Kent State University’s Department of Political Science is honored to host speaker Dr. Susan Hoffman, associate professor of political science, Western Michigan University. Hoffman will provide a colloquium on the current mortgage/lending crisis titled “The Federal Home Loan Bank System in U.S. Housing Finance: Lesson Learned, Lessons Lost” from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on April 23 in 204 Kent State Student Center.

Though arcane, the Federal Home Loan Bank System has been a significant public/private actor in U.S. housing finance since the Depression. Hoffman’s talk will begin with an overview of the system, and then focus on policy lessons developed through experience in three areas: mortgage structure, securitizing mortgages and resolving a mortgage meltdown. In what ways were these lessons forgotten or ignored by policy makers, making way for practices that are driving the current housing finance crisis and broader credit freeze? What does recovering these lessons suggest for addressing the current crisis and restoring healthier housing finance and financial markets? Hoffman plans to address these questions.

Hoffman’s research interests lie at the intersection of public policy and public administration in the area of financial institutions. She is author of the book Politics and Banking and several journal articles in Public Administration Review. Prior to her position at Western Michigan University, Hoffmann was a practicing urban planner. She worked for the City of Cleveland as a planner in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood during the Kucinich administration. In addition during George Voinovich’s administration, Hoffman served as manager of the City Planning Commission’s neighborhood planning unit, development team coordinator in the Department of Economic Development and capital budget manager in the Office of Budget and Management. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For more information about the event, e-mail Dr. Jason MacDonald, Kent State assistant professor of political science, at jmacdon1@kent.edu.