FYI OCT`08.indd - Queens College

A Day of Chinese Art
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Queens College Faculty & Staff News
Keeping a Close Eye on the Budget
Even before the seismic economic events
of recent weeks, the Queens College
administration, prompted by earlier
announcements of cuts in the CUNY
budget, was implementing measures to
help minimize their effects—at least, in
the short term.
“Last year we had a good budget, and
we had some reserves,” says Kathy Cobb
(VP Finance & Administration). “But
those reserves are not available to us this
fyi
October 2008
2...New Theatre Collaboration 4...
TV Ad Campaign Returns 6...Stephen Rea to Visit Campus 7
Strategic Plan Update
year, and we have a several-million-dollar
budget cut.
“Fortunately,” she continues, “we were
able to move some of the projects we
intended to do this year to last year so we
could take advantage of those reserves.”
Going forward, Cobb expects to see
substantial cuts in funding available for
OTPS (other than personnel services)
spending. “We’ll also have to see some
personnel services reductions and that
will have to be obtained through a cutback in hiring. Right now we have a hiring pause. We don’t know how long that
will last.
“This year we need to protect the
core mission, to make sure that our students’ education and our faculty’s salaries are not impacted. But other areas
will be affected.”
One area may be tuition. Any
increase there, Cobb notes, can be ame-
liorated by financial aid. With respect
to the proposal recently floated to allow
individual CUNY schools to determine
their own tuition rates, Cobb says, “I
believe a rational tuition policy is very
much on the table. We don’t want to
wait X number of years and then have
to do a substantial increase. That’s just
not right. The idea is to have modest,
incremental increases.”
continued on page 3
At the Head of Their Classrooms
incoming freshmen and transfers are not the only fresh faces on campus;
nearly 50 faculty members are making their first Qc appearance this semester.
Here are miniprofiles of four of these professors, one from each division.
nelson
Humanities newcomer MicHaeL neLson (art) specializes
in Mycenaean art and archaeology. He earned his master’s degree and doctorate at the university of toronto;
then he became an adjunct at a small liberal arts college
in st. Paul, Minnesota. “a large east coast school was
appealing to me, with its economic and ethnic diversity,”
says nelson. a resident of Manhattan’s Yorkville neighborhood, he commutes by subway and bus to Qc, but
regularly travels farther with students on excavations and
study abroad trips, which are critical to his research and
teaching. He’s already led trips in greece, italy, turkey,
and israel. “i’m thinking now of Libya,” he says.
continued on page 2
A New Trad
ition for Fr
eshmen
Some 800 fre
shmen particip
ated in the Je
of what will be
fferson Gatew
come a QC tra
ay Procession,
dition, when th
the first exercis
new gateway
ey entered ca
s leading to Je
e
mpus en mas
ffe
rs
on
se through the
Hall. They wer
Muyskens and
e then welcom
other officials.
ed by Pres. Ja
A similar cere
will take plac
mes
mony, the Jeffe
e as part of fu
rson Gateway
ture commence
leave campus
Recessional,
ment exercises
through the sa
when gradua
me gates. “The
ting students
full circle, and
journey,” says
will
they leave with
Muyskens, “tak
far more than
es students
they brought.”
Classrooms from page 1
in the social sciences, aLeXander Bauer (anthropology) explores related academic territory. “i work
in turkey, on the Black sea,” says Bauer, who studies
cultural interactions in the area, going as far back as
5000 Bc. as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of
Cultural Property, an interdisciplinary academic journal,
he also addresses present-day topics involving the treatment and ownership of artifacts. “i love teaching at the
undergraduate level,” notes Bauer, who held positions
at the university of Pennsylvania (where he got his Phd),
george Washington university, and Princeton university.
“i enjoy teaching classes that aren’t necessarily the ones
Bauer
majors would take. if you take only one class outside
your major, it should be anthropology.”
asHaKi rouFF (earth & environmental sciences) is
among 13 professors joining the Mathematics and
natural sciences division. rouff holds a doctorate in
geosciences from sunY stony Brook. she spent the last
two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory for
energy Materials at the Paul scherrer institute in switzerland, where she conducted high-temperature, highpressure lab studies aimed at transforming biomass into
a source of clean-burning fuel. rouff’s first assignment
at Qc is teaching a graduate-level introductory course,
Principles of environmental geochemistry. “i’m interested
in outreach and working with underrepresented groups,”
she adds, noting that she feels at home in the multiethnic
united states.
shady
2
African Adv
enture
On a trip this
summer to Ethi
opia to study
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baboons, QC
mpanied by (l
biologist Step
to r) Mahmou
hane Boissinot
Tuaillon (Nassa
d (Guide at Ba
(far
u Community
le National Pa
College), and
rk), Christine
Juliana Girald
Q
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stu
dents Pamela
o-Ramirez, an
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rez.
ld Fikes,
Strategic Plan Placing Emphasis on Community
rouff
encouraging the development of future scientists—particularly among minority and immigrant students—is one of
the long-term goals of a new faculty member in education,
asHraF sHadY (eece). He has extensive experience with
public institutions: He got his doctorate in science education
at the cunY graduate center and logged 17 years with the
new York city department of education as a science teacher,
science coordinator, and science director. shady’s work
concerns ways to address the impact of race, class, ethnicity,
and identity issues in science education. “science education is
not only about the delivery of content,” he explains. “unless
you change the culture of the classroom, it’s impossible to get
better results.”
The greater emphasis on community that
President James Muyskens called for in
the Strategic Plan can be seen coalescing in a number of changes taking place
both on and around the Queens College
campus.
A principal driver is the creation of
The Summit, QC’s first student housing
complex, with an anticipated August
2009 opening.
“The Strategic Plan has really laid the
groundwork for us to improve the student life of our campus and to continue
to create a campus that has a residential
feel,” says Joe Bertolino (VP Student
Affairs). “We’ve now broken ground
for the residence hall; we’ve built a new
fitness center, a recreation center, and a
series of student lounges around campus.
We’ve also updated our dining facilities.
We’re creating warm welcoming spaces
that meet not only students’ academic
needs but their social and personal needs
as well.
“The Strategic Plan,” Bertolino
observes, “gave us an opportunity to
take a good look at ourselves, to set
some benchmarks in comparison to
other institutions, and to raise the standard of the services we provide for our
students.”
The college’s new Asian Initiatives
program shows the academic side of
QC’s focus on community. Its acting
director, Marleen Kassel, says, “The
program is responsible for coordinating
existing Asia-related activities across
campus, and expanding and institutionalizing them.” And, noting the Flushing
area’s large Asian population, she says,
“It will also forge stronger bonds and
create greater visibility for the college
locally and in different Asian countries.
“Queens College,” she continues, “is
home to what is arguably the largest and
most comprehensive East Asian Studies
program in the City University system.
continued on page 5
QC People
On April 26 MAGNUS O. BASSEY (Secbe published by Princeton University
ondary Ed.) presented a paper entitled
Press). Selected this fall to be a Ful“Service—Learning for Social Justice:
bright Senior Specialist, Heilman will
An Ongoing Research,” at the second
give a series of lectures at Nanjing and
Equity & Social Justice in Education
Shanghai Universities in China as well
Conference held at the Richard Stockton as at Kaifeng University . . . On Sept.
College of New Jersey . . . ZOE BELOFF
27 RICHARD MCCOY (English) appeared
(Media Studies) pre- as a noted Shakespeare scholar at the
sented her second
Classic Stage Company’s
solo exhibition, The Saturday symposium folSomnambulists, at
lowing a 2 pm matinee
Bellwether Galperformance of Shakelery in Manhattan,
speare’s The Tempest
Sept. 6–Oct. 4. It’s
starring Mandy Patinkin.
comprised of five
With partial support
Beloff, History of a
hand-painted
from the English DepartFixed Idea, 2008,
miniature wooden ment’s Alumni Fund, 15
McCoy
stereoscopic HD video
theatres into
students from McCoy’s
in color with sound
which moving
Shakespeare II course attended the
images are projected. The installation
performance and talk. McCoy, with the
centers on the idea of literally staging
support of an NEH fellowship, is writthe unconscious as a hysterical drama.
ing a book on Faith in Shakespeare
The exhibition is accompanied by the
. . . EUGENIA PAULICELLI (Eur. Langs.)
publication of Beloff’s first book, The
recently published two
Somnambulists: A Compendium of
articles: “Mapping the
Source Material, made in collaboraWorld: The Political
tion with Christine Burgin
Geography of Dress in
. . . JEFFREY HALPERIN’s (Psych.) stuCesare Vecellio’s Cosdent Joey Trampush received an award
tume Books” in the Italto attend the 9th Annual Meeting of
ianist, Vol. 28 (2008),
the SUNY-ADHD Molecular Genetics
and “Poetica e Politica
Network, Dec. 2–10, in Sanibel Island,
Paulicelli
dello spazio nella scritFlorida . . . SAMUEL HEILMAN (Sociolotura di Clara sereni” in
gy) recently completed eight months as Athanor, n.11 (2007–08). She was also
a fellow at the Institute
invited to speak on “From the Sacred to
for Advanced Studies at
the Secular: The Gendered Geography
the Hebrew University of of Veils in Italian Cinquecento Fashion”
Jerusalem, where he was at the conference Accessorizing the
part of a group workRenaissance Body organized by NYU’s
ing on a “new history of
Gallatin School Sept. 26, and on “Going
Hasidism.” During that
Global: Italian Style and the Films of
time
he
and
a
colleague
Michelangelo Antonioni (1960–1966)”
Heilman
completed work on a
at the international conference of
social biography of Menachem Mendel
fashion studies Interactions, organized
Schneerson, the Seventh Lubavitcher
by the University of Stockholm, Oct.
Rebbe, and his messianic movement (to continued on page 4
3
Budget from page 1
Reflecting on the possible impact of the
recent Wall Street upheavals, Cobb says,
“We all have to ask ourselves if we think the
city and state are going to be in a better or a
worse position in terms of their revenue. The
New York economy is very dependent on
the banks and financial services industries.
We have to think about how that’s going to
change next year.”
Prudence and caution are the watchwords, she says, concluding, “Next year is
going to be challenging.”
Focus on Private Funding
Despite the gloomy economic prospects, Sue
Henderson (VP Institutional Advancement)
notes some continuing bright spots for the
college. These include increased entrepreneurial activity among faculty and greater
success in fund-raising activities.
“Our alumni,” she says, “are appreciative of the quality education they received
for the modest tuition they were charged.
They realize that in order to maintain that
quality education, we have to rely more on
private funding.”
In proceeding this way, notes Henderson,
“We’re just following in the pattern of most
other public institutions around the country
that have begun to rely more on their alumni
and private funds or on the entrepreneurial
activity of their faculty. Those things help
enrich our programming.”
Citing as an example of that enrichment
QC’s new Asian Initiatives program, she
says, “We use what we get from our fundraising each year to do a lot of seed funding.
Recently we’ve been able to endow the first
years of some endowed professorships. We’ve
also used it to fund faculty who want to do
innovative things. This has allowed us to
become more of a value-added institution.”
But, again taking note of the budget cuts
and grim economic news, she concludes, “It
puts the pressure on us to be very diligent
in going after both foundation grants and
private donations.”
“
It is my pleasure to
invite you to the annual
Faculty and Staff Assembly
on Thursday, October 16
at 3:30 pm in LeFrak Concert
Hall. At that time, awards will be
presented for Innovative Teaching
Projects, Excellence in
Teaching, Grant Winners,
Entrepreneurship,
outstanding CUNY Office
Assistant, outstanding
HEO, and Office of the
Year. We will introduce new faculty
and I will outline what we have
accomplished over the past year
and speak about a few of the opportunities and challenges that lie
ahead.
”
A Job Well Done
Retiring Men’s and Women’s Soccer
Coach Roby Young received an award
at last June’s annual Sports Awards
Dinner acknowledging his 15-year
career, which included 106 wins.
People from page 3
3–4 . . . STEVE PEKAR (Earth & Env. Sci.)
gave four talks this summer: one in
St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Scientific
Committee for Antarctic
Research meeting; two
in Oslo, Norway, at the
International Geological
Congress; and an invited talk at Cambridge
University in the UK.
Pekar was recently one
Pekar
of 26 scientists selected
from over 120 researchers around the world by the integrated
Ocean Drilling Program to participate
as an onboard scientist on an oceanic research expedition to Antarctica
between early January and mid-March
2009 . . . CAROLINE RUPPRECHT (Comp.
Lit.) presented a paper on “Hiroshima
mon amour and Uwe Johnson’s Jahrestage” at the U.S. Cultural Studies
Association Meeting at NYU on May
22 . . . CHRISTA SPREIZER (Eur. Langs.)
was an invited participant at the 4th
Alumni Conference of the Round Table
USA: Societies in Transition—Adjusting
to Changing Global Environments held
at Stanford University, June 26–28. Fellows from over 30 key organizations
and foundations discussed the challenges posed by the ongoing process of globalization and ways in which to improve
future German-American cooperation.
MFA in Creative Writing Begins Collaboration
with Actors Company Theatre of New York CIty
Dramatic developments are under way at
Queens College. Building on the success of
its master’s in fine arts program in creative
writing and literary translation, QC is
joining forces with The Actors Company
Theatre (TACT) of New York City. This
unique collaboration will allow emerging
dramatists to have their scripts developed
and performed by members of an acclaimed off-Broadway troupe, one of the
few true repertory companies in the city.
Under the leadership of Obie-awardnominated playwright Richard Schotter
(English), winner of the Berman Prize in
Playwriting, this curriculum offers the rare
interplay of practical theatre experience
and intensive workshop training. “There’s
nothing more useful and exciting for a
young playwright than to see and hear his
or her work performed by professional
actors in a real-world theatrical setting,”
notes Schotter. “And that’s what our partnership with TACT will provide.” Students
will also have the chance to cross genres
and study with members of QC’s MFA
4
faculty in poetry, fiction, and translation.
To complete the learning experience,
members of TACT will help students move
their material from the page to the stage.
Led by director/playwright Scott Alan Evans and actors Cynthia Harris and Simon
Jones, TACT is an ensemble of professional theatre artists with collective credits
in scores of Broadway shows, hundreds of
Off-Broadway plays, and over a thousand
regional productions. Unique in its artistic
vision, TACT is, in the words of Evans,
dedicated to “creating theatre from its
essence: the text and the actor’s ability to
bring it to life.”
The deadline for application to the
program for the 2009–2010 academic year
is February 15, 2009. For further information, visit the MFA Web site at www.
qc.cuny.edu/Creative_Writing and The
Actors Company Theatre’s Web site at
www.tactnyc.org.
2,977 Reasons to Remember
That’s the number of lives lost in the worst attack ever on American soil on Sept.
11, 2001. Samuel Hahn (above, right), president of the College Republicans,
assisted by Jacob Solomon
(left), raised money to pay
for the 2,977 flags that were
placed on the Quad for this
year’s observance of the attack. The Manhattan skyline
behind the pair still appears
strangely incomplete without
the familiar twin towers
of the World Trade Center.
Speaking at this year’s
memorial event, Pres. James
Muyskens observed, “We
come here today to not talk
about what is missing, but
what we have gained. . . . Take these tragedies as an opportunity to understand
each other.” Sen. Frank Padavan (near left) presented Muyskens with a “Flag of
Heroes” listing emergency service personnel who died on 9/11.
Strategic Plan from page 2
Fish swim through an urban landscape in a video work by chin chih Yang.
Contemporary Chinese Landscapes at
Godwin-Ternbach Museum
Meditation in Contemporary Chinese
Landscape, a special exhibition organized
by the godwin-ternbach Museum and curated by Luchia Meihua Lee, features the work
of 12 chinese artists from taiwan, china,
Malaysia, and the united states. it opens on
october 15 and runs through december 6.
Working in the media of painting, installation, video, and photography, these artists
capture the spirit of chinese landscape in
contemporary context, using today’s visual
language and idioms. included is work
by Queens resident Zhang Hongtu, whose
politically charged painting was seized
by chinese customs officials and banned
from a Beijing exhibition during the recent
olympics.
“this exhibition, at a time of china’s
rising global influence, has multifaceted
objectives,” says godwin-ternbach director
amy Winter. “it will dynamically expose
our community to contemporary chinese
art, a vital force in world art. it will educate diverse audiences about traditional
chinese culture and its transformation by
contemporary artists, giving insight into
5
their fundamental reverence for nature and
ecological harmony, which is so crucial for
global survival. additionally, the exhibition
parallels Queens college’s newly launched
asian initiatives, which has been designed,
in part, to develop and solidify our relationship with the asian community in Queens—
the second largest in the u.s.—and pave the
way for future collaboration.”
Just as chinese landscapes are meant to
be true to nature but not pictorial, Meditation
invites the viewer to explore the art in detail,
using imagination to supplement the work
itself. in so doing, the viewer experiences
a kind of journey through the represented
scene. updating this practice for the current exhibition, the gallery space has been
designed as an interactive environment, with
four stations or zones that simulate the journey that viewers undergo by contemplating
traditional chinese landscapes.
the opening reception on october 15 will
feature a special performance by choreographer Yin Mei (dance). For information on
additional public events, visit www.qc.cuny.
edu/godwin_ternbach.
Three of the eight distinguished professors on campus teach about Asia. The
Asian Initiatives program is a logical
outgrowth of this unique aspect of
Queens College.”
On October 15 the program will
present A Day of Chinese Art to coincide with the opening of Meditation in
Contemporary Chinese Landscape at the
Godwin-Ternbach Museum (see article
at left). The day will feature “The White
Haired Girl: Chinese Revolutionary
Ballet on Film,” a presentation and
discussion by Ling Guiming of the
Shanghai Ballet at 12 noon in the Patio
Room of the Dining Hall. At 6 pm in
the Godwin-Ternbach, there will be a
performance of Mountain/River/Ink/Lust
• three thousand, choreographed by Yin
Mei (Dance).
QC’s participation in CUNY’s environmental initiative will become even
more of a community effort in the weeks
ahead, according to Kathy Cobb (VP
Finance & Administration), director of
the campus’s sustainability efforts.
“We’re going to launch a suggestion
campaign and give out prizes,” she says.
People who contribute ideas that can be
used to help shrink QC’s carbon footprint
will be rewarded with tote bags—made
from renewable
materials, of
course—bearing the
sustainability logo.
Cobb says
there may also be
more bike racks
on campus in the
future, thanks to
a city initiative to
induce more people to reduce dependence on carbon-emitting automobiles.
“I know Mayor Bloomberg is committed
to having a bike-friendly city,” she says.
“Another initiative is carpooling software. There are some vendors who supply software that matches people up with
carpooling options.”
Cobb notes that sustainability goals
and requirements are also being factored
into the RFP for a new food service as the
current vendor’s contract has expired.
The college’s ongoing efforts to
“brand” itself in the minds of the public
also support the Strategic Plan’s emphasis on community. “Building on our
unique strengths to create a recognizable
QC brand is an important way to foster
unity and pride among faculty, staff, and
students,” notes Maria Terrone (Asst. VP
Communications).
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Homecoming
TV Ad Campaign Last Spring Succeeds—
Ad Will Reach More Homes This Month
“Take the Q,” the college’s first-ever television ad campaign that debuted March 31,
significantly increased telephone activity
to Admissions during its six-week broadcast on Time Warner and Cablevision networks in New York City and Long Island.
The 30-second ad, which starred the
college’s diverse students, greatly increased
awareness of QC. While the ad aired,
the average number of calls coming into
the basic Admissions telephone number
(x5600) increased by more than 50 percent
compared to a week in March before the
ad was broadcast. In the fifth week of the
campaign, calls increased by 140 percent.
The number of people who visited the
college’s Web site also increased during the
same period.
“Take the Q” began a new three-week
run on October 6. An on-screen message has been added informing viewers
that the college’s residence hall opens in
August 2009. “To attract more potential
students for The Summit, we’ve expanded our reach,” says Maria Terrone
(Asst. VP Communications). “We’re now
including the Hauppauge zone in Suffolk County, which airs in an additional
200,000 homes.”
Making a Good Impression
Yes, many of these neatly attired young men and women really are Queens College students—
putting on their best appearance and attitude as they shuttle between booths at a recent career
fair held on the fourth floor of the Student Union. It was an opportunity to meet representatives of
several prospective employers, leave a resume, and make a good impression.
QC in the media
Recent QC graduate JACQUELINE AIELLO,
winner of a 2008–2009 Fulbright Fellowship to study the American presence
in Naples, Italy, after World War II, was
interviewed in the Sept.
17 edition of the Italian
magazine Oggi 7 . . .
NICK COCH (Earth & Env.
Sci.) appeared Sept. 4
on the “Leonard Lopate
Show” on WNYC 93.9 FM
to discuss the impact of
Coch
hurricanes on residential
development on Long
Island . . . ANDREW
HACKER (Political Science) was interviewed
on Pacifica Radio’s Sept.
18 “Democracy Now!”
broadcast. The topic
concerned attempts to Hacker
6
bar African American voters from participating in the coming election. Reference
was made to Hacker’s Aug. 28 article in the
New York Review of Books, “Obama: The
Price of Being Black”. . . JESSICA HARRIS
was featured Sept. 26 in the Chronicle of
Higher Education’s Diversity Section
. . . The New York Times devoted its Sept.
5 City Room feature to PYONG GAP MIN’s
(Sociology) recent book, Ethnic Solidarity
for Economic Survival:
Korean Greengrocers in
New York City . . . The
Sept. 9 edition of the
Daily News featured a
story about the QC bus
tour of Queens for new
faculty and staff initiMin
ated by President JAMES
MUYSKENS to acquaint them with the borough in which their students live . . . STEVE
PEKAR'S (EES) fall expedition with QC students to Antarctica was reported in the
Sept. 23 Daily News. . . GERRY SOLOMON
(Journalism) contributed
an article to Newsday’s
Sept. 4 Opinion section on
the attributes of a good
TV news anchorman. It
was prompted by the
controversy over MSNBC’s political convention
Solomon
coverage . . . Research
by JOHN WALDMAN (Biology) into the
spawning habits of sea lamprey was the
subject of a Sept. 9 New York Times story
. . . Arizona State University’s online ASU
News reported on a new publication, the
Journal of Surrealism and the Americas,
co-edited by AMY WINTER (Godwin-Ternbach Museum) . . . The New York Times offered a major feature Sept. 29 on the Louis
Armstrong House Museum's acquisition of
the Jack Bradley Collection of memorabilia
. . . The Godwin-Ternbach Museum’s exhibition of 56 images of mothers and children,
Beggars and Choosers, was reviewed in the
Aug. 21 editions of the Queens Courier and
Queens Chronicle, and the Aug. 28 edition
of the Queens Tribune. It was listed Aug.
25 in the New York Times’ This Week in
the Community calendar . . . QC’s new MFA
program in playwriting was the subject of
stories in the July 24 and Aug. 14 Queens
Courier, the Aug. 21 Queens Chronicle, and
the July 24 TimesLedger . . . The Aug. 14
Queens Courier and the Aug. 21 Queens
Chronicle featured stories about the Queens
College Choral Society . . . A feature
profiling three 2008 college freshmen in
the Sept. 4 edition of TimeOut New York
included QC’s Hiran Kanaraarachchi.
IN MEMORIAM: Benny Kraut
Benny Kraut, a member of the History Department since 1998
and director of the QC Jewish Studies Program and the Center
for Jewish Studies from 1998 to 2006, died on Friday, Sept. 26.
A renowned scholar of Jewish history, he earned the President’s
Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004. Kraut came to QC
after serving as professor and director of Judaic Studies at the
University of Cincinnati for almost 22 years. A summa cum laude
graduate in philosophy from Yeshiva University, he held MA and
PhD degrees in Jewish history from Brandeis University. Kraut’s
wide-ranging academic interests lay in the areas of modern
European and American Jewish history, the history of Judaism,
Jewish-Christian relations, and Holocaust studies, fields in which he published widely. He is
survived by his wife, Penina, and his three children, Racheli, Yehuda, and Yosefa.
Harmonious Homecoming
Graduates of QC’s music program perform in the garden of the Louis Armstrong House Museum for participants in this year’s Homecoming on Sept. 21. A reception at the house was the
last act of a day filled with activities that began with brunch in the recently renovated Patio
Room. This year’s event saluted the classes of ’48, ’58, and ’83.
Stephen Rea to Be Interviewed After Oct. 16
Performance of Playboy of the Western World
After receiving critical acclaim in New
York and London stagings of Sam Shepard’s monologue Kicking a Dead Horse,
Stephen Rea is playing
a new role as artist-inresidence at Queens
College in October.
The Belfast-born
actor, an Oscar nominee
for his performance in
The Crying Game, will
visit classes and rehearsrea
als in conjunction with
the college production
of J.M. Synge’s Playboy of the Western
World. He will also attend the play’s opening night on October 16, when he will be
interviewed by Professor Kevin Whalen of
Notre Dame University, Dublin, after the
final curtain. “I’m very susceptible to being
asked to do things,” says Rea, who considers Synge’s dark comedy “the greatest Irish
play we have in the English language.”
The first Irish drama enacted at
Queens College in decades, Playboy is
7
the culmination of an innovative interdepartmental effort. This summer Clare
Carroll (Irish Studies) and Susan Einhorn
(Theatre) took 16 CUNY students to the
National University of Ireland at Galway
for a Study Abroad course that focused
on Playboy, and Translations by Brian
Friel. Absorbing Irish culture at its source
allowed the participants—most of them
QC drama majors—to develop a deeper
understanding of the texts. Rea is an apt
choice as coach: He played the title role in
the Synge work earlier in his career.
Following the performance on Sunday,
Oct. 19, there will be a panel discussion
on Irish theatre. Among the participants
will be Charlotte Moore, the artistic
director of the Irish Repertory Theatre in
New York City.
The Department of Drama, Theatre &
Dance will present Playboy of the Western
World in Goldstein Theatre, October
16–26, under the direction of Einhorn.
Tickets are $12. See calendar on page 8
for dates and times.
Play Ball!
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October
15
Wed
“Stochastic
Switches in Bacteria: A Model of Survival
in Fluctuating Environments,” Edo Kussell (NYU). Science Bldg., Room D139,
11:15 am.
Biology Colloquium:
Domestic Violence
Awareness Day:
Press Conference, Frese
Hall, 1st Floor, 11 am;
March, in front of Frese
Hall, 12 noon.
"The White
Haired Girl: Chinese Revolutionary Ballet
on Film," presentation and discussion,
Prof. Lin Guiming, Dir., Shanghai Ballet
China, Patio Room Dining Hall, 12 noon–
1:30 pm. President’s Reception, 5:15–6
pm; Mountain/River/Ink/Lust • three thousand, dance performance by Yin Mei, Dir.
QC Dance Program, 6–6:30 pm; Meditation in Contemporary Chinese Landscape,
exhibition opening with original student
music compositions, 6:30–8 pm; GodwinTernbach Museum, 405 Klapper Hall.
a day of chinese arts:
16-19 & 23-26
THU–SUN
Play: The Playboy of the Western
World, interview with actor Stephen
Rea follows Oct. 16 performance.
Goldstein Theatre. Times: Thu., 7 pm;
Fri. & Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm. $12.
Information 718-793-8080 or www.
KupferbergCenter.org/playboy.htm
8
20
30
Mon
“Commuting to Queens College: Why So Slow
and What Can Be Done,” Yan Zheng
(Earth & Environmental Sciences) and
Alfredo Morabia (Center for Biology
of Natural Systems). Q-Side Lounge,
Dining Hall, 12:15 pm. RSVP Qc.Pres.
EventsRSVP@qc.cuny.edu or x75559.
Presidential Roundtable:
21
TUE
Siri Howard, soprano, and
Max Roll, baritone. LeFrak Hall, 10
am–12 noon. Information x73802.
Concert:
22
WED
Biology Colloquium: “TGF-b Superfamily Signaling: Newly Recognized
Roles in the Regulation of Growth, Adiposity and Energy Metabolism,” Chester
Brown (Baylor College of Medicine).
Science Bldg., Room D139, 11:15 am.
23
THU
LECTURE: “The Contribution of Jewish
Scholarship to the Emergence of Islamic
Studies,” Dr. Ismar Schorsch. LeFrak Hall,
7:30 pm.
THU
Master Class and Workshop:
Kenny Vance and the Planotones
24
FRI
Kenny Vance and the Planotones Unplugged. LeFrak Hall, 8 pm. $45.
Concert:
26
2
SUN
Kaddish. Discussant:
Paul Marcus. LeFrak
Hall, 2 pm. $5.
3
MON
Kaddish
Chemistry
MON
Chemistry Seminar: “Light Harvesting and Coherence in Multichromophoric
Systems: From Nature to Nanoscale,”
Gregory Scholes (University of Toronto).
Remsen Hall, Room 101/105, 12:15 pm.
“A Child’s Voice: One Girl’s
Journey to Discover Her Voice and Be
Heard,” Michele Pranger. Frese Hall,
Room 014, 12:15 pm.
Lecture:
“An
American Conductor in China from 19802008,” Maurice Peress (Music), Recital
Room 226, Music Bldg., 12:15 pm. RSVP
Qc.Pres.EventsRSVP@qc.cuny.edu or
x75559.
Presidential Roundtable:
28
November
Cinema on Sundays:
SUN
Concert: Shlomo Leiderman & Old Red
Wine Band, Klezmer Meets Dixieland.
LeFrak Hall, 2 pm. $15.
27
“Performance Techniques and Gesture
in Baroque Opera,” with counter-tenor
Drew Minter. Music Building, Room 270,
1–3 pm.
TUE
Evening Reading:
Novelist Jamaica Kincaid
reads from her work and is
interviewed by Leonard Lopate. LeFrak Hall. 7 pm. $15. Information
x74646 or www.qc.cuny.edu/readings.
Seminar: “The H-NOX Family of
Heme Sensor Proteins: A New Role for
Nitric Oxide Signaling in Bacteria,” Elizabeth Boon (Stony Brook). Remsen Hall,
Room 101/105, 12:15 pm.
4
TUE
Jaume Llinares,
Quico Miro Reig, violins,
Vicent Nogues, viola, and
Fran Moral, cello. LeFrak
Hall, 10 am–12 noon.
Information x73802.
Concert:
Exhibits
Meditation on Contemporary
Chinese Landscape. Godwin-Ternbach
Museum. October 15–December 6, 2008.
Information on hours and related events:
www.qc.cuny.edu/godwin_ternbach/
index.
FYI items should be submitted to Maria Matteo, maria.matteo@qc.cuny.edu, Kiely 1310, x75593.