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Intersecting Inequalities: Gender, Climate Change, and Mental Health in a Changing World A panel discussion featuring Thelma Abu, PhD.

Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies, University of Connecticut

Climate change is more than just an environmental crisis but also a social and public health emergency with disproportionate impacts across gender and geography. Through a short presentation, panel discussion, and open dialogue, participants will examine how environmental degradation, extreme weather events, and resource scarcity intensify existing gender inequalities and contribute to psychosocial distress, displacement, livelihood insecurity and wellbeing. The event will foster cross-sector collaboration, highlight innovative research and community-based solutions, and identify pathways for integrating gender-sensitive and mental health–responsive approaches into climate adaptation and policy planning. Panelists: Meshack Achore, PhD, MPH,Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health J. Bret Bennington, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability Hellie R. Decker, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health Ruth Trumble, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Studies & Geography

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center, Department of Population Health and the School of Health Sciences.

FOOD AS MEDICINE MINI CONFERENCE Part of National Public Health Week

Bringing the healthcare & nutrition science communities together to promote health & well-being.

Thursday, April 9, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

9 a.m. Registration & Networking

9:40-11 a.m. Keynote Address: Past, Present, & Future of Food as Medicine Dorella Walters, Chief Program Development Officer, God’s Love We Deliver

Session I Panel: Local Community Food Initiatives

11:20 a.m.12-:45 p.m. Session 2 Roundtable Discussions Participants will rotate through themed tables, stopping to learn about programs and organizations that are using food and nutrition as tools for health and healing across our region. Participation enters you in a raffle for prizes!

1 p.m. Lunch and End of Conference

All sessions take place in the Multipurpose Room, Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center.

Presented by Hofstra University School of Health Sciences and Cornell Cooperative Extension Nassau County and the Hofstra Cultural Center.

Explore more SHS NPHW 2026 Events https://tinyurl.com/423r8avd

Hofstra Cultural Center presents

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series/Spring 2026 New Italian American Writing

Join us for the final lecture in the series with Riccardo Costa, Adjunct Professor of Italian, Hofstra University

Co-author, Butterflies in the Brownstone: The Italians Souls of New York

Tuesday, April 7, 6:30 p.m. Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

Film Screening: Heightened Security

Join us for a screening of Heightened Scrutiny (2025; Sam Feder, director), an award-winning film that follows fearless civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio as he fights a high-stakes legal battle before the Supreme Court to overturn Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth (United States v. Skrmetti). The film confronts not only anti-trans legislation but also a media landscape that distorts public perception and threatens democracy. With the SCOTUS decision upholding the ban on life-saving health care, Heightened Scrutiny is an urgent call to action against bigotry and injustice.

Tuesday, April 7, 1-2:40 p.m. Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor South Campus

Hofstra Cultural Center presents

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series / Spring 2026 New Italian American Writing

Jennifer Romanello, Associate Director, Masters in Publishing Program, Pace University Contributing Author, And There Were Red Geraniums Everywhere Join us for the second reading and discussion in a series of three.

Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m. Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

Fighting the Deportation Machines: Lessons From History

Featuring Adam Goodman, PhD Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Department of Latin American and Latino Studies University of Illinois, Chicago Author, The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants.

As federal agents occupy cities across the country as part of an ongoing mass deportation campaign, people have organized in record numbers to protect themselves and their communities. What's happening today is the latest chapter in a long series of debates about immigration and what it means to be an American.

This talk will trace the troubling history of the US government’s systematic efforts to terrorize and expel immigrants during the past 150 years. It will also explore the innovative strategies people have adopted to fight against the deportation machine and to redefine belonging in ways that transcend citizenship.

Wednesday, March 25, 2:40-4:05 p.m. Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Flour, South Campus