Cynthia Bogard

Cynthia Bogard, professor of sociology at Hofstra University, holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology and an M.S.W., all from Stony Brook University. Her academic work has focused on social problems and social policy, including her 2003 book, Seasons Such as These: How Homelessness Took Shape in America. Most recently, she has published a journal article measuring the positive effects of civic engagement and unbiased issue information on student voter turnout. She teaches courses on poverty, policy and political sociology.

She is the founding and current director of Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), a campus-based institute dedicated to encouraging students to become actively engaged as citizens in their local, national and global communities. Since its start in 2007, the CCE has hosted more than 150 events of varying sizes, many open to the community. Professor Bogard oversees and advises a dozen student interns, who plan and produce CCE events. Most recently, these have included Democracy in Performance, a day celebrating America’s unique history, brought to life by fully costumed living history performers and Hofstra student actors, and its sixth Day of Dialogue, a multi-event public issues conference. Both had audiences of more than 2,000 students and community members. When she is not encouraging student civic engagement, Professor Bogard enjoys world travel, mountain biking and crosscountry skiing.

Hofstra Horizons Articles

• Spring 2009: Promoting Democracy at Hofstra University