There are easier things to pin down. “Generally, as a field, economics is very focused on the ‘hard’ things,” such as wages and benefits, said Souther, now a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “You have to be very careful to tease out the impacts of something like autonomy.”

To do that, he would need to design and conduct an experiment of his own. Luckily, he had received a Fordham scholarship that provided funding for just such a thing.

Leveraging Talent

Souther was one of the inaugural recipients of the Cunniffe Presidential Scholarship, created by a $20 million gift from Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71, two of the most generous donors in Fordham’s history and supporters of its current fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Their presidential scholarship has had 43 recipients to date, including 25 current students. It is meant to leverage the abilities of the most talented students, helping them succeed while also making an impact on the world. It funds tuition and living expenses but also academic enrichment—“probably the most important part” of the scholarship because it empowers recipients to pursue an interest, “be really good at it, and through that, make a contribution,” Mo Cunniffe said.

For Souther, this academic enrichment funding proved crucial: it enabled him to attend a summer workshop in behavioral economics at the University of Alabama, pay 400 people to take part in an experimental exercise during his senior year, and buy statistical software needed for analyzing the data.

Benefits of Autonomy

That study, as well as a follow-up study he conducted with two Fordham economics professors, Subha Mani and Utteeyo Dasgupta, shed light on the impact of giving employees a say in the work they perform. The interpersonal aspect proved important—for instance, when an “employer” participant let other participants choose their preferred tasks, they worked harder than when they got their preferred tasks as a result of a random assignment. They were also more likely to give back to the group by contributing to a communal fund.

It’s possible that employees are more appreciative “if you know that there’s a human being explicitly making a decision to … give you the autonomy,” Souther said.

Such under-studied questions are timely, especially in light of conversations about workers’ autonomy that arose out of the pandemic, he said.

“A lot of us spend at least eight hours a day at work for almost our entire life, and understanding the conditions that make work meaningful and motivating and interesting are absolutely crucial for having a productive and engaging and equitable economy,” he said.

Today, he’s getting close to submitting the research to an academic journal. He said the Cunniffe scholarship did more than propel this project.

“What it also did was allow me to go to Fordham. And that itself has had countless effects on my career and my life.”

Learn about opportunities to invest in the Fordham student experience via the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

This year, six Pioneering Women in Philanthropy will be honored for the personal and financial support they have given Fordham. Leaders in their fields, each one has invested in bettering their communities and the world in their own way. Here, they share their thoughts on the importance of mentorship, empathy, self-confidence, and more on the path to success—for them and for all women.

In cosmetics, which is where I particularly grew up, we had these wonderful [women]  role models. … If you’ve been given this road map and you see that others have gone before you and achieved, you never have in your mind the notion of failure. You have the notion that you can do it too, if you’re good enough and smart enough and make the right decisions.
—Rose Marie Bravo, CBE, TMC ’71

Bravo grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of an Italian-born barber and a seamstress from Sicily. A Bronx High School of Science graduate, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English cum laude at Fordham’s Thomas More College in 1971 and later held leadership positions in several major fashion businesses—including Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. She took over Burberry in 1997 and is widely credited with transforming the classic brand and greatly expanding its markets during her nine-year tenure as CEO. In 2006, Queen Elizabeth II recognized Bravo’s achievements in promoting British fashion, naming her a Commander of the British Empire.

Bravo will deliver a keynote address, “From the Bronx to Buckingham Palace,” at this year’s Women’s Philanthropy Summit.

I entered the work world bolstered by an amazing education in liberal arts that made me feel strong and confident. Still, to rise up the corporate ladder meant more than just feeling confident. I soon learned that it meant persistence and resilience, not being afraid to ask for help, and so much more. I quickly realized the importance of communicating, listening, adaptability, and using words like “us” “we” and “with.” I learned that the best leaders hire strong people, set goals, don’t make excuses, are empathetic, and understand their own self-worth.
—Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., UGE ’62, GSAS ’65, ’71

Dursi Cunniffe grew up in a family of eight, including two brothers who also went to Fordham. Fluent in French and Italian, she studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Perugia as well as Fordham, where she earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in French literature. She had a successful career as an executive in the cosmetics industry and, later, in executive recruiting. She spent 13 years at Revlon, rising to vice president at a time when that title was a rarity for women. She was a senior vice president and the key strategist in recruiting senior talent at Cablevision Systems Corporation before retiring in 2011. Her husband, Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, is a fellow Fordham grad.

From my parents, I was always encouraged to be kind and fair—and to always let people know they are valued and loved. I think women have that capacity to inspire people by their passion, compassion, and empathy. Women stand tall for their beliefs and by nature have the ability to listen and compromise. We know how to bring people together and we are problem solvers.
—Barbara Dane, Ph.D., GSS ’67, ’85

Dane is a retired professor of clinical social work who has maintained a private clinical practice, working with dying and grieving persons and their families, since 1971. She earned both her M.S.W. and Ph.D. in gerontology from Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. She has taught at Fordham, Columbia University, and NYU, and has a substantial publishing record in social work. Dane was awarded a summer fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on aging, and she was among the first recipients of a social work leadership grant from the Soros Foundation’s Project on Death in America. Her research on Thai women coping with HIV/AIDS and the role of meditation was presented at the Seventh International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in Tromsø, Norway.

What I know is that we each have the opportunity to change a life every day, to share wisdom from experiences that can help one another, even if we don’t get to hear the triumphant follow-up story. What counts is what we give to lift others up around us, no matter how big or small our gift may be.
—Valerie Rainford, FCRH ’86

Rainford is head of advancing black leaders and diversity advancement strategies at JPMorgan Chase. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fordham. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, she served at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for 21 years, where she rose to become the most senior black woman there and the first to rise to senior vice president. The author of an award-winning memoir, Until the Brighter Tomorrow: One Woman’s Courageous Climb from the Projects to the Podium (Eloree Press, 2014), she has dedicated much of her life to uplifting others by sharing her story of perseverance, as she did with local Bronx students on the Rose Hill campus in August.

Rainford will deliver a keynote address, “Paying It Forward: A Journey of Resilience and Giving Back,” at this year’s Women’s Philanthropy Summit.

Being a leader is about continuous learning, hands-on engagement, and the power of giving time and resources. Women do this exceptionally well. The challenge is to understand the exciting opportunities for change, and to still find time for self-care and reflection.
—Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82

Conley Salice is the president of the Salice Family Foundation. She also serves on the boards and chairs the development committees of Fordham University, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, and Greenwich Hospital. Before shifting her focus to philanthropy, she worked in the business sector for two decades. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fordham College at Rose Hill and a master’s degree in fundraising and philanthropy from New York University. She was one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural Women’s Philanthropy Summit in 2017.

Women who have succeeded in business need to discuss how we navigated the workplace. These experiences are especially relevant today as some business leaders and politicians are seeking to erode the progress that women have made in this world. Women continually face discrimination based on their gender and have an especially tough path to managerial roles in many organizations. A man is considered tough when he makes a strong point while a woman is considered to be too emotional when making a similar point in a similar tone of voice. These stereotypes need to be put to rest. We must lead through a combination of common sense, empathy, and determination.
—Donna Smolens, FCRH ’79, GSAS ’81

Smolens has been a senior advisor at Insight Partners, a leading global private equity and venture capital firm, since 2015. Prior to joining Insight, she worked at Portfolio Advisors LLC, was a voting member on the investment committees of numerous Portfolio Advisors funds, and was on the advisory boards of 13 private equity funds. She previously worked at Crossover Ventures, DLJ Securities Private Fund Group, General Motors Investment Management, and New York Life Insurance Company. She graduated from Fordham University with both a B.A. and an M.A. in economics.

“That email dropped in my inbox, and my life changed,” said the first-year student.

She had learned that she was one of the six newest members of the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program, one of the most selective merit scholarships available to Fordham students. These scholars typically graduate in the top 1 to 2 percent of their high school class and excel in academics, leadership roles, and extracurricular activities. The scholarship program was funded through a $20 million gift from Maurice J. “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71, two years ago. It not only covers tuition and living expenses, but also internship, research, and study abroad opportunities. The only thing she paid for, said Getman, were her textbooks.

“I could say some clever turn of phrase,” Getman said. “But the truth is that the opportunity the Cunniffes have given is once in a lifetime.”

Last Friday, Oct. 5, at the Rose Hill campus, the new cohort of scholars met Mo Cunniffe for the first time. (Carolyn had planned to be there, but was unable to attend.) Meanwhile, the inaugural cohort returned to reunite with their benefactor and greet the second generation. In total, six freshmen and six sophomores have been awarded the Cunniffe scholarship.

“This man and his wife chose to invest in you,” Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told the students at the lunch meet-and-greet in Bepler Commons. “And in those who will come after you, because first, last, and always, Mo is someone who believes in people. But he expects great things. Is that a fair statement?” he asked, turning to Cunniffe.

“Yeah,” Cunniffe confirmed. The crowd chuckled.

The Cunniffes’ plan was simple: pinpoint the best and brightest students, give them the best possible education, and dispatch them into the real world.

“You’ll hire more people, you’ll think of more things to do, you’ll invent a mathematical equation that makes sense,” Cunniffe told the twelve students. “That was my purpose: get a gang of people, out of which someone will make the world better than I left it.”

After Cunniffe introduced himself to the scholars, it was their turn to tell him about themselves.

The students are pursuing studies in an eclectic mix of disciplines: art history, global business, information systems, and mathematics. One student is the treasurer of Stove’s Cabin Crew, a comedy club at the Lincoln Center campus; another is a researcher who, for six to eight hours a week in a neuroscience linguistics lab, studies people’s brain waves while they read different languages.

One of the new scholars is Bryce Tayengco, a global business major at the Gabelli School of Business, who loves everything about the Lincoln Center campus: exploring the city every morning on his bike, wandering through Washington Square Park, attending a class in which he helped design a business plan.

“I’d like to take your investment in my education and put it toward fintech—putting technology into finance,” Tayengco said, directly addressing Cunniffe. “I want to revamp that industry.”

The students’ hometowns span the United States: Ohio, California, Maine, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Long Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and Nebraska.

“How did you find us from Lincoln, Nebraska?” Father McShane asked first-year student Mabry Brank, a biology major on the pre-health track.

“I don’t fully remember, to be honest,” she replied. “I think it was kind of an act of God.”

“I’m a big believer in him,” Father McShane responded, earning a round of laughter.

More than 1,000 miles away from Nebraska is a small, rural town in Maine, half an hour away from the Atlantic Coast—the hometown of new Cunniffe scholar Sophie Cote, a math and economics major.

“If you’ve ever seen a Stephen King movie, that’s basically exactly what my town is,” Cote joked. “The first time I ever came to New York was for orientation. I was like, this is the place where I belong.”

It was the right choice for Getman, too.

In her short time at Fordham, Getman, an environmental studies major in Lincoln Center’s honors program, has had an opinion piece published in The Observer and attended a panel on sustainability and affordable housing at Lincoln Center. One day, she hopes to be a lawyer who specializes in environmental law. But for now, she’s still remembering the moment it all began.

“I yelled for my mother to come down and read this email because I thought I was hallucinating. I also had her pinch me. It’s really something to …,” Getman began, searching for the right words. “Not only appreciate, but to live up to, knowing that these two people have this amount of faith in me and what I can do.”

The gathering, held Oct. 19 at Cunniffe House, brought together six first year students from Fordham’s three undergraduate colleges, faculty and administrators, and Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71, whose transformative $20 million gift last fall created the scholarship program.

In his remarks to the students, Cunniffe spoke of one’s personal history and of leverage. Students’ families had shaped their character thus far, he said, and college would do the same. Even if the end result is that they are simply kind people, Fordham will have succeeded.

Once you reach a certain level of success, however, and you’ve satisfied your obligations to your immediate and extended family, you start to think of other ways to leverage that success, Cunniffe said.

“We thought if we fund the best and brightest for 10 years, we’ll have 60 really bright people. We know that out of all those people, there will be people who make the world a better place,” he said.

“Your obligation—as the best and brightest of your generation—is to leave something that’s better.”

Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe said it was a joy to finally meet in person the students whose biographies she’d become so familiar with on paper.

“We are thrilled to be here, we wish you well, we know you will go out in the world and do good,” she said.

The six inaugural awardees were chosen for their excellence in academics and extracurricular activities, and demonstration of leadership in their personal and academic lives. They are Fordham College at Rose Hill freshmen Ashley Conde and Andrew Souther; Fordham College at Lincoln Center freshmen Natalie Grammer, Rose O’Neill, and Lucie Taylor; and Gabelli School of Business freshman Erin O’Rourk.

Taylor, a native of Virginia, grew emotional when she spoke about how the scholarship has made it possible to explore fields as varied as physics, psychology, and international relations before committing to one area.

“I love that Fordham has encouraged me to explore all of that, and is going to help me, no matter what I choose, [to]use my skills to help other people,” she said.

O’Rourk, a native of Spokane, Washington, echoed the sentiment.

“I have a lot of things that I really love, but none of them connect. I’m passionate about music, but I’ve always been really good at math. I feel like Fordham is the perfect place for me to discover my passion,” she said.

Thursday’s gathering was the first time O’Rourk and her mentor, Gayane Hovakimian, Ph.D., met in person. Hovakimian, an associate professor of finance and business economics in the Gabelli School, said she sees her role as making sure O’Rourk leaves Fordham with no regrets.

Frank Boyle, Ph.D., director of the honors program at the Lincoln Center campus, said the Cunniffes’ scholarship program stands out because of the additional resources it provides for a student who might want to study beyond the curriculum—say, learn a language that is not offered at Fordham.

“When the mentors, the students, and the deans decide there is something important for the students to do, we will have the resources to get [it]to the students directly,” said the professor of English. Boyle will mentor to the Lincoln Center Cunniffe scholars until they’re paired up with someone who matches their interest.

“Matching exceptional students with professors happens all the time in the honors program, and it’s really great. This scholarship is a genius way of building on what’s already a University strength.”

The venue may have been new, but it was the same steadfast Fordham spirit that rallied the crowd at the 16th annual Fordham Founder’s Dinner, which raised $2.4 million and celebrated the official launch of Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid. Through the campaign, announced during Fordham’s 175th anniversary year, the University aims to raise $175 million.

Held for the first time at Cipriani Wall Street, Fordham’s biggest fundraising event of the year honored two of the University’s great champions and 30 Founder’s Scholars—recipients of the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship.

A 19-Letter Word

As Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, welcomed the evening’s 1,100 guests, he directed their attention to a video message recorded by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, a Fordham parent and benefactor. Trebek offered this “Final Jeopardy!” clue in the category 19-Letter Words: “Fordham University is celebrating 175 years, a period of time known as this.” The correct response? “What is a dodransbicentennial?”

Father McShane thanked guests for their “astounding generosity” at Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial Founder’s dinner, telling them that their support of scholarships and financial aid “opens up a world of near-infinite possibility for these exceptional young women and men.”

Scholars and Honorees

Speaking on behalf of his fellow Founder’s Scholars, Sal Cocchiaro, a December 2016 graduate of the Gabelli School of Business, praised Fordham for encouraging students to examine their conscience—a conscience, he said, that “pains us when we see injustice, discrimination, hatred, and hopelessness. A conscience that reminds us that we are at our best when we foster equality, inclusion, and love for one another.” (Watch Cocchiaro’s full speech below.)

Cocchiaro told guests that by supporting Founder’s scholarships, they have “relieved a great burden, and have allowed us to focus our time and energy on making this world a greater place.” And he announced his own aspirations: “It is my dream to one day serve as the mayor of this great city of New York,” he said to loud applause, “and I am just truly blessed to be here tonight and have this opportunity to share that dream with all of you.”

Founder’s Award honoree Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, GSAS ’71, reminisced fondly about being set up with her husband, Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, by another Fordham couple, Nancy Phelan and her late husband, Jake. (Watch her full speech here.)

“What a wonderful introduction that turned out to be,” she said, noting that she and her husband have much in common, including the fact that they are both Fordham alumni who were scholarship recipients.

“This community of Fordham is very special. It has the power to instantly transform us from strangers to friends—whether we meet one another by sheer chance, at a Founder’s dinner, an alumni gathering, or simply a blind date,” said Cunniffe, a Fordham trustee and co-chair of the Faith & Hope campaign. She earned three degrees at Fordham, including a doctorate in French literature, and went on to become a successful executive in the cosmetics industry and in executive search.

“Mo and I are both very proud of our Jesuit education and what it has enabled us each to do in our lives. And most importantly, we are grateful for how it guides us to contribute to others,” she said.

Carolyn and Mo, a 2010 Founder’s Award recipient, have been generous benefactors of Fordham. In 2016, the couple made a $20 million gift to the University—the second largest in its history—to establish the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Scholars Program.

Also receiving the Founder’s Award was Stephen J. McGuinness, GABELLI ’82,’91, a former vice president at Citicorp, vice president of global operations at Twitter, and partner at Goldman Sachs, where he championed diversity through his involvement with a college preparatory program. Before he held any of those roles, he was a kid from the Bronx.

“Mom and Dad came over from Ireland in the mid-1950s, got married, settled in the Fordham section of the Bronx, and raised five children,” he said. “We were a very close family, and not just because the seven of us shared a two-bedroom basement apartment.” McGuinness said visits to Fordham’s campus offered a way for his mom to “get the kids off the block.” Years later, McGuinness, now a Fordham trustee, worked in the registrar’s office as a undergraduate business student. He named several Fordham staff members who were “very, very kind to me and had an influence on me for a lot of things that I ended up doing in my life.” (Watch the full speech by Stephen McGuinness here.)

$100 Million Raised for Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid

Founder’s Scholars Genie Hughes and Christopher Wilson took the stage to announce the Faith & Hope campaign, noting that as they spoke, the lights on the Empire State Building were shining maroon in celebration of Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial.

“In honor of our 175th anniversary,” Hughes said, “this campaign is committed to raising $175 million to make a Fordham education more affordable to the best and brightest students.”

Wilson added, “Your generosity will help Fordham advance its noble mission and ensure that the long maroon line will continue to include the sons and daughters of every class, race, and creed.”

Returning to the stage to reflect on Fordham’s past, present, and future, Father McShane noted that from its humble beginnings as St. John’s College, founded in 1841, the University has seen more than its share of challenges. “Through it all, we have prevailed,” he said.

“We are no longer a school of six students on a rural campus of beautiful Westchester. We are now an institution with nine schools, over 15,000 students, three  campuses in the metropolitan area, and international outposts in London, Beijing, and Pretoria.”

Father McShane thanked guests for what they have contributed to Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid to date. “I’m very happy, proud, and deeply grateful to announce that … you have already given $100 million toward the $175 million goal,” he said, as the number flashed on the big screen behind him. He asked that all in attendance continue to support Fordham and “become part of what is a story of true greatness.”

Photos by Chris Taggart, Jerry Millevoi, and Bryan Smith

Watch the video for Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid.

Here are our most popular posts of the past year:

• 10. The Social Worker Who Became An Accidental Icon (Dec. 21, 2015)

Lyn Kennedy Slater, PhD., a clinical associate professor at the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), has long had an interest in fashion, but never expected that just a year after launching her fashion blog, Accidental Icon, she would top 21,000 followers on her Instagram account, make the cover of Grey magazine, and amass fans worldwide.

• 9. Health Scare Leads to Gabelli School Sophomore’s Charitable Sock Company (Sept. 19, 2016)

Makena Masterson, a sophomore marketing major at the Gabelli School of Business, is the creator and owner of SNOX, a company that sells non-slip, non-skid grip socks and donates 100 percent of profits to charity. The idea for SNOX came when at the age of 14 Masterson developed a four-inch blood clot in her arm, and vowed to give back to the hospital that treated her.

• 8. VIDEO: Mathilde Freund, Fordham’s Oldest Student, Turns 100 (Aug. 15, 2016)
  A student in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, Holocaust survivor Freund celebrated her 100^th birthday in August. Our video, “The Enduring Wisdom of Mathilde Freund,” took off on Fordham’s social media sites, with more than 55,000 Facebook views.

• 7. Giving Back: The Cunniffes Make $20 Million Gift to Fordham (Oct. 14, 2016)

Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71, took their philanthropy to an even higher level than their previous generosity, with a transformative $20 million gift that will be devoted to funding student financial aid.

• 6. From Pugsley’s to the Peace Corps: Joannah Caneda and Rob Gunther (May 26, 2016)

The Bronx’s Pugsley Pizza was responsible for one Fordham alumni couple’s romance, but it was Fordham’s Global Outreach trips—his to Tijuana, hers to Mississippi—that developed their desire to work for social justice. The couple went on to join the Peace Corps together and serve in Ecuador.

• 5. Fordham’s 175^th Class Greeted by Cheers on Joyous Opening Day (Aug. 29, 2016)

Fordham welcomed 2,192 members of the Class of 2020 this fall with added fanfare: the class arrived during the 175th-year celebration of Fordham’s history, dubbed the Dodransbicentennial year, and enjoyed a reenactment of founder Archbishop John Hughes’ greeting of the very first class.

• 4. Alumnus Vin Scully Awarded Medal of Freedom by President Obama (Nov. 22, 2016)

A legendary sports broadcaster and voice of the Dodgers for nearly seven decades, Scully, FCRH ’49, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 22 from President Barack Obama, who gave him a tribute that was by turns stirring and whimsical.

• 3. Denzel’s Glory Days: Golden Globe Winner Got His Start on a Fordham Stage (Jan. 12, 2016)

Fordham alumnus Denzel Washington, FCLC ’77, who received a lifetime achievement award at the 2016 Golden Globes on Jan. 10, once played the title role in a Fordham Theatre production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. “I bluffed my way into my first [college acting] job,” said the Oscar-winning actor and director.

• 2. VIDEO: Fordham University, Up Close and Personal (April 15, 2016)

You could say that, with more than 11,000 comments/shares and a million people reached, a minute-long drone video of our campuses proves that we all want to fly! Definitely, the soaring views of grass quads, treetops, building spires, and modern high-rise halls brought our Rams back home.

• 1. Father McShane Joins With University Presidents in Support of Undocumented Students (Dec. 1, 2016)

Outperforming other posts on both social media and our news site was Joseph M. McShane, S.J.’s statement that he’d joined with presidents at Jesuit, Catholic, and other universities to express support for undocumented students, calling them “valued and loved members of our community.” It was the most viewed story of 2016.

(Stay up-to-date on campus happenings. Sign up for our e-weekly Fordham News.)