Answering a call from Pope Francis, Fordham is indeed a place committed to taking “concrete actions in the care of our common home.”

Here are some updates from the first quarter of 2024, from student sustainability interns to “cool” foods to fun community events that make an impact.

Facilities

In January, 11 more undergraduate students joined Fordham’s Office of Facilities Management as sustainability interns to help the University in its efforts to reduce its carbon emissions. They’re working on projects connected to AI-enabled energy systems, non-tree-based substitutes for paper, and composting. The office is still looking for three more students to join; email Vincent Burke at [email protected] for more information.

Dining

Stroll into a dining facility at the Rose Hill or Lincoln Center campus, and you’ll find “Cool Food” dishes such as crispy chicken summer salad, California taco salad, and spicy shrimp and penne. 

The dishes, which are marked by a distinctive green icon at the serving station, have a higher percentage of vegetables, legumes, and grains, which generally have a lower carbon footprint than those with beef, lamb, and dairy. According to the World Resources Institute—which Fordham partnered with on the Cool Food project—more than one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse emissions come from food production.

In March, the University went one step further by signing onto the New York City Mayor’s Office Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge. The pledge commits Fordham and Aramark to reduce our food-supply carbon emissions by a minimum of 25% by the year 2030.

Academics

This semester, a new one-credit, university-wide experiential learning seminar titled Common Home: Introduction to Sustainability and Environmental Justice was taught by faculty and staff from the Gabelli School, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, the Department of Facilities, the Department of Biology, and the Department of Theology. 

Other sustainability-focused courses this semester include the City and Climate Change, the Physics of Climate Change, and You Are What You Eat: the Anthropology of Food (Arts and Sciences); Sustainable Reporting and Sustainable Fashion (Gabelli School of Business); and Energy Law and Climate Change Law and Policy (Law).

Students Take the Lead

At Fordham Law School, the student-run Environmental Law Review hosted a March 14 symposium that considered the impact of artificial intelligence on environmental law. Panels focused on how regulators and litigators can use AI and the challenge of addressing AI-generated climate misinformation.

In January, Fordham Law student Rachel Arone wrote The EPA Rejected Stricter Regulations for Factory Farm Water Pollution: What This Means, Where Things Stand, and What You Can Do for the Environmental Law Review. And the Law School’s student-faculty-staff collective Climate Law Equity Sustainability Initiative held a series of lunchtime discussions about climate change, law, and policy. 

Student groups LC Environmental Club and Fashion for Philanthropy teamed up on March 8 to create reusable tote bags on International Women’s Day. The bags were donated to Womankind, which works with survivors of domestic/sexual violence and trafficking.

The United Student Government Sustainability Committee continues to run the Fordham Flea, a student-run thrift shop that connects students interested in selling old clothes with those looking to buy sustainably. The next flea will take place on April 26 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside of the McShane Center.

Community Engagement

The Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) held an Urban Agriculture and Food Security Roundtable on Feb. 2. The gathering brought together community organizations and leaders from the Bronx to discuss urban agriculture and food security. Attended by Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres, the meeting was also an opportunity for groups to learn about resources available from the USDA and the New York City Mayor’s Office on Urban Agriculture.

CCEL Director of Campus and Community Engagement Surey Miranda-Alarcon served as a panelist at a March 9 climate justice workshop at SOMOS 2024 in Albany, along with Mirtha Colon, GSS ’98, and Murad Awawdeh, PCS ’19.

Faculty News

David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture, and Julie Gafney, Ph.D., director of the Center for Community Engaged Learning, attended “Laudato Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church” conference at the University of San Diego on Feb. 22 and 23.

Marc Conte, Ph.D., professor of economics, and Steve Holler, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, presented their research around air quality, STEM education, and education outcomes on March 11 at the first night of Bronx Appreciation Week, which the Fordham Diversity Action Coalition organized.

Alumni

On March 14, Tara Clerkin, GSAS ’13, director of climate research and innovation at the International Rescue Committee, delivered a lecture at the Rose Hill campus titled “The Epicenter of Crisis: Climate and Conflict Driving Humanitarian Need and Displacement.”

In Case You Missed It

Here are some sustainability-related stories that you may have missed: In January, economics professor Marc Conte published the findings of a study that examined whether people living in areas with more air pollution suffer more from the coronavirus. The Gabelli School of Business partnered with Net Impact, a nonprofit organization for students and professionals interested in using business skills in support of social and environmental causes.  A group of the Gabelli School Ignite Scholars traveled to the Carolina Textile District in Morgantown, North Carolina, to learn the benefits of sustainable and ethical manufacturing.

Upcoming Events

April 12 and 19
Poe Park Clean-up
In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, the Center for Community Engaged Learning is organizing visits to the park, where volunteers can help pull weeds and spread mulch. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., 2640 Grand Concourse, the Bronx. Sign up here.

April 13
Bird Watching in Central Park
Law professor Howard Erichson will lead students on a birdwatching tour of Central Park, where they hope to spot and identify a few of the hundreds of species that pass through Fordham’s backyard on their annual migration routes. Meet at the Law School lobby at 9:30 a.m. Contact [email protected] to reserve a spot.

April 13
Ignatian Day of Service
Students and alumni will meet at the Lincoln Center campus and walk over to nearby Harborview Terrace, where they will build a community garden with residents. Lunch and a conversation about Ignatian leadership will follow. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.

April 15
ASHRAE NY Climate Crisis Meeting
The theme of this meeting of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers is “Challenge Accepted: Tackling the Climate Crisis.” All are welcome.
7 a.m.- 1 p.m., Lincoln Center Campus. Contact Nelida LaBate at [email protected] for more information or register here using code FordhamStudent2024.

We’d Love to Hear From You!

Do you have a sustainability-related event, development, or news item you’d like to share? Contact Patrick Verel at [email protected].

The annual Fordham Founder’s Dinner, held at the Glasshouse, raised $2.5 million for the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, which supports scholarships for 48 Fordham Founder’s Scholars.

The University also paid tribute to this year’s Fordham Founder’s Award recipients: John L. Lumelleau, FCRH ’74, and Loretta Franklin Lumelleau, and Robert “Bob” J. O’Shea, GABELLI ’87, PAR, and Michele K. O’Shea, FCRH ’88, PAR.

With a theme of “Transforming Our World,” the dinner was a cause for multiple celebrations, said Fordham President Tania Tetlow.

“We celebrate the gift of Fordham and all that she has meant to us. We celebrate our beloved community, friendships new and old, the family we have chosen and built together,” she said to the event’s 900 guests.

“And we celebrate the deep joy of giving back. We look at the shining faces of the student scholars here tonight, all dressed up in their finest, full of talent and possibility, full of hope. We celebrate the enormous pleasure we receive from helping them.”

(Watch Tetlow’s speech here.)

A Life Transformed by Generosity

Benjamin Coco, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior majoring in English and physics, spoke on behalf of all the Founder’s Scholars. He told attendees that their support had allowed him to pursue his love for both the sciences and creative writing. That includes writing his debut novel, Johnny Outlaw: The Man With No Past.

“I’m searching for an agent to be published—in case there are any in the audience,” he said to laughs.

Coco said his Founder’s scholarship enabled him to conduct summer research at Notre Dame University. This May, he’ll finish a senior thesis, “Emission Spectroscopy of Red Giant Stars.”

“My mom moved to the U.S. from Grenada when she was 15 and has worked hard ever since, always emphasizing the importance of education,” he said, noting that Fordham’s Jesuit ideals called to him.

“All Founder’s Scholars have had our lives changed by your generosity and have been given the opportunity to thrive to the best of our abilities. From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of this year’s Founder’s Scholars, thank you!”

(Watch Coco’s speech here.)

Lessons from a Daily Commute

The evening also featured a new emcee: Lauren Scala, FCRH ’04.

A four-time Emmy Award-winning television host, reporter, and producer at NBC 4 in New York, Scala joked that her time riding the Ram Van actually helped her career as a traffic anchor for 10 years.

“So whoever saw me in the morning, it was Fordham I have to thank for being able to authentically report on the Cross Bronx Expressway,” she said. “And I still smile when I see a Ram Van in the wild.”

Always Making a Difference

Fordham also changed the life of Founder’s honoree John Lumelleau, a retired president and CEO of the insurance brokerage Lockton Companies who has served on the University’s Board of Trustees since 2018. His wife, Loretta Lumelleau, a graduate of Lehman College, worked in publishing and taught in New York City schools before retiring to raise the couple’s three children.

Over the past decades, they have contributed generously to Fordham as well as a range of other causes that help young people thrive. Their giving has benefited Fordham’s football program and other athletics programs, as well as the Student Emergency Fund.

Lumelleau noted that the family’s ties to Fordham run deep, as his brother Richard, FCRH ’64, sisters Cathleen Marasco, FCRH ’82, and Jeanette Kavanagh, FCRH ’79, and his niece, Elizabeth Casey, FCRH ’98, GSE ’05, attended Fordham.

The excellence and tradition that are the “essence” of Fordham have, in fact, lived in his mind since childhood. His earliest memories of music, he said, were the “The Star Spangled Banner,” “God Bless America,” and Fordham’s fight song “The Ram,” which Richard would lead while his uncle “banged it out on the piano.”

“It feels as if Fordham has always been present, always been making a difference. This evening is a critical part of making sure that it is.”

(Watch Lumelleau’s speech here.)

In a video that was shown during the dinner, Founder’s Scholars shared what scholarships meant to them.

The Value of Giving Back

Bob and Michele O’Shea are co-founding benefactors of the O’Shea Center for Credit Analysis and Investment, which launched at the Gabelli School of Business in 2022.

Bob, who was a member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2012, is a former partner at Goldman Sachs and the current chairman of the global investment firm Silver Point Capital. Michele is the founder of O’Shea Yoga, as well as a professional life coach who leads workshops on personal empowerment for women. Three of the couple’s four children have graduated from Fordham.

The O’Sheas have given to philanthropic organizations in the U.S. and abroad that support education, health, veterans, public safety, and the alleviation of poverty. At Fordham, they have contributed to scholarships, career services, track and field, and other athletics programs.

Bob tied the importance of giving back to his own Fordham story. He attended thanks to a scholarship offered to him by former track and field coach Tom Dewey, who was in attendance, and four seniors on the team made room for “a twerpy freshman” to move onto campus with them.

“Almost all seniors would never even entertain the idea of accepting an incoming freshman as their roommate—talk about being ‘men in the service of these others,’” he said.

“Michele and I have had a blessed life, and to be standing in front of all of you—we are filled with gratitude and love.”

(Watch O’Shea’s speech here.)

Learn more about the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

Guests were treated to a performance by the Fordham University Choir.