Date: Apr 29, 2010

Hofstra Students Select Teachers of the Year

Outstanding faculty to be recognized at Hofstra Gala on May 6, 2010, and Hofstra Commencement on May 16, 2010

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Hofstra students have selected five outstanding faculty members as the 2010 Teachers of the Year. They are Ralph Acampora, Hofstra College of Liberal Arts & Science; Geoffrey Roth, School of Communication; Mary McDonald, School of Education, Health and Human Services; Ralph Polimeni, Zarb School of Business; and Alafair Burke, Hofstra School of Law.

Teachers of the Year are selected by current, graduating students in each school. “What makes Teacher of the Year such a singular honor is that for the faculty member to be selected, that person needs to ranked as a top faculty member by graduating students over a three-year to five-year period of time,” said Hofstra Provost Herman Berliner.

The teachers will be recognized at the annual Hofstra Gala on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, North Campus and at Hofstra’s Spring Commencement activities on May 16, 2010.

The bios for each of the Teachers of the Year follow:

Hofstra College of Liberal Arts & Science:
Ralph Acampora, Associate Professor of Philosophy

Dr. Acampora teaches in the areas of applied ethics and history of (especially modern) philosophy. He conducts research in the fields of environmental philosophy, bioethics, and animal studies. He is the author of Corporal Compassion: Animal Ethics and Philosophy of Body (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006) and co-editor of A Nietzschean Bestiary (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). He has been published in a variety of books and journals, referees for Environmental Ethics and for the Journal of Critical Animal Studies, and is a member of the editorial board for Society & Animals as well as Humanimalia. Dr. Acampora is currently editing a book on post-zoo forms of animal encounter titled Metamorphoses of the Zoo: Animal Encounter After Noah (2010 Lexington Books of Rowman & Littlefield).

In 2008 he was recognized by the 10th annual Animals and Society Course awards from The Humane Society of the United States for “An(im)alogies of Moral Monstrosity,” a course he designed and teaches on the parallels between forms of institutional animal exploitation and atrocities perpetrated upon humankind.
 
Professor Acampora worked as a seasonal park ranger during his college and graduate-school careers, advocates on behalf of urban wildlife, lives with his family in Forest Hills, and tries to protect his son, Maxwell , from the scourge of city childhoods known as "nature deficit disorder".

School of Communication:
Geoffrey A. Roth, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Media Studies and Public Relations

Geoffrey Roth came to Hofstra University after a 30-year career in television news. He attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he received his BSJ and MSJ degrees. He was the news director for the school’s award-winning radio station, WNUR, and also worked freelance for Time magazine. After graduating, he received a full scholarship from NBC to attend graduate school.

He began his journalism career as part of the original staff that started CNN. Subsequently, he moved into local TV news, and worked as a writer, producer, executive producer, and news director at several stations in cities across the country. While he was news director at KSTU in Salt Lake City, his staff won the national Edward R. Murrow Award for best small-market newscast. He also worked as a press secretary for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
At his last two jobs, he was instrumental in integrating New Media and Social Media into his news departments, and he plans to do research on the impact of these new forms of media on traditional journalism and how people get their information.

School of Education, Health and Human Services:
Mary McDonald, Assistant Professor of Counseling, Research, Special Education and Rehabilitation

Dr. McDonald is an assistant professor in the CRSR Department (Counseling, Research, Special Education and Rehabilitation) and teaches in the Special Education Program.  She began teaching at Hofstra University as an adjunct in 2002 and became full time in 2005.  She currently teaches courses such as Educating Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Creating Effective Learning Communities and Research Seminars. 

She is also the director of The Genesis Outreach Autism Center where she supervises outreach, consultation and research programs.  She has nearly 20 years experience directing programs for students with autism from early intervention through adulthood. 

Dr. McDonald serves on a number of boards including the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis,  Association for Science in Autism Treatment and  Council on Autism Services.  She has published articles in the areas of self-management,  social reciprocity,  response to intervention, inclusion and technology in education.  Her current research interests include creativity and the use of video modeling and social stories to promote learning.  

Zarb School of Business:
Ralph S. Polimeni, Professor of Accounting, Taxation and Legal Studies in Business

Dr. Ralph S. Polimeni, Hofstra professor of accounting, holds the Chaykin Endowed Chair in Accounting. Prior to his current position, Dr. Polimeni served as vice provost for accreditation and assessment; dean of the Frank G. Zarb School of Business; chair of the Accounting, Taxation and Legal Studies in Business Department; and director of the Chaykin CPA Review Program at Hofstra. Dr. Polimeni is a past recipient of the University's Teacher of the Year award. He holds a Ph.D. in business with a major in accounting, and is a certified public accountant in New York State as well as a certified cost analyst.

Dr. Polimeni is the co-author of numerous textbooks, some of which have been translated into foreign languages and are used internationally. He has also been published in accounting and business journals. Specializing in financial and managerial accounting, Dr. Polimeni worked for a "Big Four" public accounting firm; was chair of the Nassau County Audit Advisory Committee; and served on a financial task force for the City of New York.  He has also been a consultant to several accounting and law firms.

Hofstra School of Law:
Alafair S. Burke, Professor of Law

Professor Burke teaches criminal law and criminal procedure subjects. Her research intersects criminal law and procedure and focuses on policing and prosecutorial policies. She has written about prosecutorial decision making, community policing and non-punitive responses to crime problems, and the criminal law's treatment of domestic violence, both in punishing batterers and in explaining the conduct of battered women.

Before joining the law school faculty in 2001, Professor Burke served as a deputy district attorney in Portland, Oregon, where she tried more than 30 criminal cases, primarily against domestic violence offenders, and helped innovate neighborhood-based prosecution methods.

Professor Burke graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she was elected to Order of the Coif, published a note on prosecutorial ethics in the Stanford Law Review, and was an articles editor of the Stanford Law and Public Policy Journal and a member of the Stanford Journal of International Law. She served as a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Professor Burke serves as a legal and trial commentator for various television and radio programs. She is a member of the planning committee for the annual Northeast People of Color Conference. She is also the author of six critically acclaimed crime novels.
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