Dear MA students, My apologies to those of you who are waiting for an email response from me. I've been sick and out of commission for the past couple weeks. I'm woefully behind on my emails as a result but I hope to slowly catch up over the next week or so. In the meantime, if you have any questions or need advising, please continue to *email BOTH me and Bill* (worchard@qc.cuny.edu), so that whichever one of us is able to can reply first. Please read on for some important announcements and updates. NANCY COMLEY PRIZE Please find attached the submission guidelines for our annual *Nancy Comley Prize*, awarded to the best essay written by an English MA, MS Ed, or MAT student. We hope you consider submitting something, whether it's an essay you've already written for a class, a work-in-progress, or your thesis essay. Submissions are due *Monday, May 4*. CAMPUS & PROGRAM UPDATES Unfortunately, in-person *commencement* has been canceled. There may be virtual graduation festivities in the works--I'll let you know as soon as I know more. And if you had filed to graduate this semester but have gotten anxiety-producing emails from the Registrar saying that you haven't fulfilled your program requirements, rest assured that we will make sure that you all graduate as planned, pending your completion of all coursework and thesis requirements. For students currently enrolled in *ENGL 791* and writing your thesis essays, I'll check in with you and your faculty advisors separately. But you should be continuing to check in with your advisors and making plans to hold your oral conferences/exams virtually. I'll be in touch soon with more info and guidelines. It's official--*Summer 2020* courses will now all be online. We haven't yet heard what will happen with fall courses, but it seems possible that they'll be partially, if not completely, online. Please do go ahead and register for your summer and fall courses if you haven't already, to ensure those classes don't get canceled, and I'll keep you posted regarding any updates or changes to our course offerings. A reminder that CUNY has extended the deadline for *withdrawals* (W) to May 14, 2020, without academic penalty (W’s do not impact your GPA). You should be able to withdraw yourselves via CUNYfirst, without any extra paperwork or approval. CUNY has also implemented a flexible *Pass/No Credit* (P/NC) grading policy <https://www.cuny.edu/cuny-continuity/cuny-continuity-for-students/#grade-policy>. You’ll have 20 business days after you get your Spring 2020 grades to decide if you want to convert any A-F letter grades to P/NC. And any P grades from this semester will count toward your MA course requirements. (Note that taking too many classes P/NC may impact your financial aid or certain professional certification requirements. Please talk to your academic advisors and the Financial Aid office before making any changes.) If you took an *INC* in Fall 2019, you now have until August 30, 2020, to resolve that incomplete. RESOURCES QC administrators held a Virtual Town Hall <https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-QView--72.html?soid=1103033957415&aid=hG-rHgM1Y4A> where they answered a lot of student questions. You can also find more FAQs and resources on the QC coronavirus website <https://www.qc.cuny.edu/community/Coronavirus/Pages/FAQs%20Resources.aspx>. If you’re struggling financially, you can apply for a Petrie Emergency Grant or an interest-free emergency loan from the College. For more info, email petriegrant@qc.cuny.edu and click here <https://www.qc.cuny.edu/StudentLife/services/Pages/Emergency-Grant.aspx>. If you’re experiencing food insecurity, you can apply and make an appointment to pick up food from the Knights Table Food Pantry <https://knightstablefoodpantry.org/>. If you’re struggling with your mental health, QC Counseling Services <https://www.qc.cuny.edu/StudentLife/services/counseling/counseling/Pages/default.aspx> (718-997-5420) is conducting appointments via telephone and videoconference. Referrals are available to low-cost, sliding scale, and pro bono mental health practitioners. SOME GOOD STUFF Missing the QC community and want to read some QC writers? The 2020 issue of *Utopia Parkway* <https://utopiaparkwayjournal.wordpress.com/current/>, our undergrad literary journal, is out now! And QC Voices <http://qcvoices.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/> is still going strong too, including this powerful piece on COVID-19 in jails and prisons <http://qcvoices.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/najet/2020/04/10/jails-and-prisons-are-vectors-for-covid-19/> . Finally, if you live in Queens and want to share your experiences during the pandemic, please consider checking out the Queens Memory COVID-19 Project <https://qplnyc.urbanarchive.me/cities/nyc>. As always, please take care of yourselves and your loved ones and your communities. Bill and I are here to support you as best we can, so please do email us both if you have any questions or concerns, and thank you for your patience and understanding if there are delays in our response time. Best, Caroline -- Caroline Kyungah Hong, PhD Associate Professor of English Director of Graduate Studies (English MA) Queens College, CUNY Klapper Hall 604 caroline.hong@qc.cuny.edu* *she/her/hers* ** Please note that I am off email on weekends and will respond to your email during business hours, Monday–Friday 8am–5pm. At this time, there may be a delay in response time.*