Queensborough Professor of History Receives The CUNY Henry Wasser Award for Outstanding Research
Dr. Frank Jacob, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Queensborough, is the recipient of the Henry Wasser Award, given by The CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences for outstanding research by Assistant Professors within CUNY. Dr. Jacob is the only Community College professor receiving this prestigious award.
At the award ceremony, held on October 27, Dr. Jacob addressed the audience saying that, “It is an honor to receive this award, and I would like to thank my chairman, Dr. Gilmar Visoni-Alonzo, for his trust and support during the last two years, as well as his ability to create a vibrant academic environment in which I could pursue numerous projects.”
Dr. Jacob also 
expressed his deep gratitude to Dr. Sandra Palmer, Interim Vice-President of Academic Affairs, for her support, and to President Diane B. Call, for her “bold vision”.
“I am truly indebted to President Call, who was willing to take a chance in hiring someone from abroad when others were wondering why a solid researcher from a German university might be interested in teaching at a community college in Queens.”
He added, “I strongly believe that community colleges are ideal institutions to go away from the ivory tower of research because theory often mirrors society.”
Dr. Jacob joined the History Department of Queensborough Community College in 2014 and teaches Western Civilization and World History. His main areas of research are Modern Japanese History, German History, Cultural History, as well as World and Global History.
“There is a mutual relationship between teachers and students. I like to challenge students, to teach them about the past, which gives them a better perspective of current world events. In turn, we as instructors need students so that we may put into practice our scholarly ideas and theories. Consequently, I am not solely receiving this award as Dr. Frank Jacob; I do it representing all hard working faculty members at CUNY’s community colleges, and in particular my esteemed, talented, and wonderful colleagues in all departments at Queensborough Community College.”
Dr. Jacob is the editor of three academic journals (Global Humanities, ChiMoKoJa, and Entertainment) as well as three academic series (Comparative Studies from a Global Perspective, Knowledge of Goods, War (Hi) Stories). Dr. Jacob received his master’s degree in Modern History, Ancient History, and Japanese Studies from Würzburg University in 2010 and his doctoral in Japanese Studies from Erlangen University in 2012.
The additional Henry Wasser awardees are Dr. Mark Biscoe, Chemistry, The City College of New York and The Graduate Center; and Dr. Artem Domashevskiy, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences also announced the recipients of the William Stewart Travel Awards which provides grants to full-time assistant professors who first took up the position of CUNY assistant professor after July 2013. The award is for presenting, chairing or moderating at a scholarly conference from July 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017. Queensborough recipients of the CUNY Academy’s Stewart Travel Awards are Dr. Jodi VanDerHorn-Gibson, Assistant Professor, Speech Communication and Theatre Arts and Susan Wengler, Assistant Professor, Kurt Schmeller Library.
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