Corey Johnson and Ruben Diaz Jr. will visit the Queens College Department of Urban Studies this November! Corey Johnson, Speaker of New York City Council, will speak on Friday, November 16th. 4 pm Powdermaker 115 Corey Johnson was elected by his peers to serve as Speaker of the New York City Council on January 3, 2018. He was re-elected in 2017 with 94% of the vote to represent Council District 3. Raised in a union household where his mother, a homeless services provider, and his father, a Teamster, instilled in him the values of community service and political engagement, Corey came to national attention in 1999 when, as the captain of his high school football team, he took the courageous step of coming out publicly as gay. Corey's actions landed him on the front page of the New York Times and he began telling his story to audiences of young people across the country. He would later serve as chairperson of Manhattan's Community Board 4, becoming the youngest person to chair a community board in the five boroughs.? Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President, will speak on Friday, November 30th. 3 pm Powdermaker 115 Ruben Diaz Jr. first entered public office as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1997, and is currently serving his third full term as Bronx Borough President, having been reelected in November 2017 with more than 88 percent of the vote. As borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr. has led the implementation of a robust agenda-on economic development, housing, health and wellness, education, and public safety-in every corner of the borough. He graduated from Lehman College, City University of New York, with a Bachelor's degree in political theory.