CUNY Academic Commons

Chemistry Department, QCC-CUNY

Dr. Kevin Kolack is a tenured doctoral lecturer at Queensborough Community College – City University of New York. Kevin earned a B.S. in chemistry at The University of Virginia guided by the legendary Frank Carey, and a Ph.D. at Indiana University in the research group of Distinguished Professor George Christou. The winner of the 2021 American Chemical Society New York Section Outstanding 2-year College Chemistry Teaching Award, Professor Kolack joined the full-time faculty at QCC after 13 years as an adjunct professor at The Cooper Union as well as time at St. Joseph’s College, Yeshiva University, and Hunter College – CUNY. The English-language editor of more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, Professor K has more than 30 years of college teaching experience and a highly eclectic background including a reasonably successful acting career, 10 years as a firefighter/EMT, licenses for New York City taxi, ambulance, fire truck and helicopter, professional puppeteer experience, training as a fire eater, he competed at the Olympic level in smallbore rifle, and he really enjoys indoor skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel. Dr. Kolack is the lead author of the 3rd-5th editions of “Introductory General Chemistry Experiments” and also wrote and starred in “The Professor K Show,” a topical, environmental educational TV program.  Dr. Kolack and his amazing wife Diane (a graduate of the CUNY Baccalaureate in Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies program) and incredible son live in Queens, where Kevin was once hit by a 79,000 pound crane while driving on Queens Boulevard on his way to a QCC graduation, and where he narrowly escaped death again when a nurse made a significant figures error in administering medicine to him at the hospital.