Cultural Center

Astman Distinguished Conference Scholars

The Joseph G. Astman Distinguished Conference Scholars

This award was established in 1985 in recognition of the outstanding role of the late founder of the Hofstra Cultural Center, Dr. Joseph G. Astman. Dr. Astman was a humanist, a cultural comparatist, and an international scholar who had the vision to establish the Hofstra Cultural Center as a forum for international scholarly thought.

 

1986  Marilyn French, author
Conference: The World of George Sand

1988  Andrea Bonanome (Italy), medical researcher
Conference: Chocolate: Food of the Gods

1989  Edmund W. Gordon, psychologist
Conference: Minorities in Higher Education

1989  Nicole Pellegrin (France), scholar
Conference: The French Revolution of 1789 and its Impact

1990  Edmond Morris, biographer,
and Sylvia J. Morris, biographer
Conference: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America

1990  Dore Ashton, art historian
Conference: Van Gogh 100

1990  John Cage, composer and artist
Conference: Bamboo and Oak: The Impact of East Asia on American Society  and Culture

1991  Paul Badura-Skoda (Austria), musician, and
Eva Badura-Skoda (Austria), musicologist
Conference: Mozart: 200 Years of Research and Analysis

1991  Charles W. Smithson, banker
Conference: Innovative Financial Instruments and Development in Financial Services

1991  Lucine Amara, opera singer
Conference: Opera and the "Golden West"

1991  John G. Cawelti, scholar
Conference: Detective Fiction and Film

1991  Marc Shell, scholar
Conference: Money: Lure, Lore and Liquidity

1992  Artie Kamiya, scholar
Conference: East Coast Regional Conference on "Games Children Play"

1993  Paul John Eakin, scholar
Conference: First Person Singular: Autobiography Past, Present, and Future

1994  Tovah Feldshuh, actress
Conference: Women in Theatre: On the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Sarah Bernhardt

1994  Martin Bauml Duberman, scholar
Conference: Art, Glitter and Glitz: The Theatre of the 1920s Celebrates American Diversity

1995  Kazuo Sayama (Japan), writer and baseball historian
Conference: Baseball and the “Sultan of Swat”: Commemorating the 100th Birthday of Babe Ruth

1995  Ngȗgiȋ, Thiong’o, novelist and essayist
Conference: Africa 2000

1995  Nicholas Johnson, former commissioner, federal communications commission (FCC)        
Conference: 11th International Interdisciplinary Conference on General Semantics

1996  Seyyed Hossein Nasr, scholar
Conference: Inscription as Art in the World of Islam

1996  Peter A. Quinn, author
Conference: Irish Literatures: Old and New Worlds

1996  Rem Koolhas, founder and principal, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and professor of architecture, Harvard University
Conference: (In)Visible Cities: From the Postmodern Metropolis to the Cities of the Future

1996  Joyce Carol Oates, author and poet, Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, Princeton University
Conference: George Sand: History, Politics and Society: From the First Empire to the Third Republic

1997  Herbert S. Parmet, distinguished professor emeritus,
City University of New York
Conference: The Tenth Presidential Conference: George Bush: Leading in a New World

1997  Edward Peters, scholar
Conference: Pope Innocent III and His World

1997  Mario Lavista (Mexico), composer
Conference: The Hispanic Connection: Spanish and Spanish American Literature in the Arts of the World

1998  Oren Lyons (Iroquois), scholar
Conference: Native American Experience: Long Island, New York and Beyond

1998  Will Friedwald, writer and Frank Sinatra historian
Conference: Frank Sinatra: The Man, The Music, The Legend

1999  Jon C. Teaford, scholar
Conference: Nassau County: From Rural Hinterland to Suburban Metropolis

1999  Michele Luzzati (Italy), scholar
Conference: The Most Ancient of Minorities: History and Culture of the Jews of Italy

1999  David B. Ruderman, scholar
Conference: The Most Ancient of Minorities: History and Culture of the Jews of Italy

1999  Blanche Wiesen Cook, historian
Conference: The Vision of Eleanor Roosevelt: World Citizen Ahead of Her Time

1999  Donald Spoto, author
Conference: Alfred Hitchcock: In Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Alfred Hitchcock

1999  Michael A. Morrison, scholar
Conference: Millennial Shakespeare:
Performance/Text/Scholarship

2000  Peter Riddell, associate editor, The Times (London)
Conference: The Thatcher Years: The Rebirth of Liberty?

2000  Walter Isaacson, managing editor, Time
Symposium: The Leadership Difference: Rating the Presidents

2000  Jackson R. Bryer, scholar
Conference: A Robert Anderson Retrospective: Theater and Film

2000 Carlisle Floyd, composer, Susannah
Conference: Contemporary Opera at the Millennium

2001  Kenneth T. Jackson, scholar
Conference: Redefining Suburban Studies

2001  Bill Michaelis, scholar
Conference: The Child’s Right to Play: A Global Approach

2001  E.L. Doctorow, author
Conference: Moby-Dick 2001: An International Celebration

2001  Richard A. Falk, scholar
Conference: 2001: A Peace Odyssey

2001  George Wein, producer
Symposium: Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong: A Celebration of Jazz

2002  John Seelye, scholar
Conference: John Steinbeck's Americas

2002  Gwen Kirkpatrick, scholar
Symposium: Spanish and Spanish-American Poetry: Transition 2000 and Beyond

2002  Howard Zinn, scholar
Symposium: Representing Sacco and Vanzetti

2002  Ian Thomson, scholar
Conference: “If This Is a Man”: The Life and Legacy of Primo Levi

2002  Gary Giddins, biographer
Conference: Bing! Crosby and American Culture

2003  Robert Kimball, author and historian of musical theatre
Conference: The Broadway Musical: 1920-2020

2003  Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, writer, Equatorial Guinea
Symposium: Beyond the Patria: Exile, Border-Crossing, and Transnationalism in the Spanish-Speaking World

2003  Carl R. Gunther, historian and archivist
Conference: From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Past, Present and Future of an Aviation Industry

2003  George D. Jackson, historian
Conference: St. Petersburg 300th Anniversary: The City as a Cradle of Modern Russia

2004  J. Richard Hackman, scholar
Conference: Applied Organizational Psychology

2004  Edith Grossman, translator
Conference: Don Quixote: The First 400 Years

2005  Robert Fishman, scholar
Conference: New Visions of Suburban Life: An Interdisciplinary Conference

2005  Paul Ryan, scholar
Conference: Youth Employment in the Global Economy

2005  Douglas Brinkley, scholar
Conference: 11th Presidential Conference: William Jefferson Clinton: The "New Democrat" From Hope

2006  Ronald G. Knapp, scholar
Conference: Asian Merchant Cultures at the Crossroads

2006  Anthony Saunders, scholar
Conference: Managing Risk in Financial Institutions: From Theory to Practice

2006  Eric J. Topol, scholar
Conference: Biomedical Research and the Law

2006  Cathy L. Jrade, scholar
Symposium: Rubén Darío: 90 Years Later

2007  Jay Pasachoff, scholar
Conference: Building a Scientifically Literate Population and Workforce for the 21st Century

2007  Harold Koda, scholar
Conference: Defining Culture Through Dress: Individual and Collective Identities

2007  Talal Asad, scholar
Conference: The Politics of Religion-Making

2007  Robert Davi, artist
Symposium: Bond, James Bond: The World of 007

2007  Raymond Benson, scholar
Symposium: Bond, James Bond: The World of 007

2007  Richard Kadison, scholar
Conference: College Student Mental Health:
Psychological, Institutional, and Legal Issues

2007  Jessica Milner Davis, scholar
Conference: At Whom Are We Laughing? Humor in Romance Language Literatures

2008  Alison Stone, scholar
Conference: Philosophy of Luce Irigaray

2008  Doug Hesse, scholar
Conference: “Who Owns Writing?” Revisited

2008  John A. Pojman, scholar
Symposium: Building a Scientifically Literate Population and Workforce for the 21st Century: The Science of Patterns and Colors

2008  Stephen Hart, scholar
Symposium: I Am Going to Speak About Hope: International Poetry Symposium Celebrating the Work of César Vallejo

2008  Jeffrey T. Sammons, scholar
Conference: The Greatest: From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali

2009  William F. McComas, scholar
Conference: Darwin’s Reach: A Celebration of Darwin’s Legacy Across Academic Disciplines

2009  Neal A. Baer, MD, writer and executive producer
Symposium: Media and Social Change: Using Entertainment Education to Improve the Outcomes of Health and Social Issues of Women

2009  Miguel Angel Sikota Ndjoli, audiovisual artist
Conference: Between Three Continents: Rethinking Equatorial Guinea on the 40th Anniversary of its Independence From Spain

2009  Eugenio Nkogo Ondo, philosopher
Conference: Between Three Continents: Rethinking Equatorial Guinea on the 40th Anniversary of its Independence From Spain

2009  Joan Marter, scholar
Symposium: Perle Fine and Early Leaders of Abstract Expressionism

2009  Bernard Neville, scholar
Conference: Jean Gebser: Identity, Civilization and Consciousness

2009  John A. Powell, scholar
Conference: The Diverse Suburb: History, Politics and Prospects

2009  Suzanne Jill Levine, scholar
Conference: Borges and Us: Then and Always

2010  Ritch C. Savin-Williams, scholar
Symposium: Sexual Identities: They Ain’t What They Used to Be!

2010  Peter Zweifel, scholar
Conference: New Directions in American Health Care: Innovations From Home and Abroad

2010  Howard P. Chudacoff, scholar
Symposium: Child’s Play, Children’s Pleasures: Interdisciplinary Explorations

2010  Remo Bodei, scholar
Conference: For a Dangerous Pedogogy: A Manifesto for Italian and Italian American Studies

2010  Francesco Durante, scholar
Conference: For a Dangerous Pedogogy: A Manifesto for Italian and Italian American Studies

2010  Michael Bérubé, scholar
Symposium: The Future of the Liberal Arts in the 21st Century

2010  Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2007-2009)
Symposium: U.S. Presidential Leadership at the United Nations: Evaluating the Past 65 Years and Looking Ahead to 21st-Century Governance

2010  Kevin Smith, scholar
Symposium: KAPOW! From Pulp Fiction to Google Books

2010  Margo Wootan, scholar
Conference: Public Health Challenges and Achievements: 1935-2010

2010  James P. Gee, scholar
Symposium: 75 Years: The Transformation of Public Schools

2010  Sheila W. Wellington, scholar
Conference: Social Responsibility in Business in the 21st Century

2011  Kathleen Hall Jamieson, scholar
Conference: Communication, Technology and Democracy:
Promises, Prophecies and Projections, 1935-2011

2011  Morris Dickstein, scholar
Conference: 1935: The Reality and the Promise

2011  Fritz Stern, scholar
Conference: 1935: The Reality and the Promise

2011  David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Into Sunlight: The Impact of War on the Social Body From the Vietnam Era to the Present

2011  Juan Gonzalez, journalist
Conference: Innovative Communication Within and Across Communities

2011  Stefania Rinaldi, (Italy), Direttrice Laboratorio
“Coro di Voci Bianche” del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli
Conference: Delirious Naples: For a Cultural, Intellectual, and Urban History of the City of the Sun

2011  Angelo Cannavacciuolo (Italy), writer, director, screenwriter, actor
Conference: Delirious Naples: For a Cultural, Intellectual, and Urban History of the City of the Sun

2012  Erik Gunderson, scholar
Symposium: Queer Rhetoric

2012  Chuck E. Morris, III, scholar
Symposium: Queer Rhetoric

2012  Martine Hackett, scholar
Symposium: The Ethical Use of Internet Cloud-Based Apps and Social Media (ICASM) in Healthcare

2012  Bradley H. Crotty, MD, scholar
Symposium: The Ethical Use of Internet Cloud-Based Apps and Social Media (ICASM) in Healthcare

2012  John Thorn, scholar
Conference: The 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets

2012  Edwin Charles, athlete and poet
Conference: The 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets

2012  Donna Gabaccia, scholar
Conference: E Pluribus: What is Italian American?

2013  William Fulton, author
Conference: From the Outside In: Sustainable Futures for Global Cities and Suburbs

2013  Burrell Montz, scholar
Conference: From the Outside In: Sustainable Futures for Global Cities and Suburbs

2013  Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, scholar
Symposium: Impact Investing: From Private Equity to Microfinance

2014  Roderick Ferguson, scholar
Symposium: Michel Foucault 2014: Beyond Sexuality

2014  Ladelle McWhorter, scholar
Symposium: Michel Foucault 2014: Beyond Sexuality

2014  Jennifer Doyle, scholar
Conference: Soccer as the Beautiful Game: Footballs Artistry, Identity, and Politics

2014  David Goldblatt, scholar
Conference: Soccer as the Beautiful Game: Footballs Artistry, Identity, and Politics

2014  Pyong Gap Min, scholar
Association of Asian Studies: Asia Transforming: Old Values and New Presences

2014  Bridget Welsh, scholar
Association of Asian Studies: Asia Transforming: Old Values and New Presences

2015  Peter Baker, former White House correspondent
Conference: The George W. Bush Presidency

2015  Joaquin Borges-Triana, scholar
Symposium: Cuban Popular Music and its Diaspora

2016  Gerard Puccio, scholar
Symposium: Can We Teach Creativity? Creativity Studies in 2016?

2016  Christine Planté, scholar
Symposium: 40th Anniversary of George Sand Association

2017  David Harvey, scholar
Conference: Karl Marx's Critique of Political Economy and the Global Crisis Today: On the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of Capital

2017  Mahmood Mamdani, scholar
Symposium: Culture and Idenity Configurations: Reflections on the 21st Century

2018  Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York City Councilwoman
Symposium: Shoot 4 Change New York, Shoot Local, Change Global Conference

2018  Twyla Tharp, Dance Choreographer
Lecture: Twyla Tharp: The Creative Habit

2018  Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, Director, National Weather Service
Conference: Long Island Hurricanes on the 80th Anniversary of the 1038 Storm: Past, Present, and Future

2018  Dr. Blanche Wiesen Cook, Scholar
Symposium: 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2018  Russell Shorto, Author, Historian, and Journalist
Symposium: New Netherland, New Amsterdam: A Celebration of Dutch Heritage and Transatlantic Exchange

2018  Dr. Sarah Cole, Scholar
Conference: Artistic Expressions and the Great War: A Hundred Years On

2019  Dr. Matthew Hersch, Scholar
Conference: ONE GIANT LEAP: Apollo 11 @ 50

2019  Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Former NASA Astronaut
Conference: ONE GIANT LEAP: Apollo 11 @ 50

2019  Michael Moss, Investigative Journalist and Author
Lecture: Salt, Sugar, Fat

2019  Max Boot, The Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
The 2019 Donald J. Sutherland Lecture: Conservatism in the Age of Trump

2019  Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., Scholar
The Legacy 1619-2019

2019  Ramachandra Guha, Scholar
On the Occasion of International Day of Non-Violence

2019  Dr. Deborah Gray White, Scholar
The Legacy, 1619-2019

2020  Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times Staff Writer and MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow
The Legacy, 1619-2019

2022  Rolando Pérez, Scholar
Symposium: Cesar Vallejo’s Trilce – One Hundred Years later, 1922-2022

2022  Adolph Reed Jr., Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Conference: Anti-Fascism in the 21st Century

2022  Eric Gobetti, Independent Scholar, Turin, Italy
Conference: Anti-Fascism in the 21st Century

2023 Melissa Harris-Perry, Wake Forest University
Conference: 13th Presidential Conference Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

2023 Dr. Kathleen Creel, Asst. Professor of Philosophy & Computer Science, Northeastern University
Presidential Symposium: Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Friend or Foe?

2024 Isabel Wilkerson, American Journalist and Author, Signature Speaker