COMMENCEMENT 2019 QUEENS COLLEGE A MESSAGE FROM Chancellor and President Ninety-Fifth Commencement Félix V. Matos Rodríguez THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019 | THE QUADRANGLE | 9:00 IN THE MORNING PRESIDING Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York and President, Queens College CHIEF MARSHAL Jessica B. Harris, Professor Emeritus of English PROCESSIONAL Edward Elgar (arr. Claire Grundman), Pomp and Circumstance Queens College Symphonic Wind Ensemble Nena Kunnateerachadalai, Graduate Conductor ʼ19, MS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM CONGRATULATIONS TO THE OUTSTANDING encountered plenty of issues that can’t be addressed by Deborah Carter ʼ19, MM STUDENTS OF THE CLASS OF 2019. The degree Queens technology alone, and I expect that you will be no different. College awards you today attests not only to the education I ask only that you apply your abundant talent, training, and GREETINGS you have gained, but also to the effort you invested in your insight to the challenges that await you. Hopefully, your The Honorable Rory I. Lancman, 24th District, New York City Council studies. Your degree represents an important achievement in values will remain constant even as technology continues to The Honorable Kevin Kim, Board of Trustees, CUNY which you can, and should, take great pride. rapidly advance. GRADUATE ADDRESS What you accomplished here will shape your life in countless In a sense, this is my graduation, too. Commencement is the Jasmine Olivera, Student Speaker ways. You concentrated in one or more subjects, acquiring the high point of each year at Queens College; I’m presiding knowledge and skills to pursue a career or enter graduate or over this event for the last time, because I have assumed the CONFERRING OF THE HONORARY DEGREES professional school. Meanwhile, you benefited from a world- position of chancellor of The City University of New York. Presented by Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York and President, Queens College class faculty and a well-rounded liberal arts curriculum that I bring to my new job all that I experienced at this treasured Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa prepared you to become an informed and responsible citizen, campus, working with remarkable students like yourselves, Dina N. Axelrad Perry the kind of person who anchors families, communities, and and the equally superb faculty and staff who have dedicated Reri Grist businesses. Your understanding of the social, economic, themselves to helping you reach this day. Like you, I have Matthew Thomas Higgins and political forces that impact both inertia and change has learned so that I may serve. been enhanced. I hope that the process helped you discover COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS yourself, so you better appreciate your abilities and values and Therefore, on an occasion that means so much to all of us Matthew Thomas Higgins how they can reinforce each other. here today, I congratulate you once again, and wish you every success in your future endeavors. Previous generations couldn’t have imagined our fast-paced world, which offers staggering amounts of information, as well as all types of goods and services, to anyone who can successfully operate an electronic device. But I have 3 RECOGNITION OF THE SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CLASS OF 1944 BLUE AND SILVER Carol Lang Brock Queens College Alma Mater Students from the Aaron Copland School of Music Ju Hye Hwoang ʼ19, soprano • Katherine Doe ʼ19, mezzo RECOGNITION OF THE SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY CLASS OF 1949 David Szabo ʼ19, tenor • Thomas J. Barnes ʼ19, baritone Milton Bagley Judith Spina Healy Dorothy Greene Pita Arranged by Professor Emeritus Joel Mandelbaum Coralyn Flad Gorlicki Estelle Schonberger Hoyt Blue and Silver proudly flying, o’er the college we all love. Sons and daughters pay their homage to our colors up above. RECOGNITION OF THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY CLASS OF 1959 Truest fame and brightest glory, thine will always be. Joan Klarberg Abbey Harriet Shendleman Gurak Joseph Saxl Ever more we’ll sing thy praises, Queens, our hearts go out to thee. Roberta Blane Bernhardt Martin L. Kahn Ronald Schneider Alita De Souza Chapman Iris Serlin Kippycash Carol Buchbinder Siembieda PRESIDENTIAL CHARGE Sheila Savitz Cohen Madeline Hershman Lander Lorraine Hyman Soloway Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York and President, Queens College Tami Matsumoto DeRose Linda Kopell Levine Carole Tain Soskin William Diament Gabriele Heimberg Libbey Rosalie Davey Travers Corinne Procopio DiStephan Alice Kaplan Merwin Leona Pallas Vogel HOODING OF CLASS REPRESENTATIVES Michaeline Kahn Fedder Frederick Mopsik Tamara Kaplan Waters Degree candidates presented by Elizabeth F. Hendrey, Carol Kelly Fitzgerald Mina Bezner Orleans Deanne Weinberg Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Hooding by Adam Rockman, Vice President for Student Affairs RECOGNITION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY CLASS OF 1969 The candidates being hooded represent all students in their respective degree categories. Lucille T. Aiosa Audrey Davidoff Glass Jay Neuschatz Gloria-Jean Staszyn Berberich Eddie Grassel Michael Nussbaum Jerry Blaine Robert Greenbaum Renate Osypczuk Ringstad CONFERRING OF DEGREES Susan Bloom David Guskin Robert Rosenzveig Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor, The City University of New York and President, Queens College Doris Brown Bodine Mario C. Henry Barbara Schwartz Schmulbach Milton Cambridge Arleen Hess Patricia Hoft Simons Ralph Vaughn Williams (arr. Alfred Reed), Sine Nomine Judith Bunker Capolongo William Infosino Susan Marmor Smolin Wind Ensemble Robert Cecchino Judith Simon Jacobs Marion Fleischer Speer Thomas Cecchino Cecile Katzoff Barbara Klein Stein Sue Farkas Dalba Viviane Mordo Kirsch Edward Stein CLOSING OF CEREMONY Judith Herman Ebbin Marvin Kramer Glenn P. Stein Linda Shiry Edelstein Carol Yates Kriss Steven Tenzer Barbara Gown Elias Judy Fifer Kusnetz Gilbert Traub RECESSIONAL Steve Errera Lillian Misuraca Kuster Edward Weiss John Phillip Sousa, Washington Post March Edward Fondiller Ellen Friedman Levine Audrey Schorr Wile Wind Ensemble Eva Praeger Freed Cliff Malat Marshall M. Wise Danielle Tagar, Graduate Conductor ʼ19, MM Joel Friedman Sima Traum Malat Catherine Woesthoff Roy Glaser Christine Mohanty Frances Schimmenti Zino Susan Sobel Glaser Marlene Sitnick Moskowitz RECOGNITION OF THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY CLASS OF 1979 Luz Astudillo George Matray Barry Smith Ava Firstenberg Cohen Sebastian Benjamin Murolo Rosa H.D. Smith-Norman Mark Freilich Paula Modugno Okin Jeanette D. Shuler-Purnell Taylor Today’s Commencement is being webcast live online and broadcast by Queens Public Television, Andrea Salvatore Kropf Helen Leitner Orbach Colette Vaughn enabling families and friends around the world to witness the entire ceremony. Harriet West Li Gerard Passaro Connie Docos Venieris Queens College students come from more than 170 countries, making it one of the nation’s most diverse colleges. Annette Livingston David Perrick Mitchell I. Weinstein Graduates and guests are requested to remain seated until members of the Platform Party and the Faculty have left the ceremonial area. Ethel C. Lott Helene Rosenzveig Sauberman Scheduled divisional and departmental ceremonies will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the college-wide ceremony (see map on pages 48–49). 4 5 Dina N. Axelrad Perry Reri Grist Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa Despite the high-stakes, high-pressure demands of your In 1960, you also were invited by the legendary Herbert work, you have maintained an interest in students who Graf to become a permanent member of the Zurich Opera, are just beginning their own journeys. You have donated another first for an African American woman. You went generously to the Queens College Department of Economics, on to perform in festivals and opera houses, with premier and also endowed the Dina Axelrad Perry Professorship in opera companies, throughout Europe and the United States. Economics, supporting the long-term academic excellence of You sang every important soprano role in opera as well the department. In addition, you established the Dina Perry as classical and contemporary concert works with leading Student Scholarship Fund, which has touched so many lives orchestras and conductors, such as Igor Stravinsky, Kurt by providing scholarship assistance to undergraduate and Herbert Adler, Nadia Boulanger, and Pierre Boulez. You were graduate students in Business and Economics. cast alongside such great artists as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Luciano Pavarotti, and Leontyne Price. A portion of your personal success can surely be attributed to your athletic ability and competitive experience. You have You ended your operatic career in 1991 on a high note, in most recently made possible the renovation of the college’s the one-woman Neither, directed by Pierre Audi for De LOYAL, ACCOMPLISHED, AND GENEROUS, you have 1958 Aquatics Center in FitzGerald Gymnasium, which GIFTED AND INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED, you rose Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam—a work requiring virtuoso excelled in finance, philanthropy, and athletics. In both your has been renamed in your honor. Formerly the leader of the to great heights as a lyric and coloratura soprano sought out treatment of Morton Feldman’s intricate music and Samuel life and career, you exemplify the high aspirations, exacting Queens College women’s swim team, you have, through by renowned composers, conductors, and opera houses. You Beckett’s difficult lyrics. Since