The Barack Obama Conference is set to take place from April 19 to April 21. // Photo courtesy of Pete Souza.
Hofstra University is set to host the 13th presidential conference from April 19, to April 21, on Barack Obama’s presidency. The conference is hosted by the 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.
Throughout the conference, there will be concurrent scholarly panels and plenary sessions on significant topics within the Obama presidency such as the passage of the Affordable Care Act, communication to policy making and foreign policy.
On the first day of the conference, a keynote will be given by the Joseph G. Astman Distinguished Conference Scholar: Melissa Harris-Perry, the Maya Angelou presidential chair in the department of politics and international affairs, the department of women and gender studies and the program in environment and sustainability at Wake Forest University.
Additionally, a museum reception will be held at the Hofstra University Museum of Art showcasing the “When We All Stand” exhibition starting at 8 p.m. on April 19.
A call for papers was announced last year and scholars were allowed to submit proposals by Feb. 28, 2022. In the spring 2022 semester, the Hofstra program committee reviewed paper proposals and announced those which were selected, according to the Obama Conference webpage. Papers were due in January. The 42 scholars who submitted papers will discuss their writing during the scholarly panels.
Aside from scholars, journalists and members of Obama’s administration will take part in the panels held during the conference. The former president Obama and first lady have been formally sent a letter of invitation signed by Hofstra University president Susan Poser, but it is unclear whether they will attend the conference.
Planning for the conference began in November 2019 and was originally set for November 2021. However, due to COVID-19, the event had to be pushed back, according to Meena Bose, the conference director, director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency and political science professor.
Students and professors “should really be looking forward to thoughtful instructive assessments of the Obama Presidency that really get into both scholarly analysis complemented by practitioner perspective,” Bose said. “So to bring together scholars and officials who served in the Obama White House to discuss key issues is a unique vantage point, and I think that these should be some very instructive conversations that will contribute a lot to understanding the Obama presidency for scholarly research as well as more for American politics.”
Something that makes the presidential conferences unique is that there are many opportunities for student participation, according to Richard Himelfarb, associate conference director and political science professor.
“When we were planning the George H. W. Bush Conference, we were sitting down and planning this, and somebody said, ‘Why aren’t students involved in this? You’ve got all of these administration officials that come, you’ve got journalists. Where are the students? Students barely are involved in this.’ And the person who is running the conference said ‘You know what? That’s a really good point. We need to incorporate students in these Presidential conferences,’” Himelfarb said.
Bose and Himelfarb will be teaching a special seminar on the Obama presidency in the spring 2023 semester. Bryan Perez, a senior political science major and presidential studies minor, will be taking the class and is looking forward to the Obama Conference.
“I’ve always been passionate about policy, definitely immigration policy is something that I have my main focus on,” Perez said “That’s what my concentration is for my minor and just seeing what journalists have to say, or people who worked in the administration, if I have the opportunity to ask them any questions regarding immigration, you know, DACA [and] fighting for the dreamers during Obama’s presidency.”
Ashish K. Perutara, a second year graduate student earning a master’s in business administration, is also excited for the upcoming conference and stated that his reason for attending Hofstra is because of the presidential debates and conferences.
“It’s not very often that you will have an institution that looks at some of these aspects that are critical to society at large,” Perutara said. “You could be [in] one of the good schools but completely seclude yourself from society. Whereas Hofstra does something that’s relevant to the community at the same time, holds high standards for the academics as well. In fact, that was one of the reasons which helped me shortlist Hofstra.”
