Hofstra Happenings: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Alumnus Stephen Dunn ’62 Returns for Reading

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn ’62 returned to the Hofstra campus to meet with creative writing students and give a reading and book signing on November 3, 2010. The event was part of Hofstra’s 75th anniversary celebration and the University’s “Great Writers, Great Readings” series.

Mr. Dunn is the author of 16 books, including Different Hours, which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
What Goes On: Selected & New Poems 1995-2009 was chosen as one of the Notable Books for Adults by the American Library Association. Since 1974, he has taught at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, where he is a distinguished professor of creative writing. His newest collection of poems, Here and Now, is forthcoming from W.W. Norton in May 2011.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Hofstra Offers M.A. Specializing in Forensic Linguistics — The First Graduate Program of Its Kind in the United States

Hofstra is offering a new M.A. Program in Linguistics with specialization in the emerging science of forensic linguistics.   While programs like this currently
exist in the U.K. and Spain, this master’s program is the first of its kind in the United States. The study of forensic linguistics – the examination of language and the law – is increasingly being used as a tool of legal professionals law enforcement , and
the intelligence community. The first class entered in fall 2010.

Linguistics is the systematic, scientific study of language. Forensic linguistics refers to linguistics applied to any use of language with legal relevance. The M.A. in Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics is designed to meet a growing demand for advanced training in scientific language analysis. The program instructs students in the science of linguistics, and trains them in practical applications of linguistic theory to analytical problems, specifically in the legal arena. In addition to teaching the core linguistic tools of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, dialectology and discourse analysis, the program includes specific training in the practical application of these tools to legal investigations, trials, analysis of contracts, statutes, etc. Thus, the program teaches linguistics, and whenever possible, the language data used for instruction are forensic.

Dr. Robert A. Leonard, the program director, is a longtime professor at Hofstra, internationally recognized as a foremost expert in this field of study.  He has worked as a consultant for the FBI, training agents in the use of forensic linguistics in law enforcement, threat assessment and counter-terrorism.  Other clients have included The New Yorker magazine, ABC-TV’s Investigative Unit, PA State Police, NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, New Jersey Attorney General, U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York, and law firms that specialize in both civil and criminal cases.

Dr. Leonard’s expertise in forensic linguistics has led to his involvement in many high-profile cases, including the Taye Diggs-Idina Menzel arson threat letters, the Hummert murder, the McGuire “suitcase” murder, the Alvarez spy case, the doctored tape case involving the Canadian prime minister, and the John Karr episode of the JonBenet Ramsey murder (in which
Dr. Leonard’s analysis of the ransom note and Karr’s writing found no link, prior to the release of DNA results that came to the same conclusion).

Adviser to the program is Dr. Leonard’s colleague and research partner, Dr. Roger W. Shuy, distinguished research professor of linguistics, emeritus, of Georgetown University.  Known as the foremost forensic linguist in the United States, Dr. Shuy has consulted on some 550 cases. Dr. Leonard has recruited as faculty James R. Fitzgerald, former FBI chief of forensic linguistics  and supervisory special agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit-1: Counterterrorism and Threat Assessment. He is the only fully credentialed profiler and forensic linguist in the history of the FBI.

Graduates of the program will be qualified for employment in organizations needing professionals with research and linguistic skills, and in any field in which people work with language, including government and academic institutions, business, industry, and communications.  Students who continue on to a Ph.D. program in linguistics may be qualified to testify in court as expert witnesses, or consult on cases for law firms and government agencies.

For more information on the M.A. in Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics, contact Dr. Leonard at 516-463-5440 or Robert.A.Leonard@hofstra.edu.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Cabaret, Followed by a Tribute to Joel Grey, Spices Up the Hofstra Stage

“Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!” was the call from the Hofstra stage
this past fall as Hofstra presented two productions pleasing to fans of Broadway musicals, as well as fans
of theater and film great Joel Grey. October 22 to 31, 2010, the Department of Drama and Dance presented Cabaret at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.  This production was followed shortly thereafter by the world premiere of Shades of Grey – A Musical Tribute to Joel Grey, conceived, directed and performed by Bob Spiotto, November 5 to 7, 2010, at The Helene Fortunoff Theater at Monroe Lecture Center.

Bob Spiotto ‘84, Hofstra’s artistic director of community arts programs and executive producer of Hofstra Entertainment, has long  felt a connection to the work of Joel Grey. Spiotto has played the “Emcee” in Cabaret a number of times, but most notably to local acclaim in the 1998 Hofstra Entertainment production of the musical. Grey’s work in George M! and 1776 have also been mirrored in Spiotto’s stage experiences.

In Shades of Grey, Spiotto took to the boards again, in both story and song, to educate and entertain while paying tribute to Joel Grey. With musical direction by Stephen C. Pagano, Shades of Grey featured songs from Cabaret, Chicago, Wicked, George M!, The Fantasticks, The Grand Tour, and more.
For information on future productions by Hofstra’s Department of Drama and Dance, visit hofstra.edu/drama-dance. For more information on Hofstra Entertainment, visit hofstra.edu/hofstraentertainment.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Center for Civic Engagement Presents Day of Dialogue VIII: Public Issues in a Global World

For the eighth time since 2004, Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement presented an entire day of discussion with students, faculty, staff and special guests addressing key public policy issues and challenges.  Day of Dialogue VIII: Public Issues in a Global World addressed timely topics, such as immigration, the economy and the proposed Muslim cultural center near the former World Trade Center site.


One of the main themes of the day, immigration, was addressed in three separate sessions.  Freelance journalist Froylán Enciso Higuera led a morning discussion titled Drug Wars in Mexico.  In the evening, Hofstra’s WRHU-88.7 FM conducted a special town hall meeting and panel titled From the Border Wall to the Classroom, Arizona to Patchogue: Immigration as a Human Rights Issue, hosted by Mario Murillo, associate professor in Hofstra’s Department of Radio, Television, Film. On the final event of the day, Who Killed Marcelo Lucero? was performed by Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja. The play was based on the 2008 murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant in Patchogue, New York.

In addition to the topic of immigration, Day of Dialogue VIII included a wealth of other newsworthy discussions. Park 51: A Mosque at Ground Zero? featured Hofstra professor and Religion Dispatches associate editor Hussein Rashid, Fordham University professor Father Patrick Ryan, and Rabbi Leonard Schoolman of the Quest Center for Spiritual Inquiry, Park Avenue Christian Church.  Also that day, former members of the military led the panel Telling in Living Color: Gay Veterans of Color Talk About Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

“We introduced Day of Dialogue in 2004 as a response to faculty and students’ desire to bring serious issues to the forefront in an open dialogue environment,” said Cynthia Bogard, Hofstra professor and director for the Center for Civic Engagement.  “This year, we felt that immigration should be addressed, and we decided to use journalism, a town hall meeting format and performance as ways to get citizens to think seriously about this issue.”

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Alumni Return to Campus to Perform Staged Reading of Their New Musical

Hofstra drama alumni Alexandra H. Rubin ’09 and Mark Sanderlin ’10 returned to campus with a troupe of actors on October 19, 2010, to present a staged reading of their new musical, Tangled, for which they collaborated on the lyrics, Rubin wrote the book, and Sanderlin composed the music. The performance was presented at the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Theater as part of Drama 14, a First-Year Connections seminar taught by Adjunct Professor of English Maureen Connolly McFeely. The plot of Tangled focuses on Scott, who considers himself mediocre in every way, but when the shy new girl at Ford High, Kat, notices him in the hall, Scott musters up the courage to pursue her. But Kat has a secret: she is transgender. As Kat begins to let Scott into her world, his newfound courage is tested against the truth of Kat’s identity.

Tangled began in 2005 as a 15-minute short play by Rubin for The Spectrum Players, a Hofstra student theater group. In 2009 Rubin teamed up with Sanderlin to develop Tangled into a full-length musical. The musical has enjoyed readings at the studios at Manhattan Theatre Club and Center Stage, NY. In January 2011 Tangled will have a staged reading produced by Theater for the New City.

Rubin is currently the associate producer of Frog and Peach Theatre Company, where she assistant directs the main stage and children’s shows under Artistic Director Lynnea Benson. Sanderlin’s works include two albums of original solo material, film scores, choral arrangements and incidental music for the stage. In 2007 his song “Rain” was a nominee for an IACmusic Golden Kayak Songwriting Award.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: National Suburban Poll Finds Support for Obama Erodes in the Suburbs, Particularly Among Minorities

In October 2010, prior to the midterm elections, a poll by The National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University® (NCSS) found that half of suburban Americans were disapproving of President Obama’s job performance, and a majority of independent swing voters in the suburbs were favoring Republicans. The poll’s findings were reflected in the election results.

The poll found that 48 percent of suburbanites gave Mr. Obama a negative job approval rating, up 8 percent over 2009. Only 43 percent were approving of his work. Even more surprising was the finding that minority suburbanites’ dissatisfaction with the president had nearly tripled over the past year: 26 percent disapproved of his job performance this year, compared to just 9 percent in 2009.

With less than a month before the midterm elections that eventually lost the Democrats’ control of Congress, the results of the fourth National Suburban Poll highlighted the unpredictability of the political climate. “For decades, as the suburbs gained in demographic and political power, the party that has won in suburbia has controlled Congress and the White House,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the NCSS.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: The Actor’s Life Brings Successful Alumni to Campus to Share Anecdotes and Career Advice

As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, Hofstra University presented The Actor’s Life, which featured alumni from Hofstra’s drama program who shared anecdotes about performing on the Hofstra stage and discussed how they parlayed that experience into successful careers in acting. Jean Dobie Giebel, associate professor of drama and dance and former chair of the department, moderated the discussion.

Panelists included: Joan See ’55, founder of the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts and Three of Us Studios, the largest and most successful casting facility on the East Coast; Susan Sullivan ’64, a two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, currently starring as Martha Rodgers in ABC’s Castle; Tim Errickson ’93, artistic director of Boomerang Theatre Company, whose new play, Endless Summer Nights, premiered in September 2010 and was a “Pick of the Week” by nytheatre.com; Fred Berman ’94, who is currently starring as Timon in Broadway’s The Lion King; and Kelly Ruth Cole ’08, owner and artistic director of Dreamcatcher Theatreworks.

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Hofstra Hosts Inaugural OCD New York Conference

Hofstra University’s Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology and the New York Chapter of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) partnered for an October 16, 2010, conference on obsessive-compulsive disorder. This day of panels and workshops culminated with a unique evening broadcast event titled OCD Stories: An Evening of Reflection, Humor and Education, featuring doctors who treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, family members of patients with OCD, and those who suffer from OCD sharing their experiences and anecdotes relating to the illness.

This event was presented in conjunction with the second annual OCD Awareness Week, October 11 to 17, 2010. While the October 16 event was hosted by Hofstra, the evening simulcast included satellite storytelling events in cities across the country, anchored by the OCD Foundation’s Boston headquarters. Participants at the various locations watched live storytelling from each of the IOCDF affiliate sites.

Dr. Fugen Neziroglu ’74, ’76, adjunct professor of psychology at Hofstra and clinical director of Bio-Behavioral Institute in Great Neck, kicked off the evening’s national telecast by speaking live at Hofstra, sharing her story of being among the first people in the United States to help identify and treat OCD. Dr. Neziroglu and her colleague, Dr. Jose Yaryura-Tobias, started the Obsessive Compulsive Society in 1979 in order to actively de-stigmatize OCD and to bring it to the forefront of a recognizable and treatable disorder – at a time when only three pages in the most notable psychiatric texts were devoted
to the disorder. Viewers of television’s Buried Alive on TLC will recognize
Dr. Neziroglu as one of the experts who counsels people suffering from hoarding, an OCD-related illness.

Dr. Mitchell Schare, director of the Hofstra’s award-winning Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology, saw the conference and telecast as a great learning opportunity for both doctoral students and the community at large. “Our doctoral students are the next generation of clinical psychologists who will work with individuals suffering from this disabling spectrum of difficulties. The program on October 16 was aimed at professionals wishing to hone their skills in the diagnosis and treatment of OCD disorders as well as the general population trying to gain a greater understanding of these difficulties.”

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Peter G. Schiff, Noted Philanthropist and Venture Capitalist, Joins Hofstra Board of Trustees

Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz announced the appointment of Peter G. Schiff to the Hofstra Board
of Trustees on August 30, 2010.

“Peter Schiff is a business leader and philanthropist of the highest order, and has had an enduring commitment to higher education,” said Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz. “It is my great pleasure to welcome him to our Board of Trustees.”

Mr. Schiff, founder and president of Northwood Ventures LLC, also owns and operates Fox Ridge Farm, Inc., which breeds horses, and is a director of the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and The Jockey Club, a breed registry for thoroughbred horses across North America.

He has also been a member of the Community Foundation of Oyster Bay and the Belmont Childcare Association, and is a longtime supporter of the Wildlife Conservation Society and, with his wife, Lisa, of North Shore-LIJ Health System, which is Hofstra’s partner in a new medical school that
will welcome its first class in fall 2011. Mr. Schiff also serves as vice president of the Schiff Foundation, which has awarded grants for medical programs, social service agencies, museums and educational institutions since 1946.

“As someone who has lived on Long Island most of his life, I am pleased to
be involved with one of Long Island’s premier institutions,” Mr. Schiff said.
“I have served as a trustee for a number of other schools and look forward to my participation on the Hofstra Board of Trustees.”

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Hofstra to Present an Interdisciplinary Conference, Into Sunlight: The Impact of War on the Social Body — From Vietnam to Present

April 14-16, 2011, the Department of Drama and Dance in association with the Hofstra Cultural Center, the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, and the Center for Civic Engagement, will present an interdisciplinary conference exploring the impact of war and violence on the social body, bringing together diverse perspectives to engage both a public and university audience in active dialogue addressing current conditions of war through a historical lens. The program consists of three days of talks, panel discussions, art exhibitions and performance events. The conference will feature as keynote speaker David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of They Marched Into Sunlight, which beautifully explores the effects of violence on both those
in battle and those at home desperately searching for peace. Featured speakers include internationally renowned psychologist Edward Tick and
Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum Movement.

Initiated by Hofstra Associate Professor of Drama and Dance Robin Becker’s interest in creating an evening length dance piece drawn from They Marched Into Sunlight, the conference unfolds from the issues and ideas the book addresses. In addition, the drama program has commissioned a new play, which will premiere during the conference, that is based on the oral histories of Hofstra alumni. These two pieces act as focal points for the conference, leading an inquiry into the body as the site of social disintegration and the arts as a means of recovery.

For more information call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or
visit hofstra.edu/culture

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: Department of English Announces Fall 2011 Launch of M.F.A. in Creative Writing

Hofstra University’s Department of English is pleased to announce that it will offer an M.F.A. in creative writing starting in fall 2011. This challenging and exciting program of study will integrate literary scholarship and focused instruction in writing. Students may concentrate in dramatic writing, fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction, exploring the art and craft of writing while grounding themselves in the rich literary traditions that offer exemplary models of these forms. The course of study concludes with a yearlong creative project.

The M.F.A. is considered a terminal degree – appropriate for those who want to pursue specific writing disciplines and/or careers in publishing, teaching, and editing, among others.

Applications for the fall 2011 semester are due this winter, with a decision by March 15, 2011. For more information, contact the program director, Professor Erik Brogger, at 516-463-5397
or Erik.A.Brogger@hofstra.edu.

Core faculty in this program include Professor Brogger, a founding member of The Playwright’s Center whose works have been produced off-Broadway and at major regional theaters around the country; Phillis Levin, author of four books of poetry – Temples and Fields, The Afterimage, Mercury, and May Day – and editor of The Penguin Book of the Sonnet (2001); Phillip Lopate, a central figure in the recent revival of the personal essay and author of Portrait of My Body, Against Joie de Vivre, Bachelorhood, The Rug Merchant, Being with Children, Totally Tenderly Tragically, Two Marriages: Novellas and Notes on Sontag; Julia Markus, recipient of the  Houghton Mifflin Literary Award for her first novel, Uncle, which was followed by three well-received novels, American Rose, Friends Along the Way, and A Change of Luck, as well as her critically acclaimed biographies, Dared and Done: The Marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning and Across An Untried Sea: Discovering Lives Hidden in the Shadow of Convention and Time; and Martha McPhee, author of the novels Bright Angel Time, Gorgeous Lies, L’America, and – most recently – Dear Money (2010).

Read More

Hofstra Happenings: The Princeton Review Names the Zarb School of Business to Its List of Great Schools

The Zarb School of Business is ranked in the 2011 edition of The Best 373 Colleges as one of The Princeton Review’s “Great Schools for Marketing and Sales Majors.” This demonstrates the school’s sustained effort to provide students with a sound educational background in specialties such as marketing that will prepare them for success after graduation.

“We have an exceptional group of programs within the Zarb School of Business,” said Zarb School Dean Patrick J. Socci, “and we continuously strive to enhance our programs and our reputation as one of the nation’s best business schools.”

The Princeton Review’s “Great Schools for Marketing and Sales Majors” list is based on extensive research performed by its admission experts and advisory panel.  Institutional data from schools around the country and recommendations from guidance counselors, college admission counselors and educational experts are taken into account in compiling this list.

Read More