Administrative Staff - The City University of New York

Communications Coordinator

Sofia Carreño

Budget and Personnel Coordinator

Monique Francis

Special Projects Coordinator

Kymete Gashi

Development Coordinator

Gregory O. Smiley

DIRECTORS' BIOS

Allan Wernick, Esq.

Allan Wernick is a professor at Baruch College, City University New York (CUNY), and the Director of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. His weekly column, "Immigration and Citizenship" is syndicated by King Features Syndicate, and his column "Immigration Advice" appears twice weekly in the New York Daily News. Professor Wernick has taught immigration and policy at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and at California State University at Dominguez Hills.

Professor Wernick has served on the National Board of Directors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), as Chair of the Immigration Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and as President of the New York Chapter of AILA. He has appeared on numerous national and local television and radio programs, including CNN's Crossfire and The Phil Donahue Show.

James McGovern

James (Jim) McGovern is the Deputy Director of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. Having advised international students with immigration and academic concerns for almost twenty five years, he is an expert on non-immigrant student and scholar status issues (F-1 and J-1 status). Prior to joining the Project he was Director of the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at the City College of New York, CUNY. Jim was born in Scotland and first came to the United States as an international exchange student. He has lived in the United States for more than 30 years.

Midori Hills, Esq.

Midori Hills is the Director of Legal Services of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. She is a graduate of the CUNY Law School and has worked in Immigration Legal Services since then. Prior to CUNY, she was a Staff Attorney at a legal services office in New York working in employment based immigration for nonprofit organizations and teachers. Midori has provided trainings on a wide variety of immigration issues to lawyers, paralegals and other professionals.

Staff Attorneys

William Boyle, Esq. at City College
Maggie Kawinski, Esq. at York College
Luz Medrano, Esq. at Hostos Community College
Concetta Mennella, Esq. at New York City College of Technology
Euna Kim, Esq. at Flushing Immigration Center
Amelia Shogan, Esq. at CUNY Express Immigration Center
Elizabeta Markuci, Esq. at LaGuardia Community College
Andrés Perches Lemons Esq. at Medgar Evers College

Attorney Bios

William Boyle, Esq.

William (Liam) Boyle is the Staff Attorney at the City College Immigration Center. He is a graduate of University College Dublin, and was admitted as an attorney in New York in September 2006. Prior to joining CUNY, he worked for two years as an Immigration Counselor at Emerald Isle Immigration Center in the Woodlawn section of The Bronx. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, as well as the New York State Bar Association.

Maggie Kawinski, Esq.

Maggie Kawinski is the Staff Attorney at the York College Immigration Center in Queens. She is a graduate of CUNY Law School, Class of 2005. Her immigration law experience includes working as a student intern with CUNY Law School's Immigrant Initiatives Project and its Immigrant and Refugee Rights Clinic. Born in Poland, she immigrated with her parents to the United States. She was raised in Buffalo, NY, and received her Bachelors Degree from SUNY Buffalo.

Luz Medrano, Esq.

Luz Medrano is the Staff Attorney at Hostos College Immigration Center in the Bronx. She is a graduate of The CUNY School of Law and Amherst College. While a student at CUNY, Luz represented battered immigrant women with their VAWA applications through the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Clinic. Also during law school, she was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Fellowship through the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where she worked in the Refugee Assistance Program interviewing potential asylum applicants. Originally from Brooklyn, Luz is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Concetta Mennella, Esq.

Concetta Mennella is the Staff Attorney at New York City College of Technology where she is also an Associate Professor and Chair of the Law and Paralegal Studies Department. She is a graduate of CUNY Law School and of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She is also a recipient of the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project's Appreciation Award for Service to Foreign Students and New Immigrants.

Euna Kim, Esq.

Euna Park is the Staff Attorney at the Queensborough Immigration Center at Flushing. She interned with The Bronx and Queens District Attorneys' office and Legal Aid Society and she worked for The City of New York as a Corporation Counsel and for Children's Law Society as a law guardian. She is a graduate of Hofstra School of Law and of the City College of New York.

Amelia Shogan, Esq.

Amelia (Amy) Shogan is the Staff Attorney at the CUNY Xpress Immigration Center in Washington Heights. She has worked at a number of agencies in New York providing immigration, housing, and family court related services to different under-served populations. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and admitted to practice in New York and Washington, D.C.

Elizabeta Markuci, Esq.

Liz Markuci is the Staff Attorney at the LaGuardia Community College Immigration Center. She also serves as the Director of the Immigration Project at Volunteers of Legal Service, where she trains and mentors volunteer attorneys. Prior to CUNY, Liz worked as an immigration attorney in private practice. Liz is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario, and of the CUNY School of Law, where she successfully represented an asylee in removal proceedings before the EOIR through the immigrant and Refugee Rights Clinic. Liz is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and serves on the Pro Bono Committee for the New York Chapter.

Andrés Perches Lemons

Andrés Perches Lemons is a Staff Attorney at the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Law. Andrés has provided training on immigration issues and has given pro bono services to the immigrant community since 2005.