Adelphi University to Hold Public Forum on Immigration and Civic Engagement, May 14, 2009

Garden City, NY
April 8, 2009

Michele Wucker

Adelphi University will convene leading experts at a public forum to discuss "Immigration on Long Island: New Directions and Opportunities for Civic Engagement" on Thursday, May 14, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Adelphi's Thomas Dixon Lovely Ballroom in the Ruth S. Harley University Center, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY. The forum will focus on the relationship between current global economic realities and domestic immigration policy challenges, identifying the pressures which lead to migration, as well as host country and community responses to new immigrants, including trends in labor, integration, and citizenship policies and their impact on new immigrant populations. After exploring the ties between international economics and local community concerns, the forum will consider opportunities for civic engagement to address these issues, discuss what lies ahead on immigration, and propose policy options for Nassau and Suffolk. A Q&A session as well as discussion sessions will follow the keynote address and a panel response. Community members, elected officials, service providers, business leaders, scholars, and educators are invited to join a distinguished panel to address the pressing issue. The event, supported by Adelphi’s Center for Social Innovation, is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The keynote address will be delivered by Michele Wucker, executive director of the World Policy Institute, a nonpartisan center for progressive global policy research and thought leadership which publishes a highly respected quarterly magazine, World Policy Journal. She is the author of LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right (Public Affairs 2006/paperback 2007; a Washington Post Book World "Best Nonfiction of 2006" Selection) and Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola (FSG/Hill & Wang, 1999). She is a frequent lecturer at leading universities and a contributor to many United States and international publications on the subjects of global immigration and migrant integration, immigration policy, cross-cultural conflict and conciliation, the politics and economics of globalization, and Latin American politics and economics. In 2007, she received a Guggenheim Fellow for her work on the changing views of citizenship around the globe. She is a graduate of Rice University and of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
 
Following Ms. Wucker’s talk, a panel of local experts will respond and offer their perspectives.

Panelists:

• The Honorable Edward Romaine, Suffolk County Legislator, 1st District
• Dr. Margaret Gray, assistant professor of political science, Adelphi University
• Mr. David Dyssegaard Kallick, senior fellow, Fiscal Policy Institute

• M. Omar Chaudhry, Esq., Member of the Board, Islamic Center of Long Island

The Center for Social Innovation at Adelphi serves as an incubator of serious study and community dialogue to develop new ways of understanding and addressing critical social issues on Long Island. By sponsoring initiatives in thought leadership, community involvement, and student engagement, the Center provides opportunities for the dissemination and exchange of ideas and opinion and acts as a mediating force to assist communities with problem solving. The Center acts to advance Adelphi University’s mission as an engaged university committed to enhancing quality of life on Long Island.

For more information about this and other events, please visit www.adelphi.edu. To register, please call Sarah Eichberg, director of community research, at 516.877.4418 or email eichberg@adelphi.edu by May 7.

About Adelphi University: Adelphi University, chartered in 1896, was the first institution of higher education for the liberal arts and sciences on Long Island. Through its schools and programs—The College of Arts and Sciences, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Honors College, Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, University College, and the Schools of Business, Nursing, and Social Work—the co-educational university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as professional and educational programs for adults. Adelphi University currently enrolls nearly 8,500 students from 41 states and 63 foreign countries. With its main campus in Garden City and centers in Manhattan, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie, the University maintains a commitment to liberal studies in tandem with rigorous professional preparation and active citizenship.


Media Contact
For additional information, please contact:

Kali Chan Media Relations Director p - 516.877.4040 f - 516.877.3266 e - chan@adelphi.edu