Hofstra Magazine

Year in Review: 2008

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A fund-raiser for the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center was held on November 6. (L to r) Saltzman Center Executive Director Joseph Scardapane; Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Alan J. Kelly; TD Bank Metro President Christopher Giamo (the evening’s honoree) Saltzman Center Advisory Board Chair Joan Saltzman; and Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz.

November

November 4: After a year of notable speakers, special events and academic courses, Hofstra's focus on the 2008 presidential election culminated with an Educate '08 Election Night Returns Party at the Mack Student Center Main Dining Room, where students and faculty gathered to watch the election returns.

November 5: President Rabinowitz announced that Marilyn B. Monter, a 1976 graduate of Hofstra Law School and executive vice president of the Westbury-based Holiday Organization real estate developers, was named the new chair of Hofstra's Board of Trustees. "Marilyn Monter is a longtime supporter of Hofstra and has served on the Board of Trustees for many years," President Rabinowitz said. "Her business acumen has helped guide our decisions on Hofstra's continuing growth, and her generosity to the University has ensured that Hofstra can continue to attract the best students and faculty to our campus."

November 6: Hofstra's Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center hosted a fund-raising dinner and reception honoring Christopher C. Giamo, metro president, Suburban NY/Connecticut, TD Bank, N.A. The Saltzman Community Services Center unites the talents and capabilities of five separate organizations at the University -- the Diane Lindner-Goldberg Child Care Institute, the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic, the Psychological Evaluation, Research and Counseling (PERC) Clinic, the Reading/Writing Learning Clinic and the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic -- and has helped these organizations expand their services and clientele.

November 7: The LGBT Studies Program, in cooperation with the Hofstra Cultural Center, presented Queer Iconography, the Third Annual LGBT Symposium. Among other issues, the event considered whether "icon" and "iconography" cohabitate in the queer world and when and where queer iconography of the ancient world has shaped contemporary codes and symbolism.

November 7: The Hofstra University Museum opened the photographic exhibition Sacred to the Memory: Photographs by Robert Reinhardt, which explored the "sacred ground" in the cemeteries of Scotland, where each site encapsulates a unique slice of history, culture, religion, art and architecture. The exhibition was on display through February 6, 2009, at the Lowenfeld Conference and Exhibition Hall.

November 9: The Hofstra String Quartet, a professional music group in residence at Hofstra, performed its annual fall concert at Monroe Lecture Center Theater, featuring works by Haydn, Puccini and Schubert.

November 10: Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, presented his analysis of the 2008 presidential election at Monroe Lecture Center Theater. The program was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Hofstra University Honors College, School of Communication, and the Professional Organization in Speech Education (P.O.I.S.E.).

November 12: Hofstra's Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy hosted "The White House and Working America: What the Election Means for Our Jobs," a fund-raising luncheon and lectures featuring New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse, U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), pension economist Teresa Ghilarducci, and syndicated columnist and author David Sirota.

November 12: The Department of Fine Arts presented Paper Rock 'N' Roll, an exhibition of more than 50 original, hand-printed, limited edition silkscreen posters, promoting and celebrating bands and concerts. The show opened at the Calkins Hall Rosenberg Gallery and featured works from the private collection of Hofstra Associate Professor of Fine Arts and exhibition curator Bez Ocko.

November 12 and 13: For the first time, Hofstra participated in CollegeWeekLive, a college fair that takes place on the Internet. High school students and their families were invited to visit Hofstra's "virtual booth," where they were able to download Hofstra brochures and handouts, discover important Web links for school information, and chat live with admission representatives.

November 13 and 14: The Hofstra Cultural Center turned its attention to boxing legend Muhammad Ali for an in-depth examination of his life and impact on the world of sports, at a conference titled The Greatest: From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. Participants included Ali's daughter, Maryum Ali; New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dave Anderson; sports journalists Bill Gallo, Stan Isaacs, Wallace Matthews and Phil Pepe; boxer Chuck Wepner; boxing referee Arthur Mercante; Ali business manager Gene Kilroy; Ali trainer Angelo Dundee; boxing guru and historian Bert Randolph Sugar; HBO Sports Commentator Larry Merchant; sports broadcaster Sal Marchiano; and screenwriter/author Budd Schulberg. The conference was co-directed by Michael D'Innocenzo, Michael Barnes and Ed Ingles.

November 18: Renowned poet Molly Peacock was the featured speaker at the last of Hofstra's 2008 "Great Writers, Great Readings" series. Ms. Peacock is the author of six volumes of poetry, including The Second Blush and Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems.

November 18: Top business leaders demonstrated the process of effectively responding to a corporate crisis during a Socratic panel held at the Student Center Theater. The panel consisted of business experts reacting to a hypothetical corporate crisis, injecting their personal experiences and knowledge. To allow for spontaneous response, the specific topic of discussion was not revealed to the panelists prior to the event.

November 19: Hofstra Quants & Traders and the Global Association of Risk Professionals at Hofstra University honored Martin B. Greenberg '60 at a ceremony where he retired the jacket he wore for many years as a commodities trader. The jacket is now permanently displayed at the Zarb School's Martin B. Greenberg Trading Room at C.V. Starr Hall. Mr. Greenberg is a Hofstra trustee and founder and chairman of the board of Sterling Commodities Corporation.

November 19: Hofstra's Health Policy Conference Planning Committee hosted Dr. Stuart Altman, former dean of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management and Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy at Brandeis University, for its first of a three-part breakfast series titled Election Results and the Future of Health Care Reform. The event sponsors were health care provider EmblemHealth; Educate '08; Hofstra's School of Education, Health and Human Services; Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Hofstra School of Law.

November 20 to 23: The Department of Drama and Dance presented the annual Fall Faculty Dance Concert at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse. The concert, titled Women's Works, featured Hofstra dance majors appearing in works by special guest artist Judith Moss, as well as faculty choreographers Rachel List, Dyane Harvey-Salaam, Teresa Perez, Maxine Steinman and Karla Wolfangle.

November 21: School for University Studies Adjunct Instructor Joshua Greene presented a multimedia lecture and concert on the spiritualism of late Beatle George Harrison at Monroe Lecture Center Theater, accompanied by several musicians from the Alan Parsons Project. Professor Greene studied yoga with Harrison in the early 1970s and wrote the Harrison biography Here Comes the Sun.

November 21 to 23: Chester Hartman, Ph.D., a leading expert in the areas of affordable housing and racial inequalities in the United States, spoke at Hofstra during a three-day visit as part of the Visiting Presidential Scholars Program. His first lecture was titled "The Social Construction of Disaster: New Orleans as the Paradigmatic American City." On November 22 he gave the opening address at a daylong symposium titled Forging a New Housing Policy: Opportunity in the Wake of Crisis. The symposium considered the future of housing policy and community organizing in the context of the current financial crisis.

November 22: The impact of the economic crisis on the housing market, particularly in communities of color, and the opportunities it presents for changing housing policy was the focus of a one-day symposium titled Forging a New Housing Policy: Opportunity in the Wake of Crisis. Presented by the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University^SM and the Department of Sociology, and sponsored by the Rauch Foundation, the event considered the future of housing policy and community organizing and featured panels that linked the financial crisis to concrete paths to action.

November 23: The Hofstra Cultural Center and Hofstra Hillel, in cooperation with the Conference of Jewish Organizations of Nassau County (COJONC), presented an Issues in Judaism Concert, Treasures of Sephardic Song, performed by The Gerard Edery Ensemble.

November 25: Financial experts assessed the recent economic crisis and the implications of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 at a conference hosted by the Frank G. Zarb School of Business through its Merrill Lynch Center for the Study of International Financial Services and Markets.

November 26: Hofstra Law School announced the highest bar pass rate in recent years: 87.6 percent of Hofstra Law School's first-time test takers passed the July 2008 administration of the New York State Bar Exam. Of the record 11,176 total candidates sitting for the exam in New York, the overall pass rate for test takers was 74.7 percent.