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Warren G. Frisina, Dean of Hofstra University’s Honors College (HUHC) and Associate Professor of Religion, came to Hofstra in 1997 from a position as acting Executive Director of the American Academy of Religion, the world's largest learned society for scholars of religion. He earned the Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where he did work in theology, philosophy and Chinese intellectual history. He has published widely in the areas of American pragmatism, Neo-Confucianism and the academic study of religion. Contemporary theories of knowledge, metaphysics, Chinese philosophical and religious thought, and comparative philosophy and religion are among his current research and teaching interests. He is especially interested in the implications of recent work in cognitive psychology for our understanding of knowledge and the mind. His book, The Unity of Knowledge and Action: Toward a Nonrepresentational Theory of Knowledge, was published in 2002 by SUNY Press. He has also co-edited Teaching the Daodejing, Oxford University Press, 2007 and The Pragmatic Century: Conversations with Richard J. Bernstein, SUNY Press, 2007. Before his appointment as Dean of HUHC, he served as chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion and as founding chair of the newly independent Department of Religion. He has also taught at Rice University, the University of Houston and Emory University.
Neil H. Donahue, Associate Dean of Hofstra University’s Honors College (HUHC) and Professor of German and Comparative Literature, has been at Hofstra since 1988, after having taught at both Columbia University and Rutgers University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1987. From 1999 to 2005, he was chairperson of the Comparative Literature and Languages department, and has directed the German program since 1988. Before becoming Associate Dean, he was an HUHC Faculty Mentor for two years and has taught regularly in Honors College since 2005. His main area of scholarly research has been twentieth-century German literature and culture (specifically the novel, poetry and cultural theory); his scholarship links formal analysis of a work or text with its various contexts in social, cultural, intellectual, artistic and literary history. He has particular interests in verbal-visual relations and in cross-cultural comparisons, including extensive work on Japanese literature. He has written or edited six books [link] as well as numerous articles and reviews, and has received prestigious grants and fellowships from the Fulbright Program, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH, also for an NEH Summer Institute at Harvard University), and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. His first book Forms of Disruption in Modern German Prose (University of Michigan Press, 1993) was awarded the 1993 Lawrence Stessin Prize for Best Scholarly Publication at Hofstra University, and in 2000 his article on Victor Klemperer received the Peter Herman Literary Award at Hofstra.
PeggyAnn Matusiak, Senior Support Specialist, has been with HUHC from its opening day in September 2001. Before joining HUHC she worked in Hofstra’s Department of Academic Records. As the “face” of HUHC she is the first person students turn to when they need help troubleshooting any of a host of administrative problems. She manages all aspects of the office, runs the HUHC Ambassador Program, organizes all extra and co-curricular trips, liaisons with parents and family members, keeps in touch with HUHC alumni and keeps the HUHC trains running on time. Not only does PeggyAnn work for HUHC, she’s also a member as an HUHC student with Junior standing. She is a history major and fine arts minor. After seven years of part-time undergraduate studies she’s hoping to graduate before her children do. PeggyAnn resides locally in East Meadow Long Island with her husband, Monte and her children, Mairead, a Hofstra sophomore, and Matthew, a high school junior.
Year: Senior
Double Major: Sociology, Fine Arts
From: Elmont, NY
Lalita Tangpipith
Year: Senior
Major: Fine Arts
From: Yonkers, NY
Lindsey Kelly
Year: Sophomore
Major: Psychology
From: Floral Park, NY
Joshua Gwin
Year: Freshman
Major: Political Science
From: Salem, OR