“These big days are really a celebration of those days that didn’t seem to matter at all … That day you were at work and thought, ‘Oh, man—I’m not going to that class tonight,’ but you went anyway. Or that day you stayed up till three o’clock to finish that paper or take-home exam. That day you sat down at your computer and finally submitted an application to college and did something to change your life,” he said, to cheers and applause from the audience. “That day did change your life.” 

The 2022 PCS diploma ceremony celebrated more than 150 graduates, many of whom overcame different obstacles to get to that stage in the Fordham Prep theater at Rose Hill. Among them was John Lenehan, an 88-year-old veteran who completed his bachelor’s degree at Fordham. Lenehan started at Fordham in the 1950s but left for a good job offer. In a story for ABC News, he said, “It’s never too late to finish the job that you started, whether it’s your personal life, your business life, your professional life.” He walked across the stage to thunderous applause.

About 30% of this year’s graduating class at PCS are active or former members of the U.S. military. PCS has more members of the armed forces than any other school at Fordham, said Bach. (This year’s ceremony date also coincided with Armed Forces Day, an American holiday that celebrates past and present members of the military.) 

Juggling School, A Newborn, and Full-Time Job

Also among this year’s graduates is Ayana Jones, a Brooklyn native who earned her bachelor’s degree in social work while nursing a newborn and holding a full-time job at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a unit assistant. She recalled one of her most difficult semesters.

“I had the baby on one hip, I was home on my one day off from work, seeing my kids on Zoom [during my internship at a public school in Manhattan], running out to do laundry in between seeing the kids, feeding the baby, feeding my older child, and making sure she was doing remote schooling,” said Jones. “There were moments where I really didn’t think this [degree]was going to happen for me.”

Over the past seven years, she completed a bachelor’s degree in social work—the “perfect” field for her, she said. “It really spoke to me. It allows me to advocate for people from a human justice perspective,” said Jones, who plans to someday return to Fordham for her master’s degree in social work. 

Jones credited her family, friends, and PCS staff with helping her complete her college education. 

“There were nights I cried. My family had to hold me. My child had to hold me. My coworkers had to hold me,” she said, sheepishly laughing. “But here I am, and I couldn’t be happier.”  

Her partner of 14 years, Chris Quinones, added that he is proud of Jones. 

“There were a few bumps in the road, but she persevered,” said Quinones, who cared for their family so that she could study and work. “I knew she was going to make it.”

An Architect Who Found A Silver Lining in the Pandemic 

After a decade of working as an architect, Gabe Seidel was laid off. His clients could no longer pay their bills because of the pandemic. But when he lost his job, he said he found a silver lining. 

“It seemed like a good choice to go to school if the pandemic was going to disrupt things for 18 months to two years. It was also a way to transition into what I really wanted to do—real estate development,” said Seidel, an Ohio native who earned his master’s degree in real estate this spring. “I have an internship that I’ll start next Monday with an affordable housing developer here in the city.”

A First-Generation College Student and U.S. Navy Veteran

For Kishell Davis, a first-generation college student from Jamaica, getting a degree is more than an individual accomplishment. 

“Getting this degree is not just for me—it’s also for my family,” said Davis, who earned her bachelor’s degree in international political economy last February. 

One of her favorite memories at Fordham is spending a month in South Africa with her peers, where she said she gained a new perspective on the international economy and saw the potential impact of her degree. “My studies will allow me to make a difference in the world and help reform policies that target people who are disadvantaged,” she said.

“I’ve always dedicated my life to serving people. In high school, I was an EMT. In the military, I served my country,” said Davis, who was an active-duty member of the U.S. Marine Corps from 2016 to 2018. “Through what I’ve learned here at Fordham, I will be able to continue helping people.” 

‘Seeing the Value Inside Us as Adult Learners’

Lori A. Gaskill, PCS ’22, who graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in social work, delivered the student keynote speech. 

“I want to thank PCS in particular for seeing the value inside us as adult learners. Thank you for welcoming us—not in spite of our baggage, jobs, kids, parents, community commitments, and bills, lots of bills—but because of those things,” she said.

The life experiences of PCS’s students brings color and life to Fordham’s campus and beyond, said Gaskill. 

“At Fordham, what we have learned is that how we walk in the world matters. What we say and do and how we treat people … How we listen, the words we choose, and the efforts we each take to be a good person—it matters. I know I’m a better person for having completed this education,” she said, taking a moment to thank her loved ones, including her four children and her husband, who served 25 years in the U.S. Navy and made it possible for her to complete her Fordham education with his veteran benefits. “Looking around the room, I can see that we, the graduates of 2022, will make the world a better place.” 

—Reporting by Patrick Verel

Graduating Law students should assemble at McGinley Center; blue ticket holders will be seated in the Rose Hill Gymnasium; gold ticket holders will be seated in the Lombardi Memorial Center Fieldhouse. The Gym and Fieldhouse are outlined in red on the map below.

For the latest campus weather-related information, please call:
(718) 817-5555
(212) 636-7777
(800) 280-7669 [(800) 280-SNOW]
(877) 375-4357 [(877) 375-HELP]

In an emergency, please call Fordham Public Safety at (718) 817-2222.

For the latest campus weather-related information, please call:
(718) 817-5555
(212) 636-7777
(800) 280-7669 [(800) 280-SNOW]
(877) 375-4357 [(877) 375-HELP]
In an emergency, please call Fordham Public Safety at (718) 817-2222.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara gave the graduation address and received an honorary doctorate of laws degree at Fordham Law’s 106th diploma ceremony, held on May 19 at Radio City Music Hall.

Fordham University President Joseph M. McShane, S.J., and Fordham Law Dean Michael M. Martin conferred degrees on 660 graduates—481 of whom received juris doctor degrees and 179 of whom received Master of Law degrees.

Bharara, appointed U.S. Attorney by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has served in the position since 2009. He was featured in a Time magazine cover story, “This Man is Busting Wall Street,” and was also named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by the publication in 2012.

“I hope you always keep liberty and justice in your hearts, and think from this day forward what you can do with the diploma you have just earned,” Bharara said to the graduates. “Because what you can do is truly limitless. Because the potential power of a law degree is, I believe, unmatched in American society.”

On a balmy Bronx morning, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel did not mince words at Fordham’s 168th Commencement, held May 18 at the Rose Hill campus.

Engel, a New York City native and one of the nation’s foremost chroniclers of Middle East wars, revolutions, and political transitions, used his commencement address to reflect on being captured and held hostage for five days last December in Syria by government loyalists.

“When you have guns pointed at your head, your thoughts are very clear.  The fat of doubt is trimmed away,” said Engel, who was subjected to mock executions by his kidnappers. “As I sat there and thought, many times, ‘OK, now I’m about to die. It will come very soon, and it will be a bad death,’ I also thought, and this is critical, ‘At least I tried. At least I got part of the way.’

Engel told graduates that if they subtract the 20 years of life they’ve lived so far and the 10 final years they can expect to live, that leaves them with roughly 50 years to make the most of their lives.

“‘I [have]50 years to accomplish something, and unfortunately,’ I thought, ‘I’m not going to get all the way, because these people in ski masks are about to cut my life short.’ I was angry, I was annoyed, but at least I knew I was going to die trying to be myself.”

Honorary degrees were awarded to Engel; singer and musician Dion DiMucci; Paulette LoMonaco, R.G.S., executive director of Good Shepherd Services; John Tognino, PCS ’75, former chair of the Fordham University Board of Trustees; and Patricia E. Harris, first deputy mayor of New York City. In all, a total of 3,445 degrees were conferred at the ceremony.

Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Sally J. Bellet, Esq., LAW ’76, former vice president of real estate development for Amtrak, each received an honorary doctorate of laws at the Fordham School of Law diploma ceremony on May 19 at Radio City Music Hall, where Bharara addressed the graduating class.

Kaushik Basu, Ph.D., chief economist and senior vice president for development economics at the World Bank, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters and gave the keynote address at the diploma ceremony for the Graduate School of Business Administration, also on May 19, at Avery Fisher Hall.

Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., who is retiring as dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, spoke at that school’s diploma ceremony on May 20, also at Avery Fisher Hall, and was awarded the University’s Presidential Medal. (see U.S. Attorney Delivers Graduation Address at Fordham Law)

Speaking about four archetypal personalities, Engel said it is of the upmost importance that graduates of the Class of 2013 have the “guts” to choose their path now, be it as a hedonist, commander, nurturer, or explorer. Characterizing himself as an explorer, Engel said he knew, upon graduation from college, that he wanted to be a foreign correspondent. He moved to Cairo two weeks later with a $2,000 nest egg and a determined dream.

When graduates know for sure what suits them, they will be able to truly accomplish something great, he said. The good news, he noted, is they have those choices when many people in the world don’t.

“I’ve been in war zones for a long time. I’ve met nurturers, hedonists, commanders, and explorers who, because of where they live and the famine and poverty and violence all around them, don’t have options. If you are living in Aleppo, Syria, today, you don’t have the luxury of sitting around and wondering, ‘What’s my true nature, and what can I do that will allow me to experience it?’” he said. “[Their] main concern is staying alive.

“You have choices. Don’t squander this opportunity. Have the guts to take a chance.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told the Class of 2013 that although their academic careers might be coming to a close, their transcripts for life were now going to be updated via “take-home,” “open-heart” tests that will emerge from everyday situations.
“Strangely enough, when all is said and done, all of these heart and life tests will consist of only two frightening questions: Whom do you love, and what do you love?  These questions will, in turn, invite and challenge you to identify, embrace, and nurture the values that will define and direct your life,” he said.

“My friends, as you prepare to confront these questions and thus begin the work of compiling the transcript of your lives, I hope that you will always be haunted and guided by the challenge and the dream that stands at the heart of Jesuit education: To educate men and women for others, men and women whose lives will always be marked by competence, conscience, compassion, and a deep commitment to justice and the cause of the human family.”

Father McShane also thanked the Class of 2013 for raising $1.046 million, the largest class gift in the University’s history. Be “conspicuous in compassion rather than in consumption,” Father McShane implored them, and live lives of bold, daring love. He said that if they allowed themselves to be bothered by injustice, embrace suffering, and champion the poor, they would be “true sons and daughters of Fordham.”

“When I see you on Fifth Avenue, and you call out to me and tell me what you have done, I promise that I will throw open my arms and say, as I listen to what you have achieved in love, ‘You are, all of you, as you are today, my great heroes.’”