Spotlight: Linda Longmire

How do you begin to describe a woman who has changed the lives of hundreds? Linda Longmire is a professor in the Global Studies department at Hofstra University. She is largely involved in peace research, active in such organizations as Long Island Alliance for Peace Alternatives and International Peace Research Association at the UN. And, of course, she is the pioneer of the European Odyssey program, a 10 week road trip around Europe that happens every spring semester.

But Linda Longmire is much more than what she does. Linda is an independent free-spirit; she is one of the strongest, most courageous people I know. These are qualities she inspires in others.

I had the privilege to participate in the European Odyssey both in 2010 and 2011. The first year I went as a freshman. I had spent a semester at Hofstra and hated it—so of course I jumped at the chance to spend a semester on the road in Europe. It took two weeks on the road with Linda, her husband Tim Smith, and the other eleven students for me to decide to stay at Hofstra.

The second year I went as the peer teacher. My experience on that Odyssey was very different from the year before. I was put in a position of responsibility in addition to completing five independent studies, so Linda and I worked quite closely together that semester. The conversations had were among the most enlightening and learned of my life thus far.

Linda’s teaching skills extend far beyond the classroom. The strength and positivity she displays daily transfers to whomever she is around, and it sticks. On the Odyssey, people transform before your very eyes; a large part of that is thanks to Linda.

My time spent with the Odyssey is something I will never forget, a sentiment shared by well over 200 other past Odyssey-participants. While each trip is different, the one thing everyone shares in common is Linda and how she changed each person’s life.