The goal of the event was to help students find internships for the spring and summer and connect them with potential employers for future full-time opportunities. At Fordham, nearly 90% of undergraduates complete at least one internship before graduating.

Fordham News spoke to students and employers about their goals and the connections they made.

Jacqueline Risch, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business majoring in marketing, was interested in connecting with leaders from the beauty and fashion industries.

What did you think of the internship fair?
I thought it was great. It was actually my first in-person career fair because I was a COVID freshman, so I was a little nervous. It was really fun to be able to get out here and see all the tables and excitement. I got some contacts [from L’Oréal and Tapestry, Inc.], dropped my resume off, and I’m going to track some people down on LinkedIn afterward.

Ekin Kara, a recruiter from AlphaSights, an information services company, said the company was trying to build more of a brand presence at Fordham.

Why did you come to the internship fair at Fordham?
From a recruiting perspective, Fordham is actually one of the campuses that we’re trying to build our brand presence in. It was a higher-level strategic decision—our offices are in New York and San Francisco, and with Fordham being such a reputable school in the New York City area, I feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential.

Sean Borsum, a first-year student majoring in environmental studies, said that he was looking for employers that would allow him to work on environmental issues.

What interested you in the Wildlife Conservation Society specifically?
For me, it’s the environment. I personally like the research side, just getting to know more about the world that we live in and also climate change—all of that is pretty important.

Was it helpful to have employers come to campus and meet with you?
It’s amazing. It’s the most valuable thing you can have, not only for your resume, but also just meeting people in the community and for the future. It’s incredible.

Alumnus Raymond Moya, PCS ’18, a volunteer and community outreach associate at South Bronx United, said he wanted to use the fair to grow the nonprofit’s partnership with Fordham.

Can you tell us a bit about South Bronx United and the internships available?
We’re a sports-based youth development organization and we use soccer as a tool for social change. We help young athletes with career mentorship and career development. We also do a lot of community work, and on top of that we offer immigration and social services to student-athletes and their families and the overall community. We have education internships, communication internships, nonprofit development internships, and community outreach internships.

Benjamin Sano, a first-year student at the Gabelli School of Business majoring in finance, said he enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet with employers.

Why did you choose to connect with South Bronx United?
In Ground Floor [a first-year business course], we have to choose a Bronx company to research. So I went over there to further my knowledge of their company and maybe look to intern next year.

What was it like talking to employers?
It was very interesting. This is my first time doing 30-second pitches and things like that. I don’t like going out of my way to speak to people, I get nervous. But they’re here for us. I was thinking about it as a chance to get my name out there, and hopefully I’ll get an internship my first year. That would be awesome.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity. Additional reporting by Franco Giacomarra.

“Today we celebrate the glorious variety of religious traditions in this world and the variety within each of those traditions—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity, which only begin to scratch the surface of the faith traditions across the globe,” said Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham, at the ceremony. “And we pay attention both to the ways that they celebrate such diversity … where they overlap, and the insights that humanity has gotten from the sacred about who we are supposed to be to each other.” 

The event featured prayers, readings, student performances, and reflections from members of the University community, similar to last year’s inaugural ceremony hosted by Campus Ministry. 

In her remarks, President Tetlow asked the audience “to remember that our lives have a purpose, that the gifts God has blessed each of us with are not for us, but to make the world a better place.” In addition, she urged all those in attendance to hold onto a key takeaway from the religions of the world. 

“The lessons that I hope that you most take from all of our religious traditions, from faith itself, is this: that you are utterly and totally loved by God, just as you are, without ever having to earn it,” she said. “And that from that strength, you will take the courage to be able to love each other well—and most of all, to find the strength to love yourself.” 

“They get the summer to actually focus on their research, instead of having classes or jobs or other things going on,” explained Christopher Aubin, Ph.D., Fordham College at Rose Hill faculty director for undergraduate research. “And they get to interact with other students outside of their disciplines, in a way where they’re watching each other generate knowledge.”

Students in the program worked closely with faculty to pursue topics that they find interesting.

“Everyone was very very helpful, and there were workshops if you didn’t know what you were doing, or if you needed help,” said Diana Paradise, a rising junior who worked on a psychology research project this summer. “It was a really great experience. I wouldn’t have been able to find what I found or learn what I learned without this program.”

Maura B. Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, attended the presentations, and spoke to the students on day two.

“This program is amazing. I’m so excited that you all get to learn from each other and that we get to learn from you,” Mast said. “And I’m really grateful for [our donors’]  support. We are able to fund this because we get amazing support from our alumni; they’re the ones who gave the money so that you could have this incredible experience.”

Hear from four of our summer scholars in in this video series, including the video below:

“I didn’t have too much gear—it was all in the laundry,” said Mehta, who graduated from the Gabelli School of Business in May.

He texted his friends: “What if we just went shirtless and just painted our chests for this game?”

They were immediately in.

“I got the text at like 11:30 the night before the game,” his friend John O’Friel, FCRH ’23, said with a smile. “And I was like, ‘Bet.’”

The Shirtless Herd

The pair recruited other friends and the group painted their chests to spell out R-A-M-S. The Shirtless Herd was born, and the Rams upset Saint Louis, the top team in the A-10 conference at that time.

O’Friel said the group grew over time, adding members and changing up their lettering.

“People were like, ‘Oh, this is cool, let’s do this,’” O’Friel said. “And that’s how we got ‘Bronx Built’ going, and ‘Urgonomics’—we started getting longer words, because more people want to be a part of it.”

The group caught the eye of Coach Keith Urgo.

“How about Rose Thrill, man!” Urgo said in the postgame press conference, using the nickname he coined for the loud atmosphere that the Shirtless Herd and other fans brought to the Rose Hill Gym. “The last couple of games, they have no idea how intense that atmosphere really is…we gotta continue that. We need that. It makes a world of difference.”

Social Media and Word of Mouth

The Shirtless Herd was just one part of a much-talked-about student fan section that came to life in 2023 as the men’s basketball team reached heights not seen for 30 years. Students packed the gym, creating a standing-room-only, loud, competitive atmosphere that caught the attention not only of Urgo but also the media.

In addition to the Herd, there were Instagram pages created that helped publicize the games and related events, such as @thehillfordham run by Sam Jones, a rising junior in the Gabelli School of Business.

“I thought, ‘maybe if we started an Instagram page, we could get a core group of people that went to every single game,’” he said.

Jones talked about the account with people in the community, including David Greco, the owner of Mike’s Deli on Arthur Avenue, which is a sponsor of Fordham athletics. Greco put him in touch with a few athletics staff members who were also working on increasing turnout.

“It just merged beautifully—we worked together throughout this semester to put on events [like pre- and post-game meetups] and and push the times of the games and push people to get there,” he said.

The main draw, of course, was the team’s performance. The men’s team finished third in the conference—after preseason polls projected them to finish last—and reached the semifinals of the A-10 tournament

While Urgo made sure his players were ready on the court, he also emphasized the importance of building a culture off the court, with slogans like “It’s a great day to be a Ram” and shoutouts to the fans for their support. Urgo and the players said it was a big part of why the Rams won their final six home games and went 18-2 overall at home.

Jones said being a part of this fan culture was “an absolute dream.”

“It changes your college experience—just to be walking around campus and hear, ‘oh, are you going to the basketball game?’” he said. “I loved it.”

Subway Chants on the Ride to Barclays

Mehta said that the credit really goes to Urgo for fostering the environment.

“He’s built a great culture here,” Mehta said. “He has a relationship with the students, with the fans. They’ve done a great job feeding off the energy and encouraging students to come back.”

And that energy expanded beyond students. When the team played in the A-10 tournament at the Barclays Center, Fordham fans, including students, alumni, and parents, packed the arena.

“It was great—on the subway on the way to the games, you had ‘let’s go Fordham!’ chants ringing throughout the cars,” Mehta said.

Keeping It Going

While many members of the fan section graduated, they hope that the tradition will be carried on. Jones, who is a junior, said that the plan is to build on this past year’s success and use it for other sports.

Jones said one of the most special things about Fordham is “how much of a family it really is.” That’s why he encourages students, particularly first-year students, to attend the games.

“Those are the events that you’re really going to remember—going to all the basketball games and yelling your heart out and standing the entire time in the fan section,” he said. “You’re meeting all these new people and you have all these friends and you see them at the next basketball game—it just creates such a strong culture.”

Visit fordhamsports.com to find the schedules for all teams and athletics events. Students attend for free with a student ID, while others can purchase tickets in advance.

His story is now on display at Quinn Library at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in a new exhibit “Have a Heart: Friendship and Activism of Jesùs Lebròn.” Lebròn donated his papers, artifacts, and more to the Bronx County Historical Society Research Library, where the exhibit was first displayed. It was curated by his friend and fellow activist Brendan Fay, as well as Steven Payne, director of the Bronx County Historical Society, who received his Ph.D. at Fordham in 2019.

Professor Karina Hogan, who helped bring the exhibit to Fordham, saw it first at Bronx Community College and said seeing it and speaking to Lebròn and Fay afterwards had a huge impact on her and the development of her Religion in NYC course.

“It was transformative for me,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh it would be so cool to try to get the exhibit here because it’s so related to what I was teaching in my class.’”

Fighting Against the Defense of Marriage Act

The exhibit tells the story of Lebròn, who was born in the South Bronx, and how his work impacted LGBTQ rights in the U.S. In 1985, he became the manager of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, which was the first to sell LGBTQ-themed books. It was there that he met Fay, who became a friend and fellow activist in fighting for LGBTQ+ rights.

Lebròn got involved locally, starting Gay & Lesbian Advocates for Change, the first group in New York to ask political candidates about their stance on gay marriage. Following the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, Lebròn co-founded an organization called Marriage Equality, which grew to more than 40,000 members across various states, and organized educational and political campaigns. He led all of these efforts despite being diagnosed in 1991 with AIDS, which he’s lived with ever since.

The Civil Marriage Trail

In 2003, Lebròn and Fay started the Civil Marriage Trail Project, which helped LGBTQ couples travel to Canada—and eventually Massachusetts and Connecticut—to marry where it was legal. One of the couples who used the trail was Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer. After Spyer died in 2009, Windsor’s legal efforts for her wife’s estate traveled to the Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor in United States v. Windsor in 2013. That case laid the groundwork for Obergefell v. Hodges two years later which legalized marriage equality.

Local History, National Impact

Hogan said that she hopes the exhibit will help students and community members understand the connections between local history and national impact.

“We owe a lot to these two guys, especially to Jesùs Lebròn, who was this kid who came up out of poverty in the South Bronx,” she said. “They had such a huge impact on American history and nobody even knows about it.”

The exhibit was opened at the Ignatian Q conference and will be on display at the library through the end of June.

The group—a professor, a psychologist, and three students—gathered in a classroom in Duane Library on Feb. 14, where they spoke to members of the Fordham community about how love appears in their professional work.  

Literature on Love

Some of them shared their favorite literature on love. Thomas O’Donnell, Ph.D., associate professor of English and medieval studies, printed out three poems and passed out copies to the audience: a joyful poem written by Comtessa de Dia, a 12th-century French noblewoman; a mournful poem by Umm Khalid, an Arabic poet from the 8th or 9th century; and a funny poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, a 14th-century English poet. 

“[Chaucer] says he is so in love that he feels like a piece of roasted fish in jam sauce,” O’Donnell said, to laughter from the audience. 

Asher Harris, a Ph.D. student in theology, talked about American jazz musician John Coltrane, who expressed love and gratitude to God for saving him from his heroin addiction. The most open expression of this love appeared in his album A Love Supreme, particularly in the song “Psalm,” said Harris, who played a recording for the audience. 

Another scholar, Christopher Supplee, FCRH ’25, a creative writing major, shared a poem he wrote and recited in honor of the event: “A World Without Love.” 

“There are matters that cannot be mended by mortal hands alone,” he said to the audience, reading from his poem. “That only miracles may fix, assuming they still exist.” 

Supplee said that when he was writing his poem, he was inspired by the question “What is love?” 

“It made me want to sit down and think about what love means to me—what are my experiences, what I’ve read, what I’ve been taught from scholars, writers, and entertainment,” Supplee said. “Love can be expressed in many different ways, whether it be through justice, romance, or friendship.” 

Queer Love at Fordham

Other scholars shared their own research on love. Benedict Reilly, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who studies theology, discussed the theme of love from his book Queer Prayer at Fordham. He started the book project two years ago, interviewing LGBTQ+ members of the Fordham community about how they pray. During those conversations, he learned about the connection between prayer and love. One interviewee said that she learned to love herself through prayer. Another interviewee—an asexual and aromantic woman who longed to have a child of her own—spoke about how she found love and comfort through a Hail Mary. 

“I’m sharing all of these with you because I want you to think about different prayers or songs that might be helpful to you all as you fall in love,” Reilly said. 

The final invited speaker, Sarika Persaud, Ph.D., a supervising psychologist in Counseling and Psychological Services who specializes in love and relationships, spoke about what her work has taught her about love. 

“When I’m sitting with a person and helping them heal, I’m not only opening them up to love as a feeling, to feel love again, but to love as who you are—to exist in the world as love,” said Persaud, who added that her Hinduism philosophy informs her work. “All of your desires, whatever relationships you enter into, whatever relationships come your way, whatever challenges come your way, they’re all opportunities … to love more.”

What Love Means to a Jesuit

After each guest spoke, event host and theology professor Brenna Moore invited the audience to reflect on what love means to them. 

Among them was Timothy Perron, S.J., a Jesuit in formation and doctoral student in theology. 

“As somebody who has taken a vow of celibacy, a lot of times, people think, ‘What could that person know about love, especially romantic love?’” Perron said. “But actually, I’ve thought about it a lot.” 

Before he decided to become a priest, he wondered if he could commit to that vow. After much thought, he said he realized that every human has the same needs and desires, but they appear in different ways. 

“I still have a need for close friendship, intimacy, love, and care for others … [but there are]all of these different ways that love could be understood,” Perron said. “If I see somebody who is looking for money or something, I’ll often stop and talk to them or take them to the nearest deli … Just stuff like that, where you feel that love and that connection … intentionally developing close relationships with people, keeping in close touch, calling them—all of those sorts of things, I think, are part of what love means.” 

Lien recently spoke to Fordham News in Pope Auditorium—the same space where she designed a set for a Fordham production more than a decade ago—where she reflected on her career and the semester ahead.  

How did you get into set design? 

I studied architecture as an undergrad. At that time, I didn’t know much about theater, but I was interested in thinking about space in a more conceptual and sculptural way, and then applying that framework to an architectural context that exists in real space with real people. While exploring how architecture can tell a story, I stumbled into set design. 

What is it about set design that you’re passionate about?

Set design is really central to a theater production because it establishes a physical world. You can have this world that is like a laboratory for life. It can be completely surreal or fictional. It’s a way to create really complete worlds that might be something that you haven’t encountered before, something that’s a little strange—something that moves you. 

What’s something about set design that most people don’t know about? 

One of my favorite things about being a set designer is searching for materials that suit a performance’s design objective and intention. What kind of material can create this image or illusion within the needs and confines of a theatrical stage and performance? Most of the time, those materials are not designed for how I’m going to use them, so I get endlessly amused while looking for industrial materials that were made for a different purpose. For example, I might be looking for something that’s shiny but also lightweight, or something that looks like falling ash. One time, I created a huge pile of red sweeping compound for a production of Macbeth, which represented internal organs of the body. I wanted it to be red because, obviously, there are a lot of references to blood in Macbeth! 

What brought you to Fordham? 

I’ve actually worked here before. Sixteen years ago, I designed the set for a production of Top Girls, which was directed by Erica Schmidt. But it was May Adrales, the new head of the Fordham Theatre program, who brought me in as the Denzel Washington Chair. May and I have collaborated together on a number of projects in the past. One day, she emailed me and asked if I would do it, and I thought it sounded amazing. 

What are you most excited about doing here?

Fordham has really well-rounded and solid training in theater. I’ve met alumni who studied directing, design, and production, and everyone is really well-trained and grounded with a solid foundation in theater. I’m excited to challenge the notions of what theater and performance can be and really put design forward in that conversation. It’s something that I think a lot about in my own work, and I’m excited to share that with the Fordham community. 

I just had my first class today, and my students all seem amazing. Most of them are fourth-year students, so they have already been through foundational design training, and I have a good mix of students from different disciplines. I’m excited to have people with a range of experience because what I want to focus on in my class is not so much the nuts and bolts of set design, but the conceptual ideas behind design and how we can push the envelope. I have structured my course to focus on designing for performances through a more architectural lens because that’s my background and how I have approached design. I feel like the key components of thinking about space architecturally, like scale, volume, materials, light, and sequencing of spaces, are all things that you might learn in architecture school, but they’re also totally applicable to theater design. 

For their first project, my students need to find a site on campus and then conceive of a performance that might take place in that site. So I’m also training designers to think about being conceivers of an event, too, and not necessarily responding to a script. I want to treat design as more of a holistic theater-making discipline, as opposed to, here’s where I fit into it.

What professional projects are you working on? 

I just returned yesterday from opening an opera at the San Francisco Opera, which will run for the next few weeks. It’s a new John Adams opera, Antony and Cleopatra, using the Shakespeare play as the libretto, along with a few other sources. Now I’m in the midst of finalizing the design for a new revival of Sweeney Todd on Broadway, which has just been announced. 

How do you feel when you reflect on your life’s work? 

I feel incredibly blessed, lucky, and privileged to have been able to create projects on some of the scales that I have. Every project has a whole different set of circumstances, and therefore a whole new set of things to learn about and research. I’m excited to continue working in the avenues that I have worked in, as well as revisit my architectural roots and branch out into public art projects outside the theater. But mostly, I feel like this chair is such a gift and an opportunity to give back a little bit and to share some of what I’ve learned and encountered on my journey, even though there’s still a lot to learn. 

What advice do you have for the next generation of theater makers? 

What constitutes a performance? Space, event, and spectators, but that can happen anywhere … inside a theater, but also a street. As long as you have some action that’s happening and somebody who’s watching it, it could be defined as a form of theater. But what’s amazing about theater is that anything is possible. The reason that I transitioned from architecture to theater is that in the latter world, you have the magic of illusion. You can do things like figure out how to rig a piece of concrete so that it appears to be floating. So my advice to students is to be tenacious. Pursue the impossible, because in theater, anything is possible. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Gillan Larkin said Gillan lived a “full life” and was beloved by many.

“It may sound like I’m painting a beautiful picture of someone who is gone, or that it’s just his daughter saying it, but everyone who knew him says that he was one in a billion,” said Gillan Larkin.

Born a mere stone’s throw from what would become Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, Gillan was as much of a Fordham Ram as one could meet. He met his beloved wife Paula on campus after she was admitted into the first class of Thomas More College. She was a junior and he was a senior. He graduated in 1967, she graduated in 1968, and they were married in 1969. He would go on to get his Ph.D. at Fordham in 1974 from the Graduate School of Education.

Gillan Larkin described her father as a “positive, upbeat, kind, interested, generous, selfless, and patient person.” Indeed, online and on social media, similar tributes have been pouring in from alumni who were touched by a dean that many have described as a consummate gentleman.

Juan D. Y. Gutierrez, PCS ’15, recalled bringing his son to a New York Giants game with tickets donated by Gillan to a FordhamVets raffle. Once at the stadium, Gillan was there to greet them and watch the game together.

“It was the first-ever football game my son and I watched in person. Thank you, Mr. Gillan,” Gutierrez wrote on the University’s Facebook wall.

Throughout his time at Fordham, Gillan had a knack for taking on growth opportunities. He served at PCS when the school was still referred to as the School of General Studies and Continuing Education. He lobbied to change the name to Ignatius College, to honor St. Ignatius, a non-traditional student. There, he inspired non-raditional students to continue with their studies like the school’s namesake.

“I was just thinking of him about a month ago and how much he helped me during my time at Fordham,” Lennette Octaviani, PCS ’07, wrote on Facebook. “He was my dean when I was in what used to be Ignatius College. He was truly a great man and I couldn’t thank him enough for all his help. I was able to graduate because of him.”

Gillan’s efforts in Westchester helped further the mission and visibility of the University’s Westchester campus north of the city, said Grant Grastorf, Ed.D., the academic operations administrator there.

“As an alumnus and former dean, he strongly believed in a liberal arts education,” said Grastorf. “Many former students frequently stopped by to visit him and he was often writing recommendations to graduate school and jobs.  He encouraged me to get my doctorate as well.  He wanted everyone to succeed.”

His daughter recalled that Gillan was constantly going to a variety of business association breakfasts throughout the county.

“He waved the Fordham flag in Westchester with business people and let them know that Fordham was a presence,” she said. “He was not a morning person, and the business people always have 8 a.m. breakfasts, but he’d go to all kinds of things like that.”

Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., the former dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Services, is a Westchester resident who co-founded the FordhamVets Initiative with Gillan.

Today, the initiative has evolved into the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services and has two full-time employees. Matthew Butler, PCS ‘16, directs the office. Butler noted that Fordham was one of the early adopters of the Yellow Ribbon Program (an education benefit offered specifically to eligible veterans and dependents under the Post-9/11 GI Bill) before the red tape between higher education and the Veterans Administration had yet to be untangled.

“The VA is one of the largest bureaucracies there is, so somebody needed to take a leadership position, to put their arms around the complexity of making sure that the benefits were working for the veterans and for Fordham, so that they could concentrate on their studies and not worry about if the paperwork was done properly,” Butler said of Gillan’s role in navigating the complex process. Since the Yellow Ribbon program was adopted in 2009, more than 1,000 veterans have graduated from the University, Butler said.

Gillan also helped the University understand what would be needed to support veterans to make the transition to higher education and integrate on campus.

“The program opened the door to folks like myself to go back to school, who would’ve never been able to afford to come to Fordham or New York City,” said Butler. “But Mike was also aware that we needed to make sure that the veterans felt like complete members of the community. You know, that’s something. That’s a legacy that I continue to build on to make sure that our veterans have all the rights and privileges as full members of the community.”

Vaughan recalled that he and Gillan came up with the idea for the initiative after Gillan had been talking to officials in the state capital about veterans’ education and Vaughan had just returned from a conference held by the VA in Washington, D.C., on the same subject.

“It was almost simultaneously that we said we have to talk about this, and we did, and then we met with someone he knew from the Department of Veterans Affairs with the state, and then we met of course with the then-provost [Stephen Freeman, Ph.D.], then Father McShane, who said, ‘Go ahead.’ And then, as they say, the rest was history.”

Vaughan said over time the two formed a bond over their shared interest in adult learning. He added that Gillan’s efforts helped Fordham build ongoing opportunities for returning students, but he also focused on making sure students got work when they got their degrees. He said the many breakfasts he attended opened opportunities in Westchester business for Fordham graduates. And he made sure that their experience wasn’t merely transactional.

“Separate from an education, because he knew we had a great education, he really wanted our older and nontraditional students to participate in the University in a meaningful way so that their education wasn’t just something that they came and did, but that they really felt that they were a part of Fordham, came back to Fordham, and really let them know that Fordham cared about them. I think Mike carried that forward in ways that were immeasurable.”’

Gillan is survived by his wife Paula, children Kristina Bach and Michelle Larkin, both of Yonkers, as well as grandchildren Reece, Emily, and James. He spent his last few years, as in years past, enjoying the Jersey Shore and cheering on the New York Giants, said Gillan Larkin.

Gillan’s wake was held on May 31 at Westchester Funeral Home in Eastchester, New York, and his funeral Mass was held on June 1 at Annunciation Church in Crestwood, New York.

“She told me about where she came from, what she hoped to do in her life, and her leadership experience,” recalled Watts.

As it turns out, each of those things played a large part in Britton’s Fordham career. On Saturday, in addition to graduating with a bachelor’s in biological sciences, Britton will also graduate with a bachelor’s in African and African American Studies. Next year, she will head off to Boston University in her hometown to get her master of science in medical programming before applying to med school. In her time at Fordham, she played violin in the orchestra; sat on the executive board of ASILI, the Black Student Alliance at Rose Hill; worked at FUEMS, the university’s emergency medical care organization; and served as a resident assistant.

She said two mentors, Dean Watts and Assistant Dean for Seniors Lisa Gill, Ph.D., helped her make it through what was at times a very difficult four years for any student, let alone a woman of color trying to advance in the sciences. Despite her drive, there were moments she didn’t live up to her own expectations.

“Sometimes, not reaching a goal is just part of being a person. You just have to bounce back. You can’t let it take you down,” said Britton.

Dean Gill said that Britton’s resilience is not unlike that of the rest of her classmates who spent only one year on campus after a global pandemic sent them home. And before they came back to campus for their senior year, the country had a nationwide reckoning with racism.

“This was a very untraditional college experience. Many students had to develop skills that they did not necessarily come into university life with. Then to have to come back with the culture shock of being seniors, as opposed to sophomores. They had to develop all kinds of skills in terms of being resilient, being adaptable,” said Gill. “Sydni exemplifies that, and not just strength in a traditional black-woman-are-strong kind of thing. She can see what’s happening around her and not get pulled under by all of the things that are happening.”

Still, Britton admitted was so “terrified” of doing badly that she nearly missed the point of doing science. But Watts helped her see the discipline as one in which mistakes are not just tolerated, they’re encouraged.

“Med schools look very close at the trend of how you do, not just the GPA,” Watts said. “They want a sense that you don’t fold. You don’t give up, you dug deeper, you found a way to identify more resources, you went and asked for help, which is the key.”

Britton said she began to learn how to fail forward.

“Science is a field where imperfection is valuable because getting something wrong also gives you information, so in the end, it’s hard to even make science into something that’s graded in a performance evaluation,” Britton said. “The nature of real science and real research is that failure’s okay, but within academia, it’s not okay.”

She further clarified that for her, and many other students of color, a lower grade is not simply something to feel badly about. For most of them, it’s a marker of the systemic racism that played out well before they stepped foot onto campus.

“The reality is that Black students disproportionately come from underperforming high schools,” she said, adding that most students from underperforming high schools do not have sufficient courses that bring them up to what’s expected at the college level. “[And] Fordham’s biology department is significantly more challenging than the average university science program.”

For her African and African American Studies thesis, Britton is writing about how the Black male collegiate experience has become commodified for purposes that are not always academic.

She added that over the past four years, the average American teen had begun to look for a more diverse campus experience, making it important for colleges to tout their diversity. But true diversity is not that simple, she said.

“There’s diversity around us all the time, but when you make it a point of selling it is when it becomes racialized,” she said.

“The cultural sentiment around Black students in the classroom is that they are here for a job, the school is giving them a handout, and they’re here to fulfill an image of diversity,” she said.  “Every Black person comes to campus with a personal history with, personal relationships, with family backgrounds, so when talking about understanding Black people, it’s not about some monolithic quality that all Black people have. It’s about a monolithic system that Black people are put under that treats them as a singular entity.”

Similarly, if someone were to walk into a room full of white people, she said, they’d say it wasn’t diverse. “But we have no idea who is rich and who is poor. But for most people, when they think diversity, what clicks for them is racial and ethnic diversity.”

True diversity would look beyond the color of a person’s skin and take into consideration their socioeconomic background, education, politics, sexual identity, and much more, she said.

As Britton wraps up her time here at Fordham, she said both her majors utterly changed her perception of identity and race.

“Scientifically we’re all the same. All our bodies operate more or less in the same way,” she said.

She said she had to stop thinking about Blackness has some inherent quality.

“Blackness is constructed by society. But if I want to be a doctor, I need to understand what’s going on there. I have to get out of myself and start recognizing that it’s not because these people are Black that they have certain health issues,” she said. “It’s because they’re being oppressed. It has to do with larger ideas of economic depression, exploitation, and commodification. These are big theories and concepts that were superimposed on Black people for a very long time.”

She said that the University, and Jesuit institutions at large, are in a unique position to change that.

“I’m not saying that religion is a tool, but Jesuit institutions have a guide that goes beyond this world. They have the ability to reflect and meditate, because of their tradition and their discipline, that allows them to actually be able to fix these issues in a way that is lasting and significant. I mean, other universities don’t have that. That’s honestly how I feel. That’s what I believe.”

“Nearly 20-some years ago, Mark had a vision, a plan—some might say a determination—to establish the center at Fordham,” said Connie Curran, who, with her late husband, John Curran, Ph.D., PHA ’66, has been the center’s chief benefactor. “Father Massa set out to put Fordham on the map as a center for Catholic studies, and that is exactly what has happened. …You can’t help but to be proud of the work that has been achieved.”

Curran said that Father Massa laid the groundwork for his successors to make the center one of the nation’s premier centers on Catholic studies that it is today.

To honor his efforts, the University will host Music, Mingling, and Magis with Father Massa on June 2. Proceeds from the benefit will go toward the Mark S. Massa, S.J., Curran Center Magis Fund. And Father Massa will be there, ready to mingle.

For tickets to the event, which includes a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m., register by Thursday, May 19.

Father Massa joined the Fordham University faculty in 1987. He received a distinguished teaching award from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1994 and, seven years later, established The Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at the University. He served as its director until 2010. He was also the first holder of Fordham’s Karl Rahner Chair in Theology.

The center remained a small program with big ambitions—Father Massa once called it “a phone
and a desk on the third floor of Keating Hall”—until the Currans stepped in with an endowment.

Today the center presents programs on arts, culture, and ideas throughout the academic year. Its most recent program examined Billie Holiday’s Catholic background in a lecture and live performance. The center is also an internationally recognized base for Flannery O’Connor studies. Other recent events have focused on liberation and womanist theologies, Irish poetry, Joe Biden’s Catholicism, and Puerto Rican migration.

Father Massa left Fordham in 2010 to become dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, where he is now director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. His influence continues to be felt at the center where he is regarded as a guiding spirit.

“Patrick was a young man, and he was full of promise,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, in a statement emailed to the University. “He was a selfless, reliable member of the behind-the-scenes team that keeps the University running and enables the work of Jesuit education to continue, day by day.”

Howe started working at Fordham as a refrigeration engineer in 2014. He was responsible for installing and repairing heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems at the Lincoln Center campus. But his knowledge of the facilities at Fordham extended beyond his usual job capacities, said his manager, Jedd Applebaum, chief engineer and associate director of facilities operations. Howe was a “jack of all trades” who could run any piece of equipment or building, said Applebaum, and one of the best engineers at Fordham. 

“When I knew he was [here], it made my life 10 times easier. If I had something going on, even my boss would say, ‘Is Pat going to be there?’” Applebaum said. “The first person we would grab was Pat.”

Howe went above and beyond his responsibilities, said Applebaum. 

“He was already an established engineer, but he was going to the next level of trying to learn the programming of our building management system, which is completely another step. He took advantage of online courses [outside of Fordham]  to learn the actual programming,” Applebaum said, noting that he wanted to be able to move up at Fordham.

Howe was not only a hard worker but also a selfless colleague, said Applebaum. During the Christmas season, he signed up for work shifts so that his colleagues with children at home could spend the holidays together, said Applebaum. He was also a smart and confident engineer who taught new employees, but never put on any airs, said Applebaum. And during the height of the pandemic, he always came into work.   

“Fordham lost someone who would be here until he retired. He loved this University,” Applebaum said. “I have a 12-year-old, and I hope he grows up like him.”

Howe was born on September 28, 1981, in Valley Stream, New York. He was raised by his parents, Patrick Howe Sr., a senior service technician who worked for a boiler control company, and Donna Howe, a retired bookkeeper, alongside his younger sister, Mary Levin. As a child, Howe was inquisitive, honest, kind, and funny, said his sister. He loved skateboarding so much that when he accidentally broke his wrist while skating, he continued to skate—and coincidentally broke his other wrist just two weeks later, said his father. 

Howe was not a big fan of school, said his mother. The only book he loved was Fight Club, a 1996 novel that was later turned into an American film, she said. (His favorite quote from Fight Club was “The things you own end up owning you,” she added.) But he was still a curious child who wanted to know everything about the world. 

“He was relentless with his questions. He would ask, ‘Why does it rain?’” his mother recalled. “Everything that he was interested in, he took to the nth degree.” 

Howe matured into a devoted son, brother, uncle, and friend who loved to be surrounded by people, said his family. His two nephews loved to wrestle with him and jump on a trampoline together, and they jokingly called him “Uncle Poopypants,” said his sister. 

His sense of humor translated to every part of his life, said his family. He was an excellent mimic who could retell stories with flawless facial expressions, and he had the ability to make people laugh, said his mother and sister. 

As an adult, he took pride in personal fitness and his tattoos, including a large koi fish on his arm. Howe was also a film buff who loved “dark” and “action-oriented” movies, including the Godfather series and Marvel and DC Universe films, said his family. He recently said that if he hadn’t become an engineer, he would’ve been a movie critic, his mother recalled. “He knew the director, he knew the way it was filmed, he knew what the ambiance was, what they were trying to say,” she said. “He was a lot deeper than most people realized.” 

Howe earned his associate’s degree in liberal arts and sciences and liberal studies from Nassau Community College in 2005. He graduated from the Turner Technical School in 2007, where he became certified in working as a refrigerating system operating engineer. 

Before he joined Fordham, he held several jobs, including a licensed maintainer at the New York Public Library, where he maintained the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. 

“He stayed there for a number of years, and then he went to Fordham, which he absolutely loved. His job was very important to him,” said his mother, adding that he treasured the friendships he made there. 

“He got along with everybody,” his sister said. “He didn’t see skin color or race or ethnicity or religion. He just saw people for people, and he loved everyone—and everyone loved him.” 

Howe is survived by his mother, Donna Howe; father, Patrick Howe Sr.; younger sister, Mary Levin and her partner, David Levin; and two nephews, Dylan and Brayden. A wake will be held on Friday, April 15, at the Lieber Funeral Home located at 266 N. Central Ave., Valley Stream, New York, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.

—Chris Gosier contributed reporting.