Dr. John W. Lee

At the time, CCNY was considered an excellent college. The campus was beautiful. Having the support of the instructors in my major and some of the opportunities that were afforded to me stood out in my stay there. One in particular was Dr. Betty Lee Sung, who started the Asian American studies program. She was inspiring, committed, and extremely knowledgeable. Dr. Sung encouraged the students to know more about our own history and to take an active part in civic affairs related to Asian Americans. I was a member of the CCNY Education Alumni Board for many years, and then I served as the president of the board. I went into the field of education and I started my career as a public high school English teacher. I was with the city school system for 30 years serving as an assistant principal, principal, superintendent of the New York City Department of Education Queens High Schools District, supervising 35 schools and 75,000 students, and then as an executive director at Tweed Headquarters. After retiring from the NYCDOE, I was invited to become a professor at Fordham University in the Education Leadership, Administration, and Policy Division, teaching both master’s and doctoral students and serving as associate chair of the Division. I served there for 13 years and continue to mentor doctoral students as their dissertation chair and occasionally still do some adjunct teaching. I have done consulting work for the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New Visions, Crisis Management Response, and in a federal educational discrimination case. I thank my family, dear friends, colleagues and my late husband, Glenn R. Sears, for all of their love, support, and encouragement over the years.