Cultural and Archival Resources
Annual Report for 2018-19
2018-2019 Year-End Report
Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources of the Academic Senate
August, 2019
To: Dr. Steven Dahlke, Dr. Jannette Urciuoli, and Dr. Zivah Perel-Katz, Chairpersons, Academic Senate Steering Committee
From: CAR Committee Members:
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Ian Beckford, Strategic Planning, Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness (2019)
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Sarbani Ghoshal, Biological Sciences and Geology (2019)
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Cary Lane, English (2019), Chairperson
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Mirna Lekić, Music (2020), Secretary
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Wenli Guo, Physics (2020)
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Kathleen Pecinka, Nursing (2020)
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Adam Luedtke, Social Sciences (2021)
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Heather Huggins, Speech Communication & Theatre Arts (2021)
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José Osorio, Foreign Languages & Literatures (2021)
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Rosemary Sullivan Zins, VP of Institutional Advancement and President’s Designee
Date: August 2019
The Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources of the Academic Senate (CAR Committee) bylaws charge is stated as follows:
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Serve as a liaison between the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, KHC and the campus community;
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Report to Academic Senate concerning activities, acquisitions, and facility updates at the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC;
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Recommend involvement of the campus community at the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC;
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Advocate for pedagogy that utilizes the resources of the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, the CAR Committee implemented all criteria of the the bylaws charge, as well as specific charges from the Academic Senate Steering Committee. The CAR Committee had three formal meetings during the academic year (November 12, 2018, February 29, 2019, and May 2, 2019) in addition to two officers meeting of the Academic Senate Steering Committee, as well as ADA compliance standards training that was facilitated by the college. Committee actions based on the bylaws charge during the 2018-2019 academic year are articulated in separate subheadings below:
Improvements to the Committee Website to More Effectively Liaise
In an effort to more effectively liaise the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, KHC and the campus community, the committee improved and expanded its website to link the cultural events, integrate teaching resources/opportunities for the cultural centers, as well as present committee resources and documents. This included adding dedicated "Teaching Resources" and "Cultural Events" menus on website, as well as creating a schedule of cultural events (with links, email addresses, and leadership contact information) that could be used in teaching at the KHC, QPAC, and QCC Art Gallery, The CAR Committee also updated and improved the menu containing historical committee annual reports, meeting agendae, and meeting minutes. All updates and improvements to the Committee website were conducted and executed with special attention to ADA compliance.
Events, Activities, Acquisitions, and Facility Updates at the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC
The CAR Committee can report to the Academic Senate the acquisition art and design objects for the campus by the QCC Art Gallery, as well as on grants and funding received by the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC during the 2018-2019 academic year.
The QCC Art Gallery, led by Executive Director and Curator Faustino Quintanilla, acquired three major art pieces this year:
Chin Chin Yang
123 Pollution Solution
Strips cut from aluminum cans, 2016
17.33.01
Jeremy Blake
American (1971 - )
Chemical Sundown
Digital animation with sound, 2001
18-03-01
Wenzhi Zhang
Women’s World – Young Women
Copper Casting, 2018
18-23-01
Additionally, the QCC Art Gallery had several exhibits that drew thousands of students and members of the community during the 2018-2019 academic year, including, "Between Flesh and Brick," the "Annual Juried Student Exhibit," "DAQI as Medium," "From La Mancha to New York," "Deformity Masks and their Roles in African Culture," and "WOW Taiwan." A screening of a series of Spanish films (in collaboration with Dr. Jose Osorio of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department), also boosted attendance. Lastly, he QCC Art Gallery is also preparing for a major upcoming exhibit next year of 7-10 rare paintings of Francisco Goya that will focus on the artist’s relationships with his professors. Lastly, offerings in the Art Gallery research library increased to 1000 books on African art, 200 on Latin American art, and 200 books on contemporary photography.
This year, the Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC), led by Executive Director Susan Agin, received $155,000 in City Council Support--the most in discretionary funding in the center’s history. The money was allocated to support QPAC’s innovative programming including its Senior Loyalty Program, Gotta Dance Fitness, QCC Dance Enrichment, Children’s Book Club and Performance Series, Summer Concert Series, New Audiences for Queens, and On The Move (weekday Dining & Show entertainment). In addition to City Council funding, ticket sales amounted to over $331,000 and corporate funding totaled more than $61,000. With patrons donations and an annual fundraiser, the total in earnings amounted to over $556,000 (this was despite the theater being out of commission due to the ongoing capital renovations). QPAC has continued its successful strategy of creating engaging programs, maintaining the Center’s loyal fan base, and building relationships with local legislators over the past year.
The Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC), hired a new Executive Director, Dr. Laura Cohen, and is continuing its strong momentum on campus and in the QCC community. This included continuing its close partnership with QCC’s faculty and students throughout the 2018-2019 academic year. In all, over 1,700 QCC students used the educational materials housed in the KHC as a component of their coursework. Thirty-nine faculty members from seven academic departments (English, Social Sciences, Art & Design, History, Nursing, Business, and Counseling) brought 79 classes to the KHC for a range of the Center’s offerings, including: tours of the rotating exhibition gallery featuring Conspiracy of Goodness: How French Protestants Rescued Thousands of Jews During WWII; informational multimedia presentations about the Holocaust, genocide, and hate crimes; and testimonies from local Holocaust survivors. In addition, the Center held 22 public programs, ranging from the scholarly lectures of the 2018-2019 KHC/National Endowment for the Humanities colloquium, Sovereignty and Survivance on Turtle Island, to film screenings and commemorative community events, including Kristallnacht, Yom HaShoah, and the Freedom Seder.
Supporting and Encouraging Campus Involvement at the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC
In addition to attendance and fundraising articulated in the previous section of this report, The CAR Committee continued support and encouragement of campus involvement at QCC’s cultural centers. First, the Committee helped build the Institutional Repository at QCC-CUNY (in the Scholarly Works category) for the purpose of storing scholarship artifacts by faculty who have utilized the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC in their teaching and scholarship. One main example was the text,
Humanistic Pedagogy across the Disciplines: Approaches to Mass Atrocity Education in the Community College Context (2018, Palgrave Macmillan, Amy E. Traver and Dan Leshem, eds.). In this volume, approximately 20 QCC faculty members shared their scholarship and pedagogy on the topics of genocide, mass atrocity, organized hate, the Holocaust, and social justice—many of whom who used QCC’s cultural centers in their teaching and research. In terms of web traffic to cultural center websites, there has been a positive impact of Queensborough website upgrades and server changes on the promotion of Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC resources for students and faculty. Traffic for all three cultural center websites were up from the prior academic year, with over 100,000 unique visits. Lastly, in the fall of 2018, the Committee created an inaugural/pilot marketing brochure that directly connected instructors and the campus community to the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC. The brochure’s goal was increasing pedagogy that utilizes the resources of the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC. The marketing department at QCC was instrumental in assisting with the design, production, and distribution of the brochure, which was provided to over 1000 QCC faculty members (both part-time and full-time), as well as to the campus cultural centers..
Advocating for Pedagogy that Utilizes the Resources of the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC.
The CAR Committee continued implementing solutions that advocate for pedagogy that utilize the Resources of the QCC Art Gallery, QPAC, and KHC. These include resources to be placed within the Teaching Resources tab on the CAR Committee website, including a downloadable reflection template, examples of syllabi and assignments, links to articles and lib guides along with video testimonies of faculty offering strategies on how to incorporate the valuable resources available at each center into their curriculum. The inclusion of rubrics and resources for High Impact Teaching approaches (HIPs), as well as approaches to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration were also examined. Discussions will continue when the committee reconvenes for the Fall 2019 semester. Steven Di Dio, Vice President for Communications and Marketing, collaborated with the committee to discuss ways to identify additional/alternative marketing avenues to promote events at the cultural centers. Discussions evolved around the "weekly blast", signage promoting upcoming events and the possibility of rotating one committee member as a liaison to collaborate with the directors at each center in the promotion of events. Continued conversations regarding future initiatives will continue in the Fall 2019 semester.
Additionally, the Cultural and Archival Resources webpage was updated with a cultural events list QCC Art Gallery, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and Kupferberg Holocaust Center. This pamphlet highlighted the various shows, presentations and exhibits available to the campus community and public for the 2018/2019 season. Additionally, links to each cultural center were placed at bottom of the webpage page, which allow for one click access to site specific detailed information. The completion of this initiative was facilitated with help from the Marketing Department and technical assistance by Dave Moretti.
Goals for the 2019-2020 Academic Year and Results of Committee Elections
CAR Committee goals for the 2019-2020 academic year were discussed at the final committee meeting. The CAR Committee will continue liaise with cultural centers with the campus community with special focus on digital resources and course pedagogy that incorporates the KHC, QPAC, and QCC Art Gallery. These include building teaching initiatives that use High-Impact teaching practices (HIPs) with greater consultation with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). The CAR Committee also discussed increasing co-marketing efforts for the three main cultural centers using digital and social media. Additionally, an election for new officers was held to replace outgoing president (Cary Lane of the English Department) and secretary (Mirna Lekićof the Music Department). The election was conducted in accordance to the Academic Steering Committee bylaws. Wenli Guo (Physics Department) was elected new president, and Adam Luedtke (Social Sciences Department) was elected new secretary. Cary Lane was also named as the Steering Committee Designee for the CAR Committee during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Respectfully submitted,
Cary Lane, Chairperson
Mirna Lekić Secretary
cc: Rosemary Sullivan Zins, President’s Designee
Wenli Guo, Incoming Chairperson
Adam Luedtke, Incoming Secretary
