May 9, 2017
On Monday April 24, St. John's hosted the annual Criminal Justice & Homeland Security Connection Awards Dinner. It was a successful event, open to all criminal justice and homeland security majors and minors, professors, HCL graduate students and Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Alumni from the St. John’s University Staten Island campus.
Opening remarks were made by Angelo Pisani, Ph.D. who hosted this incredible opportunity for students. His remarks were preceded with an introduction by the John F. Kennedy Airport Customs & Border Patrol Officers Honor Guards. One of our talented students, Kaiya Stevens, ’19 SOE, sang the Star Spangled Banner, and Stephen DeBlasio issued an opening invocation.
In attendance were the Dean of the College of Professional Studies, Katia Passerini, Ph.D., and James O'Keefe, Ph.D., Vice Provost of the Staten Island campus and Professor of criminal justice, who was formerly an Appointed Deputy Commissioner in the New York City Police Department. The keynote speaker of the evening was Francis J. Russo ‘95SVC, Port Director of John F. Kennedy International Airport. He graduated in May of 1995 with a B.S. in Criminal Justice. Mr. Russo previously served as the Assistant Director, Border Security, for the New York Field Office (NYFO), where he oversaw U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations in New York and New Jersey, including two of the country's top five busiest international airports (JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport).
This event provided an excellent opportunity for students to make connections with alumni who are currently working in criminal justice agencies. St. John’s University’s mission reflects the importance of making connections between its current students and successful alumni who have established themselves in their careers. Not only is it important to meet alumni, but it was a moment to speak with faculty members who have an overwhelming amount of experience in Criminal Justice and Homeland Security. In addition, several of our students received awards throughout the night and other award recipients were high ranking NYPD Chiefs.
The Distinguished Student Award was given to DinaRose M. Soliman, ’17CPS B.S. in Criminal Justice and Mass Communications Minor. The Outstanding Graduate Student Award was given to Kiersten Hernandez ’17CPS, ’17GCPS who is graduating with a combined B.S. and M.P.S. degree in Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Leadership. The Outstanding Alumni Award was given to Christopher J. Granato, ’03CPS, U.S. Customs Enforcement Officer and Investigator. The Outstanding Professor Award was given to James Luongo, New York Police Department (NYPD) Deputy Chief, Special Investigations Division.
"This was the best Criminal Justice event we've had in the 24 years I've been the Director,” Pisani said. “So many guests told me it truly felt like a ‘family affair’. The students, alumni, and guests and their families were having such a good time no one wanted to leave. Introducing our honorees and high caliber faculty was such an honor.”
Other awards featured the Criminal Justice Leadership Award, which was given to Edward Delatorre, NYPD Assistant Chief and Staten Island Borough Commander. In addition, St. John’s University’s chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, a national Criminal Justice honor society, inducted the following Staten Island students: Daniel Demeo ’18CPS, Alyssa Gainey ’17CPS, Valentina Gioffre ’17CPS, Yessenia Gonzalez ’17CPS, Nicholas Matias ’18CPS, and Olivia Scalici ’15CPS, ’18GCPS.
Overall, this awards dinner exuded with talent and esteemed professionals amongst the audience. Dean Palastro of College of Professional Studies says, “This Criminal Justice & Homeland Security Connection Awards Dinner was a testimony to the dedication and camaraderie of the faculty, students and administration of the College of Professional Studies. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of it.”
Dr. James O’Keefe remarked that the most important moment of the night was “honoring the outstanding students and our faculty, who are academically qualified and professionally distinguished across the board. These majors are applied academic disciplines and our Staten Island faculty members hold a unique distinction of excellence in both academic and professional application.”