2008FacultyNews Dr. Ostheimer’s Hofstra students, who traveled to Brooklyn to mentor the children. Approximately a dozen children ranging in age from 8 to 12, more than half of them Hispanic and almost half of them girls, signed up for the camp. Many of the children would not have had the opportunity to learn computer skills at this level. Hofstra supported the project by providing and imaging the computers, and Dr. Ostheimer received support for the project from Provost Herman Berliner, HCLAS Dean Bernard Firestone, and Vice President for Information Technology Robert Juckiewicz, whose staff set up the computers.
Darra Pace, associate professor of counseling, research, special education and rehabilitation, is project director on a $13,000 grant awarded by the Amityville Union Free School District in support of the project “2008-2009 Partnership Program.” Irene Plonczak, Blidi Stemn and Roberto Joseph, assistant professors of curriculum and teaching, hosted a digital storytelling workshop on May 1 that brought a fifth-grade class from Queens to the Hofstra campus. The professors and Hofstra students had been using state-of-the-art telecommunications technology to work with the fifth graders prior to their visit. When the youths came to Hofstra, their assignment was to tell a “digital story” with digital cameras provided by the University. The children were given a tour of Hofstra, which started at Professor Plonczak’s garden outside of Hagedorn Hall, where the students planted seeds, identified vegetables and discussed caring for a vegetable garden. Additionally, Professor Plonzcak is project director on a $144,927 grant from the New York State Education Department in support of a Summer Institute for Teachers of Math and Science, Grades 5 to 8. Alan Resnick, the Benjamin Weintraub Distinguished Professor of Bankruptcy Law, presented on “Disclosure Requirements for Members of Ad hoc Committees in Chapter 11 Cases: The Northwest Airlines Decision” at the 41st Annual Uniform Commercial Code Institute on April 18. He gave a presentation titled “An Ethical Odd Couple? Trademarks and Bankruptcy” at the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany, on May 19. Professor Resnick participated in a meeting of the National Bankruptcy Conference in Washington, D.C., in March and served as chair of the Committee on Local Rules of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which drafted proposed amendments to the local rules. In October Professor Resnick was named a New York metro “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics. Jenny A. Roberts, associate professor of speech-languagehearing sciences and Kathleen A. Scott, assistant professor of speech-language-hearing sciences, presented “Language Acquisition of Internationally Adopted Children: What Do We Know?” at the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center Breakfast Seminar on December 5. Dr. Scott’s doctoral dissertation focused on the spoken and written language skills
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of school-age children adopted from China. She has made several presentations and written articles concerning the language development of internationally adopted children. Dr. Roberts became interested in language development of internationally adopted children while working as a speech-language pathologist in the late 1990s. At that time, there was little published research available for determining what might be typical language development in the population of internationally adopted children. In 2000 she began collaborating with colleagues, some of whom had adopted children themselves, and conducted several studies on language development of children adopted from China.
Alex Roskin, associate professor of fine arts, presented a spring on-campus exhibition of sculptural furniture at the Rosenberg Gallery, Calkins Hall. Professor Roskin’s most recent works of sculptural furniture grew out of his reverence for anatomy. The skeletal series that was on display at the Rosenberg Gallery reflected the seemingly simple yet highly complex mechanics of this physical armature. Grant Saff, associate professor of global studies, geography and geographic information systems, presented more than 52 of his photographs in a special exhibition last winter at the Highland Park Library in New Jersey. Kurt Salzinger, professor emeritus of psychology, has been elected president of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA), the nation’s oldest regional psychological association. Dr. Salzinger begins his term by serving as EPA president-elect for a year, then as president for one year beginning June 1, 2009, and as past president for one year starting June 1, 2010. He will preside as president at the 2010 regional conference in Brooklyn, New York.
Jenny Roberts and Kathleen Scott presented “Language Acquisition of Internationally Adopted Children: What Do We Know?” (L to r) Jenny Roberts, Wendy Silverman, Joseph Scardapane and Kathleen Scott.