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Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Hofstra University will mark the expanding focus of its National Center for Suburban Studies with a program welcoming its new directors and a day of events focused on America’s suburbs and the 60th anniversary of Levittown.

The celebration on Friday, November 2, 2007 begins at 4 p.m. with a program marking the appointment of Lawrence Levy as executive director and Christopher Niedt as academic director of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. The event is in the Rochelle and Irwin A. Lowenfeld Conference and Exhibition Hall, 10th floor, Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, south campus.

During his 30 years as a reporter, editorial writer and columnist, Lawrence C. Levy has won many of journalism’s top awards, including Pulitzer Finalist, for in-depth works on suburban politics, education, taxation, housing and other key issues. In his leadership role at the National Center, he will work with Hofstra’s strong academic community to shape an innovative agenda for suburban study, forge alliances with other institutions, not-for-profit groups and government agencies and promote the study of the suburbs nationwide.

A co-partner in shaping its mission and priorities, Christopher Niedt brings to the National Center a passion for suburban studies and strong academic credentials earned as a researcher, writer and teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he conducted the studies for his Ph.D. in geography.  He has special expertise in fields of labor and housing and has conducted research on the politics of class, racial and geographic inequities in suburban communities.

The program will include a film on the changing suburbs by PBS documentary filmmaker Ron Rudaitis and a talk by noted suburban scholar Robert Puentes of The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.

That will be followed at 5 p.m. by a dramatic reading of “The Man Who Loved Levittown” by Robert Spiotto, artistic director of the community Arts programs and executive producer at Hofstra. The story, by W.D. Wetherell, is based on the life of Levittown resident Tommy DiMaria, World War II veteran and retired Grumman aircraft employee. The reading takes place in Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater on the first floor of the Axinn Library.

 

At 6 p.m., also in the Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Phillip Dolce, director of the Center for Suburban Criminal Justice and chair of the Social Science Department at Bergen Community College, will deliver a lecture on “Suburbia: A Sense of Place on the Silver Screen.” His talk will focus on movies that have been set in the suburbs. 

The day’s events conclude at 7:15 p.m. with “Photographing Suburbia: Crewdson, Owens and Weiner,” a photographic exhibit and reception on the 10th floor of the Axinn Library. Daniel Rubey, Dean of Library and Information Services at Hofstra and a former reviewer for ArtNews and Art in America, will speak on the suburban photography of Gregory Crewdson, Bill Owens and Dan Weiner. His remarks will be followed by a reception with refreshments.

Seating is limited for all events and reservations are required. Call (516) 463-6333, or e-mail theresa.m.haller@hofstra.edu, or fax your contact information to (516) 463-3907. The day’s events are sponsored by the National Center for Suburban Studies, the Hofstra University Library and the Hofstra University Museum.

National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra

The National Center for Suburban Studies 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, the National Center 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 National Center’s mission.

Hofstra University

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 140 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied 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 23 students that emphasize interaction, critical thinking and analysis. Hofstra offers a faculty whose highest priority is teaching excellence, cutting edge technology, extensive library resources, internships and special educational programs that appeal to their interests and abilities.  The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.