November 2022

Is it November already? The semester is flying by, with one rewarding event after another.

The college spent more time organizing 85th anniversary celebrations than some couples devote to planning their weddings, and the effort was rewarding. It was a great day for all involved. I learned a tremendous amount from Under Construction: 85 Years of Building Futures at Queens College, the exhibit at Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library. 

Under Construction will remain on display through the end of the semester in December, so you have plenty of time to see it. I also enjoyed reacquainting myself with the WOWS, a compendium of 85 remarkable facts about the college and the people who have taught and studied here. I encourage you to check out Queens College History Highlights, produced in connection with our founding in 1937 and milestones subsequently achieved. Speaking of milestones, I was honored to present Presidential Medals to Peter Archer ’85 and ‘87, and Robert Jacobs ’70, whose accomplishments were noted in QView 138.

As a college president, I take tremendous pride in students’ achievements; the Academic Excellence Awards Ceremony, which recognizes Presidential Scholars, Provost Scholars, and Dean’s List Scholars, is always a high point of the fall semester. This year’s ceremony, on October 20, allowed me to present a Presidential Medal to another prominent QC graduate, Freda Johnson, the inspiring keynote speaker. Johnson entered public finance in an era when women were rare in the industry. She repeatedly broke the glass ceiling, becoming the first woman to head the public finance division of Moody’s Investors Service as well as Moody’s first female executive vice president. Then she went on to lead Government Finance Associates, Inc., which advised state and local governments and public authorities on debt, financial management, and strategic planning. I’m deeply grateful that someone with her extensive expertise serves on the Queens College Foundation board.

Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price has extensive expertise in her field. She recently returned from an initial site visit to Inter American University of Puerto Rico - Guayama Campus in her capacity as Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s reaccreditation team chair for the institution. Pictured with her is Chancellor Angela de Jesus.

On Thursday, October 27, the college held a ribbon-cutting for Rantus Rock, dedicated to Wilson Rantus, a 19th-century African American businessman and abolitionist-activist in Queens. This event has a fascinating back story. In 2014, Allan Ludman (SEES) found Rantus’s tombstone in his Flushing backyard. To this day, no one knows how or why the tombstone ended up there. In the course of research, Ludman and local historians learned that the Rantus family was prosperous and influential. Their farm and cemetery were adjacent to what is now the southwest edge of campus at Melbourne Avenue, 149th Street, and Gravett Road. Rantus owned multiple properties, founded a school for Black children, and campaigned against slavery and for African American suffrage. Over time, his family’s cemetery became unattended. Only two graves, one of them Wilson Rantus’s, were intact in the 1950s; with the permission of Rantus descendants, builders moved those remains to the Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn to make way for construction of an apartment complex. I like to think that QC brought Rantus home by setting aside space in his name near the Science Building. The rock has a fascinating history of its own: dug up in 1982 in the construction of the Science Building, it’s about a billion years old and weighs approximately 13 tons.

Special thanks to the QC Community Advisory Committee, the Rantus Rock Planning Committee, Jeffrey Rosenstock, Zeco Krcic and everyone associated with this project. We now have a unique meditation space with benches, trees and grass—very much in the spirit of our civil rights legacy. You can access a brief video on the dedication we organized last week or read more about Rantus Rock. 

That same night, I was among the honorees when Schneps Media celebrated this year’s Queens Power List at Terrace on the Park. I was in good company, among business executives, community leaders, educators, legislators, and others who mightily contribute to the betterment of our borough.

TIME 2000, QC’s innovative math teacher training program, held its 19th annual conference on Friday, October 28. Teachers from area high schools, some of them TIME 2000 alumni, brought mathematically talented students to campus for the day. They heard a keynote by James Tanton, mathematician at large for the Mathematical Association of America, and participated in fun math workshops. I expect that some of those students will be so inspired that they will apply to TIME 2000 to become math teachers themselves.

I’d like to congratulate our women’s tennis team on a great fall season! The Knights advanced to the East Coast Conference (ECC) final last weekend, but they fell to unbeaten St. Thomas Aquinas College. The team will now rest up until the spring season, where they hope to build upon their resume for a shot at an NCAA Tournament berth.

I also want to wish our men’s soccer team good luck in this week’s ECC playoffs. The Knights finished the regular season in second place and set a new program record for wins with 13! They will host Mercy College on Thursday, November 3 in the semifinals at 7 pm. I hope you can make it to the game and give them your support.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for students (with ID), senior citizens, and children. Tickets can be purchased in advance at eccsports.org/tickets. The first 100 QC students will receive a free ticket. Please visit FitzGerald Gymnasium, Room 204, and sign up with Thomas Bashen. Students will need to show their QC ID and provide an email address to receive their ticket.

If the Knights win, they will advance to the ECC Championship match on Sunday at a time and place to be determined. Be sure to check our Athletics web page (queensknights.com) for more information.

Yesterday, QC’s Recognition Workgroup held the first of two townhalls. Attendees were provided with the opportunity to offer their perspectives on the important issues of renaming buildings, acknowledging the many holidays observed by our diverse campus community, and acknowledging the land that became—or was near—our campus (another reason why the Rantus ribbon-cutting was noteworthy). If you couldn’t attend the first session, please watch your email for the location of the second one, scheduled for November 9, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm.

Tomorrow—November 2, from 10 am to 2 pm—the Office of Information Technology will present its first Tech Day, taking place in the Music Building’s atrium. Microsoft, Linkedin Learning, Amazon Web Services, EAB, Gartner, and SPEAKHire are among the CUNY/QC partners that will be featured. Be sure to reserve a seat for this free hybrid event.

I have finished more than 175 half-marathons (and an entire 26.2-mile course just this summer), and admire those who go the distance. The New York City Marathon route hits Queens before crossing into Manhattan over the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Starting at 10 am on race day, Sunday, November 6, delegations from the Queens Centers for Progress, the Queens Tourism Council, and other organizations will urge runners on from a cheer station at 44th Drive and 21st Street in Long Island City. For details, including how to volunteer, click here.

Volunteers of another sort are sought on Wednesday, November 9, from 9 am to 9 pm, for the blood drive conducted in the Patio Room by the New York Blood Center; please schedule your time slot here. Wondering whether you’re eligible to make a donation? Check the guidelines. Blood donors will have the opportunity to register on site with Be the Match, which connects people with blood cancers and disorders to fully matched donors. Seventy percent of people do not have a fully matched donor in their family; the need is particularly great for people of color.

I’ll close by reminding everyone that early voting lasts through November 6. Today and tomorrow, polling places will be open from 10 am to 8 pm, and on Thursday from 10 am to 6 pm. Friday hours will be 7 am to 3 pm; weekend hours, 9 am to 5 pm. If none of those options are convenient, polls will be open on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, from 6 am to 9 pm. To find your early or regular voting site, click here. Whenever and wherever you vote, you will be obliged to mask and practice social distancing. 

Stay safe and well.