Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
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QView #128 | May 10, 2022
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QCArts toasted its launch on Thursday, May 5, with a reception in the music school atrium. Over 200 faculty, staff, students, community and civic leaders visited exhibits, attended performances, and celebrated the establishment of the most comprehensive arts school in CUNY. |
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Students worked on pottery wheels in the ceramics studio. |
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Carol Fleming, a 2022 fellow of the Anchor Institutions Task Force, visited QC last week. Fleming is an assistant dean at the School of Professional & Continuing Education at James Madison University in Virginia.
(From left) VP for Communications and Marketing and Sr. Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson; Leslee Grey, School of Education; Provost and Senior VP for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Hendrey; School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Dean Daniel Weinstein; President Frank H. Wu; Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs Alicia Alvero; Carol Fleming; AVP for External and Governmental Relations Jeffrey Rosenstock; and Chief of Staff Meghan Moore-Wilk
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The Grolier Club, a society for bibliophiles, visited Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library on Saturday, May 7, to view the Pine Tree Foundation Special Collections and Archives.
Szilvia E. Szmuk-Tanenbaum, a member of the Grolier Club who served as a special collections librarian at St. John's University for 26 years, spoke at the event. She and her late husband funded the new Pine Tree Foundation space.
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(From left) New York State Assembly Member Nily Rozic, President Frank H. Wu, City Council Member Francisco Moya, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and former City Council Member Rory Lancman cut the ribbon on Monday, May 9, to mark completion of track and soccer field renovations on campus. The $9.8 million project began in January 2021 with city and state funding. Watch the new track and soccer pitch video. |
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Students got on track . . . |
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City Council Member Moya showed his moves on the soccer field. |
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CUNY-wide Day of Remembrance
On Tuesday, May 17, CUNY faculty, staff, and students lost to COVID-19 will be commemorated at a Day of Remembrance hosted by Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. and Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. The event, which will be held in the Great Hall at City College of New York (160 Convent Avenue, Manhattan), will begin with breakfast at 9 am, followed by the program at 10 am. Please RSVP by tomorrow—Wednesday, May 11—if you would like to attend in person. The program will also be livestreamed.
On April 13, Queens College hosted a Yellow Heart Memorial event for the college community. Names of family members and friends who passed away of COVID are displayed on yellow hearts posted on the windows of Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library.
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Keeping in the Global Loop with COIL
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), led by Schiro Withanachchi (Economics, BALA), means the world to participating faculty and students. Working with the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), COIL faculty fellows redesign existing courses, creating opportunities for students to interact online with peers overseas and complete assignments together.
For 2021-22, 13 fellows were chosen: Nicholas Alexiou (Sociology), JV Fuqua (Women and Gender Studies), Zadia Feliciano (Economics, LALS), David Gabel (Economics), Ethan Goldberg (English), Scott Kapuscinski (English), Idalina Keller (Hispanic Languages and Literatures), Hye Ok Lee (Mathematics), Jinghong Li (Economics), Yael Neumann (Linguistics and Communication Disorders), Muli Shi (Economics), Ken Silverman (Political Science), and Edward Smaldone (Aaron Copland School of Music). Their revised classes enabled more than 200 students to be part of binational projects that developed their skills in cultural awareness, empathy, and teamwork.
Faculty shared their results in a virtual showcase on April 25.
In a course taught by Neumann, students at QC and at Beit Berl College in Israel learned about the symptoms, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of speech disorders in clients of diverse backgrounds and shared perspectives on the rehabilitation process.
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Silverman’s comparative politics course partnered QC students with students at Nanzan University in Japan; they collaborated on a video presentation on political and social issues in their respective countries.
Students in Keller’s elementary Portuguese course connected with those studying English at São Paulo State Technological College (Centro Paula Souza) in Brazil. Together, they prepared a project on customs and culture.
Through training at FH Bielefeld, University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Feliciano connected her international economics students with Bielefeld students. In their respective economics courses, they examined the effects of trade policy on bilateral trade between Europe and the United States.
A call for the 2022-2023 cohort will be issued in August 2022. More information about the program is available here.
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Introduction to the Cannabis Business |
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Queens College and Farmingdale State College (FSC) will offer a two-part introductory workshop, “Get Started in the Cannabis Industry,” in QC’s Student Union Building on consecutive Saturdays, June 11 and June 18, as reported in the Queens Daily Eagle. The non-credit course will feature presentations by distinguished faculty and the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. Participants will learn about the FSC Cannabis Production and Management Certificate Program and have the opportunity to meet with leaders in the cannabis community and successful entrepreneurs.
Course topics will include an overview of the U.S. cannabis industry; the role that medical marijuana played in industry development; the legal environment for the cannabis industry in New York State; and management and marketing of a cannabis business. A combined QC and FSC cannabis micro-credential digital badge will be issued to people who complete the workshop.
“We are pleased to partner with Farmingdale State College on this initiative and to help create a path toward entrepreneurship for populations who had previously been negatively impacted by cannabis legislation,” says Queens College President Frank H. Wu.
Space in “Get Started” is limited to 30 participants. A waiting list for future course offerings is being maintained. The registration fee is $25.To learn more about the program, please visit cannabisworkshop.qc.cuny.edu.
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Tennis Teams Qualify for NCAA Tournament
In what has become an annual occurrence for two decades, the Queens College men’s and women’s tennis team each qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
The women earned their 21st-straight appearance in the tournament as the #3 seed in the East region, but they were upset by #6 Franklin Pierce University in the first round on Friday, May 6, by a score of 4-3. The women’s team finished the 2021–22 season with a record of 11-8.
The men’s team qualified for their 20th straight appearance as the #3 seed and took on #6 Chestnut Hill College on Monday afternoon in the East region opening round (results not available at time of publication).
In addition to their NCAA appearance, the men’s team dominated the All-Conference selections, which were announced on April 29. Kareem Rashad, a junior finance major, was voted as the East Coast Conference (ECC) Co-Player of the Year and freshman Philipp Uhde, an international business major, was named ECC Rookie of the Year. Rashad posted a 15-10 singles record and was undefeated in ECC play. Uhde held a 14-5 singles record and was 5-1 in ECC action.
QC Head Coach Somadi Druker took home Coach of the Year Honors after leading the team to a record of 16-8. Additionally, Mariano Bibiloni and Moritz Borges were All-Conference selections.
For the latest updates for all the QC athletics teams, visit queensknights.com.
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Music from the QC Spheres
A new composition by Ed Smaldone (ACSM) will be performed in Weill Recital Hall on Thursday, May 12, by the NO EXIT New Music Ensemble. Smaldone composed Duke Redux, for flute, cello, bass clarinet, and vibraphone, last year; the piece just received its world premiere in April.
The Queens College Choral Society resumes live performances on Saturday, May 14, at 8 pm with a double bill of joyful 20th century works: Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein and The Ordering of Moses by R. Nathaniel Dett. Tickets can be ordered in advance.
Song of the Redwood Tree, a program of music by Sunny Knable (ACSM), will be presented at Weill Hall on Tuesday, May 31. Originally scheduled for March 31, 2020, the concert was postponed because of the pandemic.
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Summer Session is a great time for students to take electives that never fit in their schedule, tackle a difficult subject, or just make progress toward their degree. Students can choose from hundreds of undergraduate and graduate courses, in online, in-person, and hybrid formats, and earn up to 15 credits. Sessions lasting four, six, or ten weeks are available. Click here to learn more and register.
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Godwin-Ternbach and School of Education Make History Curriculum
A grant to QC will help the Godwin-Ternbach Museum (GTM) continue to support curriculum priorities in middle and high schools. Awarded by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program, the grant funds use of the museum collections to develop interdisciplinary lesson plans aimed at teaching “hard history.” The two-year, $20,000 grant was secured by Maria Pio (GTM) and School of Education faculty Jay Shuttleworth, David Gerwin, and Susan McCullough.
Based on the holdings of cultural institutions around the country, such as the GTM, the TPS Consortium has built a library of primary source sets and innovative lesson plans. These lessons introduce complex historical subjects from multiple angles, teaching students how to interpret original historical materials and think critically about past events, culture, and causation.
“The Godwin-Ternbach Museum is not only an important exhibition space, but also an excellent teaching museum used by our School of Education and by classrooms throughout the city,” says President Frank H. Wu. “This grant will help us continue to respond to the evolving needs of teachers and students—especially by helping them to more effectively address historical subjects related to social justice.”
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Library of Congress Training
The grant to Queens College will fund work by faculty and students. Pio and her Education partners will attend Library of Congress training in TPS instruction and redesign an advanced School of Education course that teaches an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum development. Susan McCullough introduced a pilot of the course this spring; the goal is to reshape it to model best use of primary-source lesson plans.
Students enrolled in the revised course may apply for a summer opportunity in conjunction with this grant to be offered this and next summer. The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Grant and Godwin-Ternbach Museum Curriculum Fellowship will fund two student interns each year who will develop curriculum guides using the permanent collections of the museum and the Library of Congress. Those curriculum guides will be featured on the GTM website and shared with the college’s K–12 school partners.
GTM collections are well suited to interdisciplinary studies of history. Encompassing over 7,000 pieces representing global art history from antiquity to the present—paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs, ethnographic arts, and decorative arts—they include numerous items that can enrich lessons on complicated topics in U.S. history. Highlights include works by African American artist Hale Woodruff, legendary photographer Walker Evans, and ornithologist John James Audubon.
The TPS grant is expected to have long-lasting results. Students who complete the revised graduate coursework will acquire “ambassadorial” skills in teaching TPS goals and methods to others. They will also be encouraged to work with other cultural institutions in the New York area, such as the Queens Memory Project and the Urban Archive, to develop and share lesson plans that incorporate the many locally held collections of art and historical resources.
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CARES Grant Covers Nutritional Counseling
In good news for students, faculty, and staff, a new grant under the CARES Act is supporting two semesters of service by a campus nutritionist—expertly provided by Stacia Helfand MEd, RDN. The grant, secured by Ashima Kant (Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences [FNES]), provides for nutrition counseling, in person and through telehealth, to anyone seeking help with food-related issues or hoping to chart a course toward their own wellness. “I do everything,” says Helfand, “from food preferences and dietary restrictions for religious or personal reasons to clinical needs, digestive disorders, celiac, family nutrition, eating disorders—you name it. There’s a great need for nutrition work so I’m really excited to be bringing services to the community.”
An adjunct lecturer for FNES since 2017, Helfand is a highly experienced nutritionist with a BS in applied physiology from George Washington University and both an MS and an MEd in nutrition education from Teachers College, Columbia. She is also a registered dietitian. Since 2001 she has had her own clinical practice, reality bites, where she consults on a wide gamut of nutritional needs. In addition, she has been a clinical and research dietitian at St. Vincent’s and Bellevue Hospitals and was director of nutrition services at New York State Psychiatric Institute.
The CARES Act supports higher education in meeting pandemic-related costs, and those include not only COVID’s direct impacts but also the toll that has been taken in mental and physical health. “Absolutely the pandemic has fueled the need,” says Helfand, who views nutrition within a larger behavioral framework. Noting that “seven of the ten leading causes of death in the United States have something to do with your diet,” she adds that healthy practices took a hit during lockdown. “A lot of my students keep food journals. Even the nutrition students need help taking their wellness up a notch. You see it: you see the digestive disorders, you see the eating disorders. There has been so much weight gain, exacerbated symptomatology from a digestive standpoint. Nutrition’s not just about the food, but I talk about sleep, hydration, stress, all the things that help keep us well. There’s so much sleep disorder right now, so much sedentary decline even in the young people.”
Campus Gardening Grows
Helfand is a strong believer in sustainability, a subject she teaches FNES students.
She also oversees the FNES garden of vegetables and herbs grown by volunteers outside Remsen Hall (a student activity that satisfies a sustainability requirement for some majors). Over the past few years, student gardeners have grown and distributed thousands of pounds of produce, giving much of it to food pantries. They “use the food in the food labs, they bring it home, they get a really rich experience and then it all goes back to the compost bin in a very closed-loop, intimate cycle of what this vision of nutrition is about—having deeper connections to your food,” explains Helfand.
For the past two years, she also has been a volunteer mentor to student interns with the New York Parks Department, again on topics related to sustainability.
“I consider myself a behavioral nutritionist in that I really look to people’s practices, their behaviors in their daily lives,” Helfand reflects. “I’m not looking to revolutionize their lifestyle, but look at what behaviors we could initiate and what we could tweak and refine to take their nutrition up a little bit. I’m always looking to see where we can make their diet more sustainable, more ethical, more just, so that they can feel empowered whether they’re eating at Chipotle or shopping at a grocery store—so that they feel confident in their philosophy of how they fuel their bodies for their wellness.”
Helfand’s on-campus consulting offers individualized plans to those who request her help. Each person is entitled to up to four sessions with her. She is on site in Remsen Hall, Room 022, every Wednesday, 12–4 pm. Sessions are by appointment (scheduled by writing stacia.helfand@qc.cuny.edu).
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Isaac Alteras, history professor emeritus, passed away on April 10 after a long illness. He was 84.
Alteras earned his BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and continued his education at CUNY, completing a master’s at Queens College and a doctorate at the Graduate Center. He was well versed in topics ranging from Jewish physicians in late medieval Spain and southern France to the Cold War. On his QC faculty page, he emphasized his research in U.S.-Israeli relations and modern Jewish history, noting that he taught courses in those topics, as well as in Zionism, modern Israel, and twentieth century European diplomatic history.
Alteras’s works included Eisenhower and Israel: US-Israeli Relations, 1953-1960 (University of Florida Press, 1993) and “The Palestinian-Israeli Peace Accords,” published in Dictionary of American History (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996).
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Chloe Bass (Art) has a new project commissioned and organized by the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery. Debuting in June, the work involves groups of stone benches set up in Seattle’s Volunteer Park . . . . Katarina Evans, a doctoral student in biological anthropology, is one of 100 doctoral students within the United States. and Canada to receive a $20,000 P.E.O. Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. The P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) has been celebrating women helping women reach for the stars for more than 150 years . . . . Ruth Milkman (former Sociology professor at QC; now a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and the Graduate Center) was interviewed on “CBS Sunday Morning” regarding unionization efforts at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island . . . . Robert Moog, an alumnus who invented the electronic instrument bearing his name, is the honoree of Cherry Audio’s Bob Moog Appreciation Month. Cherry Audio makes synthesizers . . . . Kate Pechenkina (Anthropology) co-authored “Identifying treponemal disease in early East Asia, ” documenting cases of syphilis nearly 300 years before Vasco da Gama landed in India in 1498. Da Gama’s crew was thought to have introduced the disease to Asia . . . . Ray Romano, QC alumnus, discussed his newfound appetite for travel during a “CBS Sunday Morning” segment that aired on May 8 . . . . President Frank H. Wu spoke last week at the 2022 Conference on Export Controls and Research Security at Higher Education and Scientific Institutions, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Wu was listed 23rd on City & State’s The Power of Diversity: Asian 100 and profiled by World Journal. He will be speaking this Friday, May 13, at “The Chinese Diaspora: Transnational Migration and Integration in the Dominican Society,” presented by Hostos Community College . . . . The Chen family and their gift to QCArts were covered in a recent episode of CUNY TV’s “Asian American Life.”
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