Press Release August 24

Flushing, NY, August 24, 2023—Queens College has announced the expected appointment of 57 new faculty in professorial and lecturer titles in fall 2023—the result of creative financial leadership at multiple levels. Such growth is considered imperative to maintaining the college’s stature as an institution of excellent public higher education. In addition, Queens has made major administrative appointments. Going into the new academic year, it continues to be ranked highly by the influential Princeton Review and other annual guides. It also reported a 4 percent increase in summer enrollment over last year.

The successful faculty hiring initiative is credited to the combined efforts of leaders at Queens College, the City University of New York (CUNY), and the state legislature, together with Governor Kathy Hochul, who all supported allocating the necessary funds. “This hiring initiative has been a labor of love, involving the dedicated work of people at many levels of education and government. We are proud that we are able to invest in a large number of additional faculty at Queens College,” says Queens College President Frank H. Wu. “With their help, our curriculum will continue to evolve and respond to students’ needs, offering fresh ideas, new courses, and up-to-date research agendas. Our goal as an institution is to ensure that our graduates—not just today, but in the future—will be fully prepared for either graduate school or the workplace, whichever they choose.”

The new faculty represent a 10.1 percent addition to the ranks of full-time faculty above last year’s levels. “New faculty constitute the renewal of the college, and an addition of this magnitude is nothing short of momentous,” said Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price. She added, “CUNY and New York State allocated 19 lecturer lines. QC competed for an additional pool of professorial lines also funded by the university and state and was awarded 10. The balance of the new faculty recruits—roughly half of the total—were funded internally and constitute a cornerstone investment by President Wu in the core academic enterprise.” The impacts will be felt all over campus, as the new faculty will begin teaching this fall in four divisions. In the School of Arts and Humanities, new faculty will total two in art, one in classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian languages and cultures, one in comparative literature, one in drama, theatre, and dance, seven in English, one in Hispanic language and literature, and three in music. In the School of Education, there will be one new faculty member in educational and community programs, three in elementary and early childhood education, and four in secondary education and youth services. In the School of Mathematics and Natural Science, new hires will consist of one in biology, one in chemistry, three in computer science, four in family, nutrition, and exercise sciences, one in physics, four in psychology, and one in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. In the School of Social Science, there will be five in accounting and information systems, one in anthropology, four in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, one in history, two in philosophy, one in political science, three in sociology, and one in Urban Studies.

Queens College also announced the appointments of high-ranking administrators. In July, Simone Yearwood was named interim dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. Yearwood is an experienced administrator at the college whose appointments include serving as associate dean and chief librarian of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library since 2001; she is also former chair of the academic senate. Yearwood holds three degrees from Queens College: a BA in sociology, a master’s in library science, and a master’s in urban affairs. An adjunct associate professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, she is active in the New York Library Association, where she previously served on the executive board. Yearwood’s research addresses information literacy, cross-training of staff, patron-driven acquisitions, user experience, leadership, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues.

Effective in August, Maria DeLongoria will assume office as interim associate provost for academic and faculty affairs. She was most recently at Medgar Evers College, where she held the positions of chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, associate professor of history, executive director of the Caribbean Research Center, and dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Education. She previously held administrative positions at City College, Northern Virginia Community College, and SUNY Suffolk County Community College. A historian by training, she holds a BA from Virginia State University, MA from Morgan State University, and PhD from the University of Missouri–Columbia. Her research concerns racial and ethnic identity, race and gender discrimination in higher education, and the lynching of Black women.

Soniya Munshi has been made director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership (CETLL). Formerly the interim executive director of the Asian/Asian American Research Institute, she is affiliate faculty in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Critical Social/Personality Psychology Program. Formerly she was an associate professor in the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s (BMCC) Department of Ethnic and Race Studies, and she was co-coordinator of the BMCC-Hunter College AANAPISI Bridge Initiative (ABI). From 2013 to 2021, she was a faculty member in BMCC’s Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice Department. She holds a BA in women’s and gender studies and in psychology from Macalester College, an MA in sociology from Queens College, and a PhD in sociology with an advanced women’s studies certificate from the CUNY Graduate Center. She is on the editorial board of Women’s Studies Quarterly, and served on the CUNY Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative’s Council. Her research, teaching, and writing interests include gendered violence in migrant communities; illness, disability, and reproductive justice in Asian America; and Black, Indigenous, women of color, queer, and transnational feminist theories, methodologies, and movements.

Yung-Yi Diana Pan has been appointed interim executive director of the Asian/Asian American Research Institute (AAARI). Most recently an associate professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, she also served as director of American studies and the faculty dean associate of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Brooklyn College. Pan earned BAs in political science and ethnic studies at Oregon State University, an MA in ethnic studies from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Irvine. Her research concerns the experiences of nonwhite individuals in predominantly white spaces, especially elite professions in law, medicine, and higher education. She is a member of the senior editorial board for the Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography and sits on the Westchester Asian American Advisory Board.

Additionally, Craig Blodgett has assumed the role of interim director of Student Development and Leadership. In this capacity he will oversee important student functions, including managing clubs and organizations, the Knights Table Food Pantry, and leadership initiatives. He also will foster civic engagement and volunteer programs. Prior to assuming this role, Blodgett served as associate director of residence life in The Summit Apartments. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology and a master’s degree in social sciences, both from Binghamton University.

Queens College remains highly placed in national rankings. For the 32nd consecutive year, it made the Princeton Review Best Colleges list and is included in “The Best 389 Colleges: 2024” edition; it also was recognized as a Princeton Review Best Northeastern College. Queens was named a 2023 Money Magazine Best College, and received Military Friendly School and Military Spouse Friendly School Designations for 2023–2024 from the media company Victory.

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