Archivist and Deputy Chief Librarian, Associate Professor Connie Williams talks about Queensborough’s origins, its famous visitors, and why students find the Kurt R. Schmeller Library so welcoming and comfortable. The keeper of our history for more than 25 years, Connie maintains records and determines the function, authenticity evidentiary value of the College’s vast records, such as every edition of the student newspaper, Communique and all of NY State Republican Senator Frank Pavadan’s legislative records (the Senator’s efforts helped create and maintain the nearby Alley Pond Environmental Center). Connie also shares her own education history and her trajectory from Ann Arbor Michigan to Bayside, Queens.

Associate Professor of English, Dr. Elizabeth Toohey teaches journalism and advises the Queensborough student newspaper, Communiqué. A regular contributor to The Christian Science Monitor, she reviews novels, and nonfiction works in women’s studies, film and American culture. Here, Dr. Toohey talks about her current focus on community college journalism, diversity in newsrooms and her review of the novel Behold the Dreamers by the Cameroonian-American writer Imbolo Mbue.

An immigrant and community college graduate, Dr. Rochelle Nelson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Geology. Mentor, teacher, and researcher, Dr. Nelson says, “Community college really helped develop me into the person I am today!” It’s one reason why she feels so strongly about mentoring, coaching, and reaching out to students. In this conversation, Dr. Nelson talks about her own history, education, and her research on what is known as broken heart syndrome. She also shares how she works with immigrants and first-generation college students to remove any obstacles in their way so they can become empowered, confident and successful in their studies and their lives.

Archaeologist and anthropologist, Dr. Stephanie Rost, Assistant Professor in the History Department of Queensborough, takes us to Iraq and talks about her findings and the historical geography of late 3rd millennium B.C. southern Mesopotamia. In this conversation, Dr. Rost talks about her archaeological field project, The Umma Survey, and her collection of archaeological data pertaining to ancient settlements, watercourses and ancient landscapes. She discusses how she and colleagues are able to reconstruct the geographic context of this early state economy.