Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – The National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University (NCSS) and the Hofstra Cultural Center will host a three-day international and interdisciplinary conference, "The Diverse Suburb, History, Politics and Prospects," focusing on the challenging and emergent phenomenon of suburban diversity from October 22-24, 2009 at Hofstra University. 

This academic conference offers 54 panel discussions and presentations on the growing racial, ethnic and class diversity in the suburbs and how the shift in demographics affects our understanding of suburban life. Panels such as policing equity and accountability, responding to hate groups on Long Island, organizing for social and economic justice and challenging the nexus of local politics and immigration policy are designed to promote dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing the diverse suburb.

"Suburban diversity is not entirely new.  But only recently have most historians, sociologists, and policymakers begun to take the phenomenon seriously.  Our conference draws together those who focus on the suburbs' past, present, and future, as well as those who have been organizing their communities to make the suburbs inclusive places to live," said Dr. Christopher Niedt, NCSS academic director.

Panels will feature regional and national leaders will discuss a broad range of issues including educational financing, housing desegregation, policing, and GLBTQ politics; panels will feature advocates from non-profit, public, and private sectors to exchange ideas about suburban diversity. Many of the academic session will bear directly on some of Long Island’s most contentious issues, including the ways that communities and local governments attempt to revitalize declining suburbs and respond to the arrival of new immigrants.

Featured speakers include Nancy Denton, State University of New York, Albany; Kenneth Jackson, Columbia University; Manuel Pastor, University of Southern California; John A. Powell, Ohio State University; and Andrew Wiese, San Diego State University.

For more information or to register please call the Hofstra Cultural Center at (516) 463-5669 visit www.hofstra.edu/diversesuburb.  The conference is free for Hofstra students, staff, and faculty with a Hofstra ID.  Regular-rate conference registration is $100 for all three days.  Community members may purchase one-day passes at the event for $40; a limited number of reduced-price tickets are available from the National Center for Suburban Studies (516-463-9939), but must be reserved in advance.

The National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University is a non-partisan research institution dedicated to promoting objective, academically rigorous study of suburbia's problems, as well as its promise. Rooted in the laboratory of Long Island’s diverse and aging suburbs, almost literally in the shadows of the iconic Levittown, the NCSS will study a broad range of issues from local and national perspectives and, whenever possible, collaborate with researchers at other respected institutions. The suburbs have emerged as the nexus of dynamic demographic, social, economic and environmental change in New York and throughout the United States. The tasks of identifying, analyzing and solving the problems of suburbia are essential for the health of the country, and central to the Center's mission.

The Hofstra Cultural Center is an internationally renowned organization that includes a conference and symposium component, a music program, and the publication of the proceedings of its conferences and symposia. It plans and coordinates conferences and symposia in the fields of humanities, business, law and the sciences to promote the University as an international arena of scholarly thought and to foster Long Island as a cultural entity. The activities of the Hofstra Cultural Center augment the offerings of the academic departments of the University.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from about 150 undergraduate and more than 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services;  and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. With a student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1, our professors teach small classes averaging 22 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis. Hofstra offers a faculty whose highest priority is teaching excellence.