It was a new ambience for the Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center: eerie music, wolf howls, ghoulish costumes, giant cobwebs, a hallway-size haunted house, laughter mixed with the occasional frightful yelp.

The one flaw in the spookiness? All that natural light flooding in through the huge windows. “The sun is always shining in, it’s beautiful,” said Gabriel Chavarria, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior passing through the Career Center and Campus Ministry areas.

The Haunted Open House marked a new effort to help fully integrate the McShane Center into University life by enticing students to wander the full length of the second floor, discovering the cavernous hallways and hangout areas along the way—as well as all the offices there to serve them.

The second floor’s Halloween-season transformation highlighted a much larger, permanent transformation of student life brought about by the campus center’s construction, a pillar of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Enhancing the Entire Student Experience

Construction on the campus center has continued since it opened to students last year. Amid the second-floor Halloween hijinks on Oct. 17, crews were working on the first-floor Marketplace renovation that will produce a vastly better dining experience in another nine months or so.

Unfinished as it is, the McShane Center already feels like students’ home. “This is such a huge resource, and I think it’s a real asset to the University,” said Isabella Guariniello, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who found the haunted house to be “a really cool way to interact with the students and the faculty here.”

Commuter student Ryan Nole, a Gabelli School of Business junior, appreciates being able to hang out in the campus center between classes. He’s noticed that it’s brought new visibility to student clubs and organizations and provides a kind of social lubricant—“I know if I want to see someone, they’ll probably be here,” he said while checking out the open house. “It definitely fulfills its role as a community space.”

In fact, with so many students gravitating toward the new student lounge and communal spaces on the first floor, “we wanted another way for students to kind of say, ‘Hey, there’s more parts to the building, there’s a whole bunch of stuff up here,’” said Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion—dressed up for the occasion as “Dr. Acula.”

Students partook of Halloween candy—including the allergy-free kind—and activities like pumpkin painting. All of the second-floor offices got into the act, including Student Services, the Office for Student Involvement, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

‘Cathedral-Like’ Light

To be sure, the new campus center has already been boosting the work of second-floor offices including the Career Center, which gained a new suite equipped with 10 interview rooms, event space, and other amenities, including new capabilities to promote career-related events.

The new suite “has truly elevated our office University-wide,” said Annette McLaughlin, director of the Career Center. The 840 career counseling appointments held from July through September represent a 24 percent increase over the same period last year, she noted.

Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning, or CCEL, now share a roomy, inviting suite with floor-to-ceiling windows providing “cathedral-like” light, in the words of Campus Ministry administrator Carol Gibney. It offers plenty of room for students to study or hang out and unwind, making it more likely that they’ll learn about something they want to get involved in, said Amanda Caputo, FCRH ’23, a program manager with Global Outreach. “Students [have]made this their home, in a way,” she said.

By providing generous, dedicated space for CCEL’s meetings with its New York City partner organizations, the facility “demonstrates the University’s commitment to community engagement and experiential learning,” said the center’s executive director, Julie Gafney, Ph.D.

“It helps to show that this is what we mean when we say we’re a Catholic and Jesuit institution,” she said. “We mean that we create spaces that put our mission work first.”

Learn more about the McShane Campus Center renewal and opportunities to give in support of it.

The first two phases of the campus center renovation are complete. The third phase, which will focus on the Marketplace dining area and other spaces, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Read more about the McShane Campus Center renewal and its impact on students. 

Opened to the community on Aug. 1, the arcade brings together the new campus center—opened in 2022—with the Rose Hill Gym and athletics facilities.

Upon entering the arcade under a new glass canopy, students can now either proceed left into the addition and the original student center, right to enter the gym, or straight to head into the Vincent T. Lombardi Memorial Center, which is home to the indoor track, aquatics center, and intramural and recreational basketball and volleyball courts.

And not only will the new structure make it easier to get around these facilities—it will also offer gathering space of its own. With natural light streaming in through skylights and fixed seating with power outlets and USB ports, it is designed both for passing through and for relaxing and gathering.

Construction of the 25,000-square-foot structure began immediately after the opening of the campus center addition in 2022.

Larry Peifer, an associate and senior designer for the architecture firm HLW International, noted that the newly unified structure now features upwards of 250,000 square feet of student-oriented space.

“Four distinct, disparate structures are now one dynamic hub for the University. It’s a place that is really focused on student experience and well-being. It’s where students come to eat, it’s where they work out, it’s where they come to socialize. It’s where they come to cheer their peers on and their university on,” he said.

“These spaces are really here to enhance the student experience and help students develop connections for the rest of their lives.”

To make the space more than just a place that community members pass through, Peifer’s team used the challenges inherent in the project to their advantage. The entrances to the four buildings are at different elevations, and the space still needs to serve as an egress for each of them.

The solution was to construct a series of platforms, ramps, and stepped seating elements that create a multilevel forum where the seating is integral to the efficient circulation of crowds. The rough-hewn stone of the Gym frames one side, while the contemporary, now opened-up sides of the addition and the original building frame the other. Strategically placed plants provide a soothing element to the space.

A robust audio-visual and media system will allow speakers to broadcast announcements and content, and the tiered bench seating invites visitors to work together or just have a cup of coffee and check e-mail before heading off for the day. The basement level of the arcade also features new “smart” lockers for use by commuter students.

Ed Kull, director of Fordham Athletics, said the arcade will dramatically improve the experience of both student-athletes and fans. The new layout makes it dramatically easier for student-athletes to go from the locker room to the center’s common areas to relax with friends, or to the career center or the center for Community-Engaged Learning. They will also have easier access to the renovated Marketplace dining facility when it’s completed in 2024. (Learn more about the cafeteria renovation and destination dining options available on campus this fall.)

It will also vastly improves the experience of visiting the gym. On games days, the arcade will be home to a new box office and expanded concessions area. Additional bathrooms and improved accessibility will also improve the fan experience.

While fans will still be able to enter the Gym through the front doors, Kull said he’s excited to see how the arcade will be used for pre-game and post-game celebrations.

“Last year, the line was out to Edwards Parade to get into the Gym, so it’s great to have the flexibility of another area to gather, especially when it’s cold or raining,” he said.

“I’m pumped that we’re continuing to build and foster the school spirit on the campus that we’ve really been building the last two years.”

The outdoor dedication ceremony, held in front of the gleaming four-story addition that opened in February, drew hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and friends to the official ribbon cutting of the newly christened Joseph M. McShane S.J., Campus Center.

David Ushery, anchor at NBC 4 New York and a 2019 Fordham honorary degree recipient, emceed the ceremony, which included special guests Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, the Honorable Nathalia Fernandez of the New York State Assembly, and His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

‘Only in New York’

Bloomberg reflected on how he met Father McShane shortly after he was elected mayor in 2001.

“I came to see what an exceptional leader Joe really is. His mind is always racing, his drive is always relentless, his compassion is always boundless, and his Irish wit is always on,” said Bloomberg, who also spoke at the ribbon-cutting for Fordham’s Law School building in 2014.

Speaking from the podium on Wednesday as the wind howled, he joked that ‘Only in New York could a Jewish guy around the corner from a building honoring an Italian football coach celebrate an Irish priest.”

He said he was grateful for his contributions that extended beyond the campus gates. When Bloomberg formed a committee to consider revisions to the city charter, Father McShane accepted his invitation to join, he said. When he launched Bloomberg Philanthropies, Father McShane was one of the first people he approached to join the board. And when Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the American Talent Initiative to push top universities to recruit more students from lower-income families, Father McShane served on the steering committee.

“The common denominator in everything Joe does can be summed up in one single word, and that is service, especially to young people. This wonderful new campus center, rightly named in his honor, certainly testifies to that.”

A Legacy of Transformation

In his 19 years as president, Father McShane is credited with overseeing the investment of $1 billion in infrastructure and raising more than $1 billion in funds for the university.

In addition to the campus center, other capital projects that are part of his legacy include Hughes Hall, the Rose Hill home of the Gabelli School of Business; Campbell, Salice and Conley residence halls; and the Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art in Walsh Family Library. At Lincoln Center, he led the creation of the dramatic 22-story Fordham Law School and residence hall, which opened in 2014.

During his tenure, the University also established the Fordham London campus, increased financial aid from $78.3 million to $315.1 million, increased the number of endowed faculty chairs from 23 to 71, and this past year, recruited the largest, most diverse class in its history.

Robert Daleo, chair of Fordham’s Board of Trustees, opened the ceremony with a reading of a letter from President Joseph Biden, who hailed Father McShane for having “led the university with faith, dedication, and love through unprecedented challenges and an ever-changing world.”

‘The Modern Heart of University Life’

Daleo noted that it was fitting that the University should name the center, which was originally constructed in 1959, after Father McShane.

“The McGinley Center was a structure that was sturdy, functional, and met the needs of its time, but has now been transformed into the beautiful, modern, heart of University life, and a fitting place for our stellar students, faculty, and staff to gather, eat, play, and learn,” he said.

The ceremony also featured two graduating students, Thomas Reuter, the president of the United Student Government at Rose Hill, and Patricia Santos, vice president of the Commuting Student Association at Rose Hill.

Reuter highlighted the building’s Career Center, Campus Ministry offices, and areas for student involvement. He also noted that the Ram Fit Center showcases the importance of holistic health, while spaces such as the lounge are now filled with laughter, reflection, and the occasional game of pool.

“The space allows us to become what Father McShane envisioned for us: to be people for others, students interested in seeking the magis, understanding and celebrating diversity, developing more informed perspectives, and becoming people of character, formed by the Jesuit tradition,” he said.

Santos said that for commuters, the center is not just a physical structure, but a home for “an intentional community that sets the highest standards of academic, social, moral, and spiritual excellence. “

From the top floor, she said, one can reflect on both Fordham’s Catholic identity and its connections to New York City, thanks to its depiction of the Stations of the Cross and its views of the surrounding area.

“It reminds us that we are blessed with opportunities to learn from our neighbors and contribute to their well-being. Today, the campus center serves as a unifying force in the life of a university that honors each individual and values diversity,” she said.

A Mass of Thanksgiving

The afternoon began with a Mass of Thanksgiving at the University Church led by John J. Cecero, S.J., vice president for mission integration and ministry. Father McShane served as a co-celebrant, along with Thomas J. Regan, S.J., GSAS ’82, ’84, superior of the Fordham Jesuit Community, and fellow Fordham Jesuits. Monsignor Thomas J. Shelley, Ph.D., professor emeritus of theology, served as homilist and Archbishop Elpidophoros presided.

In his homily, Monsignor Shelley, author of Fordham, A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841–2003 (Fordham University Press, 2016), credited Father McShane with personifying the idea of cura personalis, or care for the whole person.

“If you’re looking for a monument to Joseph McShane, look around you,” he said.

‘A Dream Machine’

Before leading a group in a ribbon-cutting, Father McShane insisted that the focus of the celebration be on the whole community.

“This is about Fordham, a place that is an extraordinary place, where miracles happen every day, a place where character is formed, hopes are born, and talent is challenged,” he said.

“That is what we are about. We’re a dream machine, in a certain sense, and we unleash great people in an unsuspecting world, people who know to ask the right questions. That’s our gift to the world.”

Watch the whole dedication ceremony here. Read tributes submitted in honor of Father McShane here, and watch a tribute video for him below.

David Ushery of NBC 4 New York will emcee the 5 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will feature special guests Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the 108th Mayor of New York City, and Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez of the Bronx.

Festivities, food, and live music will follow at the RAM Fest on Edwards Parade at 5:45 p.m.
The celebration will begin with a Mass of Thanksgiving at the University Church at 4 p.m.
All students, faculty, and staff are welcome.

A Legacy of Growth

The naming of the modern, amenities-filled new center pays tribute to Father McShane and his 25 years of service to Fordham—as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1992 to 1998 and as president of the University since 2003.

As president, Father McShane has led one of the most remarkable periods of sustained growth in Fordham’s 181-year history. Under his leadership, the University invested $1 billion in capital improvements to the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, raised more than $1 billion in donations, and increased the University’s endowment to more than $1 billion.

The campus center is one of many capital projects that are part of his legacy. Others include Rose Hill’s Hughes Hall, home of the Gabelli School of Business; Campbell, Salice, and Conley residence halls, and the Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art in Walsh Family Library. At Lincoln Center, he led the creation of the dramatic 22-story Fordham Law School and residence hall, which opened in 2014.

During his tenure, the University also established the Fordham London campus, increased financial aid from $78.3 million to $315.1 million, increased the number of endowed faculty chairs from 23 to 71, and this past year, recruited the largest, most diverse class in its history.

The Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center: A Space to Recharge and Connect

The new campus center building—an expansive light-filled addition to the McGinley Center—officially opened on Feb. 1, offering spacious new digs with amenities for exercising, relaxing, studying, and recharging.

The four-story building features a state-of-the-art fitness center on the lower level, a 9,500-square-foot student lounge on the first floor, expanded offices for Career Services, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning and a large, versatile space on the third floor designed for meetings and special events.

The addition represents the first phase of the campus center project. When all phases are completed in 2025, the campus center will include a large indoor arcade bathed in natural light; a redesigned Marketplace dining area; bigger and better spaces for student clubs, an expanded ballroom; and a new strength and conditioning center dedicated to Fordham athletics. The enclosed glass arcade will connect the new campus center with the Lombardi Center and the historic Rose Hill Gym.

Watch the livestream of the event here beginning at 4 p.m. on April 27.

Please note: Attendees must show a photo ID and proof that they have received all CDC-recommended vaccinations against COVID-19, including a booster dose, if eligible. Masks are recommended indoors but are not required. Students, faculty, and staff may gain admittance via VitalCheck.

On a recent day in early March, construction crews were kicking off the second phase of the campus center renewal by starting to demolish the former entrance to the McGinley Center, the student hub that opened in 1959. Meanwhile, nearby, in a new four-story addition to that same McGinley Center, students were congregating in the student lounge—catching up, shooting pool, typing on their computers—and soaking in the soothing ambience.

“It’s relaxing. I enjoy being here,” said Thomas Aiello, a junior who was getting some work done on his laptop. A student seated nearby, Kayla Bonitto, appreciated having the new gathering space after the physical isolation of taking virtual classes during the height of the pandemic. She and her friends had made plans to explore the new building together; on a recent night, students had gathered in the lounge for the State of the Union address and updates on the crisis in Ukraine. “It’s like a new sense of community,” she said.

That was the idea behind the campus center renewal, a keystone of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, which seeks to enhance all aspects of the student experience.

The new building addition will be combined with the Rose Hill Gym, Lombardi Center, and a renovated McGinley Center to form a larger complex that provides the entire University community with vastly greater space for offices, events, dining, fitness, and forming personal connections.

For some who have given in support of the project, it represents not just bricks and mortar but rather the continuous work of serving students and advancing the University from one era to the next.

Forging Ahead, Past the Pandemic

Kim B. Bepler, a Fordham trustee fellow and longtime University benefactor, recalled coming to campus for a lunch meeting during the first year of the pandemic, when the pivot to virtual learning had left the common areas of campus empty and quiet—except for the noise made by the builders.

“It was rather poignant to be there when no one else was” and hear the project proceeding, she said. “At that moment, when we were all frightened, when we had no idea what was going on and when this was ever going to be over, that indicated to me that things would move on, life would continue somehow, some way,” she said.

She and her late husband, Steve Bepler, FCRH ’64, who passed away in 2016, have funded a wide array of needs at the University, including four endowed chairs in the STEM fields. It was appealing to support this project because the campus center will be named for Fordham’s president, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., and also because of its importance for fostering the informal exchange of ideas beyond the classroom, she said.

The project was important to Steve because of his own experience of student life at the University—“He loved his Fordham education,” she said.

“I just found that very encouraging and very heartwarming to be there during the pandemic and to listen to the sounds of construction and the sounds of the future,” she said.

‘Part of Being a Great University’

Trustee Emeritus Robert E. Campbell, GABELLI ’55, went to Fordham at a much different time, when the business school was housed in a surplus Army barracks building on the Rose Hill campus. “Many days, we would sit through class with our overcoats on,” he said. The McGinley Center wasn’t yet built, and because he was commuting from northern New Jersey, his mingling on campus was limited.

Even so, the social experience has stayed with him. “It put me in touch with so many new people,” he said. The Rose Hill campus “always was a place where wonderful people congregated.”

Now, they are giving in support of the campus center renovation and expansion.

“I don’t look at it as necessarily just a physical structure,” Campbell said. “It’s a home for people. People come to Fordham and leave their own homes [and]take up residence at a place. My feeling has always been that you would like to make that, physically, as supportive as possible.”

He noted that students’ experience of the new campus center could encourage them to give back to the University down the line.

“You always have to keep investing. It’s just part of being a great university, which Fordham is,” he said.

Communal Spaces

The new campus center offers state-of-the-art fitness equipment; glass walls and ceilings that allow for natural light; bigger and better spaces for the Career Center, Campus Ministry, and Center for Community Engaged Learning; new multipurpose rooms; and many other amenities.

And more is yet to come—the phase-two demolition of the current McGinley Center entrance is clearing the way for an enclosed glass arcade from which students can access the Rose Hill Gym, the McGinley Center, the Lombardi Center, and the new building. That’s expected to be done by September 2023, said John Spaccarelli, director of facilities and special projects, who is overseeing the construction.

Phase three, to be done by the end of 2024, involves renovating the McGinley Center and reconfiguring some of its existing spaces, Spaccarelli said. He estimated that the entire campus center renewal is 35% to 40% complete.

In the student lounge, first-year student Jocelyn De Fex appreciated having the kind of inviting communal space that commuters like herself would otherwise have a hard time finding on campus. “If this didn’t exist, I would only be able to go to the library,” she said. She was hanging out and eating breakfast in the lounge with Kayla Bonitto, who appreciated the layout that makes the Career Center easier to find.

“When you get off the [second floor]elevator, it’s immediately right there,” said Bonitto, a junior.

A Place for Focusing

Nearby, Nick Chao, also a junior, said the lounge seemed to invite studying. “You kind of feel like when you come here, you can get work done,” he said. “I come here maybe a few times a week, maybe late at night, just to get some studying in.”

Conversation formed a gentle background hum. The 17-foot-high ceilings were treated with an acoustical spray that not only protects against fire but also dampens the sounds that would normally be bouncing around between the walls and the ceiling, Spaccarelli said.

Aiello, an organizer with the Herd, a student group supporting Fordham athletics, said the aesthetic appeal of the center will surely help with recruiting prospective students as well as student-athletes. The project shows Fordham’s commitment to updating its infrastructure, and “I think that’s huge for [the University],” he said.

To inquire about giving in support of the campus center renewal or another area of the University, please contact Michael Boyd, senior associate vice president for development and university relations, at 212-636-6525 or [email protected]. Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, our campaign to reinvest in every aspect of the Fordham student experience.

But when the 71,000-square-foot, four-story addition to the McGinley Center officially opens today, Feb. 1, it will introduce to the Fordham community a radically different sort of space, filled with places to relax, recharge, and connect.

Get Your Sweat On

One of the highlights of this new building addition will be the expanded fitness center, which at 20,000 square feet occupies the lower level of both the new building addition and the existing McGinley Center. The brand new, brightly lit space, which is illuminated by both overhead lighting and sunlight from ceiling windows facing the front of the building, is dedicated to 100 pieces of state-of-the-art weight-training equipment. The existing space will continue to be used for cardio equipment, assuring shorter wait times. One of the newest pieces of equipment is a climbing simulator known as a Jacob’s Ladder. (The fitness center is currently operating at reduced capacity due to COVID-19 regulations.)

Eagle-eyed visitors heading to a newly offered yoga session in one of the two new classrooms might notice that the arches of the original McGinley Center have been left as unfinished concrete, not painted white like the rest of the wall. It’s a small, subtle touch meant to acknowledge the past, said Larry Peifer, the lead designer for architecture firm HLW International LLP. A similar sensibility influenced the choice of the new addition’s Corinthian granite façade, which is the same material on the outside of the Rose Hill Gym next door.

“We’ve kind of remixed Fordham’s architectural palate. We took these materials you see elsewhere, whether its Corinthian granite, limestone terrazzo, oak, or bronze, sampled them, and used them in a new way,” he said.

A Home Away from Home

The first floor presents two distinctly different yet equally inviting common spaces: the student lounge and the gallery.

Boasting 17-foot ceilings, the lounge is an airy, semi-industrial space, with an unfinished concrete ceiling and exposed wiring above. The furnishings offer a mix of practicality and fun; sitting upon the terrazzo floor are tables, chairs, couches, a foosball table, and a pool table. Further on, a table large enough for a gathering of 16 is sectioned off by a dropdown ceiling; beyond that are private, glass-enclosed meeting rooms.

John P Gering, managing partner for HLW, said the goal for the 9,500-square-foot lounge has always been to make it feel like a place where resident and commuter students alike can mingle and relax.

“It feels less like a classroom environment. It’s very informal, there are lots of touchpoints for laptops and things of that nature,” he said.

The gallery, a multi-level glass-covered space linking together the addition with the existing McGinley Center, is open to the addition now. After the third phase of construction is complete, the walls will come down, and a newly refurbished

marketplace dining facility replacing the existing dining space will be seamlessly connected to the other spaces.

Its defining characteristic is natural light, which streams down over the two overhead walkways connecting the second floors of the new building addition and McGinley, past the 20-foot retractable movie screen hanging from the ceiling, and onto the floor and walls, where the stone engravings of the Stations of the Cross are embedded. At night, the engravings will be illuminated.

Career Services and Campus Ministry

The second floor is shared by the expanded offices of the Career Center, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

The new Career Center space features a lounge with a rough-hewn ceiling similar to the student lounge that’s bathed in light from windows in the front of the building. Also included in the suite are a pantry and 10 interview rooms outfitted with noise dampening panels and electronic glass walls that can be turned opaque with a light switch. Career services director Annette McLaughlin said in a 2020 interview that it’s her intention that the department is “a destination, not a checklist,” for students.

“I want to create a career center for cura personalis. This is all about mind, body, and spirit as it relates to how you find your pathway in the world,” she said.

Next door is a hub for students’ quest for deeper meaning in their lives. In addition to offices, the Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning feature two reflection rooms, a room with a widescreen suitable for conferences, and several smaller spaces available for gatherings.

John Cecero, S.J., vice president for mission integration and ministry, said he’s excited to bring together two departments within the division that had previously been in separate spaces.

“There’s much more common space for people to use, and I think that will foster collaboration both between these two departments and with others within the University. That is a major goal for us,” he said.

A New Vista for a New Era

Arguably the most breathtaking view is from the top floor, where the 28-foot ceiling is open to the sky like the gallery next to it. The 4,390-square-foot multipurpose space also reflects Fordham’s Catholic identity, with the Stations of the Cross occupying a central place on the back wall. The views from the top floor—the New York Botanical Garden to the north, Bahoshy Field to the west, and Hughes Hall and Edwards Parade to the south—give a new perspective to a familiar locale. Embedded in the wooden drop-down ceiling are acoustic panels, audiovisual equipment, and darkening shades that can be easily deployed for presentations.

Gering said the space, which can accommodate as many as 196 people in the main room and 147 in another, smaller room, is part of the firm’s dedication to the neo-Gothic aesthetic of the Rose Hill campus. Traditional gothic buildings are built with a portal entry and a main entry next to a tower that leads to a large aisle connecting to an altar, he said. This will be the case when a glass arcade between the new building addition and the Rose Hill Gym is completed in the second phase of construction.

“As you enter the building, you enter next to a tower, which is a beacon on campus. Then you walk through the arcade, which is similar to the aisle in Gothic architecture, and rather than walking to an altar or chapel, you proceed up to the next level, which is this grand board room and multifunction room,” he said.

“This is shifting the heart of the campus. The idea is that it is truly a campus center that brings everyone together with amenities, gathering places, and wellness programs and spaces that respond to that. It’ll be the new landmark of the university.”

The new building addition is the first of three phases that the center will undergo as part of a radical transformation that will culminate in 2025. When finished, the entire project will reflect Fordham’s history while giving visitors a modern space to convene and relax.

“If it’s going to be a building that really feels like the University and is taking the University someplace new—but not someplace that it doesn’t recognize—it has to have a certain spirit and a poetic weight that feels contemporary,” Gering said.

“Fordham has such a strong history and rich personality; we didn’t want anything to feel like it was foreign.”

Less obvious than its expression of Fordham’s Catholic identity, however, is the fact that for one stone carver, it is the ultimate expression of his artistic passions.

“It’s a talent God gave me,” said Michael Orekunrin, who carved the cross from a 2,600-pound block of limestone for the Mount Vernon-based Petrillo Stone Corporation. The recently completed sculpture will be installed in January.

“I’ve always loved anything art. I always wanted to create things that are unique. Even when I was young, I loved to create things, and people told my parents, ‘He’s meant to go to the United States or England to study art because he has this special talent for creativity.’”

From Nigeria to the Bronx

Orekunrin moved to the United States shortly after graduating from Obafemi Awolowo University in his native Nigeria. In 1994, the Petrillo corporation sponsored him for a green card, and seven years later, he became an American citizen. He has since married, had two children, and earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from Lehman College. During his years working as a master carver/cutter for Petrillo, Orekunrin worked on spaces as varied as the N.B.A store on Fifth Avenue, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Yale University’s library, and the Fulton Street subway station.

“The guy’s an American success story,” said Ralph Petrillo, whose family firm has been tapped to create the campus center cross. The firm also helped build Keating Hall in the 1930s.

Echoing Another Fordham Design

The cross is not the first piece that Orekunrin has done for Fordham. He carved the cross that was installed at Salice-Conley Hall six years ago, which is echoed in the design of this new cross.

He said he was thrilled to carve another cross for Fordham, as stone carving is more of a passion than a vocation these days. In 2008, looking to branch out a bit, he landed a job as a visual art consultant to the New York Department of Parks and Recreation. In 2013, he trained to become a fraud investigator and now works with the City of New York’s Human Resources Administration.

Every few years though, he gets a call from Petrillo, and he sets aside time on nights and weekends to get to know some Southern Bluff limestone, so-called because it is quarried from the Bedford/Bloomington area of southern Indiana. Famed for its extraordinary hardness, it is the same material used to clad the Empire State Building. Working with it comes naturally to him though.

“It’s almost like writing on paper,” said Orekunrin, who first plied his trade in New York City at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

An Expression of Faith

Carving crosses is particularly resonant for him, as he is also a minister at a church just south of the Rose Hill campus. The sculptures are an expression of his faith in Jesus Christ, he said, who “paid the supreme price dying on the cross for my sins so I can have an everlasting life in Heaven.”

The commission has a personal resonance for Petrillo, as well. The work on Keating Hall kept the firm afloat during the Great Depression when his father ran it, he said, and Fordham has relied on Parillo artisans for carvings at Dealy Hall, O’Hare Hall, and the Walsh Family Library at the Rose Hill campus, as well as the Law School building at the Lincoln Center campus.

“It’s not just cutting flat stone, it’s beautiful, carved artwork. There’s the sentimental factor, and there’s the fact that it’s adding beauty to a place that is already a beautiful campus,” he said.

“And it’s going to be there well beyond my years.”

More space. Calming, relaxing, and inspiring space. Space for meeting friends and colleagues. Any way you look at it, the new campus center under construction at the Rose Hill campus will be a radically different space when it is completed in 2025.

That’s one of the key takeaways of architectural renderings of the center that lead architect HLW International LLP released this month. The center, which will join a brand new, 71,000-square-foot, four-level structure together with the existing McGinley Center, the Rose Hill Gym, and the Lombardi Center, will dramatically increase the amenities available for students, faculty, and staff on campus.

Construction and renovations will take place in two phases. In the first phase, a new structure will be erected in front of the existing McGinley Center. This new addition is estimated to cost $85 million. Once that building is finished in August 2021, the two will be joined together by an arcade that will also extend over the space adjacent to the Rose Hill Gym. The next phase of work will renovate the interior spaces of the existing McGinley Center.

A Space Where All Are Welcome

The first phase of construction will bring online several areas that will enhance the quality of life for students and the entire campus community. The first floor will be dominated by a 9,500-square-foot lounge that spans nearly the entire floor and will be outfitted with seating arrangements catering to groups and individuals.

HLW managing partner John Gering said the firm’s charge is to design a space that feels like a “home away from home” and encourages commuter students and resident students to comingle in new ways. The layouts of the first floor of Hughes Hall and the Starbucks in Dealy Hall offer a good template, he said.

“Everyone’s in there, hanging out. There are different types of seating arrangements and different heights of seating,” he said.

“If someone wants to cuddle up in a corner with a laptop, they can do that, or if they want to be part of a bigger table, they can do that too. The new lounge area really emulates that.”

The second floor of the new addition will feature expanded offices dedicated to Career Services, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning. The third floor will have a large, versatile space specifically designed for meetings and special events.

A Focus on Sports and Fitness

Getting your sweat on will be the name of the game on the basement level of the unified center, in a space that is double that of the current fitness center. A new, state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot fitness center will be open to all students, faculty, and staff. Fordham Athletics will gain 16,000 square feet of space; a modern strength and conditioning center will occupy 10,000 square feet of that space, while the rest will be devoted to offices and meeting space, as well as a refueling station where student-athletes can grab nutritious food and drinks after training. There will also be “Grab and Go”-style retail facilities and vending machines on the first floor and the gym, for quick access.

Fordham’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics David Roach noted that moving into the campus center will free up sorely needed space in other areas of Fordham’s athletics facilities. The current strength and conditioning center underneath the grandstand at Coffey Field will become an outdoor sports medicine room, for instance.

“By getting additional space in the new student center, it frees up other spaces in the athletics footprint and we can provide things and do things that are great for our student-athletes,” he said.

“Anything that’s a plus for the University and addresses the needs of students is good for student-athletes and helps us in recruiting great students to Fordham.”

More Dining Options

In the second phase of construction, whose schedule is still being developed, the existing Marketplace dining area will be completely upgraded, reimagined, and redesigned. Chief among the additions being considered are separate food preparation stations where students will be able to see their meals as they are prepared, and an expansion of menu choices to offer a wide variety of student favorites and accommodate special preferences and dietary and nutritional needs. There will also be a new stand-alone retail dining space across from the large lounge, providing food and beverages for those who want to hang out or are on their way to meetings and events.

Renovations will also be made in the second phase to provide bigger and better student club and organization space, additional meeting rooms, and an expansion of the current ballroom to a capacity of 800. There will also be expanded and improved space for the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Student Involvement, as well as student groups that access these offices for support and socializing.

A Bridge Between New and Old

The glass canopy between the gym and the new structure is meant to form a bridge between it and the century-old gym.

“When you’re looking at the building at night, it’s going to be very well illuminated, along with the tower. It creates a void between the new and the old in a way that it doesn’t look like they’re competing,” Gering said.

The campus center is the third major project that HLW has undertaken for Fordham in recent years; the firm designed the renovation of the sixth floor of the Lowenstein Center in 2018 and the $38 million renovation of Hughes Hall in 2013.

HLW has extensive experience designing academic and corporate spaces, said Marco Valera, Fordham’s vice president for administration. He noted the firm’s work on Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business demonstrated how its design seamlessly connects new structures with old ones.

Valera predicted that the visual effect of the new arcade will be especially pronounced for the space between the existing McGinley Center and the Lombardi Center to the north.

“It’s a very dull space, and with this new design we’ll really invigorate the space between the buildings bringing the whole complex together,” he said. “Activity flows to the gym for games and to Lombardi for events.”

Gering said designers spent a lot of time incorporating details that make Rose Hill distinct. When the second-floor ballroom is renovated, for instance, Gering said the entrance doors and the front will incorporate elements inspired by and similar in character to the north entrance door of Cunniffe House.

“What we’ve done in the design of the campus center is take those details, be they the patterning of the curbing or the stone, or the pocket areas, and bring it inside. There’ll be a sense of, ‘hmmm, this kind of looks familiar,’” he said.

The exterior of the addition, with its ground-to-ceiling stone columns and large glass windows, is likewise a modern interpretation of Rose Hill’s traditional gothic architecture.

Construction Challenges

Valera said construction will be a delicate dance, as it will take place on a site that is still very much in use. The canopy of the arcade, for instance, may need to be constructed partly at night to minimize disruption.

“The issue is, how can we undertake the necessary construction work and still keep the buildings in operation? There will be some impact, there’s no way around it. There will be noise, but the goal will be to minimize that as much as possible,” he said.

Rejuvenate, Revitalize, and Relax

Gering said the goal is to make the center a focus of not only activity but also renewal. Natural light is a key part of wellness, he said, which is why the glass gallery is so important. Stairs and ramps will also be strategically placed within the interior of the space, to encourage students to get in more steps.

“Where there are stairs, there’s usually a function next to it, which will encourage students to use the stairs to get to the function, rather than just slip into an elevator,” he said.

Some of the features meant to lend an aura of calmness, like a green wall that will be cultivated with live ivy and moss on the side of the gym, will be obvious, while others will be subtler. As an example, the glass cladding on both the tower adjacent to the main entrance and the multifunction room on the third floor will be fritted glass, which has a slightly opaque finish that reduces glare.

The building is designed to LEED Silver level and follows the energy efficiency standard known as passive house. This means features such as triple glazed windows (most skyscrapers only have single or double glazing); automatic lighting controls; recycled materials; and in a first for the Rose Hill campus, heat recovery mechanical ventilation wheels, which reuse the building’s heat in cooler months.

The roughly $150 million in revenue bonds for the campus center project will be issued by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York for Fordham.

“Both rating agencies note Fordham’s solid enrollments, our prudent management, recent enhanced financial stability, and capacity to manage this additional level of debt,” said Martha Hirst, Fordham’s senior vice president, CFO, and treasurer.

In its annual rating report released on Nov. 19, Moody’s assigned an A2 to Fordham’s proposed bonds as well as its outstanding bonds, and rated the University’s outlook as stable. The positive rating reflects Fordham’s “relatively large scope of operations and very good strategic positioning as a prominent Jesuit institution located in New York City offering a diversity of undergraduate and graduate programs,” according to the report.

Also noted in the Moody’s report were three other positives: Fordham’s increasing enrollment supports rising net tuition revenue, which, in turn, boosts the University’s operating performance. The University’s operating cash flow margin was “a sound 15.5%” in fiscal year 2019. And, surplus operations and strong donor support, with three-year average annual gifts that amount to more than $65 million and well above a peer median of $23 million, continue to build reserves.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings assigned its “A” long-term rating to the revenue bonds and affirmed its “A” long-term rating on Fordham’s outstanding bonds. The agency’s Nov. 25 report also rated Fordham’s outlook as stable.

Similar to the Moody’s report, S&P cited solid enrollment growth and student quality as evidence of Fordham’s strong enterprise profile. Also noted were the University’s “consistently positive operating margins, concentrated revenue base, solid cash and investments relative to operations and debt, and improving expendable resources.” With regards to Fordham’s “solid management,” the report noted “conservative budgeting practices, success in implementing multi-year strategies, and well-considered reactions to external change.”

The proposed bonds represent the majority of the funding for the campus center project. As the centerpiece of the University’s new campaign focused on the student experience, the project will also be supported with fundraising dollars.