February 2025

I grew up in the Midwest, where people believe there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. I was delighted to see snow linger on campus for a few days. But I’m aware that cold snaps can cause problems. So, I’ll start this newsletter with a hearty thank-you to the dedicated staff of Buildings and Grounds, who came in over the holidays to clean up after a pipe break led to a flood in Kiely Hall, and to our devoted Information Technology team who assiduously worked to provide the necessary remedial support.

Fortunately, there are many positive activities to report.

The Pine Tree Foundation of New York has been generous to Queens College, funding library facilities and fellowships. On Wednesday, January 15, Godwin-Ternbach Museum Co-Directors Maria Pio and Louise Weinberg and I enjoyed a meeting with current Pine Tree Fellows Mary Billyou, a filmmaker, and Elena Butuzova, a QC graduate student pursuing a dual degree in library science and history as well as certification archives management.

Mary is on the left, Maria and Louise are flanking me, and Elena is on the right.

Later that day, Emma Berryman-Moore, interim executive director for the Global Student Success Program (GSSP) at Queens College, swung by Kiely Hall for a coffee break and a discussion of our efforts to serve the educational needs of international students.

Here, left to right, are Associate Provost for Innovation and Student Success Nathalia Holtzman, me, GSSP Interim Executive Director Emma Berryman-Moore, and Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson.

Under the leadership of Ryan Martin, CUNY’s director of Inclusive and Adaptive Sports, the university offers competitive, intercollegiate sports opportunities for people with disabilities. QC was happy to host the CUNY Adaptive Basketball Tournament on Friday, January 17. The tourney filled FitzGerald Gym with outstanding wheelchair athletes.

Sunday, January 19, was wet and cold, but that didn’t stop more than 1100 people from coming to Colden Auditorium for the college’s annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, co-hosted this year by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez, Student Association William Barron, and Black Student Union Vice President Gabrielle “Summer” Gayle provided welcoming remarks. New York Urban League CEO and President Arva Rice received the annual Queens College Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award and delivered a stirring keynote. The program included a superb performance by the Branford Marsalis Quartet—Marsalis’s first appearance anywhere in Queens!—and the premiere of Treasures in The Civil Rights and Social Justice Archives at Queens College, the latest episode in the Office of Communications and Marketing’s original docuseries Legacy Connection: QC & Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - YouTube, marking 60 years this spring when King spoke at Colden. If you missed the program, you don’t have to miss out! We have posted videos of highlights and the entire show.

Highlights

Entire show

Special thanks to the planning committee led by co-chairs Jerima DeWese and Chris Williams.  

President Frank H. Wu, New York Urban League CEO and President Arva Rice, Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards

Aisayma Lennard, a CUNY alumna

Branford Marsalis Quartet

Longtime China expert and South China Morning Post Senior Advisor James Heimowitz was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood in China. Over coffee on January 22, with faculty members, we had a fascinating discussion.  

From left: Yan Sun (Political Science), Dean of Social Sciences Ekaterina Pechenkina, Interim Dean of the Asian American Asian Research Institute John Chin, me, James Heimowitz, and Yunzhong Shu (Classical, Middle East and Asian Languages)

Although the lunar new year didn’t officially start until January 29, plenty of people in Queens started celebrating early. The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company marked the Year of the Snake with five days of performances at the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, beginning on January 22. I greeted the artists backstage and made a few comments on stage.

The following day, I had the chance to welcome the latest cohort of GSSP students at their orientation.

That afternoon, I was part of a group of faculty members and administrators who had lunch with Mohamed Gamal-Eldin, who is teaching a course this semester on the history of Palestine. The professor, an expert in the development of infrastructure in the Suez Canal region, has taught at QC previously. 

The group included, from left, Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson, Kara Murphy Schlichting (History), Kristen Beck (Classical, Middle East and Asian Languages), Andrew Amstutz (History), Julia Sneeringer (History), me, Mohamed Gamal-Eldin (History), CERRU Director Iyabo Oyewo-Hall, Peter Liberman (Political Science), Interim Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs Maria DeLongoria, ​Arnold Franklin (History), Paul Fadoul (European Languages and Literatures).

State Senator John Liu ushered in the Year of the Snake on January 26 with a party at Flushing High School, co-hosted by the REACH Coalition. John Chin, interim dean of the Asian American Asian Research Institute (AAARI), made sure to drop by. AAARI is a member of REACH, an acronym for Representing and Empowering AANHPI Community History; the coalition advocates for the integration and implementation of Asian American and Pacific Islander curricular materials into New York State public schools’ history and social studies curricula.

Since Queens College serves “the world’s borough,” I enjoy regular opportunities to host representatives of foreign countries. On Tuesday, January 28, our honored guest was Ifigenia Kanara, consul general of Greece. The Borough of Queens is home to the largest Greek community in the United States. We enjoyed talking about the humanities as the foundation of liberal arts education. The consul general is named after a tragic figure in the Iliad, and she was pleased to know of interest on campus in the classics. To welcome her is to display “Xenia,” the hospitality that is crucial to a cosmopolitan civilization. 

From left: Interim School of Arts and Humanities Dean Simone Yearwood, Interim Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs Maria DeLongoria, me, Consul General of Greece Ifigenia Kanara, Director of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies Gerasimus Katsan (European Languages and Literatures), Assistant Vice President for External and Governmental Relations Jeffrey Rosenstock, Associate Director of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies Maria Athanasopoulou (European Languages & Literatures)

In campus news, January 28 saw the grand opening of the Student Tech Lounge in I Building 200. In addition to providing power outlets and high-speed Wi-Fi, this innovative space is staffed by ITS specialists who are ready to field questions. Do help spread the word!

I want to thank Gail Reischer and Mirian Detres-Hickey for their decades of service to QC’s Office of Special Services and wish them well in the next chapter of their lives. Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Sean Pierce will be overseeing that office, as he explained in a recent mailer. To streamline the management of requests for accommodations and services, CUNY has launched CUNY Accommodate – The City University of New York. Faculty will also use CUNY Accommodate to manage students’ accommodation requests efficiently.

We are grateful that New York State legislators recognize the value and importance of public higher education. Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget for fiscal 2026 includes significant funding for CUNY. We are already in touch with state legislators and staff to ramp up our year-round advocacy for public higher education funding improvements. For more details, please see the statement from Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez.

I am pleased to report that In a January 31 message welcoming the CUNY community to the spring semester, Chancellor Matos reiterated the university’s commitment to protecting its undocumented and other non-citizen students to the fullest extent of the law. At QC, I encourage students with concerns to consult the Immigrant Student Support Initiative, in King Hall 213, immigrantsupport@qc.cuny.edu, and the campus branch of CUNY Citizenship Now, in Student Union 100, 646-347-4774 (call or text).

While campus has been relatively quiet during the winter break, our basketball teams have seen plenty of action, playing in several important East Coast Conference (ECC) games. Both the men’s and women’s team are fighting for an ECC playoff spot as they enter the homestretch of the season. Be sure to come to the FitzGerald Gymnasium and support them during their playoff push.

I’d like to congratulate our baseball coach, Chris Reardon, who recently received the Ralph DiLullo Memorial Award, presented annually to a college coach in recognition of their service to the game of college baseball. The baseball team will get their season started later this month.

You can find team schedules and more news at queensknights.com.

Warmest congratulations are due to Ricky Riccardi, director of research collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, who last Sunday won his second Grammy. This one is for album notes he wrote for Centennial, featuring King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and other artists.

As a civil rights activist, I appreciate how Black history is American history, and how the struggle for Black equality has benefited all who believe in our shared ideals. QC’s Black History Month events include a reading by poet Ashlee Haze, author of Smoke, presented on February 10, 12:15-1:30 pm, in Student Union 301 by the Office of Student Development and leadership and LGBTQIAA+ Programs at QC. To attend, register here.

People of all backgrounds have enriched the QC community ever since the college was founded. We have been learning more about each other through Diversity Week, an initiative we introduced in 2023, coordinated by the Office of Compliance Diversity in 2023. Chief Diversity Officer and Dean of Diversity Jerima DeWese is leading the planning committee. Please save the dates for our third Diversity Week, taking place April 21-25. 

April is closer than you think—and so is summer. Summer session at QC still allows students to earn up to 15 credits and make progress toward graduation. Registration starts March 10. Please note that the summer session structure has changed from four sessions to three. Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price explained all the details in a mailer last month.

I’ll sign off with a plug for the Belle Zeller Scholarship, which honors the legacy of its namesake, a long-term Brooklyn College political science professor and the founding president of the Professional Staff Congress. Scholarships of $5,000 are available to CUNY students enrolled full-time in undergraduate, graduate, law, and professional school programs within the CUNY system. Applicants must complete at least 16 credits at a CUNY college, maintain a GPA of 3.75 or higher, and demonstrate a strong commitment to voluntary community service. The deadline for submission, including letters of recommendation, is February 28, 2025. For information and the application form, click here.

PS: I am deeply sorry to report that Peter Rothholz ’50 passed away on December 20, 2024. I very much enjoyed my visits with Peter and his wife, Barbara, a member of the class of 1955. He was a loyal friend of Queens College and a former president of the Queens College Foundation. QView will publish an obituary of this highly accomplished man next week.