Date: Dec 19, 2011

Hofstra Professor Honored by the Directors Guild of America

Award to be presented at Annual DGA Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY -- Dennis W. Mazzocco, PhD, Hofstra University Associate Professor of Radio, Television, Film and an Emmy-winning director, producer and writer, has been named the recipient of a top honor from the Directors Guild of America for outstanding career achievement and extraordinary service to the organization.

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The 2012 Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award will be presented by DGA President and Academy Award-winning director Taylor Hackford to Mazzocco at the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in Los Angeles. In a statement, Hackford praised Mazzocco as a long-time leader in the Guild who stood up for creative and economic rights and exemplifies “the spirit of leadership, community and service to fellow members that strengthens and unifies this organization every day.”
 
At Hofstra, Mazzocco teaches in the School of Communication’s MFA program in Documentary Studies as well as undergraduate classes in television writing, production, media aesthetics and history, and was named Distinguished Teacher of the Year in 2006. He is only the third tenured professor on the DGA National Board in the Guild’s 75-year history. “Dennis Mazzocco is one of many excellent artists and communications professionals, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Scott Ross, Avi Arad, Phil Rosenthal and Chris Albrecht, who have called Hofstra University their academic home,” said Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz . “We are proud that Dr. Mazzocco is a leading member of our faculty and the recipient of such a prestigious award." School of Communication Dean Evan W. Cornog added, “Dennis Mazzocco combines in-depth industry experience with serious scholarly engagement—a wonderful combination for his students and colleagues. All of us here at Hofstra congratulate Dennis on this extraordinary, and well-deserved, recognition from the DGA.”

Mazzocco has won nine Emmy Awards (among 20 career nominations), three Cine Gold Awards, and has also worked on the Peabody Award-winning and DGA Award-nominated ABC 2000, a 23-hour ABC News special watched by 175 million viewers. He began his career as an associate director at ABC Sports, and has since worked in news, entertainment and sports, including The Academy Awards, Good Morning America, Nightline, Dancing with the Stars, The Super Bowl, The World Series and 12 Olympic broadcasts. At the DGA, he served as a Council Chair for six years before being elected as an associate member of the National Board in 2009, and has also worked on a number of Guild committees including Network Negotiations, 75th Anniversary Advisory, Website Advisory, and Special Projects.
 
"When I joined the Hofstra faculty in 1999, our goal was to raise our program to international renown," notes Mazzocco. "My students are so proud that I have been selected by my industry peers for this special honor. Receiving the Schaffner Award from my mentor, the prolific director Taylor Hackford, is a dream come true for me--only once in a career."

 
Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from more than 150 undergraduate and 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied health services and honor studies, as well as a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

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