Events
Year in Review: 2007
January • February • March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • December
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March
For the first two weeks of March, fine arts students had the opportunity to learn from Kenyan stone carver and sculptor Elkana Ong’esa, an artist-in-residence at Hofstra. Mr. Ong’esa included Hofstra in his first visit to America in view of his friendship with Hofstra Professor Arthur Dobrin, whom he met in 1966 while Professor Dobrin was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.
The University announced that starting in fall 2007 it would offer an M.S. in Quantitative Finance, an M.A. in Applied Social Research and Policy Analysis, and an M.F.A. in Documentary Studies and Production.
March 1 Colin Goddard, Ph.D., chief executive officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., spoke as part of the University’s Distinguished Lecture Series. The title of his talk was “Are We Winning the War on Cancer?”
March 3 Adjunct Music Professor Morton Estrin performed his annual piano recital featuring two sonatas by Mozart and the monumental work Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.
March 5 Raymond Kotcher, CEO and senior partner of Ketchum Public Relations, spoke about his experiences in the global public relations and business communication world. His discussion was co-sponsored by the School of Communication and Hofstra’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.
March 7 Dr. Kristal Brent Zook, a journalist and cultural reporter, gave an address titled “Strippers, Soldiers and Soundbites: Representation of Women in the Media,” presented by the School of Communication and the Division of Student Affairs. Dr. Zook is also an associate professor of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra.
March 7 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a past recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History, gave a lecture titled “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: From Academe to a Bumper Sticker,” presented by the Women’s Studies Program.
March 8 to 18 The Winter’s Tale, directed by Jean Dobie Giebel, headlined the 58th Annual Shakespeare Festival. The companion play was Sleeping Beauty, directed by Cindy Rosenthal. The Hofstra Collegium Musicum, directed by William Hettrick, performed The Vintner’s Tale.
March 9 Vice President of Student Affairs Sandra Johnson announced the launch of the “Focus on Students” campaign, a series of services and initiatives designed to complement and support students’ academic pursuits. The goal of the “Focus on Students” campaign is to provide personal and individualized support services for students.
March 9 The University began accepting applications for the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, which is to be awarded every other year beginning in 2008 to an individual or organization committed to promoting interfaith dialogue. The prize was funded by a generous gift from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra and will be awarded by Hofstra in collaboration with the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Charitable Foundation. The recipient will be chosen by a distinguished panel of judges.
March 9 to 12 Graduating senior and dance major Gregory Youdan’s choreography and performance of an original work, What Remains, received a standing ovation and was deemed to be of professional caliber by a panel of judges at the American Dance College Festival, held in Buffalo, New York.
March 11 The ninth annual Irish Experience Festival was held at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
March 13 Donning hard hats and shovels, dozens of preschoolers and toddlers from the Diane Lindner-Goldberg Child Care Institute (CCI) participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new playground at the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center. Digging in with the children were Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz; Joan Saltzman, chair of the Saltzman Center Advisory Board; Patricia Zarb, CCI benefactor and former Saltzman Center Advisory Board Chair; Dr. Joseph Scardapane, executive director of the Saltzman Center; and members of the Hofstra community.
March 14 Hofstra’s Merrill Lynch Center for the Study of International Financial Services and Markets presented a Bank of New York white paper, “Institutional Demand for Hedge Funds Will Triple to $1 Trillion by 2010.”
March 15 and 16 The Hofstra Cultural Center presented the conference Building a Scientifically Literate Population and Workforce for the 21st Century, addressing the cutting-edge issues of creating a scientific and engineering workforce for the country. This event was directed by Harold M. Hastings, professor of physics and chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
March 18 The Hofstra String Quartet (featuring Alexander Sharp, violin; Matthew Lehmann, violin; Todd Low, viola; and Benjamin Wolff, violoncello) performed a varied program of masterworks, including selections by Bach, Shostakovich and Brahms. The quartet also gave a concert on November 4 featuring works by Haydn, Tippett and Dvorák.
March 19 Novelist Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and Absurdistan, lectured and read excerpts from his work as part of Hofstra’s Presidential Scholars Lecture Series.
March 20 The University’s College Republicans hosted former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who presented “Leadership in Challenging Times.”
March 21 Salman Rushdie, author of 1988’s controversial The Satanic Verses, gave a lecture sponsored by The Donald J. Sutherland University Lecture in the Liberal Arts in conjunction with Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Hofstra University School of Communication and the Professional Organization in Speech Education (P.O.I.S.E.).
March 23 The Hurricane Poster Project (THPP) opened at the Rosenberg Gallery in Calkins Hall. THPP exhibits limited edition sets of Hurricane Katrina-related posters from high-profile and up-andcoming artists. The donated posters are sold online, with all profits benefiting the American Red Cross.
March 24 Actress Susan Sullivan ’64 co-starred with Talia Shire for a staged reading of the play Agnes of God. The performance, directed by Bob Spiotto ’84 and starring Hofstra student Missy Dowse as “Agnes,” was a benefit for the Department of Drama and Dance.
March 26 John M. Geddes, managing editor of The New York Times, spoke about the future of the news industry. His visit was sponsored by The New York Times and presented by the Frank G. Zarb School of Business, the School of Communication and The Career Center.
March 26 Classical sitar player Aloke Dasgupta performed as part of a Department of Religion course on Eastern religions.
March 27 Dr. George Saliba, one of the world’s foremost historians of astronomy, discussed the development of scientific ideas and the influences of Greek, Persian and Arabic scientific thought in an event sponsored by the Hofstra Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program, and the Hofstra Muslim Students Association.
March 27 The Department of Engineering participated in the Long Island FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Regional Robotics Competition, held at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. The FIRST Robotics Competition is a national program that challenges teams of high school students and their mentors to design and build robots that can fulfill a specific set of tasks.
