Date: Apr 09, 2010

Hofstra Professor Secures Grant from Seedworks Fund

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Bruce Torff, Ed.D., a professor in the department of curriculum and teaching in the School of Education, Health and Human Services has secured a $20,000 grant from the Seedworks Fund, an affiliate of the Hagedorn Foundation. 

The grant involves analysis of survey data exploring Patchogue-Medford High School students’ experiences with various kinds of discrimination in the wake of the apparently racially-motivated murder of Marcelo Lucero in 2009.  The murder of Marcelo Lucero prompted the Unity Coalition, a state agency, to distribute a survey to students at Patchogue-Medford High School. The grant also involves development of a new survey instrument to be administered to a larger population of students in Suffolk County.

Dr. Torff is also the Director of the Doctoral Program in Learning and Teaching. “It is my hope that these results will prompt school officials and other leaders in the Patchogue-Medford community to increase their efforts to prevent incidents of discrimination there, and also deal with them effectively when they do occur,” said Dr. Torff.

The Seedworks Fund is a private foundation engaged in philanthropy, voluntarism and grant-making based in Denver, Colorado. 

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. The University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students’ interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations.