Faculty Handbook

Campus Highlights

The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center

Telephone: 718-281-5770

The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) uses the tragic lessons of the Holocaust and other mass atrocities to empower current generations to become agents of social change. Based in Queens, the most diverse county in the nation, the KHC educates students, faculty, and the local community about the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping. The Center contextualizes the history of the Holocaust within the larger framework of how and why genocide happens, not merely as an extreme outcome but as part of a continuum that starts with everyday acts of bigotry and oppression.

Founded upon this philosophy of educational empowerment, the KHC is neither museum nor research facility; it is a learning laboratory where students, survivors, and community members connect through their hearts, minds, and actions. The KHC serves approximately 20,000 visitors each year through annual programs, commemorative events, lectures, tours, and film screenings for both students as well as the general public. In addition, the KHC houses a gallery featuring original rotating exhibitions and a permanent installation about the Holocaust which is open year round. The Center also hosts interactive presentations with first- and second-generation Holocaust survivors for QCC students and faculty across all academic departments and collaborates with: CUNY Explorers, CUNY College Now, the Center for International Affairs, Immigration & Study Abroad, and the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL).

Each semester, the KHC offers several internship and fellowship programs for QCC students. The ongoing Acts of Hate Fellowship grants students the opportunity to explore different Holocaust-specific themes that are connected to contemporary social justice issues. The Curatorial Fellowship, in partnership with the Art and Design Department's Gallery and Museum Studies Program, provides fellows hands-on experience curating and installing an exhibition at the KHC. Project-based internships provide students the opportunity to work at a nonprofit committed to human rights while gaining first-hand knowledge about how the Center's mission connects to its programming. Upon completion and successful presentation of their work at a QCC undergraduate research event, students receive a stipend and a certificate from elected officials.

With support from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant, the KHC also hosts an annual faculty-curated colloquium about global human rights and mass atrocity issues for QCC students and the broader community.

The Queensborough Community College Art Gallery

Telephone: 718-631-6396

The Queensborough Community College Art Gallery is a learning laboratory for the College's students and a cultural asset to Queens and the entire metropolitan area. The Art Gallery routinely offers world-class exhibits like The International Collaboration with the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan titled Rewoven: Innovative Fiber Art (2017). Together with its permanent collection of African art, which has received critical acclaim from The New York Times, and student and faculty exhibitions, the Gallery specializes in bringing the artistic and cultural traditions of diverse cultures to its own diverse audiences. In 2020, the Gallery is celebrating its 50th Anniversary by presenting the exhibition GOYA: A Painter in his Formative years (1759-1775), an exhibition that emphasizes the relationship between Spanish artist Francisco de Goya and his teachers.

The Art Gallery's creative learning experiences, which have been nationally recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education, include its “Learning-to-Look” project-based learning program for the students of the College, along with students from local high schools, colleges, and universities. In conjunction with the Art and Design Department, the Gallery offers a two-credit internship course on gallery administration, which gives students a practical look at how a gallery operates.

The Queensborough Performing Arts Center

Telephone: 718-631-6387

The Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC) is a creative catalyst for promoting the arts to students and residents of Queens and greater New York City. Through its rich menu of arts programming and educational services QPAC serves more than 100,000 people each year. Throughout its 53-year history, QPAC has successfully presented over 1,200 performances in its 875-seat state of the art theater including superior student productions. The cornerstone of the Performing Arts Center is the annual Professional Performing Arts Series, which was created to bring a high level of accessible world-class entertainment to the community at large. QPAC is strongly committed to expanding public access to the arts for everyone–working families, younger generations and seniors, but particularly for the students at Queensborough. Faculty members, have the unique opportunity of integrating the center and its resources in a number of creative ways, into the courses they teach, deepening and enriching student learning in the process. While students studying the arts may seem like the most natural fit for this type of participatory learning, the artists we present, many of whom hail from the farthest corners of the world, enable real-life lessons in sociology, history, language, health, education, finance, physical therapy, physics, not to mention the more obvious connections in the areas of theatre, dance, music, photography, and marketing.

Additionally, nearly three dozen students work behind the scenes at the Performing Arts Center each year. Students who wish to intern must have completed pre-requisite classes in one of the performing arts disciplines. Students work on nearly 100 productions each year, including professional productions, student productions, community rentals, graduations and dance recitals.

The Queensborough Community College Observatory

Location: Library Building

Opened in 1979, the Queensborough Community College Observatory, the largest in a college in Queens and located on the roof of the Library Building, houses a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Reflector telescope. Students in Queensborough's astronomy course (PH-110: Astronomy and Space Physics) attend at least one night observation during the semester. Guests and other Queensborough students and faculty/staff are welcome on a space-available basis. The Office of Continuing Education periodically offers stargazing for the community. Observers can see details on the moon, excellent views of planets and some of their moons, interesting stars, and some galaxies.

Campus Cultural Centers

Kupferberg Holocaust Center exterior lit up at nightOpens in a new window
Kupferberg Holocaust Center Opens in a new window

The KHC uses the lessons of the Holocaust to educate current and future generations about the ramifications of unbridled prejudice, racism and stereotyping.

Russian Ballet performing at the Queensborough Performing Arts CenterOpens in a new window
QPAC: Performing Arts CenterOpens in a new window

QPAC is an invaluable entertainment company in this region with a growing national reputation. The arts at QPAC continues to play a vital role in transforming lives and building stronger communities.

Queensborough Art Gallery exterior in the afternoonOpens in a new window
QCC Art Gallery

The QCC Art Gallery of the City University of New York is a vital educational and cultural resource for Queensborough Community College, the Borough of Queens and the surrounding communities.