Hofstra Magazine

2008 Faculty Notes

The following is a sampling of faculty accomplishments for the year 2008

Return to Table of Contents

Cynthia Bogard, associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Civic Engagement, was project director on a $15,000 grant awarded by the Motorola Foundation in support of the project “President Lincoln: Live at the 2008 Presidential Debate.” She was also awarded a $2,500 grant from the New York Council for the Humanities in support of the project “Democracy in Performance at the 2008 Presidential Debate.”

Lynn Cohen, special instructor, School for University Studies, serves as program director of the Southampton-based North Sea Poetry Scene (TNSPS), a not-for-profit organization committed to enriching lives through experiencing the spirit and power of poetry. As a result of a grant proposal written by Professor Cohen, the New York State Council for the Humanities awarded TNSPS a mini-grant for its “Let’s Talk Poetry 2008” series.

Linda Davey, associate professor of curriculum and teaching, is project director on an $80,000 subcontract awarded by the Farmingdale Union Free School District in support of the New York state-funded program “The 2007-2008 New York State Universal Pre-K Program.”

Simona Doboli, associate professor of computer science, is project director on a three-year grant of $289,906 awarded by the National Science Foundation in support of the program “Collaborative Research: CPATH TI: Project ExCE2L (Excellence in Computing Entrepreneurship, Education and Leadership).”

Hy Enzer, professor emeritus of sociology/anthropology, is co-editor of Episodes and Fragments: A War and Peacetime Memoir by Kurt Fuchel, a survivor of the Kindertransport and principal narrator of the Academy Award-winning film Into the Arms of Strangers. Dr. Enzer also is co-editor of Anne Frank: Reflections On Her Life and Legacy with his late wife, Dr. Sandra Solotaroff Enzer, a Hofstra alumna.

Jean Dobie Giebel, professor and chair, Department of Drama and Dance, directed a workshop reading of Loretta Serrano’s The Smoking Diary with Sheila Head on November 15 at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater at the West Side YMCA in Manhattan.

Peter Goodman, special assistant professor of journalism, media studies and public relations, led a September 12 discussion at Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus on Leonard Bernstein as a classical composer. On September 16 he attended and was an official blogger for the New York State Council on Arts “Cultural Blueprints” conference on Long Island.

Harold Hastings, professor and chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, is project director on a Congressionally directed $525,000 grant awarded by the Department of Energy in support of the new “Hofstra University Center for Condensed Matter Research.”

Tom Klinkowstein, associate professor of fine arts, was a guest speaker at the Fashion Futures program at the University of East London on October 23, 2008. His presentation, titled “De-sign 2015,” portrays the requirements for the near future for designers to be “engineer-entrepreneurs.” He also conducted a workshop on the future of communities and the Internet at an event organized by Virtueel Platform in Amsterdam, Holland, on November 20 and 21, 2008.

William McGee, adjunct associate professor of English, was recognized by the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. He won a bronze award in the category Travel News/Investigative Reporting for his article “Air Security: Why You’re Not as Safe as You Think,” which also appeared in Consumer Reports, and a silver award in the category Service-Oriented Consumer Article for “The Ultimate Guide to Travel Web Sites” in Condé Nast Traveler.

William Metlay, professor of psychology, is project director on a subcontract for $397,893, awarded by the Parker Jewish Institute in support of a New York State Department of Health project titled “Long-Term Care Intensive Training Series on Managing Difficult Behaviors in Residents With Dementia.”

Jamie Mitus, assistant professor of counseling, research, special education and rehabilitation (CRSR), assumed the role of project director on a grant that was originally awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to the late Dr. Frank Bowe, who held Hofstra’s Dr. Mervin Livingston Schloss Distinguished Professorship for the Study of Disabilities. The $138,908 remaining funds of the grant have been reallocated, and Dr. Mitus will be responsible for the completion of the project, titled “Distance- Education on Rehabilitation and Independent Living for Persons Who Are Deaf.” Additionally, Dr. Mitus and Associate Professor of CRSR Joseph Lechowicz are directors on a $149,995 grant from the U.S. Department of Education on a program titled “Rehabilitation Long-Term Training – Rehabilitation Counseling.”

Marlene Munn-Joseph, assistant professor of curriculum and teaching, is project director on a $7,500 grant from Planned Parenthood of Nassau County in support of a program titled “Saturday Program – Healthy Teens.”

Maureen Murphy, professor of curriculum and teaching, has been named one of the 2008 “Top 100 Irish-Americans” by Irish America Magazine.

Karen Osterman, professor and chair, Department of Foundations, Leadership and Policy Studies, is project director on a $50,000 grant in support of the program “To Assist Roosevelt School District in Development and Implementation of Business Systems and Procedures.”

Darra Pace, professor and chair, Department of Counseling, Research, Special Education and Rehabilitation, is project director on a $13,000 grant awarded by the Amityville Union Free School District in support of the project “2008-2009 Partnership Program.”

Stanislao Pugliese, professor of history, celebrated the publication of Carlo Levi’s Fear of Freedom: With the Essay “Fear of Painting,” which he edited. Carlo Levi was a painter, writer, and antifascist Italian from a Jewish family, and his political activism forced him into exile for most of the Second World War. While in exile, he wrote Christ Stopped at Eboli, a memoir, and Fear of Freedom, a philosophical meditation on humanity's flight from moral and spiritual autonomy and our resulting loss of self and creativity. This new edition of Fear of Freedom, edited by Dr. Pugliese, features newly published pieces of Levi’s artwork and the first English translation of his essay “Fear of Painting.”

Levi Reiter, professor of speech-language-hearing sciences, received worldwide media attention in the summer of 2008 for research he has been conducting on a condition he termed the “kiss of deaf.” The research centers on a patient at Dr. Reiter’s private practice in Brooklyn. A Long Island mother experienced continuous hearing loss and severe pain after her young daughter kissed her emphatically on the ear more than a year and a half earlier. After seeing a number of different hearing specialists, the woman read about Dr. Reiter in a winter 2007 Newsday article and contacted him. Dr. Reiter found that the suction from the child’s kiss did in fact cause a plethora of ear symptoms, including permanent hearing loss, facial twitching and tinnitus. Dr. Reiter’s diagnosis was that “the suction caused by the kiss pulled her tympanic membrane outwards. This pulled her ossicular chain until it detached the stapedial ligament, causing a series of explainable sequelae.” Though the diagnosis is complicated, the lesson to be learned is not: The ears are a delicate mechanism, and any intense suction on the ear – even that of a kiss – may lead to permanent damage, no matter how harmless and sweet the intention. Since an initial article ran in Newsday, Dr. Reiter was interviewed about the “kiss of deaf ” on MSNBC, CBS Early Show and WCBS-TV.

Alex Roskin, assistant professor of fine arts, presented a spring 2008 on campus exhibition of sculptural furniture at the Rosenberg Gallery in Calkins Hall. Mr. Roskin, who holds an M.F.A. in furniture design, honed his craft in a traditional English-style furniture apprenticeship. His most recent works of sculptural furniture grew out of his reverence for anatomy. The skeletal series that was on display at the Rosenberg Gallery reflected the seemingly simple yet highly complex mechanics of this physical armature.

Marc Silver, professor and chair, Department of Sociology, is project director on an $81,000 grant awarded by the Rauch Foundation in support of the project “Long Island Index 2009 Research.”

David Weissman, professor of engineering, is project director on a $110,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in support of the program “Corrections to Scatterometer Wind Vectors: Measurements of Rain Impact Effects Using NEXRAD.”

Phyllis Zagano, adjunct professor of religion, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach a spring 2009 course at Mary Immaculate College of the University of Limerick on the history of women in ministry in the Catholic Church. Dr. Zagano will also continue her research into the validity and legality of ordaining Catholic women as deacons, focusing on similarities among early ordination liturgies used for men and women. Dr. Zagano’s fellowship is jointly sponsored by the Irish Fulbright Commission and Mary Immaculate College.

Kristal Brent Zook, associate professor of journalism, media studies and public relations, won an award for print investigative reporting from the New York Association of Black Journalists (NYABJ) for her Essence magazine article titled “The New York City AIDS Experiment.”

Presidential Studies Expert Examines The New York Times on the Presidency

Dr. Meena Bose, Hofstra’s Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies and director of the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, is the author of the newly published The New York Times on the Presidency: 1853-2008 (Congressional Quarterly Press). The book is the first in a series of Times Reference books to be published by CQ Press, making use of the Times’ extensive archives to trace the evolution of American political institutions and organizations.

The 602-page book consists of New York Times articles on American presidents from Franklin Pierce (1853-1857), who took office two years after the paper was founded, to George W. Bush (2001-2008). Dr. Bose offers analysis of each presidency. She selected the articles to be included and wrote introductory biographies on each president and introductions to each Times article.

“You learn a lot about not only what each president faced. but also about their personal lives, and how personal circumstances shaped their outlook on the presidency,” said Dr. Bose, who worked on the book for almost a year. Dr. Bose said she also learned much about the evolution of the Times, from the very personal tone of some of its earliest articles, to its purchase by Adolph Ochs in 1896, to its place today as the nation’s newspaper of record.

Michael D’Innocenzo Named Distinguished Teacher by American Historical Association

The American Historical Association (AHA) has named longtime Hofstra Professor of History Michael D’Innocenzo the recipient of its 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award. The award will be presented at the association’s annual convention in New York City on January 3, 2009.

Established in 1986, the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes outstanding teaching and advocacy for history teaching at colleges and universities. The award is named for the late Eugene Asher, who was a leading advocate for history teaching for many years. The award, which is also sponsored by the Society for History Education, recognizes inspiring teachers whose techniques and mastery of subject matter have made a real difference to students of history.

“It is a great honor for me to receive the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Historical Association,” said Professor D’Innocenzo, Hofstra’s Harry H. Wachtel Distinguished Teaching Professor for the Study of Nonviolent Social Change. “All the courses I have developed over my 48 years at Hofstra, as well as the extensive programs I have created in dozens of public libraries and for community organizations, relate to Jefferson’s theme of fostering informed civic engagement. I always strive to assist people of all ages to develop perspectives from history so that they can avoid becoming prisoners of the present.

“As the most senior and oldest member of the History faculty, it is still a privilege and a pleasure for me to teach beginning freshmen. To my continued delight – and, in some ways, to my surprise – my relationships with young students remain warm and vigorously interactive. My teaching and community goals have evolved over time, and I am happy to say that a major aspect of both is to foster deeper intergenerational associations, especially to encourage people across the age divide to think about civic engagement and their roles and responsibilities as citizens.”

“Michael D’Innocenzo was an outstanding teacher when he started at Hofstra, and now, almost five decades later, he is still an outstanding teacher,” said Herman Berliner, Hofstra provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “He inspires his students and is a role model for faculty.”

Professor D’Innocenzo has been a tireless advocate for student civic engagement and for decades has secured grants from foundations and institutes that have led to student internships and various projects and forums at Hofstra. He is the recipient of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Justice Award (2007) as well as an honorary Hofstra alumnus and a former Hofstra Distinguished Teacher of the Year.

He launched the Hofstra Public Policy Institute in 1993 with Kettering Foundation support, and in 2007 helped found and is the chair of the board of directors for Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement, an interdisciplinary academic institute founded to encourage students to become active and informed citizens. He has also worked closely with alumni, including Thomas DiNapoli ’76, who is now New York state comptroller.