Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
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QView #107 | September 14, 2021
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Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, visited Queens College on Friday, September 10, to tour the Disaster Recovery Site that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) established at the QC Student Union to assist borough residents who suffered storm damage and flooding during Hurricane Ida. Congresswoman Grace Meng, New York State Senator Toby Stavisky, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and City Councilmember James Gennaro were all in attendance at an event covered by QNS.com; Mayorkas, at left center, is seen greeting President Frank H. Wu. “It is vitally important to help our neighbors gain easy access to the federal assistance they need to mitigate the horrific impact of the recent weather,” said Wu. Queens residents can meet with officials from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration at the Student Union every day from 8 am to 7 pm.
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President Frank H. Wu made a call to Engine 315/Ladder 125 on Wednesday, September 8, to present Lieutenant John Zawitosky with a plaque acknowledging the firehouse's decades of service in providing first responders for the Queens College campus. The visit is recorded in this video.
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Rabbi Sara Zacharia was among the speakers as the Queens College community gathered on Cooperman Plaza to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Bells tolled at 8:46 am and 9:03 am, commemorating the moments when the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center were hit by airplanes. Other representatives of major faiths at Queens College delivered prayers at the solemn event, which was livestreamed for the benefit of people who weren’t on campus. Speakers included Academic Senate Chair Kevin Ferguson and Student Association President Zaire Couloute.
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The CUNY Color Guard . . . |
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President Frank H. Wu . . . |
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and performers from the Aaron Copland School of Music participated in the memorial program. |
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In connection with the anniversary of 9/11, Kimiko Hahn (English) shared the following with QView.
From “Boerum Hill, September, 2001” (The Narrow Road to the Interior, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006)
7
Firefighters scribble their names
and social security numbers
on their arms before digging
into the rubble for their comrades.
Digging into ash for a pulse.
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Where I once sold ties to brokers, now
the floor is a makeshift morgue
lined with the burnt and shattered. This
is as far as I allow imagination.
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Once an afternoon for groceries, it is still
an afternoon for groceries--and a fear
once called the bridge, the stray suitcase,
the rental truck parked too long on the corner.
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Day eleven:
after days of sun and two of rain,
the soles of the rescue workers’ boots
melt on the still-feverish metal wreckage.
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President Frank H. Wu addressed the Academic Senate at its first meeting of the year, on Thursday, September 9. Topics included the resumption of on-campus activities, including sports events, and plans for 70 percent in-person classes in the spring. |
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Academic Support Services is the subject of the latest video in the return-to-campus series produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, in collaboration with student and faculty leaders and the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance. Special thanks to the leadership and staff of Academic Advising, the Percy E. Sutton SEEK Program, and the Learning Commons on the new video.
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Don't Hesitate, Vaccinate |
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Reading Up on the Next Five Years
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Athletics Ready for a Full Season of Action
After last season’s fall sports were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Queens College Athletics is pleased to have a full schedule of competition for the 2021–22 school year. Men’s and women’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s cross country are all under way after nearly a two-year layoff.
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The men’s soccer team is off to a good start this season, posting a 2-1 record through three matches. They earned a 2-0 win over Dominican College on September 2 and 2-1 overtime victory over Bentley College on September 11. Women’s soccer played to a 1-1 draw in its season opener on September 8 before dropping a match at Stonehill College on September 12. Both teams are anxiously awaiting the completion of their new soccer field on campus, which should be available for matches in late October. |
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Women’s volleyball has played six matches thus far this season. They earned their first victory of the year at Caldwell University on September 7 by a 3-1 score.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams had their first meet of the season on September 3 at the Adelphi Panthers XC Invite, which was held at Bethpage State Park. The men’s team placed tenth while the women finished in 11th place.
Women’s tennis will open the season at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Tournament at nearby Billie Jean King Tennis Center from September 17–20. The Knights will be looking to capture their third straight East Coast Conference championship this season.
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Asian/American Center Holds Workshop Series
This semester and next, the Asian/American Center (A/AC) is offering a series of bi-weekly leadership workshops, Asian Americans Redefine Race & Racism. The series is designed to help students understand the fluid dynamics of race and intercommunity relations; the discrimination and exclusion faced by various Asian American groups; and their agency in shaping their communities and history in the United States. Sessions will take place during free hour.
All undergraduates are eligible for this selective program. Participants, who must attend all sessions, will receive A/AC’s Student Leadership Award of $2,000, 3 academic credits in Asian American Community Studies (AACS), and A/AC's Student Leadership Certificate 2022.
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Supporting a Healthy New Academic Year
Health services will be provided in person at QC this fall. Counseling services for mental health issues will be available to students via telehealth.
The Health Services Center, located in Frese Hall, will be open for in-person visits Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm. Appointments with a registered nurse will be available on Mondays and Thursdays from 11 am to 2 pm. To schedule an appointment, email HealthQuestions@qc.cuny.edu or call 718-997-2760.
“All of our services are free and include MMR vaccinations, flu shots, DMV eye exams, blood pressure monitoring, and health referrals,” says Registered Nurse Terry Calhoun. “Free first aid supplies, feminine hygiene products, and safe sex options are also available. We can help those who are in need of health insurance as well.”
She also notes, “For up-to-date information on Covid vaccine locations, testing sites, and protocol, you can visit our website at www.qc.cuny.edu/health. If during the semester you believe you’ve been exposed to coronavirus, you can report it there via an online form.”
A remote service that’s available to all, says Calhoun, is eCHECKUP, a no-cost online intervention for behavioral change in the areas of alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine dependence. To access eCHECKUP and information on all other services, visit the Health Services webpage.
For students experiencing mental health issues, help is available from Counseling Services. It’s located in Frese Hall, too, but for now, services will be offered via telehealth.
“Our counselors work with students on a variety of issues, including anxiety, depression, grief, family conflict, relationship issues, and many others,” says Olivia Tursi, a psychological counselor. “This fall we will continue to offer telehealth services, including video and phone counseling. Our services are free, confidential, and available to all QC students.”
To contact Counseling Services, students can call 718-997-5420 or send an email to counselingservices@qc.cuny.edu. All messages—whether voicemail and email—will receive a response within 24 hours.
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Global Scholars Program Names Six Faculty Fellows
Six QC faculty members have been chosen to participate in Global Scholars Achieving Career Success (GSACS), a multinational program supported by the Stevens Initiative https://stevensinitiative.org/. The GSACS fellows are Kristen Beck (Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian Languages and Cultures), Jill Carvajal (Business and Liberal Arts), Wendy Leynse (Anthropology), Hillary Miller (English), Taruna Sadhoo (Experiential Education). and Suzanne Strickland (Sociology). They will enable students to investigate the world through the lens of a UN Sustainable Development Goal while engaging in collaborative experiential learning and class-to-class virtual exchange with peers from universities in the Middle East and North Africa.
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As reported in QView 98, Queens College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Guttman Community College, and Hostos Community College are partnering with LaGuardia Community College in GSACS.
The Stevens Initiative, founded in 2015, honors the life and vision of J. Christopher Stevens, a career diplomat killed in Benghazi while serving as U.S. ambassador to Libya. The initiative is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Aspen Institute, with additional support from the Bezos Family Foundation and the governments of Morocco—where Stevens taught English as a Peace Corps volunteer—and the United Arab Emirates.
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Harriet Davis-Kram, a longtime instructor in the History Department, passed away this summer. Davis-Kram earned her MA at Hunter College; her thesis examined the role of Jewish women in 19th century Russian revolutionary movements. She continued her education at the CUNY Graduate Center, writing a doctoral dissertation titled “No More a Stranger and Alone: Trade Union, Socialist and Feminist Action: A Route to Becoming an American.”
Teaching women’s history at QC, Davis-Kram covered topics ranging from radical Jewish women to classic Hollywood film. She was also an expert on the history of New York City. She led walking tours of the city and served as a guide for the United States Information Bureau, meeting groups of foreign visitors interested in urban America. In addition, she gave talks throughout the state for the New York Council for the Humanities and was repeatedly named one of the best lecturers in the council’s program.
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Carol Douglas
The Queens College community was dismayed to learn that Carol Douglas—administrative executive assistant for the School of Social Sciences, a founding member and leader of the Black and Latinx Faculty and Staff Association (BLFSA), and a QC and CUNY alumna—passed away unexpectedly.
Douglas majored in political science at this campus, earned an MA from CUNY and then a second master’s, in Urban Studies, at QC. Colleagues describe her as a scholar-activist, cherished sister, and devoted friend who worked tirelessly on behalf of students and the educational community. She was passionate about Caribbean literature and enjoyed sharing her experiences in Jamaica. Last February, she moderated two college events presented as part of Black History Month—a book talk, Class, Race, Culture and Resistance in 1960s Jamaica, and Sociodramas: Popular Theater for Social Justice. Douglas also loved world art and music. She is survived by her sister, Paula Douglas.
For more about the late Carol Douglas, click here. |
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Alex Orenstein
QView recently learned that Alex Orenstein (Philosophy) died of cancer in June 2018 at the age of 82. Stephen Grover (Philosophy) read a short memorial to him at last week’s Academic Senate meeting.
A native New Yorker, Orenstein graduated from Hunter College and taught philosophy there for three years before taking a detour into computer programming. Then he entered the philosophy doctoral program at New York University. He joined the QC faculty in 1968 and that of the CUNY Graduate Center six years later, teaching at both institutions until he retired in 2011. A specialist in the influential analytic philosopher W.V. Quine, Orenstein also explored logic and language, among other topics. From 1987 until 2016, he enjoyed a transatlantic career, spending five months of every year at Wolfson College, Oxford, where he was a visiting fellow.
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Heard Around the Virtual Campus |
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John Tytell (English, emeritus) published “Ferlinghetti Tribute” in American Book Review, Vol. 42, #5, August 2021, pp. 32-3 . . . . QC’s Professional Tennis Management (PTM) program received enthusiastic coverage from New York Tennis, which noted the graduation of the program’s first cohort. This year’s PTM will be covered in a future issue of QView.
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The Q View is produced by the
Office of Communications and Marketing.
Comments and suggestions for future news items are welcome.
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