students in how to create and use compost. His efforts were not unnoticed by B&G. Asked if something could be done on a bigger scale to serve the entire campus, he passed along lessons he learned from his years of experience.
“What I found to be more challenging,” he says, “was the commitment required of the people involved: We can definitely come up with the funds. We can definitely come up with the equipment. We can definitely start something. But how do we sustain it? Because I had worked on the smaller scale of my project, I saw that the commitment wasn’t always there.
“I had coordinated with the cafeterias of the campus in order to collect coffee grounds, eggshells, organic green material. I would ask B&G to collect for me leaves. They were collecting them and throwing them out, but I said I need them. I need that brown material because you need a three-to-one ratio of one green to three browns. That’s a good recipe for the winter months, as well. But once the temperature drops, the whole process drops.”
The limitation imposed by colder weather ceases to be a factor, he learned, if instead of relying on the natural heat generated by compostable material placed in dark colored bins, aerobic compost cooking machinery is employed. Along with QC Sustainability Coordinator Tanya Prochet (Facilities, Planning and Operations), Giannopoulos began conversations with a tech firm in Denver marketing a cooker manufactured in the Netherlands that was available in different sizes to process whatever volume of compost was anticipated.
“This was mind blowing,” he says. “You put broken-down material in one end and collect compost at the other end in three days. They’re mixing and cooking in a heated chamber, keeping the moisture, the temperature, the dryness in a steady environment.” The whole unit, he explains, sits in its own shipping container.
Partners in Progress
Learning this gave Giannopoulos the incentive to look for new sources on campus for compostable material and people who could participate in collecting it. Considering the possibility of The Summit residence hall, he approached Zeco Krcic (Facilities, Planning and Operations). If they could get residents to really commit to a regular schedule of collecting and sorting food waste, separating cooked material (which would cause contamination and attract rodents) from organic material, then they could compost. “We’re not there, yet,” he says. “Students are great: They give you a lot of help, but you don’t have them for the whole year.”
“We have met with the Department of Sanitation in the past to discuss bringing the organics waste and composting program to our campus,” says Prochet. “After a long hiatus due to the Covid pandemic and several programmatic changes to the citywide composting initiative, QC is working to galvanize our team of ‘green’ stewards—Sustainable CUNY, QC Sustainability Councilmembers (comprising students, faculty, and staff), B&G, and FNES—to resume discussions with DSNY, specifically regarding storage and containment options and collection procedures. We look forward to updating the campus of our progress.”
Giannopoulos is most appreciative of the assistance B&G and Facilities have provided for the FNES garden over the years. Started by Consiglio on a small parcel in front of Remsen Hall, it was moved by B&B and Facilities behind Remsen, where it tripled in size. Improvements have continued.
A fence was recently added, he notes, “So people know this is a dedicated space. . . It’s not an eyesore anymore. . . The department (FNES) supported my building the raised beds. I built a greenhouse, which allows us to grow plants and transplant them to the garden once weather conditions are ideal. I built an irrigation system to support the produce. That was 3500 pounds of produce last year.”
For the great yields, Giannopoulos quickly credits Food Science Laboratory Assistant Theron Cooley, who organizes team of volunteers every spring to help keep the garden productive and in good health. Students, faculty, and staff have received free produce at the Farmer’s Table FNES hosts on a regular schedule, Giannopoulos reports. “We had a canopy, we had bags to put the produce in. It was great.”
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The FNES Garden was dedicated in September 2021 to the memory of Consiglio, who created the food sustainability course for which it is integral: Students work in the garden and use its produce for food preparation in a FNES lab. And, of course, uncooked leftover ingredients are recycled back into the garden as compost.
Giannopoulos says enough compost is currently being created in the three-bin system to support the needs of the garden. What’s left over goes to the side, where it’s available for any needs B&G might have.
He's hopeful a full-scale campus composting operation will come to fruition. “I think it will make for a new relationship with our community, with the students, and with the Queens College community, itself.”
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Alan Eysen
Alan Eysen '52, an award-winning journalist, died on Wednesday, February 15, of pulmonary disease. He was 91.
Eysen, a Brooklyn native, earned a BA in psychology at QC, followed by a master’s of journalism at the University of California, Los Angeles. After military service in Korea he returned to New York, working at daily and weekly newspapers, joining Newsday in 1961. Affiliated with it for 32 years in different capacities—political reporter, editor, and columnist—he was part of a team that spent three years investigating the misuse of political and public offices on Long Island. The ensuing articles won Newsday the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1970, among other honors.
Subsequently, Eysen taught investigative journalism at Stonybrook University, Hoftstra University, and LIU Post College (formerly the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University), and served as a political consultant. After age 80, he wrote five Martini Mystery Club novels; the series starred a group of retirees, among them a former journalist.
Eysen was predeceased by his wife, Rella Schwartz Eysen; he is survived by their two children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
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The late Jimmy Heath, a legendary saxophonist and composer, was a full-time faculty member of QC’s jazz program. An NEA Jazz Master, Heath wrote more than 125 compositions, many of which became standards. He also founded the Queens Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble in residence at Flushing Town Hall. | |
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Meral Agish, a student in her third semester at GSLIS, has been named a 2022-2024 HASTAC Scholar. Each year, a total of about 100 undergraduates and graduate students are named to the student-run fellowship associated with the HASTAC academic network; the acronym stands for Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory . . . . Poetry by Nicholas Alexiou (Sociology; Hellenic American Project) was read at the Hellenic Institute of Cultural Diplomacy in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 8, Greek Language Day . . . . | |
Nikos Christodoulides ’97 was elected president of Cyprus, at 49 becoming the youngest person to hold that office. He previously served as minister of Foreign Affairs and before that, the country’s top diplomat . . . . Joanna Coleman (Biology) was quoted in a National Geographic article about illegal and/or unsutainable trade in dead bats. Coleman co-chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Bat Trade Working Group . . . . | |
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