New Funding Fuels Campus Building Projects

FYIOCTOBER 2004

HIGHLIGHTSFirst MARC grant for QC 2The College Plays Debut 3Technology in Teaching 4Vietnamese Scholars Arrive 6“Teachers & Parents Speak Out!” 8

Having worked in Israel, Somalia, Croatia, Italy, and Iraq, NaveedHusain brings a world of experienceto his new job as OIT’s assistantvice president for information tech-nology and chief information officer.

Formerly with the Department ofPeacekeeping at the United Nations,Husain sees much potential “to dy-namically change OIT.” Havingrecently reviewed the 100-day planand the one-year plan with Sue

Henderson (Executive Assistant to the President), heobserves, “OIT is going to be very busy.”

Husain has been given a new title reflecting a newapproach to technology that will see OIT taking responsibilityfor telecommunications as well as computer technology is-sues. “OIT is going to be re-branded,” he says. “It’s going tohave a new name and a new approach in how it deals with

campus clientele. There’s going to be a greater emphasis oncustomer service.”

Whereas OIT previously focused on the technical concernsof faculty and staff, Husain sees student services as an integralpart of the department’s future. Among the changes he ex-pects to oversee are campus email for students by early nextyear and the introduction of Internet kiosks at key locationsaround the campus, “so if students want to check their grades,their class schedules, or their email really quickly, they can.”

While Queens College may not offer some of the exoticlogistical challenges of such locales as Umm Qasr and Mo-gadishu, Husain says of his new assignment, “I see OIT as aplace where we’ll have a lot of challenges in the near future.”He points to the successful launch prior to his arrival of wire-less Internet access on campus as an indication of his staff’sability to tackle those challenges.

A challenge he’s particularly looking forward to is imple-mentation of the Enterprise Research Planning system (ERP). (continued on page 5)

Q U E E N S C O L L E G E FA C U LT Y & S TA F F N E W S

Husain Brings World of Experience to OIT

A commitment of funding from the 2004-05 Borough Presi-dent/City Council capital budget and money from Albany arespurring a number of construction and rehabilitation projectson campus. Some older, pending projects are also expected toget off the drawing board.

With state funding, the much-needed $30 million additionto Remsen Hall will be moving ahead in the space vacated byP.S. 499. The addition consists of 26,000 square feet, withseven teaching labs and five research labs. All of the secondfloor teaching labs will be replaced with state-of-the-art facili-ties. Assemblyman Barry Grodenchik announced the Remsenfunding at a press conference he organized August 17 at thecollege.

With the help of City Councilman James Gennaro, ColdenCenter is slated to receive $345,000 for new lighting. “More

up-to-date lighting willenhance the perfor-mances we present hereand those of outsideorganizations who rentour facilities,” saysColden Director VivianCharlop. Plans also callfor updating the cen-ter’s antiquated aislelighting. Optimistically,she says, work might becompleted by fall 2005. (continued on page 8)

Assemblyman Grodenchik and PresidentMuyskens

Naveed Husain

2

QC IN THE NEWS

A story in the Sept. 2Queens Tribune aboutthe Republican Na-tional Convention andPresident Bush’s visitto a Queens Italian-American social clubquoted ANDREW

BEVERIDGE (Sociology) . . . NICHOLASCOCH (EES) offered a grim scenariofor the Aug. 26 Queens Chronicle ofthe effects of a hurricane on themetropolitan area. He also discussedthe same topic Sept. 25 on a half-hour special on WABC-TV entitled“Hurricane: Eyewitness to a Storm2004” . . . DAVID COHEN (EthnicMaterials Information Exchange) wasfeatured in an Aug. 31 profile inNewsday detailing his years of ser-vice to library programs at Queens,including his directorship of Friendsof the Rosenthal Library and hiswork with theEthnic MaterialsInformation Ex-change . . . BONNIE GERSTEN’s(Chemistry) receiptof a $200,000research grant wasreported Sept. 1 inthe Queens Courier and Sept. 2 in theQueens Chronicle . . . The naming ofCORINNE MICHELS (Biology) as aCUNY Distinguished Professor wasreported Sept. 2 in the ManhassetPress. She was also profiled in News-

day Sept. 5 . . . EUGENIAPAULICELLI’s (ELL)book Fashion UnderFascism: Beyond theBlack Shirt waslisted in the July 30issue of the Chronicleof Higher Education . .. The men’s and women’s volleyballcoaches, KARL PIERRE and ALINE-PASCAL LUBIN, were both mentionedin an Aug. 12 story in the FlushingTimes profiling their daughter, ArielPierre, a star volleyball player at St.Francis Prep . . . A letter by JEREMYREISS (Labor Resource Center) ap-peared Aug. 22 in the New YorkTimes in response to an Op-Ed articleon energy policy . . . The New YorkTimes on Sept. 5 reported JOSEPHSCIORRA’s (Calandra Institute) orga-nizing of a gathering of scholars,writers, artists, and musicians on theoccasion of the feast day for theBlack Madonna of Tindari . . . JUDITH SERRIN (Journalism) wasquoted in a Crain’s New York Busi-ness story about the vibrancy ofweekly newspapersin Queens . . . TheAug. 6 Forwardfeatured a columnby EVAN ZIMROTH(English) about thebiblical Moses ac-cessing his “inner-female” . . . The

announcement of a $30 million addition providing new chemistryfacilities for Remsen Hall was cov-ered Aug. 22 in the Daily News andin the Aug. 26 editions of the QueensChronicle and Times Ledger . . . TheSept. 9 Queens Chronicle noted thehigh ratings the college received inthe 2005 edition of The PrincetonReview and U.S. News’ annual listingof America’s best colleges . . . Thenew season ofprograms atCOLDEN CENTERwas highlightedAug. 26 in theQueens Tribune. . . The exhibitionBy Land or By Seaat the QUEENSCOLLEGE ART CEN-TER was featured Sept. 2 in theQueens Chronicle Magazine, Sept. 5in Newsday, Sept. 9 in the TimesLedger, and Sept. 15 in the QueensCourier . . . The induction of the1972-73 QUEENS COLLEGE WOMEN’SBASKETBALL TEAM into the New YorkCity Basketball Hall of Fame wascited as “noteworthy” in the Sept. 14Philadelphia Inquirer. The inductionceremony Sept. 21 was featuredextensively that evening on UPN 9’s10 pm newscast. The Staten IslandAdvance carried a story Sept. 21,and it received two pages of cover-age Sept. 22 in Newsday.

Zimroth

Coch

Gersten

Paulicelli

ColdenCenter@QueensCollege

2004–2005 SEASON

Zahra Zakeri (Biology) believes hersuccess in securing the first MARC(Minority Access to Research Careers)grant for Queens College stems, inlarge part, from her service the pastdecade reviewing grants for the Minor-ity Biomedical Research Support pro-gram at the NIH.

“It allowed me to get in there andtell them how great we are,” she says.

“This is the first time that Queens Col-lege has received a grant of this sort for minority education, tomy knowledge—especially in the sciences.”

The award, which came in June, provides $2,164,817 overfive years to create programs here to increase numbers ofunder-represented minority students in biomedical sciences.

Six students are chosen each year to conduct research withfaculty mentors. They receive a $10,000 stipend, paid tuition,and funds for lab supplies and travel. Three juniors and threeseniors are participating this year.

“The main aim,” she says, “is to get students interested inscience and biomedical research-oriented science. We hope toaccomplish that by encouraging them to interact with facultyand work in their laboratories.”

The MARC program is already up and running. The sixstudents will be attending the NIH’s Annual Biomedical Re-search Conference for Minority Students in Dallas on Novem-ber 10. Three will present their work at the meeting.

“We are hoping to do extensive guidance,” Zakeri says.“The goal is to nourish students from the beginning and makesure that we guide them into the right programs for a PhD.”

Zakeri Secures First MARC Grant for the College

Zahra Zakeri

3

When The CollegePlays premieresOct. 21, audienceswill be treated to adramatic conceptthat has enjoyedgreat success fordirector SusanEinhorn (Drama,

Theatre & Dance) in previous produc-tions mounted Off-Broadway.

Each of the nine one-act plays takesplace in the same setting, a college cam-pus. The idea of groups of short playssharing the same setting, explains Ein-horn, first arose at the HB PlaywrightsTheatre in Greenwich Village. Shejoined the group five years ago and hassince directed The Funeral Plays, TheHospital Plays, The Beach Plays, TheSubway Plays, and, this past year, TheWedding Plays.

Formerly head of the acting programbefore becoming department chair last

year, Einhorn has produced 19 shows atQueens in her 22 years here. “All of TheCollege Plays are world premieres Icommissioned. This is a first for mehere,” she notes.

Four writers—Liz Bartucci, EmilyBloch, Regina Corrado, and DrewSachs—are Queens alumni. Another, IraHauptman, is QC’s resident playwright.A diverse group in terms of age, genderand ethnicity, all—with the exception ofBloch—are seasoned professionals withwhom Einhorn has previously collabo-rated, some as students and some ascolleagues. Bloch’s play “TheWarmup,” written while a student inHauptman’s playwriting class, so im-pressed Einhorn that it is being pre-sented virtually unchanged from itsoriginal draft. Bloch graduated last year.The plays will subsequently be pub-lished.

The cast will be drawn entirely fromQueens students. “There are 42 roles.

I’m casting a company of 12 to 14 ac-tors who will be playing all the roles,”Einhorn explains. An unusual stageconfiguration will place the audience ontwo sides of the stage with actors per-forming almost as if working in theround. “It’s a lot of fun for the audience,and it’s a great challenge for our ac-tors.”

Three of the plays are set at QC andmany of the characters are college stu-dents. “But,” says Einhorn, “we alsohave a faculty meeting in a play called‘The Search Committee.’ It’s a comiclook at how faculty sit around a confer-ence table and decide who they’re goingto hire. Another play is set in the 1970sat the beginning of the AIDS crisis.”

The College Plays will be presentedOct. 21-24 and 28- 31 in the Perfor-mance Space, M11, Rathaus Hall. (Seecalendar on pages 9-10 for times andticket info.)

The College Plays Play Queens College for Two Weekends

Susan Einhorn

From Flushing to Berlin in Pursuit of Wagner

What draws a music majorto Germany?

“I want to become anopera singer,” declaresEowyn Driscoll. “And myvoice teacher is quite posi-tive that I’ll be going intothe Wagner and Straussrepertoire. So, I need to beable to speak German verywell.”

That’s why the sopho-more was thrilled to receivea scholarship that allowed

her to spend a month thispast summer studying the German language and Ger-man art at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. The scholarshipprovided tuition and a stipend to cover housing andother expenses, Driscoll explains, “so basically all youneeded to do was buy your plane ticket.”

“The Freshman Award for North America was given to 25 students out of a pool of 255 applicants,” ex-plains Monika Fisher (European Languages), in whoseclass on German fairy tales Driscoll first learned of the scholarship. “Eowyn can be proud to have beenchosen.”

Driscoll shared a Berlin flat with other students inthe program. While many of them were American, sheobserves, “There were lots of kids from Britain, a fewfrom Holland, a lot of kids from Korea and Japan andother parts of Western Europe.

“I could get myself around and ask for directions,”she explains of her limited language proficiency uponarriving in Berlin. “I had taken German for a semesterat Queens, and my language skills weren’t really won-derful. But they’re much better now.”

Initial communications difficulties aside, she enjoyedherself tremendously. “The teachers were very enthusi-astic and all the kids were really happy to be there.They all wanted to do things. It was: ‘Let’s go out, let’sgo to a museum’ every day.

“The classes were from nine to four or five in theafternoon. The lecture classes sometimes went longbecause we often went to museums and did walkingtours.” Classes were four days a week with Wednes-days and weekends off.

Her summer adventure will likely be an importantfactor in determining her future course of study atQueens. “I’m probably going to seek a second majorin German after this trip,” she says.

But music—albeit, German music—is still foremostamong her academic goals, and she declares like atrue Berliner: “Ich bin eine Opernsängerin.” (“I am anopera singer.”)

STUDENT PROFILE

Eowyn Driscoll

QC faculty are continuing to find waysto keep their classes in tune with thelatest technological trends.

“In the Computer Science Depart-ment, technology is obviously our breadand butter,” says Chris Vickery. “Buteven in that environment, we have tokeep moving ahead.”

Moving ahead means a switch in thedepartment’s traditional emphasis onsoftware design, to using software totackle engineering design projects.

For the past three semesters, studentsin the department have been able toutilize new software development toolsto design hardware “because,” explainsVickery, “hardware development hasbecome so complex, they can’t use theold tools. We’re talking about musicplayers, cell phones, PDAs [personaldigital assistants] and all these thingsthat have a raft of hardware and soft-ware mixed together inside.”

Using a $135,000 grant he and Sey-mour Goodman (Prof. Emeritus) re-

ceived from the NSF, the departmentwas able to outfit a laboratory withnewer, high-end PCs and a number ofself-contained units designed to tacklenew software/engineering challengescalled FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays).

The department’s use of these newdevices, says Vickery, reflects changeswithin the industry in the way com-puter-intensive devices are being de-signed. “This is really giving ourstudents a chance to understand what’sgoing on. . . . They’re getting a chanceto go in and do something that’s verycurrent and state-of-the-art.”

VIDEOTAPING STUDENT TEACHERSThanks to Michelle Fraboni (EECE),student teachers can simply say, “Let’sgo to the videotape” when discussingtheir developing classroom skills.

“For the past year we’ve had studentteachers videotaping their lessons andthen viewing them on the computer and

writing their reflections,” explainsFraboni. “It’s a tool that allows them tosee themselves and find ways to im-prove their teaching. It’s also a way forsupervisors to revisit a student teacher’slesson.”

While students are sometimes ini-tially shy about learning the technicalskills involved, Fraboni explains, “Oncethey get past that, they love it. It’s reallya great tool, and they’re able to have apiece for their portfolio. So if they havean interview and want to show an exam-ple of themselves teaching a lesson,they have it on CD.”

Fraboni’s project was underwrittenwith a $3600 PSC-CUNY grant shereceived last April that she used to pur-chase four digital video cameras, CDburners, and an external hard drive forstoring the videos. But she’d like to takeher project even further: “I’m hoping toexpand on this and create an environ-ment where students can actually share(continued on page 5)

4

New Technology Provides Innovative Teaching Tools

’72-’73 Lady Knights Enter New York City’s Basketball Hall of Fame

The first women’s team from NewYork City to play for a nationalchampionship, the 1972-73 QueensCollege women’s basketball team,was inducted last month into theNew York City Basketball Hall ofFame. And so they made historyagain, as the first women’s team to receive this honor.

Thirteen of the team’s original 15members were present for the 15thannual awards ceremony held Sept.21 at the New York Athletic Club.The Lady Knights join only a handfulof teams in the hall, including the1969-70 NBA champion Knicks, the1949-50 City College team that wonboth the NCAA and NIT crowns, and the 1963-64 undefeated PowerMemorial H.S. team that featured Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Under the direction of coach Lucille Kyvallos, the Lady Knights pio-neered an aggressive five-on-five style of play more common to men’sbasketball. The team received an unprecedented level of media andpublic attention when it hosted the standing-room-only national champi-onship tournament, finishing second. They posted a 22-5 overall record;a 19-point average margin of victory; and an undefeated streak againstNew York State colleges that would last nearly a decade.

Top: Coach Lucille Kyvallos, fifth from left, posesSept. 21 with the 1972-73 Lady Knights.Bottom: The champions in their prime.

5

ALLEN BRINGS, MICHAEL LIPSEY,MAURICE PERESS, BRUCE SAYLOR,and EDWARD SMALDONE (Music)have been named recipients of2004-2005 ASCAP Awards. Theawards, made by the AmericanSociety of Com-posers, Authorsand Publishers toassist ASCAPcomposers, aregranted by anindependentpanel and arebased upon theunique prestigevalue of eachwriter’s catalogof original com-positions, as wellas recent perfor-mances in areasnot surveyed bythe Society . . . JANE DENKENSOHN (Special Coun-sel) and NANCY HEMMES (Psychol-ogy) made a presentation,

“Participant Com-prehension Duringthe Informed Con-sent Process,” at aSept. 10 CUNY-wide symposium at Baruch Collegeon the protection of human research

subjects . . . Corruption and Marketin Contemporary China, a book byYAN SUN (Political Science), hasjust been published by Cornell Uni-versity Press. Using casebooks ofeconomic crimes compiled annuallyby disciplinary offices, law enforce-ment agencies, and legal profes-sionals, Sun examines the ways in which market reforms in thePeople’s Republic of China haveshaped corruption since 1978, and how corruption has, in turn,shaped those reforms. The casesrepresent offenders from party-state agencies at central and locallevels, as well as state firms ofvarying sizes and types of owner-ship.

PEOPLE

Hemmes

Peress

Smaldone

Technology (continued from page 4)their videos with each other online.That’s the next step.”

NEW WAYS TO LEARN LANGUAGESAn important part of her role as directorof the Queens Consortium onLanguages Other than English, saysEva Fernandez (LCD), is to act as apromoter and facilitator for better usesof technology in foreign language de-partments at all CUNY campuses inQueens.

This can sometimes manifest itselfin small but significant ways. “Foreignlanguage teachers need to be able toinsert accent marks and strange charac-ters that are not on the basic computerkeyboard,” she says, explaining one ofthe difficulties of teaching foreign lan-guages with American computer tech-nology. “I’ve actually spent a lot oftime training people how to do that.

“In addition to helping people withthe basic uses of technology,” she con-tinues, “I also like the CUNY group toknow about the very advanced waysthat some of our foreign language fac-ulty and students use technology.”

She cites the example of Bill Mc-Clure’s (CMAL) Japanese classes. “Alot of his students are computer sciencemajors. Instead of writing a paper oressays about their lives, they writeelectronic essays. They also videotapethe oral presentations they do in class

and upload them to a Web server wherethey can all look at them.”

In her own classes, Fernandez isenthusiastic about using Blackboard,the online program for course manage-ment. “It’s basically the way that Idistribute content, assignments, sched-ules, factoids, and so on to my students.None of them require training with thissoftware. It’s very user-friendly.”

“Students can search for informationfor a term paper all over the world froma computer. Instructors can check pa-pers for plagiarism electronically,”notes Ken Lord (Assistant to theProvost for Educational Technology &Distance Learning.) “There is, however,a downside to all this convenience,” hecautions. “Students need to be awarethat the Internet is filled with falseinformation. Global Web searches tendto blur the lines of authorship, andprimary sources don’t get the necessaryverification they deserve.”

Fernandez, too, cautions that ascomfortable as many of her students arewith new technology, they can be naïveabout some of its ramifications. “Mostof my students have outside email ac-counts. The user IDs they choose aresometimes very funny and sometimesvery embarrassing. They’re communi-cating professionally with a professor,but they’re sending it from an emailaccount FuzzyBear@aol.com .”

Husain (continued from page 1)“That process,” explains Henderson,

“will allow all of our functions – suchas human resources, administration,budgeting, and the student informationsystem – to work more effectively withone another and within CUNY. ERPwill give us more flexibility and thepower to provide us with better data. ”

Husain brings more than 15 years ofIT experience to his new position, in-cluding work with law firms, Fortune500 companies, and seven years indifferent assignments at the UN as com-munications information systems offi-cer. He has an MS in distributedinformation systems engineering fromNew York Polytechnic University and aBBA from Hofstra University.

Husain, who came to the UnitedStates at age five from Pakistan, be-lieves he is well-prepared to address theneeds of the diverse Queens population:“I think the UN has given me additionalunderstanding of people of differentbackgrounds and different work ethics.Some people pray differently, somepeople eat differently, some peopledance differently. These are all thingsI’ve learned to appreciate. They allmake the world a more beautiful place.”

When not immersed in technologicalchallenges, Husain, who currently liveswith his wife, Lorna, in Manhattan,devotes himself to being the father “oftwo wonderful boys,” Gabriel, age two,and Mikail, age five.

mailto:FuzzyBear@aol.com

6

Prints by Surrealist Max Ernst and an-cestral totem poles from New Guineaare among an eclectic collection of over100 artworks that will be on display atthe Godwin-Ternbach Museum begin-ning Oct. 13.

The show, Recent Acquisitions 1998-2004, will feature pieces donated to themuseum by alumni and friends since1998. “We are delighted to share theseworks with the community in the samespirit as they were shared with us by ouralumni and friends,” says Amy Winter,director and curator of the museum.

Winter will lecture on October 27 at12:30 in the museum on Ernst and Ger-man Expressionist Karl Hofer, one of aseries of free lectures accompanying theexhibit. Other works on display that willbe the subject of lectures by expertsfrom the Art Department include twowoodcuts by Albrecht Dürer; a Gothichead of the Virgin Mary from 15th-century Spain; textiles from pre-His-panic Peru; and prints by Braque, Miró,Hiroshige, and more. Two groups of

artifacts from the Ancient NearEast and pre-Columbian America will also be on display.

The museum is also showingpaintings, prints, and drawingsfrom Spain and Latin Americaselected from a group of 53 worksdonated to its permanent collectionby the Lannan Foundation in 1998.

Recent Acquisitions will featuretwo late-15th-century Flemishlandscape paintings that were re-cently restored by conservatorAlexander Katlan with a grant fromthe Lower Hudson Council of His-torical Agencies & Museums.

“We have recently won anotheraward from the Lower Hudson Councilfor a 17th-century Dutch painting in ourcollection,” says Winter “and we areeager to thank our benefactors by show-ing these works and the magical trans-formation that occurs with propertreatment.”

The latest award provides $7,100 forconservation of the oil-on-wood panel

painting Landscape with Cattle by afollower of S. van Ruysdael. The treat-ment will be performed by Katlan, whowill be restoring another painting in themuseum’s collection, Milton Avery’sThe Beach Party, thanks to a $3,000grant from the Milton and Sally AveryFoundation.

Recent Acquisitions 1998-2004 runsfrom October 13 through December 15.Admission is free.

Godwin-Ternbach Show Highlights Gifts of Alumni and Friends

Vietnamese Scholars Launch New Exchange Program

The arrival from Hanoi of two visit-ing Vietnamese graduate studentsmarks the beginning of a newexchange program between thecollege and the Hanoi University ofForeign Studies (HUFS).

Le Quoc Tuan (“Tuan”) and LeThuy Chi (“Chi”) graduated firstand second in their class last Juneat the prestigious Vietnamese uni-versity where they majored inEnglish and linguistics. They havecome to Queens College to auditgraduate classes in the Department

of Linguistics and Communica-tion Disorders (LCD). They hopeto matriculate eventually andobtain graduate degrees here orat other universities, then returnto Vietnam to improve the sys-tem for educating future teach-ers and translators of English.

“Tuan and Chi,” says ElaineKlein (LCD), a director of theprogram, “are the first of whatwe hope will be a contingent ofHUFS graduate students eventu-

ally attaining MA and PhD degreesat CUNY, depending on our receiv-ing grant money to help supportthis program. We also expect tosend a small group of CUNY stu-dents, also preparing to be Englishlanguage teachers, to Vietnam nextyear for a semester abroad pro-gram at HUFS.”

Klein and Michael Newman (LCD)are laying the groundwork for alarger program that would strengthenEnglish language teaching to Viet-namese abroad and to immigrants in

the United States. In both countries,fluency in English is a primary factorfor success in education and in thework force.

Asked about their impressionssince arriving here, Chi remarks, “Ev-erything is so different from what lifein Vietnam is, but it’s not so differentfrom what we know about the U.S.through the Internet and throughbooks. I’m very impressed by theculture and the diversity here,” shesays, referring to the campus andsurrounding neighborhoods.

“I’d say it’s fabulous,” enthusesTuan. “I like the Queens College cam-pus. It’s so green and so big. . . . It’sso quaint and so classic, it has a senseof an Ivy League institution. And, atleast during the summer, I really likethe weather here.

“I’ve also just discovered that thiscampus is very technology savvy,” hesays, referring to the wireless Internetnetwork. “I’ve found hot spots every-where, and they let you borrow laptopsat the library. It’s very impressive.”

Romare Bearden, Quilting Time, 1979

Chi and Tuan

7

RALPH G. ALLEN“Ralph Allen was that rare person whobridged many worlds,extending from theprofessional commer-cial theatre toacademia, and fromthe world of classical

theatre to popular culture and ‘low’art, all of which he relished with thebottomless appetite of a gourmand.”

So recalls Harry Feiner (Drama,Theatre & Dance) of his longtimecolleague who died suddenly onSeptember 9 at the age of 70. According to his wife, HarrietNichols, Allen had long suffered fromdiabetes and heart trouble.

Born Jan. 7, 1934 in Philadelphia,Allen saw his first burlesque show asa teenager. Though he would earn abachelor’s degree from Amherst anda doctorate from Yale as a scholar oftraditional theater, his youthful inter-est in the bawdy routines of old bur-lesque show comics brought him hisgreatest public renown.

“His passion for humor led him tocreate the musical revue Sugar Ba-bies, which was a Broadway hit andearned him a Tony nomination,“

recounts Feiner. “Ralph was a larger-than-life polymath with successfulcareers as a scholar, playwright,director, and producer. He was pas-sionate about classical theater andfounded two professional theatercompanies. As the producer at theKennedy Center he worked withmany of the leading actors and directors of our time.”

Allen retired in 1999 after 15years teaching at Queens. He alsotaught at the CUNY Graduate Center.

“He was an esteemed and cher-ished colleague,” says Feiner, “whodelighted his students and peersalike with his combination of jokes,stories, and his uniquely accessibleand down-to-earth erudition.”

DEBORAH WOLFEDeborah Cannon Par-tridge Wolfe (Emerita,EECE) died September 3at the Princeton Medi-cal Center in her homestate of New Jerseyafter a battle withcancer.

“She was a prominent AfricanAmerican female educator at a time

when that was a very, very difficultthing to be,” observes EECE ChairHelen Johnson. “She was an incredi-bly joyful and passionate person. Shecared deeply about children andabout learning. And she didn’t hesi-tate to tell anyone what she thoughtwas important for them to hear.”

A former chair of the ElementaryEducation Department, Wolfe was the first African American professorat Queens College, where she wasinstrumental in creating the KappaDelta Pi educational honor society.She left Queens in1986 after 35years, returning in 2001 to receivean honorary doctorate.

An adviser to Congress and othergovernment and educational bodies,Wolfe stressed the necessity of edu-cation, particularly for those in theunderclass. (Her accomplishments as listed in Who’s Who in AmericanEducation fill a full six columninches.) The first African Americanwoman to be ordained a Baptistminister, she preached for a quarterof a century at the First BaptistChurch of Cranford, NJ. She alsotaught at the Tuskegee Institute,Grambling State University, NYU,Fordham, and Columbia.

IN MEMORIAM

College Offers Courses at Rosenthal Senior CenterThe description “senior class” has newmeaning, thanks to an innovative collab-oration between Selfhelp CommunityServices and the College for OlderAdults at the college.

Noting that it was the first programof its kind, Assemblyman Barry Gro-denchik announced in May a partnershipwhereby QC courses would be madeavailable to students ages 60 and over atthe Selfhelp Benjamin Rosenthal SeniorCenter in Flushing.

“We hope this is the beginning of along partnership that will allow us tomeet the needs of older Queens resi-dents,” said Grace S. Nierenberg, vicepresident of housing and senior centersfor Selfhelp Community Services, a

nonsectarian, not-for-profit homecareand social service organization. “Andwe salute Queens College for its will-ingness to embrace a new concept inlifelong learning by bringing its classesdirectly into the community.”

Two courses were initially offeredfor the spring semester: History of theJewish People 1 and Humor and Opti-mism as Tools for Good Health. Bypopular demand, the latter is again beingmade available at the center this fallalong with Staying Young. They join adozen on-campus courses to becomepart of a catalog of 14 low-cost, require-ment- and test-free courses for seniorsover 60 offered by the College for OlderAdults (formerly the Center for Unlim-

ited Enrichment), according to DianeGahagan, the program’s educationalcoordinator.

“I am especially proud of our part-nership with Selfhelp Community Ser-vices,” said President Jim Muyskens.“These courses are taught by our finestinstructors at the college. Thanks to theleadership of Assemblyman Grodenchikand the hard work of people in bothorganizations, we are off to a very good start.”

Said Grodenchik in remarks to theDaily News, “I have dealt with theQueens College president for some timeand he has always been tremendouslyresponsive to our needs.”

8

(continued from page 1)Extensive rehabilitation of the track and athletic fields

will take place with an additional $701,000 in City Councilfunding. A new, colored, resilient topping will be put on the recently reconstructed track, which will get two morelanes. Funding will also pay for new soccer and softballfields, as well as seating and, for the first time, lighting.

The college also hopes to move ahead on a long-pendingproject to bring the Center for the Biology of Natural Systemsonto campus. The center, currently in leased space on HoraceHarding Expressway, would relocate to the roof of the science building, where a greenhouse is also planned.

Other pending projects include:

■ A new entrance on Kissena Boulevard ($500,000, Borough President)■ A Jewish Studies Reading Room in Jefferson Hall($150,000, City Council)■ Student Union improvements, including a new patio withgreenery, partial refacing of the exterior, and repair and resurfacing of side parking lot (funded by Student Unionrevenue sources).

Recent quick-fix efforts ateducation reform such ashigh stakes testing andscripted, mandated curric-ula are causing many pub-lic school teachers to feellimited in their ability toexercise professional judg-ment and creativity inmeeting the needs of theirstudents. Coupled withpersistent underfunding of public education, manyschools are in trouble.

These and other issuesraised by such programs as “No Child Left Behind” will beexamined at Teachers and Parents Speak Out!, an all-dayeducational conference that the Department of Elementary andEarly Childhood Education is co-sponsoring on Saturday,October 23 in LeFrak Concert Hall. Other sponsors are QC’sCenter for Equity Studies Research and the nonprofit Centerfor Collaborative Education.

“We organized this conference in response to the growingconcerns of our students, who teach in public schools,” saysEECE Chair Helen Johnson. “Since they will be participatingin the workshops and panels, the conference is a way for themto engage in discussion with other educators.” Representativesfrom major education advocacy groups such as the Campaignfor Fiscal Equity will also take part.

Perhaps because the conference is going to address sensi-tive and timely issues, the EECE has received much interest

from elected officials. Eva Moskowitz, who chairs the CityCouncil’s Education Committee, and City Council colleaguesRobert Jackson, John Liu, and Gale Brewer will be participat-ing. Johnson says they’re also hoping to have representationfrom the teachers’ union and the Department of Education.

The conference will begin with a panel of New York Cityteachers weighing in on the topic “I Thought I was a Profes-sional,” and include presentations and dialogue sessions ex-amining the consequences of “No Child Left Behind” and theprospects for authentic educational reform. Several workshopswill examine a variety of related issues.

One panel will include the leaders of all the workshops and the members of the City Council “so that they can hearthe concerns of one another as well as the concerns of theaudience,” says Johnson, who sees this as “an activist prob-lem-solving conference. We want to provide opportunities forpeople to network and form action groups beyond this event.”

A volume from Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers will docu-ment the conference’s proceedings.

City Council Leaders to Participate in Education Reform Conference

Helen Johnson

AWARDS ARE HIGHLIGHT OF OCTOBER 20 FACULTY-STAFF ASSEMBLYPresident Muyskens will present four faculty memberswith Excellence in Teaching Awards at the October 20 Faculty-Staff Assembly. The awardees are RichardBodnar (Psychology), Benny Kraut (History), JanicePeritz (English), and Alan Sultan (Mathematics). Adjuncts John Nici (Art) and Edgar Troudt (BALA) and graduate student Yolanda Medina (EECE) will also be cited for excellence in the classroom.

Additionally, Muyskens will present Mini-Grants for Innovative Teaching to Jonathan Buchsbaum andZoe Beloff (Media Studies) and Patrick W. G. Brock, N. Gary Hemming, and Allan Ludman (EES).

Following his welcome and two video presenta-tions, the president and Provost Evangelos J. Gizis will introduce new administrators, chairs, and faculty.(For profiles of 52 new faculty, go towww.qc.edu/provost/new%20faculty%202004.htm

QUEENS TAKES FLIGHT IN NEW EXHIBITThe borough of Queens has an important place in the history of American aviation. Voices of Old Technology – A Museum in the Making, in partnershipwith the QC Oral History Project, has created Queensin Flight – From Balloons to Seaplanes to Space Shuttles. The exhibit highlights stories from local resi-dents and members of the QC community who havehad a role in this colorful chapter of the borough’shistory. The exhibit will be on display through the fallsemester in the Barham Rotunda and the second floordisplay cases of the Rosenthal Library.

QC COMMUNITY

http://www.qc.edu/provost/new%20faculty%202004.htm

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7THURMEMORIAL SERVICE: Don Passantino(1950–2004), Student Union, FourthFloor Ballroom, 3:30 pm.

CONCERT: MENC Private StudentsRecital: LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30pm. A voluntary $10 donation to theACSM Scholarship Fund is requestedfor these special evening concerts.

10SUNBENEFIT CONCERT: For “Pipe-dreams” on WNYC-FM, with Jan-Piet Knijff (Music) playing on theMaynard-Walker Memorial Organ.LeFrak Concert Hall, 6 pm (tickets$15 in advance, $20 at the door; forreservations call 718-739-8813).

13WEDLECTURE: “Full-Body Wine from theGrapes of Wrath: A Russian Poet’s

Adventurous Discoveryof America – Warmthof the Cold War,” Dis-tinguished ProfessorYevgeny Yevtushenko(European Languages).Music Building, ChoralRoom, 12:15 pm.

LECTURE: “The Nuremberg Trials and the De-Nazification of the Germans after World War II,” Professor Volker Berghahn. LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30 pm.

14THURCONCERT: Student Vocal DuetRecital: Luba Mayzus and MarcelleDuarte, sopranos. LeFrak ConcertHall, 12:15 pm.

15FRICONCERT: BMus Graduation Recital:Larry Small, baritone. LeFrak Concert Hall, 3 pm.

18MONFACULTY COLLOQUIUM: “John F.Kennedy and Israel’s Nuclear Program,” Isaac Alteras (History) 12 :10 pm, VIP Room Corner Bistro in the Student Union.

LECTURE: “Why Columnists WriteWhat They Write,” Newsdaycolumnist, Sheryl McCarthy. StudentUnion, Room 310, 12:15 p.m.

LECTURE: “Finding the Lost Tribes of Israel: Traces of the Israelite Exiles in Assyria,” Professor K. Law-son Younger, Jr. LeFrak ConcertHall, 7:30 pm.

20WEDLECTURE: “Dealing with the SalemWitch Trials in Poetry,” Nicole R.Cooley (English). 12:30 pm, Rosen-thal Library, 5th floor, President’sConference Room #2. Sponsored by Friends of the Queens CollegeLibrary.

21THURCONCERT: QC Choir & Chorus: JamesJohn and Cindy Bell, conductors.LeFrak Concert Hall, 12:15 pm.

21-24THUR-SUNTHE COLLEGE PLAYS: A festival of world premiere short plays incollege settings. Rathaus Hall, M 11.Thurs, 7 pm; Fri & Sat, 8 pm; Sun, 3 pm. $13/$10 QCID, seniors,alumni. For tickets: 3095.

24SUNCONCERT: Comedian Modi andklezmer band Khevre. LeFrak Concert Hall, 2 pm.

25MONCONCERT: Austrian artistsErst Kubitschek, harpsi-chord and organ, andMarianne Kubitschek,baroque violin. Worksby Heinrich Biber,Georg Muffat, andothers. LeFrak Concert Hall,12:15 pm.

27WEDLECTURE: “Objectsand Donors – Con-tinuing the Tradition,” Amy Winter, Director and Curator, Godwin-Ternbach Museum. Mu-seum Gallery, 12:30 pm.

CONCERT: QC Orchestra: MauricePeress, music director, Smetana’sMa Vlast (My Country). LeFrak Concert Hall, 12:15 pm.

OCTOBER EVENTS

27WEDLECTURE: “Fashion and Identity in Italy in the 1930s,” Eugenia Paulicelli (ELL). Calandra Institute 25 W. 43rd St., 17th floor (between5th & 6th Avenues), 6:30 pm.

LECTURE: “Reconsidering the GoldenAge of Sephardi Jewry in Light ofContemporary Scholarship andPolemics,” Professor Jane Gerber.LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30 pm.

28-31THUR-SUNTHE COLLEGE PLAYS: A festival of world premiere short plays incollege settings. Rathaus Hall, M 11.Thurs, 7 pm; Fri & Sat, 8 pm; Sun, 3 pm. $13/$10 QCID, seniors,alumni. For tickets: 2788.

29FRICONCERT: Third Annual HalloweenBand Spectacular: James Borchers(MA ’04), percussion, Rachel Lumsden (MA ’04), flute, MikaelKarlsson, piano, and guests. LeFrakConcert Hall, 3 pm.

31SUNFILM: Without a Home (Yiddish, with English subtitles). Discussant:Professor Emanuel Goldsmith.LeFrak Concert Hall, 2 pm.

1MONRECITAL: Jan-Piet Knijff performingon the Maynard-Walker MemorialOrgan. LeFrak Concert Hall, 12:15 pm.

3WEDVOCAL SEMINAR PERFORMANCE:Claudio Monteverdi’s The Coronationof Poppea, in a new English transla-tion. LeFrak Concert Hall, 12:15 pm.

LECTURE: “The Virgin Queen of theGodwin-Ternbach Museum: A 15th-Century Head of the Virgin Maryfrom Spain,” William Clark (Art).Klapper Hall 401, 12:30 pm.

LECTURE: “Battlefield Ethics and Jewish Law,” Professor MichaelBroyde. LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30 pm.

ExhibitsRECENT ACQUISITIONS 1998-2004,Godwin-Ternbach Museum, October13-December 15, 2004. Monday-Thursday 11 am-7 pm; Saturday, 11 am – 5pm

IN HIS SPARE TIME. Louis ArmstrongHouse Museum, 34-56 107th St.,Corona, NY 11368. For information,call 718-478-8274 (through Oct. 24).

DENNIS CADY: BY LAND OR BY SEA,PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND SCULPTURE,1982–2004. QC Art Center, Library,6th Floor (through Oct. 27).

NOVEMBER EVENTS

Eagle Creek by Dennis Cady

FYI is published on the first Thursday of the month. Items should be submittedby the 12th of the preceding month toMaria Matteo, Kiely 1310, x 5590. Itemslonger than one paragraph must besubmitted via e-mail to mmatteo@qc.edu .

Without a Home (October 31)

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