Degrees: PHD, 1996, Rutgers Univ; MSC, 1989, Witwatersrand Univ; BA, 1986, Univ Cape Town; BA, 1984, Univ Cape Town

Bio:

Dr Saff is currently the Chairperson of the Department of Global Studies and Geography. He is a tenured Associate Professor of Geography, and has taught at Hofstra since 1995.

Dr Saff has a very diverse skill set, including degrees in African Studies (BA, Honors), from the University of Cape Town, Economic History and History (BA) and Secondary Education (HDE), from the same institution, Development Planning (MSc) from the school of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, and in Urban Planning and Policy (PhD), from the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University. In the latter case, his 1996 dissertation on urban dynamics in Cape Town was awarded the Barclay Gibbs Jones Award, as the best planning dissertation at an accredited program, by the American Collegiate Schools of Planning. This dissertation was later developed into a book, Changing Cape Town: Urban Dynamics, Policy and Planning during the Political Transition in South Africa (1998).

Aside from his academic qualifications, Dr Saff has practical development and policymaking experience (both in Africa and the US). Prior to pursing his Ph.D., he worked as a Project Leader and Urban Development Specialist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Dr Saff has also worked on various urban/economic development projects in the US. While employed at the Center for Urban Policy Research, he was part of the team assessing the community driven Urban Neighborhood Revitalization Program in Minneapolis. He was also part of a research team employed by the New Jersey Department of Transportation to write a transportation supplement to the NJ State Plan. He has also conducted research into the NJ Enterprise Zone Program, integration management programs in various parts of the US and the use of Science and Technology Parks as a mechanism for regional and national growth.

Dr Saff’s research on desegregation and residential exclusion (in South Africa and the US) has been extensively published in journals such as the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Professional Geographer, Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Affairs Review and SAFUNDI. One of his articles was recently reprinted as part of a collection of the most important geographical research in political geography (Political Geography: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences). He wrote the entries on suburbs for the Encyclopedia of Human Geography, and on Cape Town and New Jersey for The World Book Encyclopedia. His current research is mostly focused around debates about immigration into suburban communities (mostly on Long Island and New Jersey) and also the effects of deindustrialization on large suburban areas (such as Edison, New Jersey).

Dr Saff is committed to building the Global Studies Program into a vibrant major at Hofstra and also continuing to attract students into the Geography Program. Within the geography program, Dr Saff has been responsible for offering classes in urban geography, economic geography, the introductory human geography course and the geography of Africa. Dr Saff is also responsible for teaching the required seminar on geographic methodology. He has also offered courses in economics (urban and regional) and in global studies. In the past Dr Saff has taught graduate courses at other institutions, including urban political economy at the New School University.