2 SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

Preserving a Great American Home JAMES MOORE AND THE JOHN BOWNE HOUSE

Preserving a Great American Home JAMES MOORE AND THE JOHN BOWNE HOUSE

QT H E M A G A Z I N E O F

Queens CollegeVOL. IX, NO. 2 SPRING 2004

In April the college renamed a plaza and a building in honor of two extraordinary graduates. The plaza outside RosenthalLibrary has become the Edwin M. (’63) and Judith Cooperman Plaza, and B Building now carries the name of 1942 graduateVirginia Frese Palmer. President James Muyskens noted that “A Jefferson Hall makes a statement about what a collegeaspires to, but a Cooperman Plaza and a Frese Hall boast of a shared achievement: a college that prepared a student, and astudent who used that preparation to accomplish remarkable things. We are honored that their names are now a permanentpart of Queens College.” Inset: Judith, Edwin, and daughter Dori Cooperman at the dedication ceremony for CoopermanPlaza. Above: Virginia Frese Palmer and President Muyskens on the porch of Virginia Frese Hall. “Queens College turned mefrom an introvert afraid to speak my mind into an activist, a feminist, and a real believer in helping others. I am so grateful,”Palmer said.

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Email allows us to keep you informed about timely issues andannouncements without the college incurring prohibitive postalcosts. In the near future we hope to periodically email you aboutitems such as alumni activities, chapter developments, news high-lights, and other information I know you will find interesting. Iassure you that we will not overwhelm you with announcements or make your email information available to anyone else.

To send us your email address, go to www.qc.cuny.edu/QC_Foundation/ and click on the Register for Email button to the left and complete the form.

While you’re on our Web site, I invite you to look around to see thewealth of information available there. For a quick snapshot of thecollege today, go to www.qc.cuny.edu/about/, and then check out our interactive map—www.qc.cuny.edu/Map/—to see how the col-lege has changed since you graduated. And don’t forget to go to theAlumni page where you will find the latest on chapter doings andupcoming events, and have an opportunity to send us the latest information about yourself for use in future issues of Q magazine.

Jim MuyskensPresident

3SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

THIS ISSUE: A professsor and his studentsunearth the early history of Queens, whilea graduate and his wife record the storiesof the borough’s latest settlers. Can JayWolpert turn this into a game show?

Piecing Together the History of a Great American House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

By John Cassidy

Traveling the World – In Queens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

By Jacquelyn Southern

QC News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

From Flushing to Hollywood:Jay Wolpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

By Jacquelyn Southern

Alumni Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Maria Terrone

EDITOR

John Cassidy

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Dyanne Maue

STAFF WRITER

Jacquelyn Southern

DESIGNER

Georgine Ingber

Cover: Professor James Moore at the JohnBowne House in Flushing.

Photos: All photos by Nancy Bareis exceptp. 4 Susana Bates; p. 5 Adrian Partridge;

pp. 6-7 Warren Lehrer; pp. 8, 16 Silhouette(b+w), p. 11 courtesy Jay Wolpert.

We welcome your letters. Send them to:Q Magazine, Queens College, CUNY,Kiely Hall 1009, Flushing, NY 11367

THE MAGAZINE OF

Queens College

Q

Vol. IX, No. 2, Spring 2004

president@qc.edu

The Bowne House in Flushing—the oldest house in Queens, andperhaps the oldest in the city—is

rich in American history. Its first occupant,John Bowne, is famous for his defense ofreligious freedom. Bownes were involvedin the founding of the New York StockExchange and the Bank of New York.Walter Bowne was mayor of New Yorkfrom 1829 to 1833, and Robert Bowne wasa founder of the Manumission Society. Andtwo American presidents—Lincoln andFord—have Bowne blood in their veins.

This past February Anthropology ChairJames Moore and his students presentedthe results of six years of research and

archaeological digs at the house in an exhi-bition at the Flushing Library. Entitled New Perspectives on the Bowne House:Archaeological and ArchitecturalResearch, 1997–2003, the show gave thepublic an opportunity to view maps, histor-ical documents, and research related to thehouse. Also on exhibit were some of thethousands of artifacts the team unearthed:shards of early serving platters, porcelaincups, and a doll; Native American arrow-heads; Delft tile; and a high-caliber, unfiredbullet cartridge from the 1860s that waswisely handed over to the NYPD.

“Bowne House offers a unique opportu-nity to examine issues related to social

change in New York over the last 350years,” says Moore, an expert on patternsof human settlement in Queens from the17th through 19th centuries. He himselfbecame interested in archaeology when, asan undergraduate at Brown University, hetook a course taught by a charismatic pro-fessor, James Deetz. After a couple of digs,he was hooked. Moore received his PhDfrom the University of Massachusetts atAmherst and continued to go on digs asnearby as Brookhaven and Shelter Islandand as far afield as Sweden and Ireland.

Moore’s involvement with BowneHouse began in 1997 when borough histo-rian Henry Ludder, a trustee of the Bowne

(L-r) Student archaeologists Jeffrey Gordon, Erica Manney, Frank Feeley, and Professor James Mooredisplay some of the artifacts found near the foundation of the Bowne House.

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 20044

Piecing Together the History of a Great American House

By John Cassidy

5SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

House Historical Society, called the collegeand asked if it would be interested in doingresearch. Moore saw a great opportunity:“For many of our students, a trip out ofstate or overseas to do a dig is just tooexpensive. But with Bowne House, theyhad the chance to take part in a historicalarchaeological dig minutes away fromcampus.” Moore created a field methodscourse that met at the house each Friday ofthe fall semester for a full day of digging.

The digs have attracted enthusiastic students for seven years. Besides findingartifacts, students discovered that thekitchen was a structurally independentaddition, not the oldest section of the houseas had been believed. They also found anintact capped well that dates from at leastthe 1830s, and a cobble-paved area thatcould have been an early greenhouse.

Excavation will resume this fall on thesouth side of the house, says Moore, whoexpects the work to continue for severalyears. “Once the south side work is done,then stabilization and reconstruction of thehouse can proceed,” he explains. “No con-struction work has taken place since the1930s—and that work did more harm thangood by introducing moisture between thewalls and the foundation.”

The Bowne House, at 37-01Bowne Street, was built around1661 by John Bowne, who settled

in Flushing when New York was underDutch rule. In 1662 Governor PeterStuyvesant ordered Bowne arrested forallowing Quakers to hold meetings in hishouse (Bowne’s wife was a Quaker, andBowne himself was a convert). Refusing topay a fine for his offense, Bowne wasdeported to Ireland “as an example toothers.” The English-born Bowne eventu-ally made his way to Amsterdam andpleaded his case to the Dutch West IndiaCompany, who were the financial backersof the Dutch colony in the New World.Bowne won, and his famous defense ofreligious freedom helped establish princi-ples that became part of the Bill of Rights.

The Bowne House reflects the contra-dictions of American history. It can rightlybe seen as a symbol of liberty thanks notonly to Bowne’s defense of religion, butalso for later generations of Bownes whowere active in the abolitionist movement.Today the Bowne House is a stop on theFlushing Freedom Mile Historic Trail.

Yet John Bowne, like many of his con-

temporaries, owned slaves. It has long beenknown that Bowne had two slaves and anindentured servant. But recently unearthedartifacts lead Moore to believe Bowne mayhave owned a number of slaves.

How can he tell? Something as simpleas a porcelain Chinese cup speaks vol-umes. “To own a fine porcelain cup meantyou had considerable wealth,” Moore says,and that kind of wealth in the 1600s mostlikely was produced in part through thelabor of slaves. “These slaves are not justhelping out in the kitchen,” Moorebelieves. “They are out in the fields, plant-

ing, harvesting, and creating wealth.”This interpretation is in line with recent

scholarship that points to a larger slavepopulation in Queens than previouslythought. “Indeed,” Moore says, “from 1690to 1790 about a third of all households inFlushing had slaves.”

Bowne House was occupied bymembers of the family and theirdescendants up until the 1940s.

Listed on the National Register of HistoricPlaces and designated a New York CityLandmark, Bowne House is considered oneof the best preserved examples of Anglo-Dutch architecture in the nation. It has,however, been closed to the public since2000. It is estimated that it will cost about$2 million to restore the house.

The Bowne House Historical Society,which has operated the house as a museum

since 1947, is working to reopen the house.It plans to transfer ownership to the cityand is seeking an affiliation with theHistoric House Trust of New York (HHT).By partnering with HHT, the house will

have access to both the trust’s services andcity and state funds. The society plans toraise $700,000 in private donations, atwhich point it could receive matchingfunds from both the city and the state.

Moore plans to be working at the housewith students for the foreseeable future.“The work we are doing now,” he notes,“is required under federal and state law tomake sure no historical or archaeologicalfeatures are destroyed when a historical siteis being restored.”

Although the city will own the house,the society will continue to own the collec-tions and be responsible for administeringthe house’s educational programs. Now amember of the board of trustees of thesociety, Moore hopes to help develop thoseprograms. A major challenge will be bal-ancing the Bowne legacy as slave ownersand abolitionists.

Views of the Bowne House as depicted by J. Milbert in 1825 (top) and today.

“I am sitting on a wooden crate on a cargo flight to somewhere, I have no idea where. It is very cold in the plane and dark. I am cargo.

I am secret. My angel is a Russian pilot named Melanov. The plane lands—where I honestly do not know.”–Ideda Antosi, on his flight from assassins in Nigeria

A Nepali dancer in the ancient Charya Buddhist traditionwhose room is so small that he rehearses by visualization . . . a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo whoescapes assassination concealed as cargo on a flight to JFK, then seeks political asylum but spends two years in adetention center . . . a traditional Afghan woman found andrescued from a refugee camp by her Westernized daughterin New York . . . a gay couple who flee homophobic deaththreats in Colombia but find safety here by coming out ofthe closet . . . two Egyptian brothers who were urban pio-neers in a once desolate stretch of Astoria but now face gen-trification and upheaval.

A new book on Queens is getting ravereviews—as are the companion CD andexhibition. Crossing the BLVD: Strangers,Neighbors, Aliens in a New America(Norton, 2003) represents an innovativecollaboration by Warren Lehrer ’77 and hiswife Judith Sloan. Together they haveelicited the stories of 79 recent immigrantsto Queens, creating striking, often movingcollages of words, music, and images.

The central metaphor for the project is“crossing.” The boulevard in question, ofcourse, is Queens Boulevard, where somany have been struck or killed while try-ing to cross its twelve lanes. Indeed, theproject features several individuals whoselives have been changed by injury or death

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 20046

Traveling the World – In QueensBy Jacquelyn Southern

on that boulevard. A parallel hazardouscrossing is that from home country to theUnited States. Then there is Queens itself,which Lehrer describes as “a crossroads ofthe world.”

Lehrer is a writer, photographer, anddesigner, and Sloan is an actress, oral his-torian, and audio artist who shapes newcompositions from recorded words andsounds. For over three years they exploredQueens, asking new immigrants how theygot here and what they found on arrival.Many of their stories, recorded in first-per-son narratives, represent spliced-togetherfragments that Lehrer and Sloan gatheredover time, with deepening trust and friend-ship. These stories leave indelible impres-

8

“One week after the July 1999 crackdown, I was arrested for doing my exercises in the park.The police interrogated me, but I didn’t take them seriously. I said to the policeman ‘There are other

people in the same park doing Tai Chi exercises. Whydon’t you arrest them? With Falung Gong exercise

you move your hands up and down. With Tai Chi youmove your hands side to side. ‘Is side to side legiti-

mate and up and down against the law? Is this ajoke?” The policeman wasn’t laughing. He said, ‘Why

don’t you learn something else, like aerobics?’”–Amy Li

sions of real individuals, speaking franklyabout life-shaping experiences—war,repression, discrimination, want.

The book is a tour de force of oral histo-ries, photographs, graphics, and innovativepage design. The CD, available with thehardcover edition of the book or separately,comprises interview-based audio composi-tions, new music composed by ScottJohnson, and international music per-formed by people in the book. The exhibi-tion, which was at the Queens Museum ofArt from December 14 through March 28,consisted of photographs, text, and soundstations, as well as a traveling kiosk wherevisitors could record their own stories.(Selected images and a sound station willbe at New York University’s BronfmanCenter from April 14 through September30.) Finally, an interactive Web site,www.crossingtheblvd.org, includes selec-tions from the multimedia project whileoffering visitors another opportunity torecord their personal experiences.

These efforts have earned “Crossing theBLVD” important recognition and muchmedia attention. The book won the 2003Award for Innovative Use of an Archivefrom the Archivists Round Table ofMetropolitan New York. The award con-gratulated Lehrer and Sloan “for explodingthe paradigms of oral history and reinter-preting them for our multimedia century.”The book also won the Best of the BestPhotography Award in the 2004 New YorkBook Show, and was selected as a BestBook of the Year by Publisher’s Weeklyand the Utne Reader.

Such prodigious output is hardly newfor Lehrer, the award-winning author ofeight previous books combining his ownwriting, photography, and design. An asso-ciate professor of art at SUNY Purchase,he is also a member of the graduate facultyat the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan,where he teaches in the Designer as Authorprogram. He describes himself as a bookartist, with special interests in how textsand images are related. “One of the thingsI’ve been developing is the relationship ofthe human voice to the printed word, orhow to deal graphically with two or threeor four different voices, visually as well asstructurally,” he says. “Photography worksits way in with that.”

Ironically, however, the sympathetic eye on Queens is new. Lehrer, a native of Whitestone and Bayside, found the bor-ough a dull place in his youth, when it was popularly identified with ArchieBunker. As an undergraduate, he says, “I didn’t really want to be in Queens anymore,” but was inspired in his art stud-ies by the late Professor Louis Finkelstein.“He was a great teacher. He was open tomy inventiveness and, in a very indescrib-able way, he motivated me.” After finish-ing his BA, Lehrer went on to earn his MFA at Yale University.

Now he and Sloan live in Sunnyside,Queens, with immigrants from around theworld as neighbors. Their project has beenconducted in part through their own non-profit arts organization, EarSay, dedicatedto telling the stories of the “uncelebrated.”It also got a boost from the Rockefeller and

Ford Foundations plus help from organiza-tions like the Lawyers Committee forHuman Rights, Elders for the Arts, andQueens Public Library.

Meanwhile, the book has had an impacton the people it features, especially AmyLi, who was exiled from China because ofher involvement in the banned FalungGong movement. She showed the book toUnited States Consulate officials, persuad-ing them to allow her daughter into thiscountry.

The project isn’t over yet. Lehrer and Sloan hope to see the exhibition and kiosktravel widely, and are developing a theaterpiece based on the exhibition. “We want toextend the repository of stories,” saysLehrer. “We learned a lot. It’s become athoroughly transformative experience forus.”

And, quite likely, for the many thou-sands who have experienced Lehrer andSloan’s work.

QQC News

Dr. George Gubernikoff ’77is a man with a mission.After reading in the NewYork Times that the $400increase in CUNY tuitionwas enough to keep somestudents out of college, hedecided to take action.

Convinced that many QCgraduates who are physi-cians share his concern, heapproached DevelopmentDirector Mario DellaPinawith the idea of starting aQueens College MedicalAlumni Association. Hehopes this will become avehicle for giving back tothe college, perhapsthrough black-tie fundrais-ers. Such efforts could lead to a scholarship for apremed student as early asnext spring.

When his father died ofheart disease during hisfreshman year at Queens,Gubernikoff set his sightson medical school, graduat-ing summa cum laude withinduction into Phi BetaKappa. He then earned hisMD at CUNY’s Mount SinaiSchool of Medicine, followedby prestigious postdoctoraltraining and board certifica-tion in anesthesiology, criti-cal care medicine, internalmedicine, and cardiovascu-lar disease. A fellow of theAmerican College of Cardio-logy and an active lecturerand writer, Gubernikoff isnow director of clinical car-diac services at WinthropUniversity Hospital inMineola, NY.

Gubernikoff contributesgenerously to educationand, until recently, servedas fellowship program direc-tor for cardiology at North-western University MedicalSchool. His passion, howev-er, remains his alma mater.

“Queens College is at thetop of the list of what I’mrespectful of and gratefulto,” he says. As proof ofthis, Gubernikoff and hissister Nancy Gubernikoff

Study AbroadProgram ExpandsIt is often noted that the worldcomes to Queens College as stu-dents from more than 140 coun-tries attend classes here. Nowthanks to new study abroad agree-ments, the college will be sendingmore students out into the world.

Queens has joined the CollegeConsortium for InternationalStudies, a D.C.–based partnershipof over 135 public and private col-leges and universities. CCIS negoti-ates study abroad contracts withoverseas institutions, offering mem-ber schools access to 80 programsin 31 countries.

Work with CCIS is being admin-istered by Joan Migliori, coordinatorof the CUNY/Italy Exchange at theCalandra Institute since 1995.Having been involved in studyabroad programs since 1985,Migliori knows their beneficialeffect. “When the students comeback, they are more focused, moremature,” she says. “They have aglobal resume.”

A second development is anagreement with King Alfred’sCollege in Winchester, England.Students entering this program areadvised by Maxine Fisher (English),coordinator of the CUNY/ParisExchange Program and director ofthe Study Abroad Office.

Founded in 1840, King Alfred’soffers a strong liberal arts programand small classes held on a beautifulcampus, located in a historic cathe-dral city one hour from London.“It’s a safe, small academic commu-nity,” says Fisher. “Our students canhave the experience of living oncampus, but live close enough to aworld capital that they won’t missthe cultural opportunities. It offersthe best of both worlds.”

Bechor ’70 (MA ’75), withthe help of Lauren Seiler(Sociology), matched andendowed the OutstandingGraduating Senior Award inSociology (which Guberni-koff won as an undergradu-ate), renaming it the JosephGubernikoff Award in mem-ory of their father.

Thus far, Gubernikoff hasa database of about 1,200

doctors who attended QCbut, he says, “That’s not anexhaustive list. It’s justscratching the surface.”

If you would like to helpshape the new MedicalAlumni Association or addyour name to its member-ship, please contact AlumniDirector Joseph Brostek at 718-997-3930 orJoseph_Brostek@qc.edu.

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 20048

Calling All QC Doctors

Ad Campaign ContinuesTwo new ads featuring QC students debuted in theQueens Tribune, Queens Chronicle, and other weeklycommunity newspapers in the borough last January. The ads highlight Julio Penagos, a future mathteacher enrolled in the TIME 2000 program, andElena Malykhina, an aspiring journalist who internedat the Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels lastsummer. The ads are a continuation of the studentad campaign begun last October. A new bus ad forthe college was also recently launched, featuring thetag line “Global Education. Great Campus. RealCommunity.”

QC Alum to Coach St. John’s Red StormLooking to restore stability to its troubled basketball program,St. John’s University has tapped Queens College graduate NormRoberts ’84 to lead the Red Storm for the next five years. At thetime of his hiring, Roberts was associate head coach at theUniversity of Kansas. His only previous experience as a head coachwas at his alma mater from 1991 to 1995. Previously an assistantcoach at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, and Illinois, Roberts is known as atop-notch recruiter. At the press conference announcing his hir-ing, Roberts said he understood that rebuilding St. John’s wouldbe difficult, but promised to run a program in which charactermattered and players must succeed in their studies as well as onthe court.

OUEENS

OUEENS

COLLEGE

COLLEGE

. Future mathematics teacher. Member of unique TIME 2000 program

. Receives full tuition all four years

Julio Penagos came to the U.S. from Colombia when hewas 15 and eventually settled in Corona. In a short time, he mastered English and excelled in math at Flushing HighSchool. There, he learned about TIME 2000 — a uniquemath teacher preparation program at Queens College thatprovides four years of free tuition to students who committo teach math for at least two years after graduation.

ÒI love it here,Ó says Julio, who turned down a soccer scholarship to attend Queens College. ÒWe have the bestprofessors, and theyÕre always available to the students.Plus, IÕve made friends from so many countries.Ó Julioearns extra money through the collegeÕs math tutoring cluband is a volunteer tutor at Flushing High.

ÒMost social problems have their solution in education,Ósays Julio. ÒMy education is giving me a new base onwhich to build a dream.Ó

Meet Queens College Student Julio Penagos

CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

www.qc.cuny.edu

For Admissions information, call 718-997-4220

9SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

in German and English, and a PhD inGerman literature at Ohio State.She joined the college in 1980.

Joanne Miller (Sociology) is nowacting dean of Research andGraduate Studies. An authority onworkplace diversity, she has beenactive in research and administra-tion for over 25 years, with experi-ence in fundraising and buildingcross-disciplinary cooperation.Miller, who joined the faculty in1985, is a past chair of her depart-ment and former director of bothSummer Session and the MAProgram in Applied Social Research.

Miller earned her BA in sociolo-gy, MS in demog-raphy, and PhDin sociology atthe University ofWisconsin-Madison. Beforecoming toQueens she was a research scientist at the Labor-atory of Socio-EnvironmentalStudies at the National Institute ofMental Health, and then served asdirector of the sociology programat the National Science Foundation.

Following a national search, TamaraEvans (European Languages) wasnamed dean of the Division of Artsand Humanities. Having been acting

dean since 2001,Evans is aware ofthe challengesfacing the artsand humanities,especially thefunding crisis thathas hit these dis-

ciplines hard. “Values have shifted,”she says. “We live in a time whenwe have to justify our presence inacademia time and again. The criti-cal thinking and artistic creativitygenerated in the arts and humani-ties are not easily quantifiable, andtherefore the pressure is all thegreater.” Despite such obstacles,she notes that “We have first-ratedepartments with national reputa-tions. That’s remarkable for a pub-licly funded commuter college.”

A native of Bern, Switzerland,Evans received her undergraduateeducation in French and English atthe University of Bern, with a yearat the University of Exeter, England.She earned two master’s degrees,

Lilo Leeds ’48 and her husband, Gerry, recently gave$240,000 to TIME 2000, the college’s innovative mathe-matics teacher preparation program. Their gift will fundfour-year scholarships for 15 undergraduate studentspreparing to become math teachers. “Mrs. Leeds feels thatmath and science are the two areas that most need excep-tional teachers,” says Mario Della Pina, executive directorof the Queens College Foundation. “TIME 2000 not onlyoffers motivated students free tuition but also gives them the tools and support they will need to succeed. She thinks that is very important.”

Refugees from Nazi Germany, Lilo and Gerry Leeds have generously supported a number of educational causes and are the cofounders of severalorganizations, including the Institute for Student Achievement and theSchott Foundation, that are active on issues concerning women and children.Before retiring from business, the Leeds were well known for followingsocially responsible policies at the publishing company they started, CMPMedia; it was, for instance, the first employer on Long Island to offer on-sitechild care. In 1998, Lilo Leeds was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater.

“She’s interested in improving mathematics education, a subject sheknows a great deal about since she received a BA in math from the college,”says Alice Artzt, director of TIME 2000. “She’s an extraordinary womanwho is using the benefits of her own accomplishments to provide opportuni-ties to others in their study of mathematics.”

An Intel surveyranking the top100 schools forwireless comput-ing access placesQueens Collegethirteenth--ahead of Tulane(17), Cornell(65), and allother CUNY and

SUNY campuses. In fact, QC isthe second most wireless collegein New York state.

The survey reveals a growingnumber of schools where stu-dents have the freedom towirelessly access the Interneton notebook PCs—without atraditional wired connection—and stay connected whetherthey’re in the dorm or on thecampus quad. The survey, spon-sored by Intel and conductedby Bert Sperling, can be found

at www.intel.com/products/mobiletechnology/unwiredcolleges.htm.

President Muyskens hasempasized upgrading technolo-gy since assuming the presiden-cy in July 2002. As Senior ViceChancellor for Academic Affairsfor the University System ofGeorgia, he directed the univer-sity’s investigation into instruc-tional technology and distancelearning and created theGwinnett University Center,sometimes referred to as the“bricks and clicks” campus.One of Muyskens’ first techno-logical improvements on theQueens campus was the cre-ation of Bits & Bytes, an indoorwireless café connected to thelibrary. Students may check outlaptop computers from thelibrary for use in this soaring,light-filled space.

College Appoints Two New Deans

QC Ranks #13 for Wireless AccessAlumna Funds 15 Math Scholarships

Evans

Miller

Leeds

Choreographer Yin Mei (Drama, Theatre & Dance),whose work has met with critical acclaim since 1995,has just won a fellowship from the John SimonGuggenheim Memorial Foundation. “This award is anincredible opportunity and a true honor,” says YinMei, one of only 185 North American honorees chosenthis year. Her fellowship, with its $38,000 grant, willsubsidize research for the final portion of her theatri-cal trilogy Nomad, inspired by her Asian roots.

With his knack for quirky ideas and wittyproductions, he has enjoyed a long careeras an innovative television producer and,more recently, screenwriter. His TV creditsinclude such household staples as “ThePrice Is Right,” and among his film creditsare The Count of Monte Cristo and Piratesof the Caribbean.

Early in his career Wolpert earned aplace in TV history as the probable causebehind the famous “lost episodes” of the“Honeymooners.” It’s quite likely he lostthem. For two summers in the early 1960she was a junior assistant to Jackie Gleason,who put him to work cataloguing oldepisodes of the show. “I’m disorganized,”Wolpert says ruefully. “I would cataloguewith a no. 7 pencil, on a Scripto pad, andfrisbee the film reels into an old carton.”

Whatever his clerical shortcomings,

Wolpert proved a natural at show business.While still in college, he got his start aserrand boy for “Window Shopping,” a TVgame show based in New York. The jobwas a revelation to him: “People were atwork, and they were having a good time!”Soon he persuaded them to give him cre-ative tasks, too. After college came militaryservice and marriage, with a brief stintwriting for Canadian TV.

Before he ever became a network pro-ducer, Wolpert was a fan of game shows.When he caught the popular “Jeopardy” ina mistake, he called up Merv GriffinProductions to object. “If you’re so smart,why don’t you come down here and tryout?” they answered. He did, appeared as a

Joie de vivre has played a large part inJay Wolpert’s life. A self-described“child of the projects,” he grew up

across the street from the college in thePomonok Houses. He was a political sci-ence major working his way through col-lege when, he says, he “wandered into thewrong building” and came across theDrama Department, complete with coolpeople in black. “Everyone was so sensi-tive they couldn’t eat their cornflakes inthe morning because it reminded them ofdead leaves,” he remembers. He changedmajors, acquired his own black turtleneck,and also met the classmate who becamehis wife, Roslyn Granowitter ’65.

Since then, there have been numerouson-screen sightings of Wolpert in film andtelevision but, to entertainment insiders, heis best known as a force behind the scenes.

From Flushing to Hollywood

Jay WolpertBy Jacquelyn Southern

Above: Jay Wolpert addressing QC students. Right: Drama Professor CharlesRepole (l) was instrumental in bringing Wolpert back to the campus.

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 200410

11SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

contestant five times running, and won theJeopardy Tournament of Champions.

Wolpert’s career took off when he land-ed a job in Los Angeles as talent coordina-tor for “The Movie Game.” Soon he washired away as head of development forChuck Barris Productions, where he wasresponsible for coming up with ideas forshows. Barris was instrumental in chang-ing game shows from genteel contests ofknowledge to no-holds-barred extravagan-zas and tell-alls, beginning with shows like“The Newlywed Game.”

After six months Wolpert was asked tojoin the creative team at Goodson TodmanProductions. From 1972 until 1978 he waspart of a “brain trust” who worked closelywith Mark Goodson, another television leg-end. There Wolpert helped create suchshows as “Card Sharks,” “Tattletales,” and“Family Feud,” notably by infusing theatri-cality into knowledge- and logic-basedgames. Some 20 years later he returned asan executive producer, asked to rehabanother older property, “The Match Game.”

Wolpert’s most notable TV tri-umph may be “The Price IsRight,” a show he updated and

produced for six years after CBS acquiredit in 1972. “We totally went down to themetal and redid it,” he recalls. He intro-duced thematic showcases and a satiric ele-ment, using the prizes “like props in a nar-rative.” In the Star Wars showcase, forinstance, a Corvette assumed the role ofLuke’s X-wing fighter while R2D2 wasplayed by a trash compactor. “MarkGoodson let me do what I wanted,” saysWolpert, “and creatively, I had a wonderfultime on ‘The Price Is Right.’”

Still, after a few years he felt ready tomove on. “I didn’t want to just do one thingover and over,” he recalls. “I had to findout if I could lead.” Wolpert left GoodsonTodman to start his own company.

Since its founding in the late seventies,Jay Wolpert Productions has been knownfor innovation. Its shows have been pickedup by all three networks, and many haveaired internationally. They include a widevariety of creative properties, from a devel-oped but never aired science fiction seriesand period soap opera to ABC’s talk show“Into the Night with Rick Dees.”

But to many fans, Wolpert Productionswill always be synonymous with gameshows, like “Whew!” and “Hit Man.”

Wolpert produced idiosyncratic and, insome cases, famously short-lived shows;long gone from the air, they live on in fanclubs, Web sites, and game show history.With their improbable scenarios, wackychallenges, and cultural references fromthe sublime to the ridiculous, they revealedthe independent Wolpert to be the ErnieKovacs of game shows. “I created a differ-ent kind of material,” he says. “All myshows had a very strong comic element.”

In the nineties, Wolpert was enjoying acorned beef sandwich in a deli when helooked up to see Nancy Meyers standingover him. Now the highest grossingwoman director ever—with such hits as

What Women Want and Something’s GottaGive—Meyers had been hired right out ofcollege by Wolpert two decades earlier.She confronted him for not pursuing writ-ing and cajoled out of him a coming-of-age story he had written and tucked away.

Based on an incident in his own life,The Year of the Brat was soon sold toMGM, launching a career change. Wolpertbegan taking on assignments as a writer,beginning with TNT’s Western cult hit“The Lazarus Man” and AMC’s “The Lot,”a soap opera about a Hollywood studio.

However, Wolpert’s greatest writingsuccess has come not in the famil-iar world of television but in film,

where he has been free to indulge his loveof swashbuckling epics and witty ripostes.His star has been riding high since hewrote the script for the 2002 adaptation ofThe Count of Monte Cristo. He followed itup by cowriting the screen story for Piratesof the Caribbean, for which he contributedstory lines and characters, notably CaptainJack, whose portrayal earned Johnny Deppan Oscar nomination as Best Actor.

These days Wolpert is busy writing newscripts, often with historical themes.Recently he helped rewrite a script forPlaytone, Tom Hanks’s production compa-ny. It is based on the true story of the dra-matic escape in 1864 of 109 Union soldiersfrom Libby Prison in Virginia.

After years in Hollywood, Wolpert isstill warm and unaffected, a puckish racon-teur with a marked Queens accent. Heremains devoted to his wife and their twogrown daughters, and is an active memberof QC’s alumni chapter in southernCalifornia. Last year President Muyskensattended one of their picnics and, whenWolpert offered to do something for thecollege, he was invited to speak to students.Alumni Affairs Director Joe Brostek andCharles Repole of the Drama, Theatre &Dance Department organized a lecture and,voila, students received an expert tutorial onscreenwriting and show business.

“I love filling kids’ minds. I was verylucky as a young man,” Wolpert says,because he benefited from the help of sev-eral mentors. The list includes professorswho had a lifelong impact, especiallyRaymond Gasper (Drama), “a wonderfullyinnovative and extraordinarily skilled direc-tor and teacher.” Solomon Lutnick(History) also receives the praise of historybuff Wolpert: “He was very unorthodox,but he made the history come alive. Historyis really a collection of stories, great storiesif you seek them out. He understood that.”Wolpert remains grateful for classes inmusic, music appreciation, and art apprecia-tion. “I knew nothing, and they have hadresonance in my life,” he says.

Wolpert is proud of what he took fromhis studies. “If it hadn’t been for Queens—where I paid not a dime and got a first-rateeducation—I’d be a different persontoday,” he told the students at his lecture.“You’ll never have to show your diploma,but you show your education every day.”

Wolpert as president of Tau Epsilon Phi.Some of his first writing was done for askits competition among fraternities.Wolpert found himself up against PaulSimon ’63, who was writing for AlphaEpsilon Pi. He admits losing to Simonevery time.

QAlumni Notes

1941: Irwin Stein was featuredlast fall in a segment of “TheVisionaries,” a public televisionseries. He is founding executivedirector of Family Services ofWestchester, a nonprofit mentalhealth and social services agency.When it opened its doors in 1954,Irwin was the sole social worker onstaff; today it employs 300 profes-sionals in seven locations and helps16,000 people a year . . . 1942:Ben Wiener was honored this pastMarch for being an “industryfounder” by the Generic Pharma-ceutical Industry Association. Hewas the founder and CEO of ZenithLaboratories, one of the nation’sfirst generic drug companies.“Today people don’t think twiceabout generic drugs,” Ben notes.“But we suffered tremendous,knockdown, drag-out battles withthe big drug companies for our veryexistence. The fact that we stuck toit and built an industry has not onlysaved consumers billions of dollars,it has saved countless lives.”During World War II Ben workedon the Manhattan Project in OakRidge, TN. After the war he enteredthe pharmaceutical industry. He andhis wife, Linda, live in Vancouver,WA. They have two children . .1943: Jim and Ethel (Clancey)Doyle recently moved to Floridaafter 47 years on Long Island. Theynote that “We have always beenproud of our education at the handsof some great faculty: FritzMorstein Marx, Phillips Bradley,John Meng, James Kreutzer,William Ball, Emory Holloway,Helen Viljoen, Charles Haywood,Oscar Shaftel, and Joe Machlis.”The Doyles have five children. Jimwrites a column for Catholic NewYork and has published two books:Two Voices (with son Brian) andTales from a Real Life. He wasnamed a Distinguished Alumnus in1984 and one of the college’s 100

Alumni Stars in 1997. Ethel andJim invite old friends to get intouch with them at 407-302-2870;179 Tim Tam Ct., Lake Mary, FL32746 . . . 1948: MarshallSweetbaum is an appellate lawyerin Nassau County, where he hashad an active practice for 52 years . . . 1949: Al Ligotti wasrecently honored by the AthensSymphony Orchestra in Athens,GA, which commissioned a bust ofhim on the occasion of his twenty-fifth year of conducting the orches-tra. Al is a retired associateprofessor at the University ofGeorgia School of Music, where hetaught for 27 years after an 11-yearstint playing with the New YorkPhilharmonic under Leonard Bern-stein. Still writing and publishingmusic, Al is a past recipient of theDistinguished Alumni Award fromQC. He and his wife, Arlene, havetwo daughters . . . 1952:Leonard Sloane is a publicmember of the New York StateBoard for Mental Health Practition-ers. He lives in Forest Hills, NY. . . 1953: Fred Shapiro was

recently inducted into the Flexo-graphic Technical Association Hallof Fame. He has spent most of hiscareer in the printing industry,where he is well known for hiswork on safety and environmentalissues. Fred received a HammerAward from Vice President Al Gorefor his support of the NationalPartnership for Reinventing Gov-ernment. He is the coauthor ofrecent editions of FlexographyPrinciples and Practices, andtaught courses on flexography atBaruch College and SUNY Farm-ingdale. Fred and his wife, Made-line, live in Levittown, NY. Theyhave three grown children . . .1955: Jay Bushinsky is theMideast bureau chief for KYWRadio in Philadelphia. He has beenreporting from the Mideast for fourdecades. He began his journalismcareer in 1964 with the MiamiHerald, and two years later joinedthe Chicago Daily News, andstarted reporting on Israel. Report-ing for KYW Newsradio for over30 years, Jay lives in Israel with hiswife, Dvora . . . Bira Rabushka isfirst violinist for the New York CityBallet Orchestra, which she joinedin 1964. She is also the founderand executive and artistic directorof the Northern Westchester Centerfor the Arts, which serves thou-sands of students in the tristate areawith arts events and a summer

camp. Bira and her husband,Joseph, a retired concert violinist,live in Goldens Bridge, NY. Theyhave two children . . . 1960:Aline Euler (MS ’77), the educa-tion director of Alley Pond Envi-ronmental Center for 25 years,received the Douglas MacKayFriend of the Environment Awardlast November. She is also a com-missioner on the Northeast Natureand Historic Preserve Commissionand a member of the board of theNew York City Audubon Society.Aline, who holds a PhD from St.John’s University, lives in Bayside,NY . . . Eleanor Ware is secretaryto the Board of Trustees of Syra-cuse University, where she is seniorvice president for human servicesand government relations and amember of the Chancellor’sCabinet and the University Senate.Before going to Syracuse in 1976,she was a state-certified teacherspecializing in childhood educationin New York City. Eleanor, whograduated magna cum laude andwas elected to Phi Beta Kappa,obtained her MBA from Syracuse;she also has done postgraduatework at Harvard’s Institute forEducational Management . . .1961: Roslyn Muraskin is aprofessor of criminal justice at theC. W. Post branch of Long IslandUniversity. She is a trustee of thenortheast region for the Academyof Criminal Justice Sciences, and isalso the editor of the Women’sSeries for Prentice Hall. The fourthedition of her textbook, Visions forChange: Crime and Justice in theTwenty-First Century (PrenticeHall), will be published later thisyear. Roslyn holds an MA fromNew York University and a doctor-ate in criminal justice from theCUNY Graduate Center . . .1962: Vincent Dunn, a 43-yearveteran of the New York FireDepartment, currently serves asdivision commander for midtownManhattan. He lectures nationwideon fire safety and is the author ofthe text and video series Collapseof Burning Buildings. His mostrecent book is Command andControl of Fires and Emergencies . . . 1963: Edward Butscher’sbook Sylvia Plath: Method andMadness, the first biography aboutthe poet, was recently reprinted bySchaffner Press. He also wrote thefirst biography of Conrad Aiken(University of Georgia Press), awork that received an award fromthe Poetry Society of America.

Edward has written severalvolumes of poetry, the most recentbeing Child in the House (CaniosEditions, 2001) . . . 1964:Dudley Delany earned an MA inpsychology from the New Schoolfor Social Research (’67) and adoctorate in chiropractic from theColumbia Institute of Chiropractic(’73). He is also qualified inmassage therapy and nursing. Hewrites: “I developed multiplesclerosis in 1991 and, over a two-year period, gradually overcame itusing an alternative treatmentsuggested by Edgar Cayce, a manmany regard as the father ofmodern holistic medicine. Itinvolved diet, massage, keeping apositive mental attitude, maintain-ing a high spiritual ideal, andconsistent use of an imperceptiblemode of electrotherapy (vibratorymedicine). I do not claim to becured, however, but rather in long-term remission, a remissiondependent on continued adherenceto the Cayce regimen. I wrote anillustrated book about my experi-ence, The Edgar Cayce Way ofOvercoming Multiple Sclerosis:Vibratory Medicine” . . . 1966:Dorothy Litt (MLS ’70) is theauthor most recently of Names inEnglish Renaissance Literature(Mellen Press, 2003). She teachesShakespeare to senior citizens inNewton and Wellesley, MA.Dorothy lives in Newton Centre,MA . . . Edward Ray was

appointed presi-dent of OregonState Universitylast June. Previ-ously he wasexecutive vicepresident andprovost at Ohio

State University, where he had beena member of the EconomicsDepartment for 30 years. Edwardreceived his MA and PhD fromStanford University . . . DorisSiegel-Cohen(MS) has been thecantor of TempleEmanu-El ofCanarsie, Brook-lyn, for 20 years.She has lecturedwidely on Jewishmusic and performed numerousconcerts of classical, operatic, andJewish music in the United Statesand Canada. Doris was president ofthe Women Cantors’ Network andserved on the Commission forWomen’s Equality of the American

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 200412

Jewish Congress . . . 1967:Steven Gerard was named one ofAccounting Today’s Top 100 MostInfluential People for his work inthe dramatic turnaround of CenturyBusiness Services, of which he ischairman and CEO. Steve is a pastchair of the Queens College Foun-dation . . . Rosalie Marshall notesthat “My fouryears at QC areamong the best ofmy life: a time Ifocused on mypassion for foreignlanguages (French,Italian, andSpanish) and on travels abroad.”Since graduating she has lived andtaught in New York, Los Angeles,and San Francisco. Currently she isa broker in real estate investments(“I enjoy the challenge of the ‘art ofnegotiation’ ”) and teaches conver-sation classes at a junior college.Rosalie lives in Piedmont, CA . . .Marc Redlich recently celebratedthe twentieth anniversary of hisBoston law firm. He writes that thefirm has been enjoying success inseveral areas, including employ-ment, business, and commerciallaw. In addition, Marc, who haspracticed law for 32 years, is activein the American Council onGermany and in Friends of Switzer-land. He is also chair of thecollege’s Boston alumni chapter . . .1969: Martin Baumann isexecutive vice president for financeat Freddie Mac. Previously he wasa partner and deputy chairman ofWorld Financial Services Practice,and global banking leader forPricewaterhouseCoopers. A CPAwho holds an MBA from BaruchCollege, Marty is a member of theQueens College Foundation . . .Peter Horne hasbeen coordinator ofthe criminal justiceprogram at MercerCounty (NJ) Com-munity College for23 years. He is alsopresident of theNew Jersey Association of CriminalJustice Educators, which represents38 programs in colleges and univer-sities . . . John O’Donnell becamepresident of Stark State College inCanton, OH in January. Previouslyhe was commissioner of NewHampshire Community TechnicalCollege. John received his doctor-ate in psychology from BostonCollege. He and his wife, Ellen,have three children . . . Michael

Sackheim has become a partner inSidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP.He practices corporate/securitieslaw in the New York office of thefirm . . . 1970: Michael J.Senken is a first vice presidentwithin the controller’s departmentat New York Life Insurance. He hasbeen with the company since 1972,where his duties have includedestablishing accounting and com-puter system controls and imple-menting numerous computersystems. Michael,who holds anMBA from Adelphi University,lives in Massapequa Park, NY, withhis wife, Patricia . . . 1971:Dennis Conway was named Pro-fessional of the Year by the LongBeach Chamber of Commerce forthe “compassion, dedication, andcommitment he brings” to his workas an administrator for Long TermCare of Long Beach MedicalCenter, where he has been since1992. Dennis is also involved in theprofessional endeavors of theAmerican College of Health CareAdministrators, the Greater NewYork Hospital Association, the NewYork Society for Health Planning,and other groups. He lives with hiswife, Grace, and two daughters inFloral Park, NY . . .1973:Marilyn Honigman (MFA ’77)had an exhibition of her paintingson display at the Blue MountainGallery in Manhattan this winter.Her work has also been exhibited atthe Polish Consulate, the Cathedralof St. John the Divine, and theCorcoran Gallery. Marilyn, whoteaches at the Fordham PreparatorySchool, lives in Richmond Hill,Queens . . . Vicki (Andrews)MacKenzie is an accent-reductionspecialist with her own company,Accent on Communication of Stam-ford (www.accentfairchester.com).“Accents can be very charming,”she notes. “My goal is not to elimi-nate the accent but to improvecommunication.” Vicki believes sheis one of only 40 or 50 accent-reduction specialists in the UnitedStates . . . .1974: CharleneEdwards (MA ’75) is the author ofVoices from Vietnam (Journeys,2002), an account of Americans andVietnamese who survived the warin Vietnam. Her husband, MichaelPergola, is a Vietnam vet whosestory is included in the book. Char-lene’s work as a photojournalist hastaken her to seven continents. Intheir travels, Charlene and Michaelhave brought medical and schoolsupplies, toys, and clothing to many

13SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

Start Packing for ItalyAlumniAffairs issponsoring a trip toTuscany,September5–13. AHIInternational,which servic-es over 300colleges, universities, and alumni groups, is producingthis tour. Many thanks toWashington, D.C. chapterchair David Guskin ’69 forcoordinating the trip. TheAlumni Affairs Web site willhave more details in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, if you wish to get a head start,contact Alumni Affairs @Queens College, Office ofAlumni Affairs, 65- 30 KissenaBlvd., Flushing, NY 11367; 718-997-3930; oralumni@qc.edu.

QC Oral HistoryThe QC Oral History PilotProject collects video andaudio oral histories in thehopes of preserving the histo-ry of the college, from themajor occurrences to theeveryday events that madeattending Queens College spe-cial. Members of the Class of1954 have received an invita-tion to attend the June 2004Commencement, along withan information sheet aboutvolunteering to be interviewedfor the Oral History Project.Please volunteer and become apermanent part of QueensCollege history.

Wanted: ClassCorrespondentsCan’t get enough of “AlumniNotes”? Then volunteer to bea class correspondent. You willcollect and pass along news ofyour classmates for our printand online versions of Q. It’s a great way to get in touch withold friends. Contact theAlumni Office for more details.

Homecoming 2004Mark your calendars forHomecoming 2004, which will be held on Saturday,October 2. All are invited, and the classes of 1944 and1954 will be specially honored.Registration forms will beincluded in the next issue of Q, which will comes out in August.

Q Magazine UpdatesQ is now more than just aprint magazine. Be sure tocheck the college’s Web sitefor web-only updates of Qmagazine.

Missing AlumniWe have lost touch withapproximately 20,000 of ourover 100,000 alumni. In mostcases they did not let us knowwhen they moved. Addressescan be updated online by goingto www.qc.cuny.edu/QC_Foundation. If you knowalumni who do not hear fromthe college, please let us know.

Send Us Your News!We want to hear more fromgraduates—especially ourrecent graduates. Tell uswhere you are and what youare doing, and enclose aphoto. Be sure to let us knowwhen you move. Mail to:

Alumni NewsOffice of Alumni AffairsQueens College65-30 Kissena Boulevard Flushing, NY 11367

Phone: 718-997-3930Fax: 718-997-3924 Email: alumni@qc.edu

Look for us on the Web. Weare always adding informationabout news at the college andupcoming events.

Alumni Affairs Web site:www.qc.cuny.edu/alumni_affairs

ALUMNI NEWS

gain a competitive edge in theirfields. Besides degrees in Englishand computer science from QC,Mark holds a master’s degree inengineering/computer science fromColumbia . . . 1986: MichaelWildes, the mayor of Englewood,NJ, is a partner with the immigra-tion law firm of Wildes, Weinberg,Grunblatt & Wildes. A formerfederal prosecutor with the U. S.Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn(1989-1993), Michael has testifiedon Capitol Hill in connection withanti-terrorism legislation. He isfrequently a legal commentator/analyst on network television.Michael is married with four chil-dren . . . 1988: Andrew J.Lauer is a member of the law firmof Brown Raysman Millstein Felder& Steiner LLP as counsel in theirlabor and employment law practicein New York City. Prior to joiningBrown Raysman, Andrew wassenior employment counsel in theoffice of general counsel of Price-waterhouseCoopers Consulting(PwC Consulting). Andrew earnedhis JD degree at Brooklyn LawSchool and his LLM in labor andemployment law from New YorkUniversity School of Law. He liveson Long Island with his wife andfour children . . . 1993:William DiScipio is the presidentof the New York State Psychologi-cal Association’s Division of Psy-chologists in the Public Sector. Heserves as a representative for psy-chologists who work primarily withunderprivileged patients. Williamreceived his doctorate from Mauds-ley Hospital at the University ofLondon and is affiliated with theAlbert Einstein College of Medi-cine. He lives in Amagansett, NY. . . 1994: Brett Bekritsky isdirector of marketing at DominicanCollege in Orangeburg, NY. Brettholds a master’s degree from NewYork University . . . 1998:Matthew Higginsis now playing forthe New York Jetsas vice presidentfor strategicplanning. He willbe leading theJets’ campaign tohave a newstadium built on the west side ofManhattan. Before this, Matthewwas the COO and director of com-munications for the Lower Manhat-tan Development Corporation, andserved for a time as press secretaryto Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

at Queens, Paul earned a master’sin health services administrationfrom the University of MichiganGraduate School of Public Health . . . 1977: Patrick Hardish is asenior librarian at the New YorkPublic Library, as well as a memberof the editorial staff of New MusicConnoisseur. He isalso the cofounderand codirector ofthe ComposersConcordance NewMusic Nowconcert series,which is celebrat-ing its twentiethseason. Patrick’s music has beenreceiving a great deal of attentioninternationally with recent perform-ances in Russia, the Czech Repub-lic, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Anew work, Sonorities VII, will bepremiered on May 27 at the NYUFrederick Lowe Theater . . . LonKaufman is dean of the honorscollege and vice provost for under-graduate affairs at the University ofIllinois at Chicago. Lon has been atUIC since 1985 when he joinedtheir Department of BiologicalSciences. Among other honors, hewas named the Richard G. andCarole J. Cline University Scholarin 1994. Lon lives in Oak Park, IL. . . 1979: Henry L. Fernandezis the executive director of scholar-ships, outreach, and philanthropy atUSA Funds. Previously he was theprogram director for Lumina Foun-dation for Education and director ofthe Peace Corps Fellows Program.Henry received his doctorate ineducation, as well as three master’sdegrees, from Teachers College . . .

1980: JosephHerskovic (MA)is vice presidentand generalmanager ofProduct Dynam-ics, a serviceprovider to the

food, beverage, personal care, andconsumer product industries. Previ-ously he worked for Seagram,Uncle Ben’s, and Frito-Lay, andtaught at the UCLA School ofMedicine. Joseph holds a PhD inneuropsychology from the CUNYGraduate Center and lives in TinleyPark, IL . . . 1982: MarkHuppert is vice president of NECSolutions’ Open Mission CriticalSolutions division, which has itsheadquarters in Sacramento, CA.The company helps clients use thelatest advances in technology to

Gregory Lasak ’74 hasmoved to the other sideof the bench, ending a 25-

year stint with the Queens dis-trict attorney’s office. Known topolice and lawyers as “Mr.Murder,” he supervised theinvestigation of 3,000 homicides,yet also is known for helpingwrongfully convicted citizens getreleased from prison. LastDecember his reputation for adogged commitment to justicewas recognized when he wassworn in as State SupremeCourt Justice in Kew Gardens.“It’s been a very smooth transi-tion,” he says with characteristicpragmatism. “I’m just assuming adifferent seat in the courtroom.”

Lasak is a native son ofQueens – a Polish Americanfrom Woodside who has livedhis entire life in the borough.He even vacations in BreezyPoint, which he has watchedchange from an Irish communityof small bungalows to a gatedcommunity of lot-filling greathouses. “When I was runninghomicides, I had to stay close,”he explains. He also enjoyed thefreedom of taking his childrenwhere they could play safelyoutside at all hours. Lasak stillchooses to go to what he con-siders one of the safest places inthe country.

Much of Lasak’s career hasplayed out against the backdropof the drug traffic that emergedin the sixties and peaked withthe crack cocaine epidemic ofthe eighties and nineties.Determined to fight back against this threat to public safe-

ty, Lasak entered QueensCollege with a law career inmind. He graduated cum laudein economics and history,attended New York LawSchool, and joined the districtattorney’s office in 1978, quicklyrising to supervise investigationsand the prosecution of cases.

Some of the high-profilecases on which he workedinclude the 1986 Howard Beachattack and the 2000 Wendy’skillings in Flushing. Among thecases he prosecuted himselfwere the 1981 police shootingby members of the BlackLiberation Army, where hefaced prominent defense attor-neys William Kunstler andRandolph Scott-McLaughlin; andthe 1995 drug-related killings inCollege Point, the largest massmurder in Queens history.Lasak won convictions in all thefelony trials he personally prose-cuted, including more than 20murder cases.

At the same time, he tookon the unpopular and riskywork of overturning wrongful-convictions, and succeeded ingetting about 20 innocent people released. (Appropriately,one case involved a man whoconfessed to murder onlybecause a drug gang threatenedhim.) As defense attorney BarryScheck, founder of theInnocence Project, toldNewsday, “if he thought therewas a wrongful conviction, hepersonally investigated it, andhe got it right.”

MEET MR. MURDER ’74

poverty-stricken villages. “Wecollect from doctors’ offices andanyone else who wants to help” . . .Alfred Teo arrived in America in1968 with $70 in his pocket. Afterearning a degree in accounting, hefounded a number of companies,mainly in the plastics business,naming them after letters in theGreek alphabet. Recently SigmaPlastics in Lyndhurst, NJ, the heartof his industrial empire, had salesof $700 million . . . 1975:Carmela Johnson is executive vicepresident, chief operating officer,and chief financial officer of the

Pacific State Bank. She has over 25years of community banking expe-rience . . . 1976: Paul Mullings

is chief operatingofficer of GoodSamaritan Re-gional MedicalCenter inPhoenix, AZ.Recently he waselected to the

board of Triple R BehavioralHealth Inc., which provides serv-ices for the severely mentally illand others with behavioral healthdisabilities. After finishing his BA

Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE . SPRING 200414

1942: Robert Higgins, ascholar in ancient Latin and Greek,died May 1. Bob met his wife,Annette Buonora ’46, at arehearsal of the Queens CollegeChoral Society, with whom sheoften sang solo soprano. He issurvived by Annette, two sons anda daughter, one grandson and fourgranddaughters, and one great-grandson . . . 1945: RueWitten Sandler recently passedaway. Her husband, Parke PrestonSandler ’43, wrote of her years atQueens that she was active in JohnCastellini’s A Cappella Choir, wascaptain of the cheerleading squad,chaired a political science intercol-legiate conference, wrote a columnfor the newspaper, and received afellowship for graduate work . . .1948: Robert D. Parylakpassed away in October 2003. Alibrarian who retired 17 years agofrom the Texaco Company, he wastreasurer of the Texaco RetirementClub for 15 years. Robert was anactive musician who played with anumber of groups in Queens andNassau . . . 1963: MarjorieKrenta, MA (’66), taught school onStaten Island for 25 years. She hadbeen living in Montville Township,NJ, for the past 30 years . . .1969: Isabelle Getoff died inApril 2003. She was a retiredpsychotherapist . . . 1974:Anne Panepinot Ciccone diedJanuary 2003. Her book CreatingBridges: The Art of Utilizing Cre-ative Skills in Day to Day Livingwas published December 2002.

FACULTYArthur Carin, a member of theDepartment of Elementary andEarly Childhood Education from1958 to 1991, died on September14 at the age of 74. After serving inthe army as a medic in Japan at theend of World War II, Carin enrolledat SUNY Oswego and later earneda master’s degree at Queens and adoctorate at the University of Utah.He returned to Queens in 1958 asan instructor and later becameassociate dean of teacher education.He was the author of a widely usedtextbook for elementary teachers,Teaching Science Through Discov-ery . . . Arthur L. Colwin(Biology), a longtime faculty

member who, with his wife, LauraHunter Colwin, helped uncover theprocess that occurs when a spermcell and an egg cell merge to form afertilized egg, died on November 1 athis home in Key Biscayne, FL. Hewas 92. Colwin received his BS andPhD in biology from McGill Univer-sity in Montreal. He joined thecollege in 1940, retiring in 1973.Colwin Hall was named for theColwins in 1993 . . . ProfessorEmeritus Joseph Hershenov passedaway on January 19. He earned aPhD in mathematics from MIT in1961 and came to Queens College in1962, chairing the MathematicsDepartment from 1969 through1980. His NSF grant lead to theestablishment of the Mathematicslaboratory, which is dedicated in hisname . . . Stanley Hirshson(History) passedaway on December26 after a briefillness. A memberof the faculty since1963, he was anauthority on 19th-century U.S.history and military biography,including the highly acclaimedGeneral Patton: A Soldier’s Life(HarperCollins, 2002) An October2002 profile of Hirshson inNewsday reported that, “He is thatrare resident of the Ivory Tower—an academic whose writing can alsobe appreciated by popular audi-ences” . . . Leonard Slatkes, an

expert on Dutchpainting and adistinguishedprofessor in theArt Department,died on August22 at the age of73. Slatkes, who

started at the college in 1966 andbecame a full professor in 1982,held a BFA from Syracuse Univer-sity, an MA in art history fromOberlin, and a PhD from the Uni-versity of Utrecht. The recipient ofa number of Fulbright Fellowshipsand grants, Slatkes published exten-sively on Caravaggio and his Dutchand Flemish followers and was theauthor of a number of books,including Rembrandt and Persia,Vermeer and His Contemporaries,and The Netherlandish Artists.

15SPRING 2004 . Q THE MAGAZINE OF QUEENS COLLEGE

Alan Dugan, one of thenation’s most honoredpoets, died in Mass-

achusetts on September 3 atthe age of 80. He was born inBrooklyn in 1923, the son of asalesman whose fluctuatingincome meant that the familywas constantly moving betweenBrooklyn (in bad times) andQueens (in good times). “Idon’t think it was an easy child-hood or youth,” says his wife,artist Judith Shahn.

Despite such obstacles,Dugan attended Jamaica HighSchool and, in 1941, enrolled atQueens College. He publishedhis first poems in the college’sliterary magazine, winning theQueens College Poetry Prize in1943. Shortly thereafter he wasdrafted into the Army—willingly,according to Shahn. “His eyeswere so bad they could havedeferred him, but he memo-rized the eye chart because heso badly wanted to beinvolved.” Nonetheless, he hadalready found importantencouragement at Queensfrom a professor “who con-vinced him that writing poetrywas not a sissy thing to do,”Shahn notes.

After the war, Duganattended Olivet College (whichhe and fellow student Shahn leftfollowing a student strike) and,with the help of G.I. benefits,eventually earned a degreefrom Mexico City College. In1960 he won a Yale Series ofYounger Poets Award, leadingto publication in 1961 of hisfirst book, Poems, for which hewon the Pulitzer and a NationalBook Award. Six morevolumes of poetry followed asdid numerous awards andhonors, including a Prix deRome, Guggenheim and Rocke-feller Fellowships, a LannanFoundation Award, and, for hisfinal book in 2001, a secondNational Book Award.

Dugan and Shahn lived on

Cape Cod, where Dugan oftentaught at the Truro Center for the Arts. They maintained closeties with New York City aswell, where they had a rent-controlled apartment in Green-wich Village until 1996. Dugantraveled widely and held numer-ous teaching positions, includ-ing at Sarah Lawrence,Connecticut College, and theUniversity of Colorado.

On Cape Cod Dugan culti-vated many friendships.Because he was phobic abouttyping, for instance, it was thePulitzer Prize-winning poetMary Oliver who offered tohelp Shahn type his longhandpoems. Among Dugan’s mostimportant projects was the FineArts Work Center in Province-town, which provides fellow-ships to emerging writers andartists; he was a foundingmember who contributedmany hours of his time. At hismemorial service, remembershis brother-in-law Ezra Shahn, abiology professor at HunterCollege, people reflected onDugan’s legacy as a poet, butmany also “spoke of their debtto him as a teacher.”

Dugan’s most recent book,Poems Seven: New and CompletePoetry, was published to muchacclaim in 2001.

ALAN DUGAN ’45

WE REMEMBER

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QUEENS COLLEGE

CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

65-30 KISSENA BOULEVARD

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PERMIT NO. 48

The 1973-74 Lady Knights, led by head coach Lucille Kyvallos (far left), celebrate avictory. The great Lady Knight teams of 1968-81 held a reunion on campus this January. Among those attending were (inset l-r) Sharon (Manning) Beverly, Olympic silver medalist Gail Marquis, and Debbie Mason. Gail is currently working tohave the 1972-73 team – the only women's basketball team in New York to play for the national championship – inductedinto the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. For more about these pioneering athletes, see the three-page article in theSunday, April 4 issue of Newsday.

THIS YEAR’S Q AWARD GALA WILL HONORVIRGINIA FRESE PALMER ’42 & ROBERT WANN ’82, JUNE 23. CALL 718-997-3920 FOR TICKETS!