By Cara Gargano

Imagine having a small group project involving going to the Russian community Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Imagine having to take notes on the people in the ethnic community talking to each other. Then going to a restaurant and taking notes on the menu and the conversations that the people in the restaurant have.

Dr. Robert Leonard, a Linguistic and Swahili professor at the University, assigned his culture and expression honors class last month a project that involved learning about an ethnic community. This project was part of the culture and expression theme of the self and the other.

“Dr. Leonard is the first teacher that made us go out in the real world,” John Miller, a freshman English major, said. “My classmate R.J. and I went to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn and took notes while observing the Russians.”

The project Leonard assigned affected the students in his culture and expression class.

“The project was the most hands-on project that I’ve had during college,” R.J. Carrey, a freshman video and film major, said. “I learned about other cultures by going to an ethnic community.”

Now a distingushed member of the University’s faculty, Dr. Leonard once lived a “rock n’ roll” lifestyle. While in college, Leonard started a group with his brother George. The band was known as Sha Na Na. According to www.shanana.com, (and yes they have their own website), the name Sha Na Na came from a line in the hit song, “Get a Job” performed by the Silhouettes in 1957. Leonard’s band recreated 50s music while living and singing in the 60s. He was not only a lead singer in the group, but a bassist as well and the band was extremely successful.

“I’m really impressed that he was the bassist of Sha Na Na,” Carrey said.

The band landed him not only albums, but roles on television shows, and even the big screen. His band played at Woodstock, performing with artists such as Janice Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Sha Na Na was the only group at Woodstock without a record deal. However, immediately after their performance on stage, they had one-and as of today the group has released more than 25 albums in total, with worldwide sales of more than 20 million. The band even has an album due out soon which was recorded over 35 years ago at the Festival Express, a Canadian Woodstock which is known as the last greatest hippie performance. The CD was not released sooner due to 30 years of legal problems, but the album which also includes the Grateful Dead, will come out soon.

Sha Na Na also had its own television show. The group filmed 97 episodes of the show that aired from 1977 to 1981.

“My students want to see my videos and I am willing to show them because I am very proud of my work,” Dr. Leonard said.

Leonard and his band were also on the Tonight Show and the Academy-Award winning Woodstock movie. Sha Na Na was also in the hit movie musical, Grease. His band is the one playing during the sock hop, but unfortunately you will not find Dr. Leonard in the movie because he was in Africa at the time.

Dr. Leonard went to Graduate school at Columbia University where he attended classes three out of the five days. He could only take classes three days a week because his weekends were always spent touring. He was not able to make it back to those Monday and Friday classes, so being that he could only take classes three days a week, the picking for classes was slim. However, one of the choices was Swahili, and he chose to take it. After taking the language, he soon fell in love with it and it was the language he continued to study for his doctoral dissertation.

He quit the Rock and Roll life to become a teacher. He felt that he had done it all in music and in the entertainment business so he turned to teaching. After given the opportunity to research overseas, he decided that he wanted to study a certain field. Dr. Leonard wanted to specialize in Swahili, so he spent almost seven years of his life in Africa.

“Africa is a warm, hospitable place with really good people, but it is very different from the United States,” Dr. Leonard said.

In Africa, he stayed with a family that spoke Swahili fluently and to this day he teaches the language that he loves.

Swahili is of Bantu (African) origin and even has some borrowed words from the Arabic language. The word “Swahili” was used by early Arab visitors to the coast and it means “the coast”. Professor Leonard has been a teacher at Hofstra for 15 years and he is one of the most respected and well-liked professors on campus. Even on the infamous RateMyProfessor.com, the site that most professors dread, Dr. Leonard scored a perfect 10. Here at the University, he is a Linguistic and Swahili professor.

“I came to Hofstra because it is very flexible and a good place to be,” Dr. Leonard said.

The University is also one of the three biggest schools that offer the African language; the other schools are New York University and Columbia. And the course has proven to be popular on campus.

“When I started teaching here at Hofstra, Linguistics was only a minor, but now, it’s a major,” Dr. Leonard said.

There is now a Linguistics major at the University and since Swahili has been an overall success, there are two separate classes of Swahili being taught now due to the popular demand.

Dr. Leonard also recently served as Swahili interpreter in the New Jersey Superior Court system. He was told that it took the system months to locate a Swahili interpreter, so Dr. Leonard decided to make things easier for people. He founded SwahiliAfricaLanguageTranslations.com, which apparently is the first agency in the United States to specialize in African languages.

Because of his experience and his teaching abilities, Dean Russell of the Honors College assigned Prof. Leonard for the freshman culture and expression honors class.

“I picked Leonard for culture and expression because of his exuberance in culture and society,” Dean Russell said. “He has deep respect for the learning process and I’m very glad he’s part of the culture and expression team.”

Students and faculty members are impressed with Leonard’s abilities to talk to his students on a personable level.

“Leonard is so down to earth, he talks down onto our level. He talks to us as his peers,” Miller said.

Dean Russell expressed that Leonard impressed him with his uncommon concern and nuture for his students.

“He’ll listen to whatever you say,” Carrey said. “He’s open-minded and wouldn’t shoot down an opinion.”