“First and foremost, I thank our generous donors,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Their generosity, and their devotion to Fordham and its mission, have been nothing short of spectacular.

“I must also thank the campaign co-chairs, Jim Buckman, Darlene Jordan and Jack Kehoe, for their remarkable and energetic leadership,” Likewise the University owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to the entire Board of Trustees, chaired by John Tognino, and all of the campaign volunteers. Their wise counsel and tireless efforts have achieved more than we could possibly have hoped for this year,” Father McShane said.

The campaign total for scholarship support is now at 115 percent, and academic support at 101 percent of their respective goals. Alumni participation in the Annual Fund—a key indicator of support for University priorities—continued to increase, reaching 28 percent this year. The campaign total does not include a $1 million gift for scholarships from the Bloomberg Foundation, received on July 1. Before the campaign ends, the University will have to raise another $85 million for unmet needs in endowed professorships and several crucial building projects.

“I think the year we’ve had speaks to tremendous support Fordham’s mission enjoys from its alumni and friends,” said Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president for development and University relations. “We’re gratified at the amount we’ve raised this year, but its impact is more important than the number itself. Our donors care deeply about what we do here, about the students we educate—like Abraham Mercado, Fordham’s eighth Truman Scholar, and Cristina Vignone Fordham’s first Beinecke Scholar. What these numbers mean is that we can educate more students—many of whom could not otherwise afford a Fordham education—in greater depth and with cutting-edge tools and facilities.”

As the campaign total climbs, the University is seeing its tangible results: this year Fordham opened Campbell-Conley-Salice Halls; broke ground on the most ambitious capital project in its history, the first stage of which is a new Law School and undergraduate residence hall; and began the renovation of the future home of the Gabelli School of Business.

“I know the Board of Trustees joins me in congratulating Roger Milici and the entire Development and University Relations team for a year of impressive achievements—our annus mirabilis, if you will,” said Father McShane. “At the same time, we now focus on the year to come, and the work still to be done to achieve the ambitious goals that we have set for ourselves. I have every confidence that the Fordham family is up to the challenge.”

As of May 17, 125 undergraduate and graduate students have won 143 national and international award competitions. Moreover, for the second year in a row, a Fordham junior has won a Truman Scholarship, the most prestigious American award given to undergraduates for graduate study.

Abraham Mercado, an international political economy major, is Fordham’s eighth Truman Scholar and its second from Puerto Rico. He began working with the St. Edmund Campion Institute for Prestigious Fellowships in his sophomore year to prepare his application. The $30,000 federal scholarship is awarded annually to between 60 and 65 college juniors who have demonstrated leadership and a commitment to public service.

“Fordham is blessed with students like Abraham Mercado,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “Yes, he is the beneficiary of a Fordham education. Yes, he had terrific support from the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. Nonetheless, he would be exceptional in any group of students.”

Mercado’s career plans include securing a position of economic leadership within the United States government—first within the treasury department and later as a political and economic policy leader in Puerto Rico.

Siblings Joseph and Cristina Vignone have accomplished significant prestigious scholarship firsts at Fordham.

Joseph, who is graduating from Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) with a double major in theology and history, won the University’s first Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics, last summer. He will formally receive the award at the White House in the coming weeks.

This month, he received Fordham’s first Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship, which covers tuition, room, board and income taxes for graduate work done in the United States, and includes a stipend of $18,000 annually. Joseph will be attending the Harvard University School of Divinity this fall.

Cristina, a rising FCLC senior, recently won Fordham’s first Beinecke Scholarship for graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences, a $34,000 award she plans to use after she graduates in 2012 with a double major in history and anthropology.

Their scholarship and fellowship successes have earned siblings Cristina and Joseph Vignone the unofficial title “Fordham’s First Family in Fellowships.” Photo by Janet Sassi

Their accomplishments have earned the Vignone siblings the well-deserved sobriquet “Fordham’s First Family in Fellowships.”

The commuter students said their complementary academic interests have made for some “interesting conversations from different perspectives” over the years.

Both Vignones, along with a third sibling, Vittoria (FCLC ’09), participated in the honors program.

The University, said the Vignones, has been an incredibly supportive academic community, as well as a great place to learn outside of the classroom.

Fordham’s success in winning science-based prizes this year was particularly noteworthy, according to John Ryle Kezel, Ph.D., director of the Campion Institute. Science awards won by members of the University community include the following:

• Four undergraduate sophomores (rather than the usual two) have been awarded full scholarships from the Clare Boothe Luce Award Program for Women in the Sciences.

• Four graduate students received Luce fellowships in the biological sciences.

• Two juniors in Fordham College at Rose Hill won special Luce scholarships to conduct research.

• Three undergraduates have been awarded eight Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) from the National Science Foundation.

• In addition to the REU, Fordham students received five additional science awards to conduct research at prestigious national universities.

• Four undergraduates were selected by the DAAD RISE award program to conduct science research this summer at German universities.

A recipient of the European Commission’s SMART Fellowship, Matthew Cashman won a DAAD RISE in 2008 and a Morris K. Udall Scholarship in 2009. Photo by Bill Denison

Finally, Matthew Cashman (FCRH ’10), who will graduate in May with a master of science from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, received the European Commission’s SMART (Science for Management of Rivers and Their Tidal Systems) Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Program Fellowship in its first year.

Cashman’s doctoral studies will be centered at the Queen Mary University of London, with his secondary work at the Freie Universität in Berlin. He worked with the Campion Institute to win a DAAD RISE in 2008 and a Morris K. Udall Scholarship in 2009.

Other highlights of the prestigious scholarship roster include the following:

• Nine students won Fulbrights with an additional student named as an alternate.

• Six students received Boren NSEP Awards to study in Europe, Africa and Asia.

• Six students won Gilman Scholarships to study abroad.

• Four students in each competition received U.S. Presidential Management Fellowships, U.S. Department of State internships and Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowships.

• Two undergraduates won a Merage Foundation for the American Dream and a New York City
Urban Fellowship.

As Kezel remarked, “This year, together with Maria Noonan, Mary Shelley and Elizabeth Brown, we have done our very best to follow the goal set by our patron, the English Jesuit martyr St. Edmund Campion, who wrote to one of his students, ‘Meritissima virtutis praemia consectare (Attain the prizes your worth deserves).’”

Senior Staff Writer Janet Sassi contributed to this report.

– Joseph McLaughlin

Abraham Mercado, an international political economy major, is a graduate of Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French and intends to pursue a juris doctorate with a concentration in international law.

Mercado is Fordham’s eighth Truman Scholar and its second from Puerto Rico. He began working with the St. Edmund Campion Institute for Prestigious Fellowships in his sophomore year to prepare his application. The $30,000 federal scholarship is awarded each year to between 60 and 65 college juniors who have demonstrated leadership and a commitment to public service.

“Abe is passionate about economics, politics, international affairs and foreign trade, and displays a sophisticated appreciation of how these issues can impact countless lives in developing countries,” said Maria Noonan, assistant director of the Campion Institute.

His career plans include securing a position of economic leadership within the United States government—first within the treasury department and later as a political and economic policy leader in Puerto Rico.

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“My vocation for public service is the main driving force behind everything I do. It is at the top of my priorities in my plans for the rest of my life,” Mercado said.

He is currently working with a group from Cornell University to establish Progressive Youth International, a non-governmental organization that supports sustainable, community-based development projects and small-business incentives aimed at poverty relief in Latin America.

“Fordham is blessed with students like Abraham Mercado,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “Yes, he is the beneficiary of a Fordham education. Yes, he had terrific support from the Office of Prestigious Fellowships. Nonetheless, he would be exceptional in any group of students.

“In more than just conspicuous achievement, Abe embodies the Fordham ethic: his natural gifts, his considerable energy and his great heart are all offered in the service of others,” Father McShane said.

Even his leisure pursuits are intensive. Mercado has been a racquetball aficionado since he was 14 and was the captain of Puerto Rico’s junior national team during the 2009 junior world championships. He practices three to four hours a day, six days a week, and aspires to join the national team in the coming years.

To prepare for the interview portion of the application, he prepped with Gualberto Rodriguez (FCRH ’95), who also won a Truman for Fordham and graduated from Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, said John Kezel, Ph.D., director of the Campion Institute.

“He invited me to his office and we spoke a lot about interview strategies, what kind of questions they would ask me, how I drafted my policy proposal and how I would defend it,” Mercado said. “After that, we started talking about life, basically, and went out to lunch. We’re very good friends now.”

He learned that he had won the award from Father McShane. The even-keeled Mercado tempered his reaction by reminding himself that he “still had to focus on class.”

Since then, he has let his parents and close friends in on the good news. “My parents congratulated me and told me they were really proud of me,” he said. “They also told me to keep pushing on, to further my commitment to my career and my graduate studies.

“The encouragement that I’ve received from everyone—my parents and friends and everyone at the Campion Institute—has played a huge role. I can’t thank them enough,” he said.

The University also drew a finalist in the 2011 Truman competition. Caitlin Meyer, a junior in Fordham College at Rose Hill, is a political science major from Oakland, Calif., and serves on the executive board of the United Student Government. She is Fordham’s seventh Truman finalist.

This is the second consecutive year that a student from Fordham has won a Truman Scholarship. Joseph Carnevale (FCLC ’11) is using the prize to attend medical school and simultaneously earn a master’s degree in public health.

Truman Scholars are elected by 16 independent selection panels on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of “making a difference,” according to the Truman Foundation.

– Joseph McLaughlin