DR. FRANCES CURCIO CREATES SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT AND MAKES LEGACY GIFT TO SUPPORT FUTURE EDUCATORS

Dr. Frances R. Curcio, Professor Emerita, started teaching high school mathematics while studying for her Ph.D. in mathematics education at NYU, where she met Alice Artzt, her longtime collaborator. She taught at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, before joining the Queens College Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education in 1986. From 1995 until 2000, Fran taught in the School of Education at NYU. Fran accepted Dr. Artzt’s invitation to return to Queens College in 2000 to teach and to serve as co-director of the TIME 2000 program until retiring in January 2020.

“The TIME 2000 program is a four-year mathematics education program offering scholarships to create secondary school teachers,” Fran says. “It’s a close-knit program with a dual major of mathematics and secondary education.” The collaboration and friendship with Dr. Artzt inspired Fran to create the TIME 2000 Graduate Scholarship Endowment Award and to include the College in her estate plan to ensure that her support of Queens College students continues beyond her lifetime.

“Dr. Artzt is a generous human being in a philanthropic way,” Fran says, “and she set the example for me to give back to Queens College and the TIME 2000 program. Being part of a public college, there is such diversity—and the students are so grateful for the opportunity and truly value education more than those I’ve encountered at private colleges.”

Now officially retired but writing and still active in her field, Fran says her heart has always been in public education. “The quality of the students I’ve encountered at Queens College has restored my faith in public education,” she says. “We must give back and support our professions and keep them going.”

Fran hopes others will be inspired to create their own legacy gifts to support the future of Queens College. Through her service as a high school teacher, professor, professor emerita, donor, and citizen, Fran R. Curcio embodies the motto of Queens College: “Discimus ut Serviamus”—We learn so that we may serve.