The Globe Official Newsletter of Hofstra’s Department of Global Studies and Geography FALL 2021 VOL. 3 NO. 1 Chair’s Welcome On behalf of the Department, I welcome you to our Fall 2021 Newsletter. This Fall semester is our first fully in person semester since the Covid shutdown in early March 2020. It has been a very difficult period for our faculty and staff, but most especially for our students. I feel for our graduates who lost their on-campus college experience and whose graduations we were unable to celebrate in person. We are slowly resuming the full functioning of the Department, and I hope that in near future we can get back to having our offices, lounge, GIS labs and seminar room buzzing with students. Since the establishment of the joint Department of Global Studies and Geography in Fall 2008, more than 400 students have graduated with a Global Studies, Geography or GIS major, and 41 students have graduated with Departmental Honors. We have also expanded the number of programs we offer to include four majors and four minors. This is no small feat given that we only have 6 full-time faculty members and no more than 4 adjunct professors. It is particularly gratifying to see the growth of our GIS program, which would not have been possible without the exceptional efforts of Dr. Craig Dalton who has been deservedly promoted to Associate Professor beginning Fall 2021 – congratulations Craig! During lockdown, the faculty and students have continued to be busy and productive. We held many events virtually via Zoom, including graduation ceremonies and the inductions into Mu Kappa our Geographical Honors Society (GTU). A great deal of thanks to our Mu Kappa faculty advisor, Dr. Kari Jensen, for guiding our chapter to receive its sixth Honors Chapter Award, bestowed to fewer than 5% of chapters annually. It is wonderful that our department continually receives recognition for the excellent performance of our Geography majors. I am particularly grateful for all the hard work that the faculty put in to make sure that we continued running smoothly during the lockdown. With the reopening of our main office, we welcome Ms. Allison Finazzo as our own Part-Time Secretary. I want to thank her for the hard work that has made the resurrection of our newsletter possible. I also want to thank Ms. Christine Jutt, the Math Department Secretary, who provided vital assistance for the department over the last year. While I was on sabbatical in Fall 2020, Dr. Zilkia Janer stepped in as Acting Chair. Her dedication and enthusiasm are much appreciated, thank you! Our Newsletter highlights the continuing achievements of our alumni. Thank you for staying in touch with us and helping to mentor our students. Please come visit any time! On our department website you can find the names of our graduates and also can peruse our department honors dissertations. Lastly, I want to thank the American Association of Geographers (AAG) for inserting information about our department into this wonderful short video promoting the advantages of studying geography. Take a look! Wishing everyone a happy and productive remainder of the year! Grant Saff, Professor and Chair 1 The Globe — Fall 2021
Department of Global Studies and Geography: Newsletter Fall 2021
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