Events
Hofstra Happenings
Fall 2007
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Faculty Author Reveals Surprising Findings About the Lives of Baby Boomers
Contrary to commonly held beliefs, baby boomers are not necessarily better off financially or health-wise compared with their elders, a new book co-authored by Hofstra University's Anil Mathur has found. Dr. Mathur is a vice dean of the Zarb School of Business and professor of marketing and international business.
According to Baby Boomers and Their Parents: Surprising Findings on Their Lifestyles, Mindsets, and Well-Being, the average baby boomer is likely to be in debt, has saved very little for retirement, and has major physical and emotional heath problems. Additionally, stress is taking its toll on the health of baby boomers due to their lifestyles, care-giving responsibilities, and unreasonable expectations that fail to become reality.
The book, which Dr. Mathur co-authored with Dr. George Moschis of Georgia State University, documents 20 years of studies about baby boomers and their parents, highlights similarities and differences between the two generations, and helps answer questions about their physical, emotional, and financial well-being. On issues of personal security, appearance, coping with the loss of a loved one, and the desire to leave an inheritance to their children, there is little significant difference in the attitudes of baby boomers and their parents. However, when it comes to issues of money, leisure time, health, aging, and activities of daily living, there are striking differences in their concerns and desires.
The authors use their findings to help people of any generation take steps to plan for, or enhance, their well-being at later stages in life, and to tell marketers and advertisers how to develop products and services that will appeal to the two generations.
For more information on Baby Boomers and Their Parents, visit www.paramountbooks.com.
Student Feted for Original Dance Composition
Dance major Gregory Youdan '07 received a great boost to his professional confidence at the American Dance College Festival, held last March in Buffalo, New York. Mr. Youdan, a resident of Rochester, New York, received a standing ovation for his choreography and performance of an original work, What Remains, which was deemed to be of professional caliber by a panel of judges.
Mr. Youdan and his classmates participated in the festival with 31 other colleges from across the northeast. The judges are typically given no background information on the works they are viewing, and they do not know the artists' level of training at the time of judging.
Mr. Youdan's choreography – which he performed with five classmates from the Hofstra Dance Program (Edward Brito, Scott Corr, Chaz Fenner-McBride, Matthew Hanley and Benjamin Myers) – was accompanied by original music composed by music major Matthew Ferry '07.
Additional positive feedback for the Hofstra group came in the form of an invitation to perform an encore of What Remains as the closing piece for the festival's gala concert. Only the best works of the festival are selected to perform at the concert.
007 in '07: Robert Davi Returns to Campus for James Bond Retrospective
Actor and Hofstra alumnus Robert Davi, who played the villainous Franz Sanchez in the film Licence to Kill, will return to Hofstra November 7 and 8 to participate in the Hofstra Cultural Center symposium Bond, James Bond: The World of 007. Preliminary plans for the symposium include screenings of many of the James Bond films; a concert of James Bond music; an exhibition of Bond memorabilia; panel discussions on topics such as Bond villains, women and gadgets; an examination of Ian Fleming's novels and those of his successors; and the impact of the film series on the movie industry and pop culture.
In addition to Mr. Davi, who will speak at the conference banquet on November 7, guests include Bond novelist Raymond Benson; Lois Gresh, co-author of The Science of James Bond; and Lee Pfeiffer, author of The Essential Bond.
For more information on the symposium and a more up-to-date list of scheduled events and guests, visit the Hofstra Cultural Center Web site at www.hofstra.edu/Culture or call (516) 463-5669.
Play by Hofstra Alumnus Premieres This Fall to Benefit Veterans Scholarship
The Remembered, written by Elliott Levine '91, '03, and directed by Bob Spiotto '84, will have its world premiere at Hofstra University's John Cranford Adams Playhouse on October 13 and 14, 2007. Featuring visual images from the book Letters on the Wall by Michael Sofarelli '97, this show will be presented in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Proceeds will benefit the Stephen B. Carlin and Walter W. Rudolph Endowed Memorial Scholarship for Hofstra firstyear students who are the children or grandchildren of Vietnam War veterans.
The Remembered is a performance compilation of messages from family and friends of soldiers killed during the Vietnam War. Those excerpted for the show are the emotional thoughts posted by visitors to the Memorial's Virtual Wall Web site during its first week of operation in November 1998. From the soldier who re-enlists only to discover the horrors of war, to the teacher who continues to grieve the loss of a former student, the play shares stories of war, and messages from loved ones. It portrays the sadness and challenges faced by those who, so many years later, are still trying to come to terms with the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said The Remembered "... is the first creative work I've read that explores the messages left at the Wall. This play allows a new generation to understand and appreciate the sacrifices of so many."
Elliott Levine developed The Remembered as part of a yearlong graduate research project in the Department of Speech Communication, Rhetoric and Performance Studies at Hofstra, where he worked under the advisement of Professors Lisa Merrill and Keith Pounds. Mr. Levine was, in fact, the first student to graduate with a Master of Arts degree from the School of Communication. Mr. Levine had worked with WinStar for Education, the company that created the Virtual Wall Web site, and was intimately involved in the development of the online memorial.
Michael Sofarelli's Letters on the Wall (2006) is a collection of images and letters left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He is an award-winning creative director and graphic designer and the son of U.S. Marine Michael Sofarelli, Sr. '66, who received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat during the Vietnam War. Images from Mr. Sofarelli's book will punctuate the performance.
Bob Spiotto is artistic director of community arts programs at Hofstra and the executive producer of Hofstra Entertainment, an on-campus production company that has provided unique and thought-provoking theatrical productions and related presentations for more than 30 years. In March 2007 Mr. Spiotto directed actresses Susan Sullivan '64, Talia Shire and Hofstra student Missy Dowse in Agnes of God, a benefit reading for Hofstra's Department of Drama and Dance.
Student Wins Second Place in National Hearst Competition
School of Communication journalism student Kim Saltmarsh took second place honors at The Hearst National Radio Broadcast News Awards for the 2006-2007 competition. Ms. Saltmarsh, a junior at Hofstra, is one of the youngest participants ever to place so high in the competition.
The competition included 107 undergraduate colleges and universities and was held June 4 to 10, 2007. Finalists were then brought to San Francisco to demonstrate their writing, photography, radio and television skills in on-the-spot assignments. The assignments were created and judged by non-Hearst media professionals. With Ms. Saltmarsh's second place honors, she also earns a $4,000 scholarship.
"The Hearst awards are the Pulitzers of the college journalism awards, so it's a great honor for Kim to achieve such a high ranking among her peers across the country," said Assistant Professor G. Stuart Smith. "The entire journalism faculty is thrilled at her accomplishment, but not really surprised. Kim has been such a standout and already recognized by many professors for her hard work and dedication in her classes."
Students Get Hands-On With History
It is commonly called an archaeological "dig." But in truth, a Hofstra team in Lloyd Harbor, NY, spent the summer not so much digging down to the past as scraping away at the present. It was done slowly, carefully, kneeling or lying in the dirt, armed with trowel and brush and patience. Displaced soil was then sifted slowly by hand, as prospectors once did while panning for gold, searching for precious nuggets from the past.
For the Hofstra team, the "Eureka!" moment came in late July, when it uncovered the buried stone walls of what is believed to have been the slave quarters at historic Joseph Lloyd Manor. The site was selected based on an 1814 hand-drawn map that shows a small structure with a chimney just west of the manor house, which dates to 1766-1767.
Headed by Associate Professor of Anthropology Chris Matthews, the excavation was part of a summer course, "Slavery and Freedom in Early New York," which hoped to not only uncover the slave quarters, but also to find clues to the community that once lived there, and to have students understand how the slaves and the Lloyds would have viewed the world from vastly different perspectives.
"The cultural story is the story of slavery at Lloyd Harbor," Dr. Matthews said as he watched students working within grid squares marked off with bright pink lines. "They're learning that story and trying to make sense of it. Slavery is over, but its effects are everywhere."
The 8 to 10 slaves believed to have been housed at the manor were part of the Lloyd family's global commerce interests. "It was about labor and work and making money," said Dr. Matthews. "Our task is to have the students be able to understand that with brush work, with trowel work."
A short distance from the excavation, Hofstra junior Kelly Goldberg, 20, sifted through excavated soil. "We found a nail, and we were excited," she said. "You're not just sitting in a classroom reading about it from a book. It's hands-on history"
Her partner in the class, Sandeep Nair, 22, a Hofstra senior interested in archaeology and documentary filmmaking, showed off bits of mortar and brick that could have been part of original structures on the site.
The course, which concluded on August 3, received a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities, but Dr. Matthews said he is seeking additional funding so that the dig can continue next summer and involve local high school students as well.
