Empire Justice 2007 Board

August 1, 2007

Author: Anne Erickson

Empire Justice is pleased to announce the election of new Board Members and Officers. We are very excited to welcome new members and officers, to offer thanks to those continuing to serve and to wish our departing Board members all the best.

Paula Johnson, of Syracuse University School of Law, and Jack O’Connell, most recently of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island have both joined the Board as new members this year.  We look forward to their input and involvement.

Unfortunately, due to term limits and other constraints on their time, Empire Justice also said goodbye to several long-term and committed Board Members: Tom Maligno, Amy Christensen, Keith St. John, Barbara Finkelstein and Jim Lytle. These individuals have been loyal supporters of Empire Justice for many years, and their presence on the Board will be greatly missed.

Please join in welcoming our new members, celebrating the leadership of our current members, and in thanking our departing members for their support.

New Board Members

Paula C. Johnson, Professor

Paula C. Johnson is professor of law at Syracuse University College of Law. She currently serves as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), a national organization of approx. 800 law professors. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park; her J.D. from Temple University School of Law; and her LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. At Syracuse, she teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, voting rights, professional responsibility, and a seminar on women in the criminal justice system.  She also has taught at the University of Arizona, the University of Baltimore, and Northern Illinois University.

She has written and spoken extensively on matters of race, gender and law in academic arenas, the popular press, and community forums. At Syracuse University, Prof. Johnson serves on a broad range of College of Law and University committees. She currently serves on the Chancellor’s Search Committee, and has served as co-chair of Sistaprof, an organization of Africana women professors at Syracuse University, and served as co-chair of the S.U. Senate’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Concerns Committee.  Her public service has included membership on the boards of the Hiscock Legal Aid Society, the Center for Community Alternatives, and the Battered Women’s Justice Project National Advisory Committee.

In 2003, she received the Unsung Heroine Award from the Syracuse University Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Committee, and the Woman of the Year Award from the Syracuse University African American Male Congress.

Jack O’Connell, Special Advisor

Jack O’Connell, a long-time anti-poverty advocate, began working at the Health and Welfare Council on March 1, 1976. He served as the Council's executive director from 1988 until his recent departure to become a special advisor to the President of Nassau University Medical Center where he will focus is advocacy on access to health care.  During his tenure at the Health and Welfare Council, he worked tirelessly to develop collaborations among Long Island's health and human services providers, initiating many programs such as the Child/Family Health Plus Facilitated Enrollment Program and the Fight for Families Coalition. Other programs he initiated included the Long Island

Children’s Project – a joint project with the Children’s Defense Fund, the Long Island Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign, the Long Island Health & Human Services Annual Legislative Reception and the Long Island Unmet Needs Roundtable.

He was honored for his advocacy work in child care in 2005 by both The Child Care Council of Suffolk and Hi-Hello Child Care Center as their Child Care Advocate of the Year and in 2001 by Family & Children’s Association with the David  Kadane Memorial Award for Advocacy. In 2001 he also won the Long Island’s United Way’s Hank Pearson Humanitarian Award. The Long Island Progressive Coalition acknowledged him with the Paul Gutierrez Award for dedication to the Rights of those in Need in 2000. In addition, he has been honored for his humanitarian and community work by The Interfaith Nutrition Network in 1995, The Nassau Chapter of the National Association for Social Workers in 1994, The New York State-LI Chapter- Public Health Association in 1993 and The Nassau League of Women Voters in 1992.