“As you lined up for the procession and saw one another maskless for the first time in months, you performed the sacred, boisterous rituals of college friendship. You high-fived, shook hands, and hugged one another without fear or guilt,” Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told students and their loved ones on Saturday at the first of four diploma ceremonies for the Class of 2020. “Now, you sit in honor at the center of Edwards Parade … Savor the moment. Capture every rich detail of it: its sounds, its images, its emotions, so that you can store them away in your hearts. For my friends, I promise you that this is a day that you will tell your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren about.” 

More than 1,200 undergraduate students from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, and the Gabelli School of Business returned to the Rose Hill campus for in-person diploma ceremonies. It was the fulfillment of a promise that Father McShane had made to the Class of 2020 when traditional in-person festivities were cancelled due to the pandemic last year—a promise to celebrate the “visionary dodransbicentennial Class of 2020” when the time was right. 

“You, my friends, receive your diplomas after the terrible ordeal of the past fifteen months,” said Father McShane, standing atop Keating Hall’s terrace, to the graduates seated on the lawn below. “You receive your degrees at a time when the city that never sleeps slept, a year that was for you a non-stop, non-credit-bearing internship in the meaning of life. Therefore, in the course of your capstone away from your campus in senior year, you have discovered what is really important in life: faith, family, virtue, love, truth, and character.” 

‘I’ve Waited Over a Year For This’

In four separate ceremonies, students streamed past Keating Hall to the familiar music of Pomp and Circumstance while waving and blowing kisses to their family and friends in the audience. Guests moved their lawn chairs beneath the trees surrounding Edwards Parade—the temperature sometimes soared past 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and shade was scant—but many people stood beside the metal guardrails in the middle of the lawn, hands shielding their faces from the sun, waving cardboard cutouts of their children and raising their smartphones to capture a moment that was one year late, but never to be forgotten.  

While waiting in line before the ceremonies, students reflected on what this day meant to them. 

“I graduated at my desk, I worked at my desk—everything happened at my desk. I’m still working at my desk,” said William Kann, GABELLI ’20, an information systems major from New Rochelle, New York, who has worked remotely as a data analyst for health care marketing company Veeva Systems since July. “But I’m really excited. I’ve waited over a year for this.” 

Erik Gonzalez, FCRH ’20, an economics major and aspiring CPA who is working at a New York City public accounting firm, said it was “meaningful” that his mother would be able to see him walk across the stage, since he’s a first-generation college student. He appreciated the University holding the in-person ceremony and being able to see friends in person after the “rough goodbye” in March 2020.

A ‘Full Circle’ Moment with a Roommate of Four Years

Gabrielle Pfeffer, FCRH ’20, said it was like coming “full circle” to be walking in the procession with her best friend and roommate for four years, Presley Mekeel, whom she met on her first day at Fordham at orientation. 

“We hadn’t been on campus for over a year, and I was excited to see all my friends and see the beautiful graduation ceremony,” said Pfeffer, a biological sciences major from Baltimore who is attending podiatry school this fall. “We left so abruptly, so it’s like an end to our journey here.”

Mercy Adoga, FCRH ’20, a political science major and a current student in Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service who is virtually interning with an immigration lobbyist in Washington, D.C., said she was “happy, relieved, and just really grateful to be here.” 

Kimberly Larios, FCLC ’20, a psychology major who will become a nursing student at New York University this fall, said she is most grateful to her parents, who flew from Los Angeles to New York to celebrate their daughter.

“They never told me no. I wanted to move to New York at 18, and they didn’t try to stop me,”  Larios said. “They said, ‘We’re happy if you’re happy.’” 

Francisco and Maria Menendez, parents to another Fordham College at Lincoln Center graduate—Bernadette Menendez—said their daughter commuted as early as 7 a.m. on a ferry and bus from New Jersey to Manhattan for four years. But Bernadette, a political science major who will be attending law school at Seton Hall University this fall, loved Fordham so much that she visited campus almost every day. 

“She’s going to be a Pirate soon,” said Maria of her river-crossing daughter. “But we have Fordham in our hearts.” 

‘Thank You for Being Fordham’ 

In speeches to their former classmates, graduating seniors reflected on their fondest memories at Fordham. Tina Thermadam, former president of United Student Government at Lincoln Center, recalled the day she first arrived at McKeon Hall with her parents, and spoke fondly of the Argo Tea employees who knew her order by heart. But the end of her speech looked toward the future.  

“Commencement does not mean farewell or goodbye—it means beginnings. So let’s begin to celebrate the victories of our undergrad career,” Thermadam said. “Let’s celebrate the precariousness of being a post-grad in today’s world. Let’s embrace new opportunities knocking at our door. Let’s celebrate our growth from this past year and the growth that’s yet to come.” 

In her congratulatory remarks, Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, thanked the new alumni for their resilience and ability to build community in one of the most challenging years in history. 

“There is something special about being here, even if the sun is super hot—hearing the birds singing, admiring the beautiful campus. Feeling it [is]not the same as watching it on Zoom. And so today is special not just because you’re graduating, but because you’re back home,” said Mast. “While you have spent a lot of time here at Fordham learning, I want you to know that we have learned from you. And I am grateful for everything that you have taught me. Thank you for teaching us about resilience, about how to learn, about how to build community even when we aren’t on Eddies Parade together. Thank you for bringing your Fordham and New York toughness to meeting the challenges. Thank you for being Fordham, and for sticking with it.” 

—Chris Gosier contributed reporting. 

Working backward from No. 10, are our most popular posts of the year.

10. Actor Robert De Niro Tells IDHA Graduates: You Are My Heroes
(June 30) The Hollywood legend offered the commencement address to the 50th graduating class of Fordham’s International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA).

9. Fordham Designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education
(April 3) The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have designated Fordham as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE).

8. Oscar-Nominated Moonlight Illuminates Miami Film’s Co-Producer
(February 24) Alumnus Andrew Hevia co-produced the film which took home Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

7. Rainbow Rams Represent Fordham in NYC’s Gay Pride March
(June 26) The university was represented for the first time in the annual Pride Parade by the Fordham University Alumni chapter of the Rainbow Rams.

6. Fordham Signs Pledge to Support Paris Climate Change Goals
(June 6) Fordham has joined 180 colleges and universities in signing a pledge, “We Are Still In,” to support the goals laid out by the Paris Climate Agreement.

Class of 2017 Urged to Face Unsettling Times With a Merciful Heart

5. Class of 2017: Face Unsettling Times with a Merciful Heart
(May 20) As thousands on Edwards Parade listened to commencement speaker Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, our news team posted videos of both before and after the ceremony.

4. Haunted Fordham Video
(October 30) Fordham’s Rose Hill campus is widely considered to be one of the most haunted campuses in the Northeast, if not the entire U.S. And we had the spooky stories to prove it.

3. Father McShane Announces University Support for Immigrants and Refugees
(January 29) Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, issued the following statement with regard to President Trump’s executive order on refugees and immigration.

2. Fordham featured prominently on the New York City skyline last night.
(March 28) The Empire State Building was lit in maroon to commemorate Fordham’s 175th anniversary, and the dramatic photo helped boost our 175 Things to Know About Fordham series.

1. Jeopardy! 175th Anniversary Greeting for Fordham
(January 2017) Alex Trebek asking a Final Jeopardy! question on 19-letter words, a shout-out to Fordham’s (What is a) Dodransbicentennial. The post was seen by more than 108,000 viewers.

In a lecture and Q&A with NPR arts correspondent Lynn Neary, TMC ’71, Cotter took listeners on a decidedly spiritual journey on how he developed his views on art, though he said he prefers the term “emotional” over “spiritual.” The sapientia et doctrina event was sponsored by the Center on Religion and Culture.

Cotter said that several religious motifs surfaced as high marks in his experiences with art. He said the highlight of a recent trip to Mexico City was not the galleries, but seeing the Virgin of Guadalupe–as much to observe fellow pilgrims as to view the work of art itself.

Cotter contextualized his views by providing a candid look at his background and growing-up experience. Born in Weston, Massachusetts, not far from where Henry David Thoreau lived on Walden Pond (and where Cotter’s father on worked as a lifeguard), Cotter said the writer became his early hero.

“[Thoreau] liked to be alone, loved animals,” he said. “He was taking the act of seeing and describing very personally and seriously.”

Cotter’s mother read Emily Dickenson to him and his sister at the dinner table on nights when his father worked late, he said. On Saturdays his parents dropped him off at the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, where he explored on his own everything from the Egyptian mummies to the Netherlandish landscapes to the Japanese galleries, which were “remote and ultra-quiet.”

“Museums in the 1950s were not like today,” he said. “This was before blockbusters and before museums became primarily social spaces,” he said. “No one was saying to me, ‘Look at this because it’s great, but never mind that.’ … I got a sense of a side-by-side existence of all kinds of art from many different cultures. And just as important I got a sense of the equal value of those cultures. I think because of that immersion no art has ever felt foreign to me.”

He said that as he got older he began to seek out the art of Africa, Native America, and the Pre-Columbian art of South America, found in “ethnology” museums, but not in art museums. That separation from so-called “‘real art’ mirrored American racial politics at that time.”

At Harvard College, the English literature major fulfilled a science requirement by taking an anthropology course called “Primitive Art,” he said, at a time when the study of such art was rare.

“I loved everything about it,” he said of his college anthropology course.

He also recalled the first time he saw “art that ‘did’ something”—a video of a masquerade dance in Mali. He said well before performance art “became a vanguard art here,” it existed in other cultures.

After college, Cotter said he got a hospital job as an orderly. That visceral experience left him with a sense of mortality which profoundly influenced the way he looks at art. It clarified his affinity for art that deals in life and death, such as religious artifacts, African sculpture, or art from the AIDS epidemic.

He came to New York City in the 1970s, when the South Bronx was producing significant strides in art through hip-hop and graffiti, he said. He lived downtown where he “cobbled together a freelance base” to begin writing about art.

In the early 1980s, when “caution replaced creativity” in the art scene, a show at the Japan Society inspired Cotter to visit Japan, touring monasteries and escaping the growing commercialization of the art world.

“That trip was almost entirely about looking at great sculptures,” he said. “Sculptures were used as acts of worship. People left fresh food for the images, and I could see how much they were loved.”

He said the trip confirmed for him that, while he may not have a religious temperament, he did have a “pilgrim’s temperament.” On returning to New York, he got a job at the City University of New York’s computer center. The position allowed him to take graduate courses at Hunter College. Later, he attended Columbia University.

“Graduate school was completely different,” he said. “You’re doing something you want to do as opposed to something you’re supposed to do.”

He delved into the art of ancient Greece, the art of Islam, and of Turkey. He recalled one teacher who showed an hour and a half slideshow depicting mosques from Africa to Queens, New York. She said very little during the presentation, which ended with an image of an elderly couple seated on a sofa.

“These are my parents,” Cotter said she told the students; by showing the image after so many artistic treasures, his teacher reminded students of the humanness of art that sometimes gets lost in a gallery setting.

“Art is made by people,” he said.

“He was essentially a grandfather to me,” Pettenatti said of Silk, whose stories led the young Pettenati to consider Fordham his “ideal of what a university should be.”

That feeling stayed with Pettenati, who went on to become the first in his immediate family to attend college. “I don’t want to sound sappy,” he said, “but there’s a little bit of pride about being known as a Fordham person. I like being defined by that in my professional life and in my personal life.”

“The broad idea here is to identify how we—as alumni—can help the institution, and also help identify and understand how Fordham can help its alumni,” Pettenati explained. “It’s a great two-way street, and I couldn’t be more overjoyed or honored to represent the 175,000 living Fordham alumni.”

Ted Clarke, FCRH ’82, assistant coach of the men’s squash team at Fordham, has been friends with Pettenati since they took a history class together in college. He isn’t surprised his friend has taken on this role. “He’s a very outgoing guy,” Clarke said, “and he’s always supported Fordham.”

What did surprise Clarke was the size of Fordham’s alumni population. For Pettenati, that’s one of the most exciting aspects of his new volunteer position.

“It’s nice having the chance to get a new perspective of the University, especially since many of the people I meet will be younger than me,” he said.

This intergenerational connection is especially important to Pettenati given that the FUAA is starting up during Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial—its 175th anniversary.

For years, Pettenati has been captivated by his alma mater’s past. In fact, he owns quite a large collection of Fordham memorabilia. “When my Uncle Ed passed away, I inherited a bunch of his old college yearbooks. And all of a sudden eBay came onto the scene,” giving Pettenati easy access to more fascinating objects. He was immediately hooked.

“Fordham has a rich history and, for me, it’s very relaxing and a lot of fun to really dig deep into the history of the school in order to be better acquainted with it in this way,” explained Pettenati, who leads the wealth advisory and business development efforts for Rockefeller & Co., a global wealth and investment management firm in New York City.

After 12 years of eBay hunting, Pettenati jokes that his wife “has had it up to her eyeballs with Fordham glassware.” The plates, mugs, event programs, and more are spread throughout their home, but his favorite piece lives in the garage. It’s an old clock—most likely from the late 1970s—shaped like a football helmet, made of maroon fabric, and sporting a big Fordham seal right underneath the arms. “It’s one of the stranger pieces I have,” Pettenati laughed.

His choice is fitting given his family’s love of the Fordham football program. He and his wife attend every home game, and they often travel for other big events. Fordham football “has a long, proud history of its own,” said Pettenati, who never played the sport himself but has always been a fan.

The Pettenati family also supports Cristo Rey and the Gregorian University Foundation of New York. “We’re big believers in social justice,” Pettenati explained, citing yet another connection to the Jesuit tradition that first drew him to Fordham.

“Fordham is an organic place; it constantly changes and grows,” Pettenati said. “But it still has that Jesuit, Catholic identity. It’s got this wonderful history, and it’s also dynamic and exciting.”

As chair of the new alumni association, Pettenati hopes to represent his fellow alumni in the best possible way. “Fordham gave me a lot more than I can give back to Fordham,” he said.

Yet the contributions of these and other former members of the Fordham faculty are equally distinguished. In many instances they left a lasting effect on their students and their fields of study, and on the underserved populations they championed.

As part of Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial celebration, several of these professors are the subject of an exhibit in the Fordham archives gallery, on the fourth floor of the William D. Walsh Family Library.

“We have many famous names associated with Fordham, persons whose achievements have brought distinction to the University,” said Patrice Kane, head of the University archives and special collections. “This exhibit focuses on those less-known people who did research and made scholarly and community contributions in a significant way. They helped create Fordham’s 175 years of service and wisdom.”

Ministering the Sick

Kane found out about Hermann Blumensaat, S.J., a former professor of mathematics and music, when a man from Germany requested a photo of his headstone from the Rose Hill cemetery.

“He told me that Blumensaat and his friend, Henry Heide, invented Jujubes and Gummy Bears,” said Kane. “They made a million in the candy industry, and then Blumensaat decided he wanted to become a priest.”

After joining the Jesuit order, Father Blumensaat taught at Fordham while also ministering at Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) in the charity and smallpox hospitals. When Heide’s son, Andrew, a Fordham student, became ill with pneumonia, Father Blumensaat cared for him until the student succumbed to the disease (Father Blumensaat later died of the disease himself, Kane said).

A Native American Advocate

One of the more colorful professors featured, John J. Wynne, S.J., a faculty member in the School of Education, appears in a photo wearing an elaborate Indian headdress. It was a gift, Kane said, from the Mohawk Nation for his efforts in the early 20^th century to promote the canonization of the first female Native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha. (She was finally granted sainthood in 2012.)

Father Wynne also helped to found the Jesuit magazine, America.

The Inventor

Before becoming a psychology professor in 1932, Walter Summers, S.J., invented a new form of lie detector test in 1930, a variation of the psychogalvanometer. The standard lie detector test of the day was the Keeler polygraph, which measured heartbeats and blood pressure. Father Summers’ invention, however, measured electrical currents on the skin.

He joined with the New York City police force to test his machine against the standard. In 271 cases, it proved 98 percent accurate against Keller’s 50 percent.

The First Pharmacy Dean

Fordham’s legacy of creating a welcoming space for those persecuted or less fortunate was evident in the early 20^th century when a Russian-born Jew, Jacob Diner, M.D., persuaded Fordham’s Jesuits to open a pharmacy school. Diner, a graduate of Fordham’s School of Medicine, was subsequently named the School of Pharmacy’s first dean in 1912.

“A lot of people felt this was a Catholic college and took offense,” said Kane. “There were others who weren’t comfortable that he brought Jewish students to the school.”

Then-Jesuit Provincial Joseph Keating, S.J., University treasurer, rallied to Diner’s defense, said Kane. Diner remained dean until he retired in 1932, and the School of Pharmacy continued for nearly 40 more years.

The First Female Dean

A Fordham “first” appointment was that of the first female dean at a Jesuit University. Anna E. King, Ph.D., a professor of casework, was appointed to the position of dean of the School of Social Service in 1939 by University President Robert Gannon, S.J. That dean’s appointment, too, was not without controversy; Father Gannon received a complaint from the Jesuit headquarters in Rome.
Nevertheless, King proved to be a savvy dean. “She was ahead of her time,” said Kane, who noted that, by 1945, King had been elected president of the American Association of Schools of Social Service. That same year, she initiated a master’s degree program in social service, and she served as dean until 1954.

An Activist for Puerto Rican Culture

Joseph Fitzpatrick, S.J., a professor of sociology, helped found the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, but is remembered primarily as an activist for New York City’s bourgeoning Puerto Rican community. Kane said that Father Fitzpatrick wrote several books on Puerto Rican culture, and did research on what drove the development of street gangs in different sections of the city.
For his efforts, in 1978, Father Fitzpatrick was named Puerto Rican Man of the Year by a Puerto Rican community group—likely the only Irishman to receive the honor.

The Test Guru

Anne Anastasi, Ph.D., received the National Medal of Science from President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Prior to that, Anastasi taught psychology at Fordham from 1947 to 1985, and also chaired the department. Nicknamed the “test guru”, Anastasi wrote a textbook, Psychological Testing, in 1954 that is considered by many to be the definitive text in the field of testing. The book is in its 9th printing.

In 2008, Fordham created the Anne Anastasi Chair in Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology in her honor; David V. Budescu, Ph.D., is the holder of the chair.

Emphasizing Child Welfare

James R. Dumpson, Ph.D., lived his life breaking boundaries. He served as the first black commissioner of the Department of Welfare of the City of New York prior to coming to Fordham. When he was appointed dean of the Graduate School of Social Service in 1967 (the first black dean of a nonblack college’s school of social work), he recruited faculty from diverse backgrounds and experience, and built up a focus on child welfare.

In 1974, he resigned to take on a new role as commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services. He continued to teach classes as an adjunct professor.

He died in 2012 at the age of 103, but not without first seeing Brenda McGowan, D.S.W., appointed the Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare Studies in 2009.

Other more well-known names have made Fordham’s halls their home, including Nobel Prize winner Victor Hess (physics, 1938-56), Margaret Mead (anthropology, 1968-70), Marshall McLuhan (media, 1967-68) and Avery Cardinal Dulles (theology, 1988-2008).

Their stories, too, are part of the exhibit, which Kane says will be up through Fordham’s Dodransbicentennial year.

–Janet Sassi

This year, as we mark our 175th anniversary, we celebrate our Catholic, Jesuit roots; our abiding ties to New York City; and the hundreds of thousands of men and women whose lives Fordham has touched and changed since 1841.

Here are 175 stories, a mere sampling of the people, places, objects, gifts, discoveries, ideals, and events that have shaped—and been shaped by—the Jesuit University of New York.

Taken together, they provide a sense of Fordham’s history and influence. They link generations past and present. And they point us toward the stories of wisdom, learning, service, and faith that will continue to define us in the years and decades to come.

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.)

The party, which was held for members of the Young Alumni President’s Club as well as alumni, parents and friends who’ve given $1,000 or more in a fiscal year, was an unofficial kickoff for the holiday season and a chance for old friends to catch up with each other and make new acquaintances.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, used the occasion to remind attendees that come December 25, the University will be celebrating its 175th Christmas, as part of its Dodransbicentennial anniversary.

“Dodransbicentennial—Say it loud, and there’s music playing. Say it soft, and it’s almost like praying. I cannot stop saying it,” he said.

This year, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate, including

-This summer, a record 44,000 applications were submitted for the incoming freshman class.
-The class of 2020 is the most geographically diverse in the University’s history.
-Both women’s softball team and mens’ soccer team were A-10 champions this year.
-The mens’ football team is 8-3 and on November 12, the Rams defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders for their first win at Yankee Stadium since 1941.

It is also, he noted, a time to celebrate 175 years of Fordham miracles: Young men and women of extraordinary talent and great generosity of heart who come to Fordham to be transformed.

“Fordham gives a distinctive education. It teaches young men and women to read critically, to think analytically, to write with persuasion, to speak with eloquence, to set their moral compasses so that they can go forward and lead lives filled with a sense of noble purpose,” Father McShane said.

“Without you, the Fordham miracles stops. Without your generosity, lives cannot be transformed. Because of you, the sacred ministry can continue.”

In fact, he said, attendees are not just benefactors; they are “colleagues in ministry,” and practically members of the Society of Jesus, sans the SJ initials.

“When I say your names in prayer, this, my friends is when music wells up in my heart, and tears in my eyes. You are colleagues in ministry, men and women, whom Ignatius would claim as his own.”

More than 21,000 descended on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Nov. 12 to cheer on their teams from Holy Cross and Fordham, as they fought for the Ram-Crusader Cup. The Rams made the most of their once-in-lifetime chance to play at the world famous venue, taking the cup after defeating the Crusaders, 54-14.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, called the Ram-Crusader competition a “friendly rivalry,” and fans taking the subway to the stadium proved him right. On the uptown No. 4 train, groups of purple-clad Crusaders jovially jousted with maroon-clad Rams, as Bronx locals characteristically paid little attention to the commotion.

Father McShane said the last time Fordham Rams played Yankee Stadium was in 1946—and they lost. However, the team had won previously at the stadium during the University’s centennial year in 1941.

“And for us to be going at it with Holy Cross, a Jesuit sister school, is just great,” he said.

Philip Borough, S.J., president of Holy Cross, agreed. “Yankee Stadium! Every little boy and girl in America dreams of being here,” he said.

The two school presidents met before the game in the Steinbrenner Suite. Father McShane noted that Holy Cross would be celebrating its 175^th anniversary in two years, and proposed a rematch at the stadium in two years’ time. Father Borough said that with nearly 10,000 tickets sold to Holy Cross fans “that might be a good point.”

At a pregame celebration of nearly 300 Fordham alumni, unofficial reunions took place among small groups, over plates of hot dogs and hamburgers. Brian Quinn, FCRH ’01, who traveled from Dallas with his family, recalled his years on the football team, which he admitted “weren’t very good.” As he surveyed the stadium he joked, “This is a big upgrade since then.”

Nearby, Maureen Bateman, LAW ’68, and Warren Gregory, FCRH ’66, talked about the ties that bind Fordham’s schools.

“It comes from the philosophy classes,” Bateman said, adding that her son Daniel who majored in physics at Fordham College at Lincoln Center “still has the Fordham spirit.”

“It is Jesuit, and their philosophy is serving others,” said Gregory.

The Jesuit philosophy was on display in the stadium as well. Colleagues of Sheena De Loache, a student at the Graduate School of Social Service, donated their tickets so that she could take a group special needs adults to the game.

“They had a blast of a time,” De Loache said.

Elsewhere in the stands, John Hanley, LAW ’00, wore a jersey half purple and half maroon, with logos of both teams. His son John graduated from Holy Cross last spring and his son Thomas is a sophomore at the Gabelli School of Business. But as a Fordham alumnus, he wore maroon socks to “tip the balance a little bit.”

But in the end, it was about more than the game.

“To see these young men to play at Yankee Stadium is a big deal,” said Bob Daleo, chairman of Fordham’s board of trustees. “We’ve had players go on to the NFL, but most of these kids are here for an education that will change their lives. This experience is just icing on the cake.”

[doptg id=”64″]

TOUCHDOWN! Fourth quarter, 47-14, Rams winning #RCCup #GoRams #fordhamfootball

A photo posted by Fordham University (@fordhamuniversity) on Nov 12, 2016 at 2:39pm PST

The event was billed as the Fall Gratitude Reception, and it honored the campus’ many Westchester partners—like Kevin Mahoney, PCS ’00, senior vice president for investments at Raymond James Financial.

Like so many nontraditional graduates from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS), Mahoney has a colorful backstory. He spent two years at Rose Hill on a football scholarship before dropping out.
“I was an immature kid, I was an athlete, I got hurt, I got mad, and I dropped out,” he said.

Even with just two years at Fordham, he said he ended up doing okay. He landed a job in the financial sector at Merrill Lynch. But his mother remained disappointed that he didn’t finish college.

“She grew up in the city and, to her mind, the best Irish Catholic kids went to Fordham,” he said.

On falling ill, she reminded him of his promise “to finish up at Fordham.” He did, and today he chairs the PCS Dean’s Advisory Board.

“I lived on campus, off campus, commuted,” he said. “I lived every experience Fordham had to offer. It was one of those things: I didn’t need it for my career, but I made a promise.”

Mahoney was one of 12 honorees. The Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) honored Kevin McGuire, commissioner of Westchester County Department of Social Service. In addition to his professional connection to the University, his wife, Joan McGuire graduated from PCS (as Joan Candela) in 1974 and from the Graduate School of Education in 1979. Fordham’s Walter Jaskiewicz, S.J. married the two. And when her family’s apartment caught fire in nearby Belmont, then-Fordham President Laurence McGinley, S.J., allowed the family to live on campus till they could find a new home.

“My connection to the University is more than just passing,” said McGuire. “It’s personal.”

On a professional level, McGuire said that Fordham’s Ravazzin Center has been integral to Westchester’s Building Futures program, which helps foster care teens and other teens avoid homelessness.

“Fordham was an essential partner who could do the research and validate the work we were doing,” said McGuire.

Honoree Patricia Langan, principal of the Patricia A. DiChiaro School in Yonkers, praised the “professionalism that Fordham’s Graduate School of Education brings into a building.”

“Fordham comes to our school and works with our teachers, they work with the children, provide workshops for our staff, they’ve helped build a professional learning community,” she said. “They … make our educators better.”

The benefits of Fordham Westchester seem to go well beyond the campus’s 32 acres, noted Harrison Mayor Ron Belmont. He credited the University with economic revitalization of the office park neighborhood.

“Fordham has been a catalyst for the entire strip of Westchester Avenue,” he said. “This was a ghost town. Office parks were fading, and Fordham had the insight to do this at a very early stage nearly 20 years ago.”

Belmont said the University got the ball rolling; now, a soon-to-open 400-unit apartment complex with restaurants and a major supermarket on its way.

“It’s all thanks to Fordham,” he said.

The reception was sponsored by Fordham Westchester, the GSS, the PCS, the Fordham University Alumni Association of Westchester, and the Fordham University Association.

It wasn’t always so, though. When Archbishop John Hughes founded what was then St. John’s College in 1941, the school was a haven of sorts in a city that was hostile to Irish immigrants, like him.

This year, in honor of the University’s Dodransbicentennial celebration, Fordham Theatre will perform four plays on its main stage that feature characters who, like Archbishop Hughes, cope with displacement—by creating their own reality.

The four plays that will be staged at Pope Auditorium are:

Electric Baby by Stefanie Zadravec, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Oct. 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14
Cockfight by Peter Gil-Sheridan, FCLC ‘98, directed by Anna Brenner
Nov. 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19
The Luck of the Irish by Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Geoffrey Owens
Feb. 23, 24, 25, March 1, 2, 3
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, directed by George Drance, S.J.
April 5, 6, 7, 20, 21, 22

Theatre program director Matthew Maguire said that the four plays share a comic sensibility; this year, there are no tragedies in the repertoire.

“Since it’s Fordham’s celebratory year, we wanted to celebrate with comedy, but comedy with teeth, and comedy that would be meaningful,” he said.

As is custom, students played a large part in the selections, which were discussed at five forums last year. Maguire noted that Electric Baby was brought to his attention by a student who’d seen it performed at the Two River Theater in New Jersey. The play is about a Nigerian and a Romanian immigrant who shape the lives of the Americans around them.

In Cockfight, a character is displaced both in the literal sense, having fled from Cuba, and in the emotional sense as well, as a gay boy trying to come out in a world dominated by his father’s machismo.

Luck of the Irish is the story of a black family who moves into a white neighborhood through an arrangement with an Irish-American ghost-buyer. They, too, are both literally and emotionally displaced, because they are made to feel that they don’t belong.

And in the classic The Winter’s Tale, Hermione is driven from her home by her husband’s insane jealousy, and Perdita, their daughter, is abandoned in a foreign land at birth.

In addition to striving to bring quality roles to students, Maguire said he also strives to stage plays whose creators are available to collaborate. This season, playwrights Peter Gil-Sheridan and Stefanie Zadravec will be present for rehearsals. As a graduate of Fordham’s theatre program, Gil-Sheridan, who now heads the MFA Playwriting Program at Indiana University, is a true success story, said Maguire.

“Their presence influences the way our students are going to get work down the road, because they’ve been in the room with these working artists. They may think a good role is John Proctor in The Crucible, and of course it is, but for an actor, it’s even better if you get to step into a role for the first time with the playwright,” he said.

“A good role is one where you can change people’s lives. Social justice is what this school is all about, and so our season emanates a sense of social justice.”