Student Resources - English Department

Student Mentoring

The English department has a student mentoring committee composed of faculty that host weekly mentoring hours and work together to sponsor programs that assist students. Visit the student mentoring page for more information.

English Department Honors Contract

Interested in diving a bit deeper into your English class? Becoming an Honors Scholar?

The Honors Contract offers students the opportunity to create and implement a substantial project with the support of their English professor for a course in which they seek Honors credit. 

Students who earn 12 or more hours of Honors credit and graduate with a 3.40 (or higher) GPA are recognized as Honors Scholars at graduation. This includes:

• A special Honors Certificate
• Honors notation on your diploma
• Recognition as an Honors Scholar during the annual commencement ceremony
• A permanent notation on your transcript that you graduated as an Honors Scholar

Please click here to download the contract

Many students who complete an honors contract go on to share or present their work at a college-wide event, such as Undergraduate Research Day or the annual Spring Symposium, or to publish their work in the QCC literary journal Collective  or the QCC student-led newspaper The Communique. In addition, while continuing their academic journeys, Honors scholars may choose to receive the support and guidance of Faculty Mentors.

Recent Honors projects have included multimedia presentations; research work that involves members of the local community; extended creative writing projects, and so on. Here’s an example-- check out Shan He’s EN 102 Spring 2021 Honors contract Click here to view the sample contract and her narrated slideshow entitled “Modern Doll House: The New Woman in China”.

Ask your English professor today!

Department Events (Fall 2024)

Student Publications

Faculty in the English Department value students' writing and encourage students to publish their work in the two publications that the Department sponsors: Collective, the College's journal of creative writing and art and Communiqué, the College's newspaper. Read more

Collective is the Queensborough Community College Student Literary Journal. It is published annually during the spring semester by the Creative Writing Club and the English Department. The magazine showcases the diversity of student voices at our college by including the original poetry, fiction, non-fiction and artwork of our students. Our mission is to create community through creativity, and we encourage all kinds of writing from all kinds of writers and non-writers.

Submissions are on a rolling basis for current Queensborough students. If you'd like to send a submission or work on editing the journal, please contact Benjamin Miller bmiller@qcc.cuny.edu or Alison Cimino ACimino@qcc.cuny.edu

Student Literary Journal: Collective

Download the latest edition of Collective

Communiqué, the campus newspaper, is published monthly during the fall and spring semesters by the students in EN-242: Introduction to Journalism. The class offers members a hands-on, workshop approach as students learn how to report for, edit, and publish a newspaper by doing just that. We print roughly 1500 copies per edition, reaching a substantial audience of students, faculty and staff at QCC. There is also an online version of the newspaper.

Communiqué's staff investigates and reports on noteworthy campus events, student government, administration and faculty, and sports on campus as well as topics on the local, national, and international levels that impact QCC. The newspaper provides a wide range of writing experiences—from news stories to feature and opinion pieces. Staff members also contribute photography and art work. To find out more information, please contact Alisa Cercone at ACercone@qcc.cuny.edu or Elizabeth Toohey at EToohey@qcc.cuny.edu.

Student Awards

In order to recognize and honor excellent examples of student writing and performance, the department offers a number of awards to students:

The Hedy Jacobowitz Memorial Award for Outstanding Journalism or Non-Fiction. This award is for students who have completed 101 and 102. Journalism students, creative writers and advanced expository writing students are all eligible. You can submit your own work to be considered for this award.

The Reginald and Eileen Keizs Award in Literature and Writing goes to a Queensborough student who is majoring in Education and has completed at least one course beyond EN102. To be considered for this award, students must have a high grade point average and be recommended by one of their English professors.

The Dr. Arnold Asrelsky Award for Achievement in Writing and Literature by an Evening Student. For students of upper-level Writing and Literature courses taught in the evening that work and tend to their families as they take college courses.

The Smithline/Trefman Award. For outstanding achievement in literature and writing. Primarily determined by grades and a faculty recommendation; students need to have completed at least one course beyond EN-102 in order to compete.

The Meredith Young Scholarship Endowment. For a student who is a single parent and has complete a Basic Skills writing course and has earned/is earning a C+ or better in English 101.