Cultural Center

Conferences & Symposia

See our Virtual Events Calendar for the most up-to-date information.

For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

SPRING 2024

The Society for French Historical Studies
in collaboration with the
Hofstra Cultural Center
presents

Thursday, Friday, Saturday
March 14, 15, 16, 2024
From the Interstices: Geographies, Identities, Solidarities, and Institutions in France, the Francophone World, and Beyond

The March 2024 meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies will explore the complex considerations of and methodologies for examining the intersections of historical inquiry. For example, how do we lift up and make visible the spaces between geographies, intersectional identities, social solidarities, and/or the relationships between institutions and their constituents? As always, beyond our themed sessions, our program includes all aspects of French and Francophone History. We are also committed to creating a welcoming, antiracist, and diverse conference that embraces our Society’s anti-discriminatory mission of inclusiveness, political education, and equitable empowerment.

Presentations will be presented in English or French, and include traditional panels, roundtables, or lightning sessions that reflect the variety of recent scholarship, pedagogical concerns, and contemporary issues.

Lodging Information

The Long Island Marriott has been designated as the official conference hotel for the The French Historical Society Conference: From the Interstices: Geographies, Identities, Solidarities, and Institutions in France, the Francophone World, and Beyond scheduled for March 14-16, 2024. We have made arrangements for those wanting to arrive a day early and stay a day later at the same rate. The following is the special discounted rate for room reservation. All reservations at the discounted rate are subject to availability. When making your reservations, please identify yourself as a participant in The French Historical Society Conference. 

LONG ISLAND MARRIOTT
101 James Doolittle Blvd
Uniondale, NY 11553

Book your group rate for Hofstra French Historical Society 1
You will find the information for your online reservation link below. If you have questions or need help with the link, please do not hesitate to ask. We appreciate your business and look forward to a successful event

Event Summary
Hofstra French Historical Society 1
Start Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
End Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
Last Day to Book: Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Hotel(s) offering your special group rate: $209 USD per night

**Most hotels have 24-48 hour cancellations without penalty. If you need to cancel, please do so before this time so that you do not incur any cancellation fees**
Please refer to the following website for additional local hotel information -- https://www.hofstra.edu/visitors/hotels.html.


CONFERENCE EXHIBITION:
January 30 – July 26, 2024
Les Visionnaires: IN the MODERNIST SPIRIT
Emily Lowe Gallery

CONFERENCE CO-DIRECTORS

SALLY CHARNOW
Chair, Department of History
Professor of History
Hofstra University
Co-President, Society for French Historical Studies
Sally.D.Charnow@hofstra.edu

Publications:
Edmond Fleg and Jewish Minority Culture in Twentieth-Century France (2021)
Artistic Expressions and the Great War, A Hundred Years On (ed.) (2020)
Theatre, Politics, and Markets in Fin-de-Siècle Paris (2005)

JEFF HORN
Professor of History
Manhattan College
Co-President, Society for French Historical Studies
Jeff.Horn@manhattan.edu

Publications:
A People's History of the World and Voices of a People's History of the World were published by Oxford University Press in November 2022.
The Making of a Terrorist: Alexandre Rousselin and the French Revolution appeared in paperback with Oxford University Press in June 2023.

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Museum Exhibition: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989), Untitled, from Memories of Surrealism portfolio, 1971, Etching and lithograph, 20.75 x 16.25 in., Hofstra University Museum of Art, Gift of Benjamin Bickerman, HU93.12.3 © 2023 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society


We are pleased to welcome the community, including family members, local schoolchildren, alumni and friends, to athletic and cultural events on campus. All events are free and open to the public. Please register in advance at events.hofstra.edu.

Past Events

Wednesday-Friday
April 19-21, 2023

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY'S 13TH PRESIDENTIAL CONFERENCE
BARACK OBAMA
44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Hofstra University is pleased to announce that its conference on the Barack Obama Presidency will take place April 19-21, 2023. Hofstra has a long and distinguished tradition of hosting conferences on the administrations of all the presidents of the United States who have served during the University's lifetime, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt forward. The Conference on the Obama Presidency, hosted by the Hofstra Cultural Center, the Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, and the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, will be the University’s 13th presidential conference.

During each conference, Hofstra brings together scholars, policymakers, and journalists for a series of panels and roundtables to discuss a president's campaign, political leadership, policy agenda, and legacy. Often the Hofstra conference is the first opportunity for scholars, journalists, and administration officials to come together to debate the issues of that period in history. The University has published volumes of selected articles and commentary from every conference, which have become standard scholarly volumes and early oral histories of each presidency.

These presidential conferences bring to campus hundreds of national leaders, scholars and historians, as well as college and high school classes. In addition, selected keynote panels and plenary events will be livestreamed through the University’s website, allowing access to schools across the country. The Hofstra Presidential Conferences provide a unique opportunity to participate in interdisciplinary scholarly analyses, with key insights from former administration officials and journalists, of the American presidency and American politics.


Thursday, April 27, 2023
PATHS TO PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Join us for a commemoration and analysis of the 25th anniversary of the historic Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which ended the troubles in Northern Ireland. The challenges facing Ireland and Northern Ireland today are especially urgent in these times of post-Brexit consequences.

11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: PANEL: THE HISTORIC ORIGINS OF THE AGREEMENT

Watch Event Video

Panelists include:

  • Kevin James, Scottish Studies Foundation Chair, Director, Centre for Scottish Studies Director, Centre for Scottish Studies; Professor, Department of History, University of Guelph
  • Dr. Ofrit Liviatan is a lecturer on law and politics, Department of Government, Harvard University. Dr. Liviatan has researched extensively on the history, structure, and function of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
  • Ted Smyth, President of the Advisory Board of Glucksman Ireland House NYU and is Chair of the Clinton Institute for American Studies in University College Dublin. He participated in the Northern Ireland peace process, seeking support amongst key stakeholders for a nonviolent, just solution.

2:40-4:05 p.m.: FILM VIEWING and DISCUSSION: “WAVING GOODBYE TO THE DINOSAURS”: THE HISTORIC ROLE OF THE WOMEN OF NORTHERN IRELAND ON THE PATH TO PEACE

Waving Goodbye to the Dinosaurs shows when peace talks are proposed to negotiate an end to the decades-old sectarian conflict that left thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded, women in Northern Ireland decide to take matters into their own hands. Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs vividly shows the story of Catholic and Protestant women who unite to form an all-female political party, win seats at the negotiating table, and fight to ensure that their policies around human rights, equality, and inclusion are reflected in the Good Friday Agreement. Feature interviews include members of the Women’s Coalition, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator George Mitchell, and civil rights campaigner Bernadette Devlin.

4:20-5:45 p.m.: PANEL: THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE AGREEMENT: ITS SUCCESSES, CURRENT CHALLENGES, AND POSSIBILITIES FOR PEACEBUILDING

Watch Event Video

Presenters include:

  • Martin J. Burke, Professor of History and American Studies, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Director of the CUNY Institute of Irish-American Studies; a Junior Fellow at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University, Belfast; and a Fulbright Lecturer in Irish and American Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
  • Ambassador David Donoghue, former Ireland Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Ambassador Donoghue was involved for many years in the Northern Ireland peace process, and was one of the Irish Government’s negotiators for the groundbreaking Good Friday Agreement.
  • Brian Dougherty is currently CEO with the North-West Cultural Partnership, a collaborative group for six cultural organizations that work extensively across the Derry/Strabane District Council area, the Province, and cross-border in Northern Ireland.  

All sessions take place in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

For more information, contact Professor Linda Longmire at Linda.A.Longmire@hofstra.edu or 516-463-5828.

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Image of ireland
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Ireland landscape
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castle in Ireland
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Painting on a wall
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Path to Peace in Northern Ireland flyer

Thursday, April 14, 2022
11:15 a.m.-5:45 p.m.
CESAR VALLEJO’S TRILCE
One Hundred Years Later, 1922-2022

Trilce is the most radical book of poetry written in the Spanish language, arising at the beginning of the aesthetic change that the avant-gardes of his time were going through. Two characteristics essentially define Trilce: "difficult," due to its hermetic writing and the poem's tendency to erase its referents, and "demanding," because it requires language to say everything new, as if nothing had been said.

Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program in collaboration with the Rabinowitz Honors College, Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Provost.
For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/culture.

Related Event:
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
7-9 p.m.
Opening
INSTITUTO CERVANTES NEW YORK

For more information, email Delia Antelo, Director of Culture at culctny@cervantes.es.


Thursday, April 28-Saturday, April 30, 2022

64th Meeting
Euro Working Group for Commodities and Financial Modelling and the Center for International Financial Markets & Services

presents

FINANCIAL REGULATION AND TECHNOLOGY: ADVANCES SINCE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

We are pleased to invite you to submit your papers to the 64th EWGCFM meeting in New York, NY. We encourage you to participate as a presenter, discussant, session chair, and/or attendee. We welcome papers from a wide range of topics.

The submission deadline is January 31, 2022.

Instructions for submission:

  • Include one copy of the paper that lists the authors’ names on the title page.
  • Include another copy of the paper that does not list any of the authors’ names.
  • At the time of submission, submitted papers must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere.

The organizing committee will confirm receipt of your submission. Submitted papers will be double-blind reviewed by members of the scientific committee.

Paper presenters will be expected to discuss one other paper during the conference. The discussant assignments will be made by the organizing committee at a later date.

You will receive an email indicating whether your paper is accepted/rejected for presentation at the conference before January 31, 2022.

For further information, please email to cifsm@hofstra.edu.


Wednesday and Thursday
November 2 and 3, 2022

ANTI-FASCISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Keynote Speakers:

Adolph Reed Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

Eric Gobetti
Independent Scholar, Turin, Italy 

As recent events have shown, fascist ideology and its attendant components — opposition to working-class movements, hyper-nationalism, anti-democracy, white supremacy, and xenophobia — remain a threat to democratic institutions and practices worldwide. As in the past, the rise of fascism has been met with anti-fascist opposition.

To coincide with the centennial of the March on Rome, we will hold a two-day interdisciplinary conference, Anti-Fascism in the 21st Century. The purpose of this conference is not to retell stories of past anti-fascist movements, but to consider anti-fascism as a contemporary global movement with myriad forms and to explore the challenges of organizing against fascism for a new generation. We invite you to submit your papers for Anti-Fascism In The 21st Century.

 

Send inquiries to the conference organizers: 

Mary Anne Trasciatti
Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric and Professor of History
Director of Labor Studies
Hofstra University
mary.anne.trasciatti@hofstra.edu

Fraser Ottanelli
Professor of History
University of South Florida
ottanelli@usf.edu PAPERS

Anti-Fascism in the 21st Century will be coordinated by the
Hofstra Cultural Center
127 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1270
516-463-5669
hofculctr@hofstra.edu

Friday October 16 - Saturday October 17, 2020
ANNUAL MEETING, MIDDLE STATES DIVISION OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF GEOGRAPHERS

Our annual meeting brings together geographers and those in related fields. There will be several paper sessions, panels, and poster sessions for presentations of research and related discussions in the broad field of geography. Moreover, there will be facilitated networking, plenary talks, and a geography bowl quiz competition for students on Friday evening. Students (high school/undergraduate/graduate) are especially encouraged to participate, as there will be cash prizes for the top student paper and poster presentations. Participants in the conference typically hail from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Puerto Rico, which comprise the 'Middle States' region of the American Association of Geographers.

Hofstra University will be the virtual host of this year’s meeting. Hofstra has a strong Department of Geography and Global Studies, which offers BA degrees in Geography and Global Studies and a BS degree in GIS. Moreover, the University has a closely allied department, the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability, which features BS degrees in Geology and Environmental Resources, and BA, BS, and MA options in Sustainability Studies. We will be promoting inclusion through specific activities at this year’s regional meeting. Students from schools with populations that are traditionally underrepresented at conferences will be offered free registration for our fall 2020 meeting. Moreover, we highly encourage meeting attendees to propose sessions and panels concerning issues such as social justice, racism in the academy, and mental health.

Conference Director:
Jase Bernhardt, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability 
Hofstra University

American Association of Geographers 
Director, Climate Specialty Group (2018-2020)
President, Middle States Division (2020)
@WxJase


HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER
and the
DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA AND DANCE

present a symposium

Thursday and Friday, October 29 and 30, 2020 (POSTPONED)
SHAKESPEARE AND THE GLOBE

In March 2017, the most historically accurate re-creation of Shakespeare’s Globe stage in North America made its debut at Hofstra University. While much of the campus was preparing for the start of the spring semester, construction on a historic Hofstra Globe stage and rehearsals for its first production – Hamlet – were underway at the Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.

Hofstra Professor of Drama David Henderson, the director of this project, spent considerable time abroad consulting with the archivists and design staff of Shakespeare’s Globe in London; the result of his efforts, the Hofstra Globe stage, is a working laboratory for students, faculty, and guest artists that has no parallel in the United States. In fall 2020, the Globe will be erected again for the University’s 72nd annual Shakespeare Festival, and an academic symposium has been planned to explore and discuss the Globe and what we have learned since renowned Shakespeare scholar John Cranford Adams designed Hofstra’s first Globe stage reproduction in 1951.

Shakespeare and the Globe

Spring 2020

THE LAWRENCE HERBERT SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

presents

20/20 VISION:
LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD ON THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE – CANCELLED

Wednesday and Thursday, March 25 and 26

No one lives outside of the world of media today. Media studies as a discipline explores communication in the context of an environment saturated with mediated messages, in which critical consumption and production are the hallmarks of modern literacy. This symposium – marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication – highlights the powerful insights media studies provides with regard to major issues of our day, from health care and technology to politics and popular culture.

ReVisioning Media Studies - CANCELLED
Wednesday, March 25, 2020

The keynote address will be given by Joshua Meyrowitz, professor emeritus of communication at the University of New Hampshire, where he received the Lindberg Award for Outstanding Scholar-Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts. He is the author of the award-winning No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior (Oxford University Press), and of multiple journal articles and book chapters on media and society.

Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Meyrowitz

Fall 2019

Friday and Saturday, October 11 and 12
GURU NANAK'S EK-ANEK VISION:
BEYOND RELATIVIST AND PLURAL DIVERSITIES OF THE MUSICAL WORD

International Conference Celebrating Guru Nanak’s 550th Birth Anniversary

The Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies and the Sardarni Harbans Kaur Chair in Sikh Musicology are jointly organizing an international conference: Guru Nanak’s Ek-Anek Vision: Beyond Relativist and Plural Diversities of the Musical Word, to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. This interdisciplinary conference is built around Guru Nanak’s ek-anek (one-many) vision to create a platform in which scholars and performers with expertise in Sufi, Bhakti, and Sikh cultures will gather to explore the pluriversal and inclusive nature of the Gur-Sikh musical and literary heritage.

Join us for performances of Sikh, Bhakti, and Sufi hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib.

Thursday, October 10, 7:30-9 p.m.

Guru Nanak’s Musical Word sung from Sikh Sacred Scripture
A performance by Bhai Baldeep Singh (India)

Friday, October 11, 7:30-9 p.m.

Saint Kabir’s Musical Word sung from Sikh Sacred Scripture
A performance by Prahlad Tipanya (India)

Saturday, October 12, 7-8:30 p.m.

Saint Farid’s Musical Word sung from Sikh Sacred Scripture
A performance by Dhruv Sangari (India)

For more information, please contact Francesca Cassio, professor of music and Sardarni Harbans Kaur chair in Sikh musicology, at 516-463-5533 or francesca.cassio@hofstra.edu.

GURU NANAK'S EK-ANEK VISION

Department of Religion

presents

Friday, November 1, 12:45-6:15 p.m.
The Network Self: Relation, Process, and Personal Identity

This one-day symposium looks at Hofstra Professor Kathleen Wallace’s new book, The Network Self: Relation, Process, and Personal Identity (Routledge, 2019). The book offers a systematic treatment of the notion of the self as constituted by social, cultural, political, and biological relations. Inspired by feminist theories of relational selves and autonomy, and by philosophers working on the nature of persons and personal identity, the book will be of interest to a wide range of disciplines. The event will feature scholars from outside as well as from within the University. Please join us for an afternoon of thought-provoking discussion as we celebrate the work of one of our colleagues.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Hofstra Cultural Center.

Room 145 Mack Student Center

For more information, please email Professor Terry Godlove at terry.f.godlove@hofstra.edu or Professor Anthony Dardis at anthony.b.dardis@hofstra.edu.


Thursday, October 24, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Theodore Roosevelt Legacy Conference on Conservation, Civic Engagement, and Active Lifestyle: “Take Action”

Forums and workshops on Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy of conservation, civic engagement, and active lifestyle will be presented.

Keynote presentations will be given by Michael Cullinane, author of Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost, and Joe Wiegand, Theodore Roosevelt impersonator. Events are open to the public, and will be particularly interesting for educators, middle and high school students, civic activists, conservationists, historical societies, and government officials.

Mack Student Center

Select events are free to Hofstra students, faculty, and staff with current HofstraCard. For more information and to register, visit trlegacypartnership.org.

Theodore Roosevelt Legacy Partnership

SPRING 2019

ONE GIANT LEAP: Apollo 11 @ 50
Tuesday and Wednesday

April 2-3, 2019

The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, marked a watershed moment in human history for science, engineering, and culture – in the United States and around the globe. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of that landmark event, the Hofstra Cultural Center, in partnership with the Cradle of Aviation Museum, presents an interdisciplinary conference, featuring speakers on both the scientific and technological dimensions of the landing on the moon and its cultural and political repercussions, both on Long Island and around the world.

#HofApollo11

  • Dr. Matthew H. Hersch, assistant professor of the history of science, Harvard University; author of Inventing the American Astronaut (2012)
  • Dr. Kimberly Gilmore, senior historian; vice president, Corporate Social Responsibility, the History channel/A+E Networks
  • Mike Stiller, vice president, Development and Programming, at A+E Networks; executive producer of an upcoming Apollo 11 documentary

#HofApollo11

ONE GIANT LEAP: Apollo 11 @ 50

Tuesday, April 2, 6:30 p.m.
SIGNATURE SPEAKER: Mae C. Jemison, MD

Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater, John Cranford Adams Playhouse

Mae C. Jemison

Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m.
SIGNATURE SPEAKER: Dr. Douglas Brinkley

The Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

Douglas Brinkley

Thursday, March 7, at Hofstra University
Friday, March 8, at Columbia University
INTERSECTION OF SPORTS AND WRITING AND CULTURE

Sports media remains the most consumed category of news; however, it has undergone a revolution in recent years. With the advent of streaming – the standby of sports reporting, and the match or game summary – long-form journalism and multimedia features with interpretation have increasingly become valuable. Because the form requires deeper understanding of the social context in which sport operates, academics have become drawn to this type of writing. As sports integrated women, African Americans, Latinx, LGBTQ+ athletes, and individuals with disabilities, the field began to attract scholars from a variety of disciplines. This two-day symposium brings together a diverse group of scholars, journalists, and activists for workshops, public panels, and addresses.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

FALL 2018

Wednesday
October 3, 2018
LONG ISLAND HURRICANES ON THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1938 STORM:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the 1938 "Long Island Express" hurricane, and look ahead to the future, this interdisciplinary symposium proposes to recount the many impactful tropical cyclones that have affected Long Island over the years, assess our current forecasting and hazard communication techniques, and discuss future planning for resilience to these extreme events. We seek participation from a range of experts in broad topic areas, including climatology, meteorology, sustainability, geography, communication, and history.

Louis W. Uccellini

Keynote speaker: 

Dr. Louis W. Uccellini
Assistant Administrator for Weather Services,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
and Director, National Weather Service

call for Papers: Hofstra Cultural Center presents a symposium: LONG ISLAND HURRICANES ON THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1938 STORM: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Thursday
October 18, 2018
Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. Join us as we commemorate the power of the Universal Declaration and its power of ideas to change the world, as it inspires us to continue working to ensure that all people can gain freedom, equality, and dignity.

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt

70 years universal declaration of human rights

Keynote speaker: 

Keynote Speaker:
Blanche Wiesen Cook
Distinguished Professor of History and Women’s Studies
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Conference Schedule


Wednesday
October 24, 2018
NEW NETHERLAND, NEW AMSTERDAM:
A CELEBRATION OF DUTCH HERITAGE AND TRANSATLANTIC EXCHANGE

Hofstra University will mark the 25th anniversary of its oldest international student exchange program with the University of Amsterdam with a symposium, New Netherland, New Amsterdam: A Celebration of Dutch Heritage and Transatlantic Exchange.

Russell Shorto by Keke Keukelaar

The keynote address will be given by bestselling author, historian and journalist Russell Shorto, whose book The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America (2004) has led to a broad reconsideration of the early Dutch colonial period of New York City and State and surrounding areas. Among many other works, he has also written a history of the city of Amsterdam (Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City, 2013), and just published a fascinating new illumination of the period of the American Revolution, called Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom (2017).

The symposium will also feature panels on the student experience in Amsterdam in Holland and at Hofstra in New York; on the organization of life from the 17th century on in Dutch houses and villages in Holland, and in New Netherland and New Amsterdam, with presentations by faculty and staff historians from Amsterdam and Hofstra, and the professional researchers of the New Netherland Institute in Albany, who will also speak about that facility, its resources and ongoing projects to recover the historical record of the early Dutch colonies in the New World. Further, Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, will speak about his family’s roots in the early settlement of New Amsterdam and the social climate of those times. A display from the university’s Special Collections will document in text and image Hofstra’s Dutch heritage. The 25th anniversary of its oldest exchange program is the opportunity for Hofstra to review, renew and broaden its understanding of its own Dutch heritage and identity, and rising profile in national and international contexts.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
 

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
November 7, 8, 9, 2018
ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS AND THE GREAT WAR:
A Hundred Years On

To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War, this interdisciplinary conference proposes to explore the impact of total war on the arts from a transnational perspective, including attention to the Ottoman Empire and colonial territories.

The keynote address will be given by Sarah Cole, Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature and dean of Humanities at Columbia University. A specialist in literary modernism, she is the co-founder of the NYNJ Modernism Seminar. She is the author of two books, At the Violet Hour: Modernism and Violence in England and Ireland (Oxford, Modernist Literature and Culture series, 2012) and Modernism, Male Friendship, and the First World War (Cambridge, 2003), and has published articles in journals such as PMLA, Modernism/modernity, Modernist Cultures, Modern Fiction Studies, and ELH, and in edited collections. She is currently completing a book, forthcoming from Columbia University Press, that reassesses the under-appreciated career of H. G. Wells. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013-14.

ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS AND THE GREAT WAR

SPRING 2018

Tuesday, April 10
SHOOT 4 CHANGE (S4C) CONFERENCE

A celebration of the establishment of the Shoot 4 Change (S4C) New York chapter of the international humanitarian reportage collective, this one-day conference brings together photographers, storytellers, and visionaries committed to raising public awareness and social engagement through the visual media. Sessions will examine photojournalism past and present, and how modern “docujournalists” are using social media to reach audiences in innovative ways that transcend the barriers presented by established media. Also addressed will be a major theme of Shoot 4 Change NY storytelling – namely the refugee and immigrant crises, both domestic and international. Related sessions include how one international NGO has used 360o immersive video to help Italian school children become “connected” to the realities of the refugee crisis, and another that will bring Holocaust survivors face to face with modern-day immigrants to find commonalities of experience that transcend the time between them. Join Antonio Amendola, founder of S4C, and fellow S4C members as we commemorate the resilient spirit of photographers determined to make a difference in the world, one click at a time.


Tuesday, April 17
U.S. FEDERAL POLICY IN THE SUBURBS SYMPOSIUM

For decades, the suburbs have determined the political fortunes of parties and candidates at the state and federal levels. Growing class and racial/ethnic diversity in these suburban battlegrounds is increasingly changing our understandings of the “swing voter” and partisanship. This one-day event will consider the suburban vote in 2016 and 2017, exploring how the suburbs are faring after the first year of the Trump presidency. Are the recent class divides among suburban voters likely to be transient, or do they herald a more enduring realignment? Will “suburban strategies” vary by region? How are majority-minority and new immigrant suburbs positioned within this political landscape?


Wednesday, April 25

HOFSTRA’S DIGITAL RESEARCH CENTER presents
Third Annual Digital Research Exchange (DREx) Symposium

  • 11:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
    Working Spaces as Learning Spaces: Experiential Pedagogy in Digital Humanities
    Julia Flanders is professor of the practice in English, and director of the Digital Scholarship Group at Northeastern University Library will give the keynote address. She has served as chair of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Consortium and as president of the Association for Computers and the Humanities. She has taught a wide range of workshops and courses in digital humanities, and has consulted on numerous digital humanities projects. She directs the Women Writers Project, edits the online journal Digital Humanities Quarterly, and is co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Textual Scholarship. She is currently co-editing a book on data modeling in digital humanities.

    Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
  • 2-4 p.m.
    Panel Discussion
    Following the keynote address, there will be a panel discussion moderated by John Bryant, professor emeritus, Hofstra University. Panelists include Alison Booth and Andrew Stauffer, University of Virginia; Wyn Kelley and Kurt Fendt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Ethna Lay and Adam Sills, Hofstra University.

    Hofstra University Club, David S. Mack Hall, North Campus

For more information and to register, please visit DREx 2018: Digital Education.


SHAKESPEARE AND THE GLOBE 

POSTPONED - Date to be announced.

In March 2017 the most historically accurate re-creation in North America of Shakespeare's Globe stage made its debut not on Broadway or in Los Angeles or La Jolla, but at Hofstra University. While much of the campus was preparing for the start of the spring 2017 semester, construction on a historic Hofstra Globe stage and rehearsals for its first production – Hamlet – were underway at the Toni and Martin Sosnoff Theater at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse and at Emily Lowe Hall. The Hofstra Globe stage is a working laboratory for students, faculty, and guest artists. Hofstra's Associate Professor of Drama David Henderson, the director of this project, is the only college professor and set designer to have spent considerable time abroad, consulting with the archivists and design staff of Shakespeare's Globe in London. In spring 2018 the Globe will be erected again for the University's 69th Annual Shakespeare Festival, and an academic symposium has been planned to explore and discuss the Globe and what we have learned over the past 70 years.

Shakespeare Globe Stage model

FALL 2017

Thursday-Sunday, October 12-15, 2017
2017 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PEER TUTORING IN WRITING

The Hofstra University Writing Center is pleased to host NCPTW 2017, 2017 National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing.

Our invitation to focus on "reaching out" considers the various ways Writing Centers connect with stakeholders on our campuses, in cyberspace, and through research. Our Centers reach out to students we support, tutors we recruit, and faculty and administrators we wish to persuade. The extended theme of "Revising Writing Center Spaces and Identities" further seeks to generate inquiry, conversation, and debate about defining the spaces in which we practice. Our Centers value and revalue the literacies of both tutors and those who visit our spaces, allowing us to consider the reciprocal relationships between the identities of our Centers, our tutors, and the writers we support. Tutor-researchers are at the center of this work, recursively revising their Centers' practices and pedagogy, through the creation of "new knowledge about writing and about tutor research" (Fitzgerald and Ianetta v). #NCPTW2017

 

Thursday and Friday, October 26 and 27, 2017

CULTURE AND IDENTITY CONFIGURATIONS: REFLECTIONS ON THE 21ST CENTURY

The symposium is an exceptional opportunity to bring together diverse perspectives and methodologies that are concerned with revealing and describing the intricacies and contradictions of contemporary identity discourses. An underlying methodological diversity is considered a prime requirement for addressing these complexities and contradictions, as ours is a time of increasing misapprehension among identity groups. Researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines will examine how identity is shaped, articulated and fostered in language, literature, religion, history, the arts, film, sociology, etc. The symposium also invites contributions that examine the role of immigration in forging and transforming contemporary identities.

Keynote Speaker:
Mahmood Mamdani
Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology
Columbia University

Conference Directors:
Alfonso J. García Osuna, PhD 
and Sabine Loucif, PhD
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Conference Schedule
Culture and Identity Configurations: Reflections on the 21st Century

Wednesday, November 1

BRUTAL LIBRARY: A SYMPOSIUM

The Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library building was dedicated in 1967 and is an award-winning example of the brutalist style architecture. Our celebration of the library’s 50th anniversary will set the building in its historical, social and cultural context – generating understanding and appreciation for this iconic but challenging structure. #BrutalLibrary

Peter Chadwick

Peter Chadwick will deliver the keynote lecture and serve as scholar-in-residence for the symposium. He is a London-based art director and graphic designer. He studied at the Chelsea School of Art, then worked at Creation Records, where he designed for chart-topping bands such as Primal Scream and Spiritualized. After setting up his own studio in 1996, Chadwick masterminded campaigns for major artists, including Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim, Cream and Hed Kandi. He runs the popular This Brutal House Twitter account (@BrutalHouse) and is a champion of brutalist architecture the world over. His recent book This Brutal World (Phaidon, 2016) has been described as “a beautifully curated visual manifesto” for brutalism.

BRUTAL LIBRARY: A SYMPOSIUM
View Keynote Address by Peter Chadwick

Wednesday-Saturday, November 1-4

2017 Association of American Editorial Cartoonists Convention: Satire and the City: Political Cartoon & Satire Festival

Join the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists for its 2017 convention – “Satire Fest” – where panel discussions include MAD cartoonists; New Yorker cartoonists; political satire in the Trump era; women who illustrate; the 30th anniversary of the First Amendment SCOTUS decision in Hustler v Falwell; free speech and safe spaces; visiting Middle Eastern and Northern African cartoonists' presentation; the future of political comics with Wiley Miller, creator of the strip Non Sequitur; andan interactive presentation on political cartooning by Kal, acclaimed cartoonist for The Economist and The Baltimore Sun

Select events free to Hofstra students, faculty and staff with current HofstraCard.

For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit editorialcartoonists.com.

2017 Association of American Editorial Cartoonists Convention: Satire and the City: Political Cartoon & Satire Festival

SPRING 2017

February 15, 2017

Social Media: Transforming Communication at Work and in the Public Sphere

Comila Shahani-Denning, Kevin NolandKara AlaimoJeff MorosoffKelly FinchamGary Miller

Social media and technology has shaped the world dramatically over the past few years: how we work, how we socialize, how we advocate and understand the world around us. We will look at social media in recruitment, hiring, performance management, as well as social media and work-family balance/stress, the delivery of news, the formation of public opinion, how we process information and understand issues. (The Kalikow Center event on social media and the Presidential Election will be the following day, Thursday, February, 16.)

View photos from:
Social Media: Transforming Communication at Work and in the Public Sphere
Social Media: Transforming Communication at Work and in the Public Sphere

February 16, 2017

How Has Social Media Influenced the 2016 Race for the White House and Policy Deliberations in 2017?
9:30-11 a.m.
Panel I: How Did Social Media Change the 2016 Presidential Race?

This panel explores how the 2016 presidential candidates utilized social media; the implications of the ability of candidates to bypass the traditional press to communicate with voters directly via social media; how the candidates debated and responded to one another on social media platforms; and the role that social media played in determining the outcome of the election.

Student Center Theater, Mack Student Center

11:10 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
Panel II: How Will the Use of Social Media in the 2016 Presidential
Election Influence Political Deliberation and Policymaking?

This panel considers how social media shapes public deliberation by looking at social media research from the 2016 presidential election and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Student Center Theater, Mack Student Center

View photos from:
How Has Social Media Influenced the 2016 Race for the White House and Policy Deliberations in 2017?
How Has Social Media Transformed Politics and Policy Making in 2016-17?

Perfroming Politics Banner

February 28, 2017

Performing Politics: Embodying Advocacy - Representing Race
12:45-5:15 p.m.

Paul Robeson said, "My art is my weapon." Performance is at the heart of political advocacy. Performances in the streets or on the stage are ways to express political opinions and encourage social change. On February 28, the last day of Black History Month, this symposium focuses on how performance, spoken word, and music have been and continue to be important tools for social change and racial equality, whether as part of the civil rights, women's rights, Black Lives Matter, environmental, LGBTQ+, labor, and other global protest movements.

Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

View photos from:
Performing Politics: Embodying Advocacy - Representing Race
Performing Politics: Embodying Advocacy - Representing Race

Call Mr. Robeson
7 - 8:30 p.m.

Written and performed by Tayo Aluko
With live piano accompianiment by
Hofstra Alumnus Dennis Nelson, Class of 1986

Paul Robeson was a world-famous actor, singer and civil rights campaigner. This roller-coaster journey through Robeson's remarkable life highlights how his pioneering and heroic political activism led many to describe him as the forerunner of the civil rights movement. It features much fiery oratory and some of his famous songs, including a dramatic rendition of "'Ol' Man River."

The Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, South Campus

View photos from:
Call Mr. Robeson

Admission is free, but tickets are required; limit two tickets per person.
Please call the Hofstra Box Office at 516-463-6644, MOnday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3:45 p.m.

Call Mr. Robeson Postcard

March 2 - 10, 2017

Shakespeare Festival - Debut of the Globe Stage

68th Annual Hofstra Shakespeare Festival – Debut of Globe Stage
We are proud to announce a very special all-Shakespeare semester to celebrate of theopening of the new Hofstra Globe Stage. The new Hofstra Globe Stage was researched and designed by David Henderson, associate professor and head of scenic design in the Department of Drama and Dance. This adds an exciting new chapter to Hofstra's long history of Globe scholarship that began with Hofstra President John Cranford Adams in 1945. The festival begins with a full-length production of Hamlet in full Elizabethan dress on the new Globe stage and continues with a one-hour adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), and special performances of Elizabethan works by the Music Department and the Dance Program.

For more information on Shakespeare related events visit Hofstra Shakespeare Festival.

Hofstra New Globe Stage

March 13 - 16, 2017

Creativity Week

(Due to inclement weather this event has been cancelled. Many of the events will be rescheduled. Please Check here for updates.)

Craig Rustici, Department of English and Melissa Connolly, University Relations

This week will feature single session workshops that will encourage students and faculty to engage creatively in the arts and humanities, writing, social sciences, the sciences, business, communication, health, and education. Faculty and students will be encouraged to host creativity workshops in a variety of disciplines. The week will feature interactive performances, displays of creative work, and active learning opportunities.

For more information, visit Creativity Week at Hofstra.

Download PDF


Tuesday, March 28

She's the First: A Symposium on Gender Equality

She's the First (STF), a student club that assists girls in developing countries to attend school, presents a one-day symposium focusing on the equality of genders, with a concentration on girls education. Sessions include a keynote and a viewing of the film He Named Me Malala. Breakout group discussions engage participants on topics intersecting gender with politics, class and social order, and the challenges and opportunities for girls education in less-developed countries. A gender-related panel discussion ends the day. Information on starting or contributing to an STF group will be shared.
Featured keynote speakers are:
Anju Malhotra, Principal Advisor, Gender and Development, UNICEF
Medea Benjamin, Writer, Activist and Co-founder, CODEPINK
Mariana Debbe, Junior Board Member, She’s the First

Presented in collaboration with the Offices of Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion and Student Leadership and Engagement.

Symposium Registration

April 6-7, 2017

Karl Marx's Critique of Political Economy and the Global Crisis Today:
On the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of Capital

Conrad Herold, Department of Economics; Marc Silver, Department of Sociology

Karl Marx was simultaneously one of the founders and one of the most important critics of the modern social sciences. All of the social sciences and humanities today draw widely from his work. At the core of Marx's published work is his analysis of capitalism: Volume one of Capital, published in 1867. At the core of Capital is his labor theory of value, which Marx draws from Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and the whole of classical political economy. This symposium will draw together leading scholars from all over the world who have been applying the Marxian analytical apparatus—including his labor theory of value—to decipher and understand the current global economic and political crisis.

View photos from:
Karl Marx's Critique of Political Economy and the Global Crisis Today:
On the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of Capital
Karl Marx

Thursday-Sunday, June 1-4, 2017

17th Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders,and Sexualities

Difficult Conversations: Thinking and Talking About Women, Genders, and Sexualities Inside and Outside the Academy

Susan Yohn, Department of History

This triennial conference is the world's largest gathering of scholars working in the fields of women's gender and sexuality history. Women's history has undergone enormous shifts since the first Berkshire conference in 1973, recasting dominant historical narratives and pioneering new ideas and methodologies. Fresh ideas about the very category of "women," innovative studies of the body, new analyses of sexuality, and transregional and transnational scholarship have transformed understandings of history. Reviving connections between communities and institutions, historians are increasingly joining forces — inside and outside the academy — with an eye toward affecting social change and social justice. The focus this year is on historical scholarship as a tool for activists and the teaching of history as a vehicle for activism.

For more information and to register, please visit 2017berkshireconference.hofstra.edu.

Berkshire Conference of Women Historians

SUMMER 2016

August 7-9, 2016

Kant Multilateral Colloquium

Terry Godlove, Department of Philosophy

The theme of the meeting is "Kant on Violence, Revolution, and Progress: Historical, Political, and Metaphysical Themes." "Revolution" and "progress" are interpreted broadly, in order to include not only their historical or political meaning, but also Kant's "Copernican Revolution" in metaphysics, science, aesthetics, religion, etc. The Multilateral Colloquium is an annual conference involving approximately forty participants from Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and, more recently, the USA and Russia. This is the first time the meeting will be hosted in the USA.

Kant logo

FALL 2016

September 23, 2016

40th Anniversary of George Sand Association

David Powell, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

One day symposium in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the George Sand Association. The George Sand Association was established at Hofstra University after its first George Sand Conference held in 1976.

There is no fee for attending the Symposium sessions.
The fee of $35 covers the cost of the buffet Lunch, Wine and Cheese Reception and Coffee Breaks.

For more information, please call 516-463-5669.


Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Race and Religion in the Americas: A Critical Spiritualities Symposium

Julie Byrne, Balbinder Bhogal, Ann Burlein, Santiago Slabodsky, John Teehan and Department of Religion

In the Americas in the last five years, a combination of factors have pushed religion and race to the forefront of discussion in media, policy, and scholarship. From events such as the shooting of congregants at Emmanuel AME in South Carolina and new diplomacy in the Americas by President Obama and Pope Francis; from persistent race-and-religion-baiting in the US Republican presidential primaries to movements such Occupy, #BlackLivesMatter, and renewed socialism; from ongoing attempts to close Guantanamo coupled with "War on Terror" drone strikes, the moment is ripe to grapple with issues behind the headlines. At Hofstra, too, initiatives to remedy campus inequalities coincide with the establishment of the Kalikow School, charged to add interdisciplinary scholarship and intellectual inquiry to discussions of policy and social movements. In this symposium on Race and Religion in the Americas, we aim to put the best and deepest of scholarly work in frank conversation (or tension) with the headlines.


October 19, 2016

A Multidisciplinary Middle Eastern and Central Asian Study Day

Aleksandr Naymark, Middle Eastern and Central Asian Program

A symposium where the faculty of Hofstra Middle Eastern and Central Asian program will give brief talks on their current research. The speakers will include: Stefanie Nanes (Political Science), Mario Ruiz (History), Santiago Slabotsky (Jewish Studies), Hussein Rashid (Religious Studies), Ann Feuerbach (Anthropology), Aleksandr Naymark (Art History), Mustafa Masrur (Applied Linguistics). Besides our regular Hofstra faculty we would like to invite two guest speakers: one for contemporary issues and one for the early studies. We also would like to organize Central Asian food tasting at lunch time and a film screening in the evening. The main purpose of the MECA study is to make our student body and the Hofstra community in general of the rich resources for the study of Middle East and Central Asia that we have at Hofstra.


October 20, 2016

On the Edge of Creation and Translation

(Hispanic-American Writers and Scholars on Translation)

Miguel Angel Zapata, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

The launch of this symposium arises from a need and an interest in the study of the art of translation in a university. With 50 million people speaking Spanish in the US, we are constantly conditioned by the ever-present need to resort to translation. Moreover, translation is an undeniable presence and it is inherent in each of the areas of culture, science and all human knowledge would be inconceivable without translation. We start from the premise that translation is a critical and intellectual act that travels from translation to interpretation with respect to different objects of study (e.g., word, music, theater, cinema). With regard to the proposed translation symposium, the most directly involved disciplines are the departments and programs of Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish, French, Italian), Comparative Literature (Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese), English (MFA), Religion, Music, Fine Arts (Film), African Studies, Asian Studies, Journalism, Media Studies & Public Relations, LACS, Medicine, Law, and Linguistics, among others.

Keynote Speaker: Yusef Komunyakaa


October 21-22, 2016 

ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) Conference

Richard PuerzerDavid Rooney and Department of Engineering

Regional conference for engineering educational leaders and faculty and students The Hofstra University School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) hosts the Mid-Atlantic Regional American Society for Engineering Education Conference. Issues of interest to engineering educators will be addressed in conference presentations and workshops over the two days. The keynote speaker is Dr. Joseph Sussman, chief accreditation officer for ABET, the agency that oversees accreditation for engineering programs worldwide.

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center
Advance registration is required.

 
 

November 3, 2016          

Traditions in Transition: Intangible Cultural Heritage in South and Southeast Asia

Timothy Daniels and Patricia Hardwick, Department of Anthropology; Francesca Cassio, Department of Music;

Patricia Welch, Department of Comparative Lit and Language

This symposium will unite scholars from the disciplines of Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, Theater and Asian Studies to explore performance, healing, and sacred traditions of South and Southeast Asia. UNESCO defines intangible Cultural Heritage as "[t]he practices, representations, expressions, knowledge skills- as well as the instruments, objects artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith - that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage". Expressive culture, defined by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, has long been studied by scholars of Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, Religious Studies, Dance, and Theater.

Traditions Flyer

November 10, 2016

Suburban Sustainability, A Symposium

Sandra Garren, Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability

This Symposium will be a one-day event that includes three panel discussions and a buffet lunch with a keynote discussion focused on the political successes and challenges for making our suburbs sustainable.  The day will end with a reception at the Hofstra University Museum which is showcasing an exhibit on how Manhattan connects to suburban Long Island titled Over the River: Transforming Long Island. Speakers will include a range of experts who are working on real-world solutions to sustainability challenges within the realm of environment, economic development, and social equity. During this election year, the symposium will take on greater significance as the suburbs play an important role in the future of our country. 

For the keynote luncheon please RSVP here. Seating is limited to 50 for the luncheon and requires a separate RSVP.

Suburban Sustainability Flyer

SPRING 2016

Wednesday, April 20
Hofstra Cultural Center presents
CAN WE TEACH CREATIVITY? CREATIVITY STUDIES IN 2016

Building upon a keynote address by Joseph G. Astman Distinguished Symposium scholar Dr. Gerard Puccio, department chair and professor, International Center for Studies in Creativity, University at Buffalo, SUNY, this symposium explores the emerging field of creativity studies and some of its core questions: What is creativity? Can it be measured? Can it be taught? What environments cultivate creativity? How can creative thinking enhance the lives of individuals and success of organizations? Through research presentations, workshops and performances, this symposium investigates multiple facets of creativity.

Related Event:
Performance by the New York Neo-Futurists
Wednesday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

With its ever-changing “menu” of plays, Too Much Light … is an attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes — an original concept by Greg Allen and written by the New York Neo-Futurists. The audience is fully part of the act, deciding the order that these plays are performed. The single unifying element of these plays is that they are performed from a perspective of absolute honesty. For more information and to register, please visit Hofstra Creativity Symposium 2016 or contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


Monday, April 4
Hofstra Hillel: The Center for Jewish Life on Campus presents
FROM THE ASHES: THE REBIRTH OF POLISH JEWRY

For centuries Poland represented a vibrant center of Jewish life. This world was destroyed by the Holocaust. Today, Polish Jewry is experiencing an unexpected revival thanks to the work of dedicated members of young pluralistic Jewish communities, as well as non- Jewish allies and the support of the Polish government. There is a major shift occurring in how we understand the history of Polish Jewry. Instead of focusing solely on the destruction, today’s students will understand the full history of this important community. Symposium participants have the opportunity to hear from individuals, educators and scholars working in Poland to overcome all the odds and re-establish Jewish life. In addition to discussions and lectures, there will be films, art presentations, and performances designed to engage participants on different educational levels.

For more information and to register, please call 516-463-6922.


Monday and Tuesday, April 11 and 12
The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication presents
IMMERSIVE MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF NONFICTION
STORYTELLING: VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) HERE

The symposium provides students and faculty with the opportunity to witness and interact with cutting-edge VR technology being used by organizations such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Google and Facebook. Panels include discussions on the practice and ethics involved in teaching and creating VR content; curricular and pedagogical issues involved in teaching VR; technical and ethical challenges confronting VR as it blurs the boundary between dispassionate journalism and empathic advocacy; as well as a sandbox-style, hands-on demonstration of the latest in VR technology and projects. The Long Island Visual Professionals will co-host a recent virtual reality project and the creative team behind it.
 
For more information and to register, please email aashish.kumar@hofstra.edu.


FALL 2015

Wednesday, October 7
IMMERSIVE MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF NONFICTION
STORYTELLING

Explore the frontiers of digital storytelling with leading filmmakers and developers using virtual reality, interactive documentaries, and other emerging forms of video to engage audiences as never before. Panelists from the progressive National Film Board of Canada, Tribeca Film Institute, MIT Open Documentary Lab, and PBS series POV discuss their latest projects. The symposium includes screenings and opportunities for hands-on experiences with next generation media.

Presented by The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication.
For more information and to register, please email aashish.kumar[at]hofstra.edu or carol.t.fletcher[at]hofstra.edu.

 Download PDF

IMMERSIVE MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF NONFICTION

Friday, October 16
PARASITES AND PATHOGENS:
ECOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is altering the geographic range of many parasites and disease-causing organisms, bringing them into contact with new host species and human populations, stressing established ecosystems, and creating new public health challenges. Hofstra University’s STEM Collaboratorium Initiative (HUSCI) hosts a day of talks bringing together epidemiologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and public health experts to discuss how parasites and pathogens are responding to climate change and to consider some major areas of concern. Each session includes a question-and-answer period.

Symposium Directors:
Dr. J Bret Bennington
Chairperson
Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability

Dr. Jason Williams
Professor
Department of Biology

Download PDF

PARASITES AND PATHOGENS

Thursday, October 22
HEALTH EQUITY IN THE CHANGING AMERICAN SUBURBS

The suburbs typically evoke images of safe, healthy spaces to live, work and play, and for many residents these images are a reality. But for many others, this state of well-being is increasingly, and dangerously, elusive. This one-day symposium, co-sponsored by the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University’s Institute for Suburban Health Equity, the Master of Public Health Program, and the Hofstra Cultural Center, features a keynote speaker and interactive panel presentations, including “The Challenges of Aging in Place in the Suburbs”; “Catching the Community: Suburban Health Care Delivery Systems”; “Stress, Stigma and Suburban Mental Health Services”; and “Suburban Substance Abuse: Problems and Promise.”

Symposium Director:
Dr. Martine Hackett
Assistant Professor
Master of Public Health and Community Health Programs


Thursday, November 5
CUBAN POPULAR MUSIC AND ITS DIASPORA

This one-day symposium explores recent trends in Cuban popular music both on the island and abroad. Looking beyond the traditional repertoire best exemplified by the much-praised film Buena Vista Social Club, the event convenes scholars, DJs, and performers to discuss popular genres such as salsa, hip-hop and timba; the sessions examine Cuban music in the context of transnational movements in the Caribbean, the United States and the international scene. The symposium features keynote speaker Dr. Joaquin Borges-Triana, Havana-based scholar and music critic and author of several books about Cuban alternative popular music. As the governments of the United States and Cuba work together to restore diplomatic and economic relations, the symposium looks at the kind of musical and cultural relations that happen alongside, behind, and in spite of politics, and features a dance and music workshop, and a musical performance by the New York-based formation Global Rhythms.

Symposium Director:
Dr. Maria J. Anastasio
Associate Professor
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures


Tuesday, November 10
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

This interdisciplinary symposium explores the rise of human trafficking in global, national and local contexts. Although labor and sex trafficking make up the greatest percentage of human trafficking, it also includes phenomena such as child soldiers, exploitation of refugees, and organ trafficking. Human trafficking affects people of all ages, nationalities, genders, and ethnicities, but has particular consequences for the most vulnerable populations. This daylong symposium examines the economic, political and cultural environments that give rise to and encourage human trafficking. Policies and processes that have been developed to address the widespread problems of human trafficking will be assessed. Leading up to the symposium, a series of films will be shown highlighting various aspects of human trafficking.

Program Schedule

Lunch and Keynote Address With Siddharth Kara
Director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and Adjunct Lecturer John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Author, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery

Pre-Symposium Film Series:

Tuesday, October 6, 4:30 p.m.
The Whistleblower
This film, starring Rachel Weisz, is based on true events surrounding sex trafficking in the former Yugoslavia.

Tuesday, October 13, 4:30 p.m.
Invisible Children
A student documentary about Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a brutal rebel group of abducted child soldiers.

Tuesday, October 20, 4:30 p.m.
The Body Parts Business
A BBC exposé of the international trafficking of body parts focusing on Guatemala, Argentina and Russia.

Tuesday, October 27, 4:30 p.m.
Very Young Girls
This film focuses on the recruitment, manipulation, and exploitation of young American girls in Queens, N.Y., for the purpose of prostitution.

All films above are shown at the Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library.

Symposium Director:
Dr. Linda A. Longmire
Professor
Department of Global Studies and Geography

SPRING 2015

MARCH 24-26

George W. Bush Presidential Conference
The Hofstra Cultural Center's Presidential Conferences bring together scholars from a wide variety of fields, journalists, former government officials, and in some cases, the former U.S. Presidents themselves, to discuss the policies and issues of the various administrations. 

FALL 2014

DECEMBER

Thursday, December 4

Poetry and Visual Arts: Homage to Jorge E. Eielson

Hofstra University will host a one-day symposium honoring the great Peruvian poet/artist Jorge Eduardo Eielson.

One of the most radical voices of Latin American poetry of that century, Eielson was known for his iconoclastic poetry and his quipus, today considered precursors of conceptual art. The symposium is in collaboration with the Americas Society and The Italian Cultural Institute of New York.

OCTOBER

Bioethics Center Symposium

SEPTEMBER 18-20

Association of Asian Studies:
Asia Transforming: Old Values and New Presences

The Hofstra Cultural Center, in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Association for Asian Studies (MAR-AAS) and the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS), will host an international conference that reflects on the theme Asia Transforming: Old Values and New Presences to further our understanding of how ongoing economic, social and political transformations have challenged present day perceptions of Asian cultural identities.

SPRING 2014

APRIL 10-12

Soccer as the Beautiful Game: Football's Artistry, Identity and Politics
An international conference — in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil — exploring the historical, social, political, economic, cultural and humanitarian aspects of the world’s most popular sport.

March 27-28

LGBT Conference
Foucault 2014: Beyond Sexuality

Michel Foucault is one of the foremost and most widely read French philosophers of the 20th century. 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of his death and the publication of the final two volumes of his profoundly influential History of Sexuality. This year's LGBT conference offers a significant opportunity to revisit Foucault's work, his influence, his legacy, and the future of Foucauldian studies.

FALL 2013

November 7-8

From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Election of Barack Obama and the Death of Trayvon Martin

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. As Americans commemorate these anniversaries, we contemplate how far the nation has come in its quest to become a more equal society.

October 24-25

Digital Thinking/Critical Thinking: Building the Humanities at Hofstra

This two-day conference focuses on how to create a Digital Research Center at Hofstra that will enable faculty and students to develop digital solutions to critical and cultural problems. Keynote speakers include: Valerie Barr, Professor of Computer Science and Director of Interdisciplinary Programs, Union College; Wyn Kelley, Senior Lecturer in Literature, MIT; and Kurt Fendt, Principal Research Associate in Comparative Media Studies and Executive Director of HyperStudio – Digital Humanities at MIT.

Panels will explore strategies for interactive and collaborative research, integrating scholarship and pedagogy through online digital tools, and the DRC's proposed scholarly websites. Workshops will acquaint participants with the Annotation Studio (annotation), Locast (mapping), and TextLab (editing revision).

Program Schedule

Wednesday, October 16, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
MAURICE A. DEANE SCHOOL OF LAW
AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
The Gitenstein Institute for Health Law and Policy
as part of the
Garfunkel Wild, P.C. Thought Leadership in Action Speaker Series
presents the

Affordable Healthcare’s Next Act Symposium

The symposium provides a forum in which to exchange ideas about how to best approach the development of new policy initiatives aimed at addressing existing and newly created gaps in health care, in light of the Affordable Care Act’s implementation.

Panel discussions include: Social Justice: The Best Preventative Medicine;
Missing Pieces in the Affordable Care Act “Puzzle”; Implementing National Policy: From Birth to End-of-Life; and Breaking the Bonds of Professional Silos.

Keynote Speaker: Wendell Potter, Senior Analyst, Center for Public Integrity Consumer Liaison, National Association of Insurance Commissioners Senior Fellow on Healthcare, Center for Media and Democracy

For more information, please contact Melissa Kessler at 516-463-7361.

Program Schedule