Hofstra Professors Honored at Commencement

Hofstra's Teachers of the Year were honored at the May 3 Gala. (L to r) Jusith Kaufman, Kristal Brent Zook, James Sample and Susan Yohn. (Not pictured: Charles McMellon.)

At the May 3 Hofstra Gala and the May 20 commencement, the University celebrated the 2012 Teachers of the Year selected by graduating students in each of Hofstra’s schools and colleges.

Judith Kaufman, professor of teaching, literacy and leadership; Charles McMellon, associate professor of marketing and international business; Susan Yohn, professor of history; James Sample, associate professor of law; and Kristal Brent Zook, associate professor of journalism, media studies, and public relations, received an engraved plaque, recognition in the commencement program, and a monetary award.

Mary Ann Allison, Hofstra's first Mentor of the Year, with Senior Associate Dean of Honors College Neil Donahue.

Hofstra’s 26th annual Lawrence A. Stessin Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication was also awarded at the May 20 commencement. This year’s recipients were Christopher H. Eliot, associate professor of philosophy, for his work “Competition Theory and Channeling Explanation,” which was published in Philosophy & Theory in Biology, and Brenda J. Elsey, assistant professor of history, for her book Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth Century Chile. This prize recognizes the scholarly efforts of junior faculty and is named for Dr. Lawrence A. Stessin, professor of management at Hofstra from 1958 until 1973.

In addition to these annual prizes, a new tradition for honoring outstanding faculty was started in 2012. Mary Ann Allison, assistant professor of journalism, media studies, and public relations, was named Hofstra’s first Mentor of the Year, an award to honor outstanding faculty supervision of advanced undergraduate research. Based in part on letters of nomination by students and colleagues, this prize will be given to a full-time faculty member who has guided students, both professionally and academically, toward developing original ideas for research.

Posted in: Hofstra Gala,Hofstra Professors,Teachers of the Year