QView #157 | May 31, 2023

President Frank H. Wu gave the keynote at Asian Americans and the Future of Civil Rights, an Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month event presented on May 23 by the Asian American Judges Association of New York. On that occasion, Wu received a New York State Senate proclamation commending him for his service to his community and state. The proclamation was issued by State Senator John Liu, whose district now includes Queens College.

Engaging in networking across the university, Amina Aboki (Buildings and Grounds), Denese McFarlane (Buildings and Grounds), and Zeco Krcic (Facilities, Planning and Operations) attended CUNY’s Annual MWBE | SDVOB Conference on May 23 at John Jay College.

From left: Ali Banks, director of Supplier Diversity, CUNY; Amina Aboki, finance coordinator of Buildings and Grounds, QC; Sandra Wilkin, vice chairperson, CUNY Board of Trustees; Zeco Krcic, AVP of Facilities, Planning and Operations, QC; Denese McFarlane, chief administrative superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, QC; Martin Sturla, chief procurement officer, CUNY.

On Wednesday, May 24, Pops Is Tops brought local schoolchildren and a certain college executive to the Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) for jazz in Satchmo’s beloved, Japanese-inspired garden.

From left: President Frank H. Wu, LAHM Executive Director Regina Bain, Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President Jay Hershenson

Playing in the garden

Finishing LAHM's Visitors Center

President Frank H. Wu invited Roberta Cordano, president of Gallaudet University, a federally chartered institution that advances the intellectual and professional advancement of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, to visit Queens College, tour the campus, and explore potential collaborations. (Wu is a trustee emeritus of Gallaudet and former vice chair.) Among the topics discussed were sign language opportunities for students, faculty development, and creation of articulated programs. Participants included John Dennehy (Biology) and Robert Flaucher (Linguistics and Communication Disorders), who is teaching American Sign Language at QC this summer. 

From left: John Dennehy (Biology), Queens College President Frank H. Wu, Gallaudet University President Roberta Cordano, Robert Flaucher (LCD), and Vice President for Communications and Marketing and Senior Advisor to the President of Queens College Jay Hershenson say “I love you” in ASL.

Queensborough Community College held its annual gala at Terrace on the Park on Wednesday, May 24, and people from all over the borough came out to celebrate. QCC and Queens College are educational partners, with many students from the two-year school pursuing bachelor’s degrees at QC.

President Frank H. Wu with New York State Assemblymember David Weprin

Queensborough Community College President Christine Mangino and Vice President and Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Stephen Di Dio

For Career Day for fifth graders at the Academy for Discovery, a public elementary school in Woodhaven, Principal Cheryl-Ann Leone tapped two speakers from QC: President Frank H. Wu and Michael Perrone (EECE). Leone is also affiliated with QC. This spring, she received the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award by Part-Time Faculty in the School of Education.

From left: Wu, Leone, Perrone

Thanks to Caroline Hong (English), director of the Queens College AANAPISI Project, and Soniya Munshi, interim executive director of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute, QC was well represented at the gala for the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) on Thursday, May 25. Founded in 1965, CPC promotes the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities.

From left: Mitchel Wu, director of CPC Queens Community Services; Soniya Munshi, interim executive director, AA/ARI; Caroline Hong (English), director of the Queens College AANAPISI Project; Wayne Ho, president and CEO of CPC

CUNY Spring Forward, which places students in paid internships related to their intended careers, held a remote graduation ceremony on Friday, May 26, for this year’s 600 participants. Among the speakers was President Frank H. Wu, who delivered his remarks via video. Acting as Spring Forward’s Community and Social Services hub, QC was responsible for placing nearly 150 students with 85 local organizations.

The Queens College Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK program recognized the members of the Class of 2023 with a ceremony on Tuesday, May 30, in the Student Union Ballroom. SEEK is celebrating 165 graduates, almost all of whom are the first in their families to graduate from college.

Noel Hankin ’68 returned to his alma mater on Tuesday, May 30, to deliver the keynote at the Baccalaureate Ceremony for students with outstanding academic achievements. After co-founding the first Black-owned discotheques in Manhattan, Hankin moved into a career in advertising. At Miller Brewing Company, he co-created the National Black Scholarship Fund, precursor to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. He also served on the Clinton administration’s advisory council for historically Black colleges and universities.

President Frank H. Wu with Noel Hankin

President Frank H. Wu with Baccalaureate Speaker Tenzin Namgyl ‘23

Three Knights Named to All-East Region Baseball Team

The Queens College baseball team had three players named to the NCAA Division II All-East Region Team, which was selected by the Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Sophomore second baseman Mark Cisco and freshman outfielder Jorsixt Jimenez were each named to the First Team, while senior first baseman Anthony Fontana was picked for the Second Team. 

Cisco is making his second-straight appearance on the team after a season in his which he batted .345 with four home runs, 28 RBIs, and a team-high 60 runs and 45 walks. Jimenez batted .371 with seven home runs, 44 runs, and a single-season program record of 56 RBIs. 

Fontana batted .378 with 51 RB1s and a team-high nine home runs. He also won tournament MVP at the East Coast Conference Championship.

As a result of making the first team, both Cisco and Jimenez are eligible for All-American consideration. The All-American teams will be announced in June.

Summer Session

Don’t be left out in the heat! There’s still time for students to enroll in Summer Session at QC. Summer Session gives students the opportunity to make progress toward graduation by earning up to 15 credits in 4, 6, or 10 weeks. Some 450 courses will be offered, in in-person, remote, and hybrid formats.

Register by June 5 for courses beginning on June 5; July 5 is the deadline for courses starting on that date.

QC Projects Featured at CUNY Event

Students from Queens College account for about 10 percent of the 200 students scheduled to make presentations today—Wednesday, May 31—at the Borough of Manhattan Community College during the inaugural CUNY-wide celebration of undergraduate research.

The CUNY Undergraduate Research Council, comprising representatives from 20 undergraduate colleges, nominated projects reflecting mentored research at their institutions. Work that was selected represents humanities, social science, and STEM disciplines and ranges from posters to a live dance performance.



“I’m always thrilled when members of the Queens College community have the opportunity to showcase their achievements,” says President Frank H. Wu. “I am deeply proud of the students participating in this event and congratulate them and their faculty mentors.”

Dominick Yezzo ’75: A Lifetime of Service

In the summer of 1969, just 10 days after returning home as a wounded soldier from the Vietnam War, Dominick Yezzo ’75 left his Bayside home to visit the registrar at Queens College, hoping to get a fresh start on life. 

“Queens College looked to me like a real university,” recalled Yezzo. “It had a fence around it. It was surrounded by a community. There were trees on it. It had those old tile-roof buildings. I understood that something university-like went on there. I wanted to be part of that.”

The scars of a year fighting a war overseas, both physically and mentally, were still fresh as Yezzo waited in line to submit his application. He didn’t have the academic credentials to be accepted—he had a 73 average in high school—but upon learning that he had just returned from war, a kindly woman at the registrar welcomed him and admitted him on the spot.

“Queens College gave me a chance. When I look back on it, it was a very significant moment in my life,” recalled Yezzo. “It began with an understanding, a willingness to accept me. There was a deeply rooted will and patience with me from the administration first and from all of the teachers from Queens College as well.”

A Year in Vietnam

A year earlier, Yezzo was on his way to Vietnam. He had been drafted by the Army during the height of the war, a time when 19,000 young men in New York State alone were being sent to war each month. The furthest he had been from home during his childhood was a weekend trip to Boston, and now, at 21 years old, he was traveling 8,500 miles away to fight in the war.

From the day he left for Vietnam, Yezzo kept a journal of his daily activities. Only 10 days into his tour, he was critically wounded: A grenade explosion left shrapnel lodged in his shoulder. He was medevacked by helicopter and taken to a field base until he was stabilized. Doctors could not remove the shrapnel. He spent weeks recuperating on the USS Repose, a U.S. Navy hospital ship stationed off the coast of the South China Sea.

“I recognized that this was bigger than me,” explained Yezzo. “I started to write a journal, especially after I got hit because I thought the possibility that I could die was real. You understand early on that you’re in a condition where life and death are the chief tension. Nobody lives like that here. In war, that’s how it is.”

Sufficiently recovered from his injuries, he was sent back to his unit. He spent the next year living in constant fear, surviving regular mortar attacks and a firefight, while witnessing firsthand the deaths of fellow soldiers as well as Vietnamese civilians.

Returning Home

Yezzo returned home from Vietnam on August 17, 1969, which, ironically, was during the Woodstock Music Festival in upstate New York. While nearly 500,000 people were promoting peace and love, he came home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), ringworm, and a damaged right shoulder.

His family embraced him upon his return and helped him heal both physically and mentally. Yezzo struggled with the difficult memories of his time in battle and the worry about his fellow soldiers still overseas. But his mother gave him some good advice that helped him to pick up the pieces.

“She sat beside me in the kitchen table, held me tight, and said ‘Wash your face, comb your hair, and go to work. Control what you can control.’ It was the best advice I’ve ever been given my entire life,” said Yezzo.

His mother also read his journal and got an understanding of what he endured in Vietnam. A few days later, she mentioned the journal to a family friend who happened to be a writer for the Daily News. Her friend helped Yezzo get the journal in the hands of publishers. Shortly after, while still a student at Queens College, he was a published author. The book, A G.I.’s Vietnam Diary, was reviewed by the New York Times, and according to Yezzo, was the first book ever written documenting a soldier’s firsthand experience in the Vietnam War.

The first printing sold out and second printing was issued.

“The irony was that I was in remedial English at Queens, and the book was published and reviewed in The New York Times,” he said.

As he continued his studies at Queens, he improved his English grades and majored in English literature.

“Because I started to read, I didn’t realize literature was taking a hold of me,” said Yezzo. “When I first came to Queens College, I studied criminology, psychology, Italian. It was like a feast. I looked at all the students, and I thought what a joy it was to study here. I had no skills, but most of the teachers were patient with me. I really have a good undergraduate degree at Queens College. It’s a basis for a lot of broader ranges of duty and citizenship.”

A Successful Career

Upon graduation, he went on to earn his master’s degree in language and literature from the City College of New York in 1980. He taught at Touro College briefly before moving to Nassau Community College to teach literature, beginning in 1978. (He became a full-time lecturer at Nassau and still teaches courses there today.) 

Ready for a new challenge, Yezzo decided to pursue a law degree. He applied and was accepted to CUNY Law School.

“It was that same hidden dream,” he said. “That attempt at something unavailable to persons like me. There was more to do. I always enjoyed the law.”

Remarkably, Yezzo managed to balance his law school studies while still teaching a full course load at Nassau and earned his JD in public interest law in 1988.

In 1991, he opened his own private law practice specializing in personal injury. The practice was highly successful, and he worked in that role until 2009 when he turned his private practice into law in the service of human need—public interest law. He became a law judge for New York City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, an independent administrative law court separate from the state court system. It is responsible for holding hearings on summonses and administrative trials issued by various city agencies. He is still employed there today.

“It was time for me to return what I had gotten back to the community. I was very interested in doing community service work. Life was running on me, and I wanted to do more with my degree. I have a degree in public interest law, and my work now is solely in public interest.”

Helping Fellow Veterans

With all his successes, Yezzo never forgot about his time in Vietnam and has been committed to helping his fellow veterans. Since 1980, he has volunteered his time for the Vietnam Veterans of America, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the full range of issues important to Vietnam veterans. He is the chair of the Veterans Incarcerated and in the Judicial System, which serves incarcerated veterans and veterans in treatment courts who suffer from PTSD and TBI. Yezzo travels to prisons all over the country, witnessing cells full of veterans who received honorable discharges, silver stars, bronze stars, and purple hearts. He advocates for incarcerated veterans in need with prison administrators, wardens, judges, and district attorneys in 50 states and develops strategies to help those who struggle with these hidden diseases.  

“Not that we are soft on crime, but we certainly don’t want to leave [incarcerated veterans] behind,” explained Yezzo. “Post-traumatic stress caused these people to be unable to reason properly, and they are of value to the prison system. . . . They are carrying with them, in many cases, an awful burden. Once you’ve been in a war and experience the destruction of people and property, you’re likely to struggle with the results of that in a human way. The results are profound, even if we don’t admit it to ourselves. PTSD is never gone. I understand that. I still struggle. If you don’t have the support that I had when I came home, which is a family and people who honored your service, you can be bitten by it—as soon as it happens or many years later.”

As he looks back at his life and what he has accomplished, Yezzo reflects on the first time he visited Queens College and how it was instrumental in helping him become a writer, professor, lawyer, judge, and a humanitarian—and it all started when Queens College took a chance on a veteran many years ago.

“I praise Queens and the administration who were patient enough to let me develop the skills I needed to become a successful student,” added Yezzo. “I honor QC first because QC honored me.”

Boatloads of Fun

Socrates Sculpture Park and the LIC Community Boathouse are offering free canoeing and kayaking from Hallet’s Cove on Saturdays from noon to 5 pm, weather permitting. No experience is required and equipment is provided; first come, first served. (Enter at 31-10 Vernon Boulevard.) Participants younger than 18 must have a parent or guardian present. This summer’s program will run—or float!—through September 16.

John Dennehy (Biology) published “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: When communication all changed” in eLife . . . . Sin-Ying Ho (Art) has work on the cover and inside New Export China: Translations Across Time and Place in Contemporary Chinese Porcelain, a June release from University of California Press . . . . President Frank H. Wu was named #23 on City & State’s Queens Power 100. City & State highlighted Wu’s promotion of community engagement and his dedication of a campus landmark to Wilson Rantus, an African American civil rights activist who lived and worked in Queens in the 19th century.

This is the last issue of QView for the semester. The newsletter will be published once over the summer and resume its usual schedule in Fall 2023.