2022 Presidential Symposium

 

Tuesday, September 20-Thursday, September 22, 2022

The second annual Presidential Symposium, Solutions for a Sustainable Tomorrow will take place this fall during the third week of classes. Over the symposium's three days, faculty and invited guests from all academic areas and disciplines at Hofstra University will explore the University’s role in promoting sustainability both on and off campus. Panel discussions over three days will consider ways to make the Hofstra campus more sustainable, how Hofstra and Long Island can address and adapt to climate change, the role of government regulation in promoting sustainability, how Hofstra can support efforts to meet local housing, community health and mental health needs, and how education can better prepare people for the challenges of the climate crisis in classrooms on campus and in public schools, and through local media.

Before, during, and after the three days of panel discussions, we will also host local sustainability service projects, a hike to explore Long Island’s ecology, a farmer's market, and a "taste of the neighborhood" dinner, all to encourage student and faculty participation in local projects and with local organizations.

ALL SESSIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE LEO A. GUTHART CULTURAL CENTER THEATER, AXINN LIBRARY, SOUTH CAMPUS, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.

 

Solutions for a Sustainable Tomorrow

 

SESSION 1:
NET ZERO CAMPUS: HOW HOFSTRA CAN BECOME CARBON NEUTRAL

Lincoln Bleveans
Executive Director, Sustainability & Energy Management
Stanford University

What would it take to transform Hofstra into a net-zero emissions campus? Find out how Stanford University recently transitioned from a completely fossil fuel-based heating and energy plant to 100% renewable energy.

Moderator:
Dr. E. Christa Farmer, Professor
Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability
Hofstra University

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
11:20 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.  (Virtual)
Watch Repplay
Meeting ID: 939 4873 8444
Passcode: 316298

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY
presents

SESSION 2:
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS: FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENT INITIATIVES

Watch Replay

Sustainability begins at home and there is much that Hofstra can and should be doing to transform our campus into a living model of sustainable practices. This panel will explore Hofstra’s role in promoting sustainable horticulture and urban agriculture and will feature student-generated proposals for future sustainability initiatives on campus. 

Panelists:

  • Mike Runkel, Assistant Director of Grounds, Hofstra University
  • Andrea Millwood, Roosevelt Community Garden/North Shore Land Alliance
  • Robert Gluck, MD, Hofstra School of Nursing

Student presenters from Spring 2022 Intro Sustainability and Intro Food Studies courses

  • Natalie Correa, Camryn Gallagher, Conor Latimer-Ireland – Composting/Food Waste
  • Mala Lall, Deborah Tinnirello – Green Roofs
  • Mali Pedone - multicultural "Foodchella" festival

Moderator:
Dr. J Bret Bennington, Professor and Chair
Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability
School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Hofstra University

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
2:40-4:05 p.m. 
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


DEPARTMENT OF POPULATION HEALTH
and the
SALTZMAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER
present

SESSION 3:
SUSTAINING COMMUNITY HEALTH, SERVICES AND RESEARCH

Watch Replay

This panel will provide a model of the actual and potential role of the university in providing otherwise unavailable services to local community members. The provision of low-cost innovative services by doctoral and masters level trainees taps into the rich resources of the academic community and the need of students for the practical and clinical application of that knowledge. Public health justice concerns of local environmental contamination can be remediated through research and advocacy. The key to sustaining this mutually beneficial exchange is to move off campus and move into partnership with local organizations.  This session will demonstrate how to collaborate with school systems, community-based organizations, social service agencies and local churches to create and maintain sustainable relationships that mutually meet the needs of the university and the local community at large.

Panelists:

  • Michele Marx, Director Reading/Writing Learning Clinic,

Saltzman Community Services Center

  • Teresa Grella-Hillebrand, Director of Counseling and Mental Health Professions Clinic, Salzman Community Services Center
  • Sara Morrison, Senior Parent Advocate, Choice for All
  • Wendy Silverman, Clinic Director, Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic

Moderator:   
Dr. Martine Hackett, Associate Professor and Program Director
Department of Population Health
School of Health Professions and Human Services
Hofstra University

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
4:20-5:45 p.m. 
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

STUART AND NANCY RABINOWITZ HONORS COLLEGE
presents

SESSION 4:
PROJECT BASED LEARNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES

Project-based-learning (PBL) is, quite literally, the oldest strategy used to discover new ways to navigate a world that is alternately hospitable and hostile to human needs.  The invention of agriculture, for example, began with a problem (we're hungry) and through a great deal of trial and error eventually yielded astonishing results.  In this workshop we discuss why PBL is making a comeback and how we can put it to good use in our classrooms with a specific focus on the plans for a new team-taught interdisciplinary Honors College course called: Climate Change Challenges. This workshop will begin with a presentation by Kristin Wobbe, the Director of the Center for Project Based Learning at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Her presentation will be followed by table-top conversations about PBL techniques specially with respect to teaching climate change. 

Discussants will include the faculty scheduled to teach Climate Change Challenges:
Dr. Jase E. Bernhardt, Assistant Professor and Director of Sustainability Studies
Dr. Robert P. Guttmann, Professor of Economics
Uzo N. Osuno, Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science
Dr. Kathleen A. Wallace, Professor of Philosophy

Moderator:   
Dr. Warren G. Frisina, Dean
Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
9:40-11:05 a.m.
246 East Library Wing
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Energy Storage to Energy Systems
Approaches for a Sustainable Energy Future

Watch Replay

Image
Amy Marschilok

AMY MARSCHILOK, PhD
Co-Director, Institute for Electrochemically Stored Energy
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry
Adjunct Faculty, Materials Science and Chemical Engineering
Stony Brook University

Energy Storage Division Manager, Energy Systems Division Manager, and Scientist,
Interdisciplinary Science Department
Brookhaven National Laboratory

There is an urgent national need to develop a more resilient, lower carbon electric grid. However, there are multifaceted challenges to utilities, energy providers, and energy users.  There are both energy storage and energy systems needs to progress towards a cleaner, greener electric grid.  Faster charging electric vehicle batteries are needed to motivate transition away from fossil fuels and increase penetration of electric vehicles.  New chemistry and materials science solutions are needed for large scale energy conversion and storage, with greater consideration for environmental abundance and safety considerations. At the energy systems level, there is great opportunity to integrate solar energy and wind energy into the grid.  However, renewables are by nature intermittent, necessicating new approaches for forecasting and integration of storage.  A multifaceted interdisciplinary science effort is underway to address these challenges at  Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Stony Brook University (SBU).  Progress and opportunities in these areas will be highlighted in this presentation. 

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
1-2:25 p.m.
Student Center Theater
Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center, North Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY
presents

SESSION 5:
SUPERSTORM SANDY: 10 YEARS LATER

Watch Replay

In the fall of 2012, Superstorm Sandy, made landfall on the New Jersey coast and brought unprecedented coastal flooding to New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island. Ten years later it is time to look back and take stock of the lessons we have learned and the actions we have taken (and not taken) to make our coastal communities more resilient and adaptable to future storms.

Panelists include:

  • Dr. Adam H. Sobel, Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, and Author of Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy, Our Changing Climate, and Extreme Weather of the Past and Future
  • Dr. Mary A. Anne Trasciatti, Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University, and Long Beach activist
  • Nelson Vaz, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service New York Office
Image
Storm Surge book cover by Adam Sobel

Moderator:   
Dr. Jase E. Bernhardt, Assistant Professor and
Director of Sustainability Studies
Hofstra University

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
2:40-4:05 p.m. 
Student Center Theater
Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center, North Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


FRED DEMATTEIS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE,
MAURICE A. DEANE SCHOOL OF LAW, AND THE
FRANK G. ZARB SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
present

SESSION 6:
SUSTAINABILITY – SCIENCE, REGULATION, AND COMPLIANCE

RSVP to Attend Watch Online

Nearly a generation ago the Securities and Exchange Commission mandated that public companies make disclosures in required filings of all material climate-related issues.  The regulator simultaneously warned corporate America of the "consequences of pending legislation and regulation."  Earlier this year, the agency expressly proposed that certain companies be compelled to include, among other things, "greenhouse gas" emission levels in their registration statements and annual reports.  Shortly thereafter, the Commission expanded the initiative to include funds and advisers that market themselves as having an environmental focus.  These "ESG" proposals served to both expand investor awareness and polarize positions on obligatory environmental consciousness.

This expert panel shall explore a primary question in an age of dedicated government response:  Does science drive regulation, or vice versa in the new age of blunt government rulemaking, as both main street and Wall Street are being forced to confront green street?  Should containment of environmental pollutants remain in the purview of the States, and does the attention of an additional, mammoth federal agency serve primarily to blur empirical findings?  In turn, the most pressing questions possibly center on the components of effective science-driven regulations to tackle multifaceted issues related to climate change, the authority of a federal agency to re-interpret its mission, and the practical accounting, reporting, and auditing considerations attending such newly required filings.

Panelists:

  • Professor Kathleen Bakarich, PhD, CPA, Frank G. Zarb School of Business
  • Professor J. Scott Colesanti, Esq., Ll.M., Maurice A. Deane School of Law
  • Professor Richard C. Jones, PhD, Frank G. Zarb School of Business
  • Professor Minjeong Suh, PhD, Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science

Moderator:
Dr. Andrew Forman, Associate Professor
Department of Marketing, International Business and Legal Studies
Frank G. Zarb School of Business

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
4:20-5:45 p.m. 
Student Center Theater
Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center, North Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


Related Events:

SUSTAINABILITY FAIR featuring local companies.
12 -2:30 p.m.

TASTE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY BBQ
6-8 p.m.

Both events will take place in Pride Park (behind the Mack Student Center),
North Campus.

DEPARTMENT OF TEACHING, LEARNING, AND TECHNOLOGY
presents

SESSION 7:
CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Watch Replay

A panel of alumni of the School of Education’s leadership and teacher education programs present what their K-12 classrooms are doing to educate the generation who will be most affected by climate change. School teachers, administrators, and School of Education faculty share their theory and practice for engaging students as informed, active citizens as they research and confront current and future effects of this existential threat to humanity, as well as their roles, responsibilities, and rights in addressing the threat.  

Panelists:

  • Mitchell Bickman, Director of K-12 Social Studies, Oceanside
  • Dr. Lorna Lewis, Superintendent of Malverne Public Schools
  • Dr. Robyn Tornabene, Science Teacher, Long Beach High School
  • Brendalon Staton, Hempstead School District
  • Dr. Patricia Geyer, Head of School at Long Island School for the Gifted, and
    Adjunct Professor, Hofstra University

Moderator:   
Dr. Alan Singer,
Professor of Teaching, Learning and Technology, and
Director of Secondary Education Social Studies, Hofstra University
Author of Teaching Climate History (Routledge, 2022) 

Thursday, September 22, 2022
9:40-11:05 a.m. 
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


CENTER FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
presents

SESSION 8:
SUSTAINABLE HOUSING: CAN LONG ISLAND'S HOUSING POLICY SUSTAIN ITS GROWING DIVERSE POPULATION?

Watch Replay

This session will discuss the challenges and obstacles to providing adequate housing on Long Island. Long Island has a long history with segregation and red lining, a history that has left lasting impacts on communities in terms of racial and ethnic composition, design, and income. Governments and not-for-profit organizations work to reverse the harms of housing practices, but face various challenges including questions about whether deconcentrated race, ethnicity, and poverty are necessarily beneficial to the communities these efforts are intended to help.

Dr. Philip Dalton, Director, Hofstra Center for Civic Engagement and Associate Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric (organizer)

Panelists:

  • Waylyn Hobbs III, Mayor, Village of Hempstead
  • Richard Koubek, Secretary of the Huntington Township Housing Coalition,  and
    Chair of the Welfare to Work Commission of Suffolk County
  • George Siberon, Executive Director of the Hempstead Hispanic Civic Association
  • Brandy Watson, President of the Board Hempstead Community Land Trust

Moderator:   
Dr. Christopher W. Niedt, Associate Professor of Applied Social Research, Department of Sociology, and
Academic Director of the National Center for Suburban Studies
Hofstra University

Thursday, September 22, 2022
11:20 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


THE HOFSTRA NORTHWELL SCHOOL OF NURSING AND PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES
presents

SESSION 9:
COMMUNITY EQUITY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW

Watch Replay

It is increasingly recognized that to improve population health, health equity needs to become a priority and measures to reduce disparities must be integrated into health, academic services and training programs. Training public health providers, physicians, nurses and other allied health workers to address the social determinants of health is one of the key principles for promoting more equitable health outcomes for patients, families and communities. This moderated round table will describe how to create community equity locally and globally in premedical education and healthcare and sustain these initiatives.

Panelists:
Deborah A. Riccardi, DNP, Assistant Professor of Nursing & Ideals coordinator, and
Michael Cassara, MD, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Nursing, and
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Science Education
Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies
Shari Jardine, MPH, Northwell Health

Moderator:   
Renee McLeod-Sordjan, DNP, Vice Dean and Professor of Nursing
Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies
Assistant Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Thursday, September 22, 2022
2:40-4:05 p.m. 
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


THE LAWRENCE HERBERT SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
presents

SESSION 10:
COVERING THE CLIMATE CRISIS: LOCAL REPORTING ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN
THE LONG ISLAND ADVOCATE

Watch Replay

Long Island juts 118 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and as such is incredibly vulnerable to the dual perils of sea-level rise and the increased intensity of hurricanes and tropical storms caused by the climate crisis. Through a roundtable discussion, this panel will examine how the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication and its hyperlocal, multimedia online publication, The Long Island Advocate, have covered local threats to the environment, with a focus on climate change

Panelists: 
Scott Brinton, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Herbert School of Communication
Madeline Armstrong, Editor, Long Island Advocate  
Urvi Gandhi, Editor, Long Island Advocate  
Rob Weltner, President, Freeport SPLASH (Stop Polluting Littering and Save Harbors)  
Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Farmingdale 

Moderator:  
Mario Murillo,
Vice Dean and Professor of Radio, Television, Film
Herbert School of Communication 

Thursday, September 22, 2022
4:20-5:45 p.m. 
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

HOFSTRA CULTURAL CENTER
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY
and
HOFSTRA LEADERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND FELLOWSHIP (LEAF) CLUB
present

FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION

Image
Youth v Gov film poster

The film YOUTH v GOV follows the story of American's youth taking on the world’s most powerful government, filling a ground-breaking lawsuit against the U.S. government. They assert it has willful acted over six decades to create the climate crisis, thus endangering their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. The Juliana plaintiffs, represented by the legal non-profit Our Children's Trust, present the diversity of America's youth impacted by the climate crisis. Hailing from across the country, they encompass cultural, economic racial, and geographic diversity, with many from marginalized communities, and their stories are universal. Their diversity speaks not only to the impacts of climate change, but to the inclusion required if we are to build a better, more just future together. If these young people are successful, they will not only make history, they will change the future. 

Facilitators: 
E. Christa Farmer, Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability
Marrakech Cunliffe, Leaders in Environmental Activism and Fellowship (LEAF) Club

Wednesday, September 28, 2022
6:30 p.m.
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, South Campus
Held in collaboration with the second annual Presidential Symposium on Solutions for a Sustainable Tomorrow.

Free and open to the public. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Join us for related activities on and off campus!

Dr. J Bret Bennington, Professor and Chair, Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability, School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, will be the leader of the following activities.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Friday, September 16, 3 p.m.

Sustainability Service Project

  • Meet at 3:00 pm - walk/shuttle to the Hempstead Plains Preserve (app. 1 mile from campus off Charles Lindbergh Blvd)
  • Activity: Collecting seeds from native grasses and wildflowers for the Hempstead Plains Preserve and for ecological restoration at the Hofstra Bird Sanctuary.  

Open to members of the Hofstra community only. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Monday, September 19, 3 p.m.

Sustainability Service Project

  • Meet at 3 p.m. at entrance to Hofstra Bird Sanctuary
  • Activity: Removal of invasive species and seeding of native wildflowers / grasses.

Open to members of the Hofstra community only. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.


STUDENT-FACULTY NATURE WALK

Sunday, September 18, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Exploring the Natural History of Long Island Nature Walk - Caumsett State Park, Lloyd Harbor, NY

  • Meet at 9 a.m. - van/shuttle to Caumsett State Park (app. 25 miles from campus to Lloyd Neck) OR meet at the parking area at Caumsett State Park at 10 a.m.
  • Activity: Hike from parking area to fishing access at the beach – shoreline ecology / geology walk along the beach cliffs - picnic lunch - hike back through woods along the cliff edge. App. 5 miles round trip.
  • Depart Caumsett SP at 2 p.m.

Open to members of the Hofstra community only. RSVP is required. For more information, please visit events.hofstra.edu or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.