President's Report for October 2022

Enrollment Management Update

• The Office of Admissions and Recruitment has launched its recruitment efforts for Spring and Fall 2023. In-person visits to schools and community-based organizations have been scheduled from Friday, September 16, 2022 to Wednesday, December 14, 2022.  In addition to in-person opportunities at our partner schools and organization, the office will continue to offer virtual services such as accepted student webinars, information sessions and virtual in-classroom presentations. The recruitment team has also launched a weekly schedule of individual and group tours for prospective students, families, and school groups to visit campus and learn about QCC.  The first Spring 2023 admissions recommendation file is due to arrive on Thursday, October 13, 2022. The Office of New Student Engagement will continue to work to expand the “Tips for Success” webinars offered to new registered students, and in-person opportunities to prepare students for their first semester. The tentative date for New Student Engagement activities targeting Spring 2023 registered students is Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

 

• The Office of Academy Advisement is hosting two Curriculum Review training sessions with department faculty on Monday, October 3 and Wednesday, October 19 to prepare advisers for the upcoming advising and registration cycle. In addition, we will be hosting an in-person advising kick off in the Atrium on October 6th. Our Tiger Advisers will assist students in logging to Starfish, identifying their adviser, and booking advising appointments early. We will also host an Instagram Live event on Wednesday, October 12 to provide students with additional information related to advising and registration. The advising office will be advising in mixed modalities this fall with in-person and virtual services being an option for student all semester long.

 

Student Support Resources

• Faculty and staff are asked to encourage our students to avail themselves of the valuable and free resources through the QCC Advocacy Resource Center. Services provided include (but are not limited to) public benefits screening, financial coaching, legal assistance, tax preparation services, housing assistance, food pantry referrals, and more.

 

• Emergency funding is available to students who face a financial crisis that puts at risk their continued enrollment toward their QCC degree. Supported through a grant from The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, the funds provide one-time, emergency grants to students in good standing with short-term financial emergencies to enable them to remain in school, rather than being forced to leave or drop out. Periodic e-mail reminders to the college community outlining the grant eligibility and encouraging faculty and staff to refer students to apply. Please refer students with short-term financial emergencies to Ms. Amawati Gonesh, Program Administrator, via e-mail at [email protected].

 

• The CUNY Ethics and Morality Essay Contest is funded by an endowment gift of $100,000 to the City University of New York by Dr. K. York Chynn and his wife Noelle Chynn. This annual award is intended to promote and stimulate thinking by college students at CUNY about the topic of ethics, morality, and virtuous behavior in their lives. More than ever, these issues arise not only in the personal relationships of individuals and family and friends, but also in the context of corporate, government, and social responsibility, whether it is about treating others fairly and honestly, or food safety. The topic of this year's essay is Virtue and the deadline to apply is November 4, 2022.

 

• The 2022 CUNY Thomas Tam Scholarship was established in honor of Dr. Thomas Tam's many contributions to the City University of New York. The scholarship award is given to a qualified undergraduate student currently enrolled in any of the CUNY colleges, Asian or non-Asian "who has demonstrated creativity in the communication of the concerns of the Asian American community in areas such as Health, Education, and Culture."  All currently enrolled CUNY undergraduate students are eligible to apply for the Thomas Tam Scholarship.  Display of communication of the concerns of the Asian American community can be in the form of written reports, film, video, new media techniques, and the development of performances or materials in the arts and sciences.  The deadline to apply is November 18, 2022.

 

• The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship makes it possible for the nation's top community college students to complete their bachelor's degrees by transferring to a selective four-year college or university. The Foundation provides up to $40,000 per year to each of approximately 45 deserving students selected annually, making it the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country. Each award is intended to cover a significant share of the student's educational expenses – including tuition, living expenses, books and required fees – for the final two to three years necessary to achieve a bachelor's degree. Awards vary by individual, based on the cost of tuition as well as other grants or scholarships he or she may receive. The application opened on October 6, 2022 with a deadline to apply of January 12, 2023.

 

• The Women's Forum Education Award provides a scholarship of $10,000. The awards will be given to women aged 35 and over who have faced and overcome adversity and now, after an interruption in their education, have resumed the pursuit of their first Associate or Bachelor degree. Applicants must demonstrate noteworthy promise and resilience in the face of challenges and must also demonstrate a commitment to helping others and to making a difference in their community, large or small, when their own career goals are achieved. Financial need and academic excellence are not the primary determining factors in the selection of recipients, although true financial need should be evident and the candidate should be in good academic standing. The deadline to apply is February 1, 2023.

Upcoming Events

• The Office of Health Services will be hosting a Blood Drive on Thursday, October 13, 2022, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm in the Student Union – Upper Level. There is an ongoing blood supply shortage that strains the ability of our community to meet the critical health needs of its people. As a member of the Queensborough community you can make a difference. All students, faculty and staff are welcome to donate but, note that to donate blood, you must be 17 years of age or older, weigh at least 110 pounds and have not received a tattoo or body piercings within the past year. Also, please be sure to eat a meal before attending the blood drive.

Office of Center for Excellence in Teaching and learning (CETL) and the Office of Educational Technology (OET)

The Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL) continues to offer virtual and in-person professional development opportunities to support teaching excellence at Queensborough. Upcoming workshops on "Creating Teaching ePortfolio" in Oct & Nov will support faculty in the process of creating a digital documentation of one's teaching philosophy and the relationship between course goals, assignments, and evidence of student learning.​  CETL's workshop series on the "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" in Oct & Nov will engage faculty in the process of systematic scholarly inquiry that focuses on teaching practices and student learning.  All Faculty are encouraged to visit CETL and OET homepages to see a complete listing of all upcoming events and professional development opportunities.

​The Office of Educational Technology offered nine webinars on Instructional Technology at the beginning of Fall 2022. The webinars were designed to provide an introduction to Blackboard and other educational technology platforms. Thirty-two faculty signed up for these webinars. We strongly recommend our faculty to visit the OET web site to see a complete listing of all upcoming Distance Learning Webinars and Professional Development Opportunities.
Office of Educational Technology: https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/oet/

 

The “Fall 2022 - Are you Ready? Student Learning Readiness Course” is currently available under "My Organizations" module on the Blackboard Home page for all students. While the course is likely to be most useful to first-time freshman who have the least familiarity with Blackboard, the course material could also be beneficial to any student who might need a refresher. The Fall report shows that 464 students have completed this orientation course. 

 

Currently, the Office of Educational Technology is offering Drop-in Virtual Office Hours through Blackboard Collaborate. Faculty can join the OET Virtual Office to speak with an IT Academic  Specialist, Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

 

Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs

 

Grants Awarded

August 25 – September 23, 2022

 

Grants Awarded

Student Affairs
	Morgan Stanley Foundation: $40,708, Pyak, Alexandra; “Morgan Stanley Career Exploration Fund”

Events Report – October 11, 2022

 

We are pleased to share that the Amazin’ Mets Foundation awarded $10,000 in scholarships to full-time Queensborough students for the 2022-2023 academic year and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation provided a $10,000 matching contribution. 

 

Thank you to all faculty and staff who supported the Tribute to Dr. Joseph Bertorelli who passed away on April 2, 2020. On August 31, 2022 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on campus, a classroom in the Medical Arts building was named The Dr. Joseph Bertorelli Classroom in his honor. Joe spent over four decades at Queensborough enriching the lives of thousands of students and giving them hope for a brighter future. 

 

Thank you to all faculty and staff who supported the Tribute to Susanne Grossman who passed away on October 3, 2021. On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, a tree was planted on campus to honor her life and commitment to Queensborough and student success. Susanne dedicated seventeen years of service to the College in the Office of Career Services and touched many lives throughout her life.

 

On September 23, 2022, a plaque was unveiled on the KHC’s Wall of Remembrance in honor of Barbara and Harry Sperber. Caryn Giananti gifted $50,000 to establish a scholarship fund in honor of her parents, Barbara, and Harry Sperber, to award scholarships to prospective and continuing part-time Queensborough students enrolled in certificate or associate programs. The scholarship will cover the cost of their tuition, fees, course-required texts and materials, and other expenses that will keep these students continuously enrolled and engaged with their studies. 

 

                                                       Art Gallery

 

September 22, 2022 – October 22, 2022

Transporting the Spirit – The Mark Seidler Collection of Papua New Guinea Art

 

Select works from the Marc Seidler Collection feature objects from the Papuan Gulf he collected through the 50s while a hotelier on the island of Daru, Papua New Guinea. The collection of powerfully charged objects represent spirit in the form of masks and ancestor/spirit boards (Gope). The objects were used to cajole and coax supernatural beings to attend to human needs, and ceremonial traditions such as initiation. 

 

Transporting the Spirit - QCC Art Gallery (cuny.edu)

 

 

Kupferberg Holocaust Center

 

2022-2023 KHC-NEH COLLOQUIUM:

Trauma, Remembrance and Compassion

https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/neh-programs/

 

 

What is trauma? What does it mean to remember? What is compassion? This year’s colloquium explores trauma, both historically and in our contemporary culture, and how remembrance and compassion both have and continue to offer meaningful responses to atrocities. If genocide and incarceration are crimes and practices that silence people and remove their humanity from them, then remembering is an act of restoration. In preserving the stories of those who have been dehumanized, we honor their suffering and affirm their humanity. In this colloquium, we explore remembrance as a social action that speaks back to the destructiveness and dehumanization of trauma. We also explore how to meaningfully engage with trauma, to hold space for and learn from past traumas. Finally, we seek to identify ways to respond to trauma through compassion, to consider how in the face of traumas, we can choose to act deliberately to alleviate suffering. Organized in dialogue with contemporary issues, the series is aligned with the current KHC exhibit, The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide.

 

2022-23 Faculty Fellows

Dr. Angela Ridinger-Dotterman, Associate Professor of English Dr. Ilse Schrynemakers, Associate Professor of English

Dr. Jodi Van Der Horn-Gibson, Associate Professor of Communication, Theatre, and Media Production John Yi, Lecturer of English

 

KHC ORIGINAL EXHIBITION:

 

The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide

On View and Online

https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/camps/

 

This year, the KHC will be offering self-guided audio tours of its original exhibition, which surveys the scope and brutality of the Nazi system of incarceration and genocide, underscoring the horrific consequences of antisemitism, racism, and authoritarianism. In addition to the exhibit’s text, images, and artifacts, personal testimonies from local Holocaust survivors offer painful insights into these excruciating landscapes of degradation and dehumanization. This exhibit is curated by Dr. Cary Lane,

KHC 2020-21 Curator-in-Residence and Associate Professor of English at QCC.

 

PROGRAMMING:

For list of all public programming offered in the Fall 2022 semester, visit:

https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/events-2/

Holocaust Memory

Mapping the Holocaust by Bullets

Thursday, October 13, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/y7hftknn

Join Dr. Ewa Schaller, Senior Program Officer, Educator and Education Coordinator at American Friends of Yahad-In Unum, for a discussion about investigations into the fate of the Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union.

 

QCC Welcome Read Event

Creating John Lewis’s March II: A Conversation with Nate Powell and Andrew Aydin

Monday, October 17, 2022, at 10:10 a.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/4jdwnkvw

 

Nate Powell and Andrew Aydin will share insights and anecdotes about their time spent working on this graphic memoir series. This event is part of the Queensborough Community College (QCC) Welcome Read and is hosted by the Kupferberg Holocaust Center.

 

KHC-NEH Workshop (Faculty Only)

Pedagogical Approaches to the KHC’s “Concentration Camps” Exhibit

Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/ysfwdbxr

In this workshop, Dr. Cary Lane, Associate Professor at QCC in the English Department, will highlight ways instructors can incorporate content and themes from the KHC’s newest original exhibition, The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide.

 

QCC Welcome Read Events

Sites of Social Activism in NYC, Part 1 Monday, October 20, 2022, at 12:10 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/4b69ch5s

 

Sites of Social Activism in NYC, Part 2 Thursday, October 24, 2022 at 12:10 p.m. Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/4vc9h4f4

Dr. Carolina Bank Muñoz, Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College, and the CUNY Graduate Center (Oct 20), and Dr. Penny Lewis, Associate Professor of Labor Studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (Oct 24), will present on sites of protest and social activism in Queens, as discussed in their book, A People’s Guide to New York City. Co-sponsored by the Kupferberg Holocaust Center.

 

KHC-NEH Lecture

Exploring Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/yjdyb46t

Join us for a conversation with Laura Gao, author, and illustrator of Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American, who will discuss her own experiences around the themes of trauma, remembrance, and compassion.

 

KHC-NEH Lecture

Legacies of Genocide: Mauthausen and its Memorialization

Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/ms6addme

Do we have an ethical responsibility toward “violated spaces” like those of a former concentration camp? What legacy do such spaces create for us? And how might cultural differences alter our perceptions of the memorial in our 21^st-century? Join Dr. Rebecca Rovit, Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Kansas, who will explore Mauthausen as a site of remembrance connected to violence that permeated Austrian soil.

 

KHC-NEH Workshop (Faculty Only)

Imagining Possibilities: Social Practice as a Pedagogy of Care

Friday, November 4, 2022, at 10:00am to 12:00 p.m. EDT

Click here to register: https://tinyurl.com/4222x8j5

 

 

In this workshop, participants will hear from artist-researchers Heather Huggins, Assistant Professor of Theatre at QCC, and Dr. Tania Alice, Professor of Performance Art at Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The presenters will share social practices at the intersection of performance and mindfulness, along with concrete examples from their research applying these practices in their campus communities.

 

PLEASE NOTE:

Recordings will be available on the KHC website: https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/recordings/

 

Visit the Education page of the KHC website at https://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/education/ for a complete listing of our comprehensive library guides and to view recorded events from our past NEH colloquia.

 

Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC)

 

 

October 12th, October 19th, October 26th, and November 2, 2022, 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. 

FREE Dance Enrichment Workshop for ALL QCC Students

Enrichment at QPAC in an exciting initiative serving the unique needs of the education and theatre communities, by connecting professional artists with aspiring artists to provide cultural and artistic opportunities to QCC’s own students. Program takes place inside Student Union.

October 15th, October 22nd, October 29th, and November 5, 2022 – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 

Gotta Dance Kids! (Saturdays)

QPAC invites children, ages 8-14, to participate in an exciting dance workout offered on Saturdays. Choreography, as seen on Broadway and in the movies, is re-created to provide a fun way of 

working out. Fall workshops will be held virtually (participants must have access to computer video & sound). Program sponsored by Councilmembers: Gennaro and Lee. Program takes place inside the Student Union. 

 

August 25, 2022 – December 16, 2022

QPAC’s From Page to Stage (On-Going Faculty Collaborations):

Virtual reenactments of classic novels and plays, historic events, and dramatic readings. An ongoing series of educational presentations (done live and recorded for continued use). These virtual renditions of great works will be available in perpetuity for use by the collaborating department (English, Theater, History, Language, Media classes, etc.). Any work can be researched, rehearsed, and presented. Historic speeches can be recreated. There is no fee for this service. After the initial live presentation, these works can be utilized in the classroom over and over. Special in-person live events can be accommodated, for which classes can be invited.

 

The Submission Process is On-Going:

• Requests for adaptations will be reviewed on an on-going basis.
• Faculty can request specific works by sending an email to Susan Agin, Executive & Artistic Director, QPAC ([email protected]). 
• Assuming the availability of the material and copyright permissions, a performance/recording schedule will be submitted within two (2) weeks following each proposal is received. 

 

We encourage submissions and remain available to answer any questions.

 

 

CREATIVE SERVICES

 

 

Digital Signage

The first two new digital signage displays are now installed and active on the first floor of the Administration Building. These new 8k cloud-based displays from Yodeck are far superior than their end-of-life predecessors in that they have social media integration, meaning that we are able to stream updated content directly from our various social media platforms. In addition, they will enable us to stream live events such as Commencement and athletic competitions and have YouTube video integration. They will allow the College to better communicate important need-to-know items and deadlines to our students by expanding our points of contact. 

 

 

CUNYTuesday

Taking place on November 29^th this year, CUNYTuesday is a day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration and an initiative of CUNY to benefit our students. Queensborough had an incredibly successful CUNYTuesday campaign last year, raising over $60,000 from 389 donors and almost doubling previous year’s totals. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Their Dreams + Your Gift = Infinite Possibilities.”

 

We’re on TikTok!

QCC is now on Tik Tok! The Office of Marketing and Communication has hired its first student tech fee intern to assist the College with creating social media content that speaks from a student perspective. The goal of the new channel will be to promote free resources and opportunities, encourage students to get involved on campus, further our Culture of Care and amplify the student experience. Please encourage your students to follow us @qcc_cuny.

 

Font Licensing Audit

Several CUNY colleges were recently warned of a potential font licensing issue with the company Monotype relating to the use of the fonts Interstate and Archer on their websites. In a preemptive move, an extensive audit of the College’s twenty thousand web pages was conducted and the two fonts in question have been replaced with the open source, unrestricted Google fonts Overpass and Roboto Slab, preventing negative legal and financial implications. 

CEWD Announcements! 

Grants/Contracts

• QCC/CEWD received another $499,994.00 grant award to support the Certified Recovery Peer Advocate Program via the NYS Workforce Development Initiative Consolidated Funding Application.
• QCC/CEWD received ACE Upskilling Round 2 funding $385,504.43 to provide Software Engineering and AWS Cloud Computing Workforce Training Programs to New Yorkers.

 

• QCC/CEWD received a contract award $688,916 from Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) to offer Hemodialysis and 5G Mobile Technician workforce training programs to out-of-school youth for the fiscal year 2022 to 2023. 

 

• QCC/CEWD received $2,534,000 additional funds for the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) program to serve more at-risk middle/high school students.

 

• QCC/CEWD received Liberty Project Prize grant award in the amount of $1,875,000 for multiple years 9/1/2022-9/31/2027.

Conference/Presentations

• QCC/CEWD-led Department of Labor Strengthening Community Colleges CUNY Community Colleges Consortium Grant team, Dr. Hui-Yin Hsu, Lori Conkling and Michael Manikapone presented “Co-Designing an Integrated Accelerated Pathways Model with Employers and the Workforce Development System: Driving System Changes through the CUNY Community Colleges Consortium” at the American Association of Community College’s Annual Conference on May 2, 2022 at New York City, New York.

 

• QCC/CEWD hosted the first Annual Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) Conference (Virtual) entitled "Cultivating New Beginnings through Peer Recovery: Advocating for CRPA Career Pathways in the Post Pandemic Landscape” on June 10 and 11. The conference highlights keynote speaker Dr. Kelly McGuire, MD, MPA, Medical Director of Behavioral Health, Emblem Health and plenary speaker Curtis Dann-Messier, Director of Peer Academy of NYC Health + Hospitals, as well as QCC’s Legacy CRPA Program. Dr. Patricia Simino Boyce, University Dean for Health & Human Services, Dr. Andrea Salis, Chairperson QCC Health, Physical Education and Dance Department, Dr. Anuradha Srivastava, Associate Professor, QCC Biological Science and Geology Department, Professor Edward Diller, Lori Conkling, and many other amazing speakers from NYC various agencies. Over 165 people attended the conference. QCC strives to create a community of practice for those dedicated to coaching and guiding people through recovery, supporting career opportunities for CRPAs and gaining insights from the latest in CRPA research, practice, and training. 

AWS Women Hackathon and Career Network

• QCC CEWD will be hosting the AWS Women Hackathon on Oct. 21, 1-5pm, sponsored by US Department of Labor Strengthening Community Colleges Grant, AWS and InFor. The Hackathon will lead to career opportunities with AWS and InFor affiliated companies.