Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
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QView #106 | September 9, 2021 |
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College To Mark 20th Anniversary of 9/11 |
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Two decades have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, which filled the lower Manhattan skyline with smoke visible from this campus. Forty members of the Queens College community perished that day. They will be remembered tomorrow—Friday, September 10, at 8:30 am—when President Frank H. Wu will host an outdoor ceremony for the college community and invited guests. Administrators and guests will read the victims’ names aloud. Bell tolls will mark the times the towers were struck and collapsed. The event will also include a presentation to FDNY Engine 315/Ladder 125, which serves the Jamaica neighborhood, and musical performances. Although students, faculty and staff are welcome, it’s not necessary to come to campus to watch the ceremony; the program will be streamed via the college‘s YouTube account.
George Held (English, emeritus), shared one of his poems, “That Tuesday Night,” for publication in QView. The poem appeared in the anthology An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind: Poems on 9/11 (Berkeley CA, 2002). Held posts “That Tuesday Night” on Facebook every year on the anniversary of the attacks.
That Tuesday Night
That Tuesday night, after the towers
burned & fell down-
town, after watching them crumble—
unlike the one Paul Newman
saved in Towering Inferno—
from the plaza in front of Rosenthal
Library, after walking home
from the subway in the yellow
summer twilight, gagging
on the acrid air and looking
at the thick sooty column rising
downtown where the towers
had loomed Gargantuan on the skyline
for over three decades,
I went to wash my face,
as though cold water and soap
would wake me from this dream
of violence and violation,
and I saw that man in the mirror,
red-rimmed eyes, yes, but
the same sagging wrinkled
skin, the same thinning,
graying hair above the same lined
forehead, and I knew that he
was lucky to have lived
to sixty-five—too young for WW II
and Korea, too old for Viet Nam—
lucky to have lived his soft
American life without much fear
from abroad, except spotting airplanes
as a kid and catching a breath or two
as JFK stood down the Russians in ’62,
and in the glare of the bathroom light,
the sirens screaming just up the street
at St. Vincent’s, I knew nothing
could ever make me
safe again.
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QC Releases Strategic Plan |
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With its newly released Strategic Plan, Queens College has redefined its mission and established goals to be carried out through 2026. The plan, created in a process that was unprecedented in its scope, aims to prepare students to serve as innovative leaders in a diverse world that they make more equitable and inclusive.
“With the active engagement of the college community and its supporters, I look forward to bringing this strategic plan to fruition, making an already great institution even stronger,” said Queens College President Frank H. Wu. “I am grateful to all who participated in this important project. We have done so much already. Now we will put our principles into practice.”
For the first time, as part of the planning process, the college identified its essential values—service and civic engagement; diversity, equity, and inclusion; well-rounded education; culture of mutual support; innovative leadership; and connecting scholarship and creativity with the student experience. These values underlie all the work the college hopes to achieve in the next five years, with specific steps for each area. A key part of the strategic plan is the establishment of dedicated Business and Arts Schools. Pooling the extensive expertise of QC faculty, staff, and our partners in the Borough of Queens, the schools will create new synergies, offering our students the education and experience that help people build rewarding careers.
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The Strategic Plan was created with the input of hundreds of participants—faculty, staff, students, alumni, members of the Queens College Foundation, and members of the Queens community—who gathered for discussions and collaborations over Zoom. College stakeholders were able to take part through 11 virtual town halls held in academic year 2020–21. Using town hall responses and data compiled by the college, five working groups explored topics identified as critical to the college’s future: the curriculum; diversity, equity, and inclusion; faculty scholarship and creativity; fiscal sustainability; and student success and student life. A steering committee drawn from faculty, staff, students, administrators, and board members oversaw the strategic planning process.
Implementation of the plan has already begun. The President’s Cabinet members will lead and oversee implementation. A newly formed Institutional Effectiveness Advisory Council will consult with the Cabinet; departments will conduct regular assessments in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
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Nothing Succeeds Like Access
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Don't Hesitate, Vaccinate |
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No fare was necessary to board this bus! All week, a New York City mobile unit was parked at the Melbourne Avenue and Kissena Boulevard entrance near the Student Union, making vaccinations convenient for members of the campus community. |
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Princeton Review Ranks QC Among the Best |
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For the 30th consecutive year, Queens College made Princeton Review’s list of the nation’s best colleges. Princeton Review cited QC for offering high quality academics for a reasonable price, and described the student body as both diverse and friendly. Four other CUNY schools are among the 387 featured in the annual guide’s 2022 edition.
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Are you a U.S. citizen who is over age 18? Have you lived in New York City for at least 30 days? Congratulations: You are probably eligible to vote in the general election on November 2. (The Board of Elections posts complete qualifications on this page.) Don’t dither, because the registration deadline for the general election is October 8, just a month away. Here’s your chance to help choose the next mayor, comptroller, and public advocate, as well as the president of your home borough and the New York City Council member representing your neighborhood.
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To Air Is Human
As Zeco Krcic (AVP, Facilities, Planning, and Operations) explains it, good air quality as maintained through enhanced ventilation is a key component to maintaining a healthy work environment as Queens College returns to a limited number of in-person classes this fall.
“Buildings and Grounds has been and will continue working on enhancements to our campus buildings’ air distribution systems--specifically our heating, ventilation, and conditioning systems [HVAC],” says Krcic.
He explains that ventilation has been increased to bring the maximum possible amount of outside air into buildings while maintaining a stable interior environment, with automatic HVAC controls adjusted to increase air turnover. Additionally, HVAC equipment filters have been upgraded to those with a higher rating to improve air filtration while maintaining good ventilation, with frequent inspections and maintenance being performed to ensure these systems are operating properly.
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“During the winter season, a safe temperature for occupants and equipment will be maintained, while fresh air is continuously being added and recirculated,” he says. “And during the summer season, a cooled environment and minimum humidity will be maintained, while ensuring that adequate fresh air is circulating”.
Additionally, he explains that regular inspections will continue to ensure the proper function of all operable windows and that restroom and elevator exhaust fans are working. Local air cleaning solutions have been or will also be deployed where appropriate, using various applications of ultraviolet, or UV, technologies and some high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, solutions.
People returning to campus will find that the maximum permitted occupancy in all areas has been decreased, with signs installed to indicate the maximum number of people allowed per current COVID-19 guidelines.
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“In addition to these measures to maintain safe air in our indoor spaces,” says Krcic, “investments have been made in high-efficiency space disinfection products and equipment and surface disinfection material for high touch surfaces such as door handles and elevator buttons.”
Effort is also afoot campus-wide to install touchless water-filling stations in place of traditional water fountains.
Krcic reminds everyone returning to campus that should they encounter any facilities issues, such as those having to do with ventilation, cleaning, or bathrooms, they should immediately be reported to Buildings and Grounds
Facilities issues?
Additional information, questions related to workplace conditions? Contact Environmental Health and Safety at 718-997-2881
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The Queens College community was stunned to learn of the death late last month of Roland Clark, a long-term field technician with the Office of Information Technology Services and an alumnus of the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. With glasses affixed to his head by an athletic strap and admirably straight posture—the product, perhaps, of his Navy service—Clark cut a memorable figure as he traveled around campus. “As an information technology technician, Roland helped people throughout a college that depends on computers and internet connections. Many of us could not have done our jobs without him,” said President Frank H. Wu. Clark is survived by his sister. |
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Heard Around the Virtual Campus |
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Kelly Fernandez, who holds QC degrees in both design and library sciences, received a starred review from Kirkus for her debut graphic novel, ¡¡Manu!!, which comes out in November. Fernandez is teaching Illustration I this semester . . . . John Lee (Design) illustrated a New York Times op-ed, "Asian Americans Are Finally Getting the Heroes We Deserve." . . . . Sin Ying Tracey Leung ’16 was promoted to a design manager at MoMA . . . . Beth SK Morris, an alumna, just published a poetry collection, In the Aftermath—9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes. Morris spent five months volunteering with the WTC Ground Zero Relief Project, which secured and delivered supplies to the recovery crews and first responders working at the attack site . . . . Howie Rose ’77 (below) is taking a break from delivering Mets play-by-play to undergo surgery. All are hoping he will make an amazin’ recovery.
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Comments and suggestions for future news items are welcome.
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