President Susan Poser addresses the Hofstra community on the state of the university address. // Jacob Lewis / The Hofstra Chronicle.
President Susan Poser addressed the Hofstra community on Wednesday, Sept. 28, giving the first of what will be an annual state of the university address. She began the speech by welcoming the new staff that has joined Hofstra, including the new Provost Charles Riordan and three new Board of Trustees members. She also congratulated the 26 new tenured professors this year.
“This was a very exciting year for me, as a new president,” Poser said. “A year of vast learning and a lot of time spent getting to know people and understanding the workings and the culture of Hofstra. After being on the campus for a short time, I realized that we needed to make some immediate investments.”
Poser described some of the changes she has made in her first year presiding over Hofstra University. The first item addressed was the COVID-19 pandemic. Poser became president amidst the school attempting to transition out of different COVID-19 protocols.
To start, she mandated that all students and faculty receive their COVID-19 vaccine and booster and began monitoring COVID-19 cases on campus. The Hofstra Cultural Center brought back in-person programming and most campus events are held in person, including Fall Fest, which took place for the first time following the pandemic in the fall of 2021.
She then spoke about the pandemic’s impact on student retention and financial aid. “After careful review, we decided to alter scholarship renewal criteria from a 3.0 GPA to a 2.8 GPA after the first year,” Poser said. Additionally, financial aid will be increased for students with the most need.
Joshua Garatti, a senior community health major, said that he thinks this change will greatly benefit students. “I feel like a lot of people suffered during the pandemic,” Garatti said.
“I know a few friends who struggled with school by keeping classes online [and] having sick family members at home.”
She then spoke about some of the major accomplishments and projects that were implemented this year. According to Poser, a team of researchers at Hofstra and Nassau Community College won a six-year, $9 billion science grant that will create a program offering STEM education to high-achieving students in low-income communities.
In an attempt to make Hofstra’s campus more sustainable, 38 electric car charging stations have been installed and pollinator gardens have been planted around campus.
Aleyana Boothe, a junior urban ecology major and president of LEAF, Hofstra’s environment and sustainability club, said that although these are steps in the right direction, much more can be done. She believes addressing issues like waste would be more far-reaching, beneficial and accomplishable. “Our biggest issue is waste, so finding ways to mitigate waste, providing more recycling and reusable items on campus [is important],” Boothe said.
In efforts to make Hofstra a more sustainable campus, Boothe hopes that initiatives are more focused on having reusable utensils in dining halls, placing recycling bins in the dorms and educating students about how to recycle on campus.
To conclude the address, Poser spoke about the initiatives and plans she has for the future. Two of the major things she brought up were making Hofstra more accessible and focusing on equity and inclusion.
According to Poser, there are plans for the Guthart Theater stage to be remodeled with wheelchair ramps to be ADA-compliant. Additionally, a study will be conducted investigating accessibility on campus. One of the biggest accessibility barriers that Guratti has said he’s seen on campus is professors’ lack of accommodation for those students with exemptions through Student Access Services. Poser also announced that Hofstra has been given a grant by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. The grant provides universities access to federal funding to improve enrollment, education resources and graduation rates among Hispanic students.
Additionally, all faculty will be required to undergo bias training to ensure that professors are equitable and inclusive. Boothe said that she agrees this is an issue the university must address.
“From my understanding, what Hofstra is trying to move onto next is equity,” Boothe said. “So, there may be a lot of diverse students here, but making sure that all those diverse students are able to have all the same opportunities in order to succeed.”
Poser ended her address by emphasizing the importance of innovation.
“There is so much potential here at Hofstra, not only because of the great strength we have in our faculty, staff and administrators but because of the fundamental innovation that is a part of the history of Hofstra,” she said. “I and my team will do whatever we can to guide and support your leadership and your efforts to create a brilliant future for Hofstra University.”
Boothe said that she believes Poser has enacted a lot of change at Hofstra. However, this change has been initiated by students standing up and speaking out about what they expect from the university.
“The voice of students is very important, and there are individuals who will listen,” Boothe said. “I think it’s important for students to realize that their voice does have an impact.”
