Welcome Back

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back colleagues who are returning from what I hope was an enjoyable and productive summer, and to greet those who are joining us for the first time. I am looking forward, along with the associate deans, staff, and chairs, to working with you in the coming year.

As you know, higher education has not been insulated from the economic recession that has gripped our country. Universities across the United States – from the most prominent on down – have been forced to take draconian measures to meet current economic challenges, including salary freezes, across-the-board hiring suspensions, and deferral of construction projects. In some instances, even more drastic measures have been taken, including faculty furloughs and dismissals. I am pleased to note that Hofstra has weathered the economic storm as well as can be expected. Faculty salary increases mandated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement have been implemented; approximately 40 faculty will be on paid leave this coming year; faculty will be able to use their full allotments for travel to conferences; and Research and Development funds will be available as usual. In addition, over 20 full professors in HCLAS will receive professor incentive compensation increases honoring their ongoing professional achievements. In the coming weeks, both President Rabinowitz and Provost Berliner will address the impact of the current economic situation on Hofstra’s present and future, but I am confident that the University is well poised to continue to make the kinds of strides that have marked the last eight years, including a further improvement in the quality of our undergraduate and graduate student populations, the development of new and exciting academic initiatives, the recruitment of new faculty to support existing and future programs, and construction and renovation of infrastructure to house those programs.

Faculty – As we begin the new year, I am pleased to report that three full-time faculty -- Gregory Pell of Romance Languages and Literatures, Mark McEvoy of Philosophy, and Amy Masnick of Psychology -- have all been awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. In addition, David Kaufman joins us as tenured Associate Professor of Religion and holder of the Robert and Florence Kaufman Chair in Jewish Studies. David comes from Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, where he was a tenured member of the faculty. Six full-time faculty -- Sharryn Kasmir of Anthropology, Royston Coppenger of Drama/Dance, Roberto Mazzoleni of Economics, Alice Levine of English, Paula Uruburu of English, Dan Devine of Fine Arts, and Sabine Loucif of Romance Languages and Literatures -- were promoted to the rank of Full Professor. Aleksanker Naymark of Fine Arts/Art History/CAAC and Stephanie Cobb of Religion were promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Joining us this year are six new full-time faculty (see below for short biographies of our new faculty.) I must also report that our colleagues Dorothy Pumo, former Chair of the Department of Biology, and David Lloyd, of the Chemistry Department, have retired after many years of outstanding service. Lance Westergard, Director of our program in Dance, will be retiring after the Fall semester. I am sure you join me in wishing them well in their future endeavors.

Curriculum – 2009-10 promises to be a busy year for program development. In the pipeline for committee and full HCLAS faculty consideration are a Master’s Program in Forensic Linguistics and a combined Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies. Two departments – English and Mathematics – are also proposing combined Bachelor’s/Master’s degrees. Last year, Associate Dean Gail Schwab headed an interdisciplinary committee to consider new approaches to undergraduate pre-medical education, and that committee has made several recommendations that will be brought before the appropriate curriculum committees of the College. You may recall also that as a consequence of the report of the Four-Credit Task Force, a smaller committee was established to consider the adoption of four- or mixed-credit models for the departments that want to move in that direction. That group, which is chaired by Ira Singer, Chairperson of the Philosophy Department, will soon make recommendations to the College faculty regarding the adoption in some departments of either all four-credit courses or a mixture of four- and three-credit courses.

Cultural Activities – The coming academic year will witness an impressive array of cultural events and lectures. This year’s Great Writers, Great Readings series will be inaugurated by distinguished essayist and memoirist Patricia Hampl on October 14. It will continue with readings by poets Frank Bidart and Rosanna Warren, playwright Craig Lucas, and novelist Mona Simpson. I call your attention to a number of interesting conferences that will be held this year. Among them are: “The Diverse Suburb: History, Politics, and Prospects,” that will take place October 22-24; “Borges and Us: Then and Always,” November 13-14; “Sexual Identities: They Ain’t What They Used To Be,” March 5-6, and “New Directions In American Health Care: Innovations from Home and Abroad,” March 11-12. The Peter S. Kalikow Presidential Studies Center will host a symposium in early November entitled “Prerogative Power and the Imperial Presidency: From Lincoln to George W. Bush.” Among the featured speakers at this symposium will be New York Times columnist David Brooks. Define 09 will continue with the following visitors: journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn on the role of women in the developing world; CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and Pulitzer Prize Winner and Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson on race in America; New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat; Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx; and NPR’s Nina Totenberg and MSNBC’s Dan Abrams to discuss the new Supreme Court term.

Awards and Honors – During the past year, our faculty have been successful in earning external funding to support their research and academic programs. Among the College’s National Science Foundation awardees have been Habib Ammari of Computer Science, David Burghardt of Engineering, Russell Burke of Biology, Simona Doboli of Computer Science, Behailu Mammo of Mathematics, Margaret Hunter of Engineering, and Vince Brown of Psychology. Vince was also reappointed as Director in the Perception, Action, and Cognition Programs within the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division of the NSF. Donald Lubowich of Physics and Astronomy and David Weissman of Engineering have been awarded funding by NASA, and Jin Shin of Psychology has successfully applied for funding from the National Institute of Health. John Bryant of the English Department was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the Melville Electronic Library. David Powell of Romance Languages and Literatures received two faculty enhancement grants from the Canadian Government for continued research in Quèbècois Studies. Laurie Fendrich of Fine Arts was awarded a Brown Foundation Scholarship for Drawing which gave her the opportunity to study and work in France. In an example of the evolving relationship between Hofstra College and the North Shore/LIJ Hospital System, Keith Shafritz of Psychology was appointed Assistant Scientific Investigator in the Center for Translational Psychiatry at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Professor of Biology Joanne Willey will now hold a joint appointment in Biology and the Hofstra University School of Medicine. Federal funding was responsible for the establishment of two new centers on campus – the Center for Condensed Matter Physics, under the direction of Harold Hastings in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Center for Climate Study, headed by Christa Farmer of our Department of Geology. Zachary Lazar, Adjunct Assistant Professor English, was awarded a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, where he is working on a new novel. Gayl Teller, Adjunct Associate Professor of Writing and Composition Studies, was named Nassau County Poet Laureate for 2009-11. David Weissman, Professor of Engineering, was awarded the Jean Nerkin Distinguished Professorship in Engineering, a distinction which recognizes his many years of distinguished teaching and scholarship, and Stan Pugliese, whose most recent book, Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone, was published in June by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, will assume the Queensboro-UNICO Distinguished Professorship of Italian and Italian American Studies, from which Pellegrino D’Acierno is stepping down as of September 1, 2009.

Renovated Facilities – The University has concluded a multi-year renovation of Fine Arts’ facilities in Calkins Hall. Studios for ceramics, sculpture, industrial design, and painting have been completely refurbished and up-graded, and a new photography studio and dark room have been added. A student gallery affords our students the opportunity to exhibit their work as well. In another major project, a generous gift has led to the renovation of four Biology teaching laboratories, which significantly upgrades the teaching facilities for the Biology Department. The Chemistry Department and faculty from other science departments will now be able to conduct cutting-edge research with the addition of a state-of-the-art NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer).

Dean’s Office – As you know, Barbara Bohannon, who served for many years as Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs, has become Acting Associate Provost for Accreditation and Assessment. Although Barry Nass was initially slated to take Barbara’s position in the Dean’s Office, the time demands of his role as Vice Dean for New College made it impossible for him to take both jobs. As a consequence, Stavros Valenti of our Psychology Department will now assume the position of Interim Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs.

Dr. Bernard Firestone

NEW FACULTY COLLEAGUES
HOFSTRA COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES 2009-2010

Dr. Carrie Alexandrowicz-Shandra, Assistant Professor Sociology, received her B.A. from Boston College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University, where her doctoral dissertation addressed the issue of “Women’s Employment in Segregated Occupations and the Division of Household Labor: An Analysis of Gender Inequality at Work and in the Family.” Dr. Alexandrowicz-Shandra previously held an adjunct position in Sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she specialized in teaching statistics; although she has just recently completed her dissertation, she has already published some of her work as articles, and has additional articles forthcoming, in addition to having presented papers at scholarly meetings.

Dr. Myla F. J. Aronson, who has been Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, since 2006, joins the Hofstra faculty as Assistant Professor of Biology. Dr. Aronson received her B.S. from Cornell University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University; she also spent a year as a post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Minnesota. A specialist in the field of plant ecology and evolution, Dr. Aronson’s research explores issues of biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. She has published her work in journals and presented her work widely in scientific forums.

Dr. Lyndi Hewitt comes to Hofstra from Vanderbilt University where she completed her doctoral dissertation on transnational organizations that advocate for the advancement of women’s rights, and where she has taught Sociology. Dr. Hewitt has already published her work on women’s issues in several articles in scholarly journals, in addition to presenting it at scholarly conferences. She will join the Hofstra faculty as Assistant Professor of Sociology.

Mr. Ling Huang, who received his B.S. in Chemistry from Fudan University in Shanghai and his M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, is completing his Ph.D. in Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Virginia. Mr. Huang, whose research explores the use of polymers to create “chemistry on a chip”—a process with wide applications in biochemistry, biology, and medicine—has several scholarly articles in preparation, and has presented his work at scientific meetings both in the United States and Europe. He will join the Hofstra faculty as Instructor of Chemistry and Director of Advanced Instrumentation.

Dr. David Kaufman holds a B.A. in Architecture and Hebrew Literature from Columbia University, an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a Ph.D. in American Jewish History from Brandeis University. He has held adjunct teaching positions at the Hebrew College in Brookline, MA, at Brown University, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and at the City University of New York. Prior to coming to Hofstra, Dr. Kaufman was a tenured Associate Professor of American Jewish Studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. The author of a book, nine articles, and over twenty invited talks and conference presentations, Dr. Kaufman, who is currently working on a book on American Jewish celebrities of the 1960s, will join the faculty as Associate Professor of Religion and Robert and Florence Kaufman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies.

Dr. Carol Y. Scarlett, who, prior to coming to Hofstra as Assistant Professor of Physics, held the position of Assistant Professor of Physics at the United States Military Academy, also has five years of post-doctoral research experience at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, including three years as staff scientist. Dr. Scarlett did her undergraduate work in Electrical Engineering at Yale University, and subsequently received a Master’s in Physics from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Her field of research is nuclear and particle physics, and she has published extensively in scientific journals, in addition to presenting her work both in the United States and abroad.