Now, as she helps plan this year’s Jubilee reunion weekend, she wants her fellow alumni to reconnect with their own college memories—and how their Fordham experiences have fueled their lives and careers.

“I had a world-class education, and I took every bit of advantage of it … but I also loved that I was in New York City,” said Sullivan, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan Lovells, a global law firm. “I had organized my life so that I had no classes on Friday, and I would walk up to the D train, and I would go down to Fifth Avenue and window shop in stores that I couldn’t begin to afford.”

Sullivan is one of 15 alumni serving on the Class of 1973 planning committee, a dedicated group of volunteers helping to plan engagement events and reach out to fellow classmates leading up to the reunion celebration, from June 2 to 4. Though class years ending in 3 and 8 will be celebrated this year, all Rose Hill alumni are welcome.

As vice chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, Sullivan gets back to campus fairly often, but she said it’s not quite the same as getting to reunite with her fellow Rams.

“I am really excited at the prospect of seeing people who I have not seen in many cases since graduation,” she said, “and in some cases just rarely because I’m not in New York and a lot of my friends from Fordham stayed in the New York area.”

Breaking Ground—and Glass Ceilings

The women of Thomas More College—Fordham’s undergraduate school for women from 1964 to 1974—are known for being trailblazers in various fields, and Sullivan is certainly no exception. She’s one of the top energy lawyers in the country, having served as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy in the Clinton administration and as the department’s deputy general counsel for environment and nuclear programs.

Both of Sullivan’s parents—Eileen Ahern Sullivan, UGE ’42, LAW ’46, and Francis J. Sullivan, LAW ’34—were Fordham graduates, and they showed her firsthand the value of public service, particularly through their involvement with the fair housing movement. “We didn’t talk about ‘men and women for others’ then,” she said at a Presidential Welcome Reception she hosted with her husband, Larry Petro, at her firm’s offices in Washington, D.C. “That’s just the life they lived. And what they taught me.”

That sentiment fuels her efforts to combat climate change, both personally and professionally: She provided critical legal support for the world’s first deep geologic disposal facility for radioactive waste, for example, and negotiated the first agreements with electric utilities on voluntarily reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At Fordham’s 2015 Commencement, the University bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in recognition of “her exceptional and groundbreaking leadership in energy law.”

She’s passionate about giving back, as well. She’s a member of Fordham’s Doty Loyalty Giving Society and the 1841 Society, and has created and supported a number of endowed scholarships funds, including the Eileen Sullivan & Francis J. Sullivan Endowed Scholarship (named in honor of her parents), the Thomas More College Endowed Scholarship Fund, and the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

Sullivan also has supported the Global Outreach program, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

‘A Very Fordham Thing’

Though she was a self-described “nerd” and serious student who focused her studies on metaphysics, Russian literature, and economics, she was among the student protesters who “took over” the University’s administration building during the Vietnam War. She described the early 1970s as an “era of protest” but added that their particular occupation was a very “Fordham experience,” meaning it was more orderly than most.

“I will never forget this guy in the business school had a can of Pledge,” she said, “and as we were leaving the building, he was polishing the table. We were very respectful of the space. It was totally Fordham, you know.”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
I am passionate about climate change. We are frying the planet, and there is too little urgency about the need to change our behavior. It is on all of us to do what we can to turn things around: Insist on carbon-free power from your local utility—it is available if you ask—take public transportation, don’t drink water that has traveled on the road (i.e., bottled water), “reduce, reuse, recycle” in every part of life, don’t order anything for home delivery if you can pick it up the next time you are out running multiple errands, and never order just one thing for home delivery. The traffic jam of delivery trucks in my neighborhood drives me crazy because of the horrific carbon footprint it represents. There are promising big solutions out there, but the little stuff that we can control matters more than we acknowledge.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I got was probably in first grade, when I told my mother school was too hard. She told me I could do it if I tried. Effort is not everything, but in my life, it has counted for a lot.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
In New York City, my favorite place is the Brooklyn Bridge, on foot. You can see the skyline of New York and the Statue of Liberty, which cannot help but inspire. At the same time, you can look at the river and New York Harbor and imagine New York before it was New York, when nature was all around. I think it is a magical walk.

The world has so many spectacularly beautiful and exciting places. Picking one favorite is hard. In the end, I come down to Antarctica. It is spectacularly beautiful and different from everywhere else I have been on the planet. And it is where I learned that penguins operate their own, very organized daycare centers. It was amazing to see some adult penguins stay behind with the babies who cannot yet swim while others went out and got food and brought it back for the babies and the daycare workers. For some reason, that made more of an impression on me than almost anything else I have seen in my travels.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I confess that I am not as much of a reader as I wish I were or should be. Sitting quietly is not my strong suit. However, a couple of years ago, I picked up Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman from one of those little neighborhood library boxes. I loved it so much I read it cover to cover twice in short succession. It was a tale of overcoming incredibly challenging personal circumstances with the help of acts of kindness of others. Notwithstanding the trauma underlying her story, I found it a very hopeful story.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
I was a philosophy major when Fordham was home to a pantheon of philosophy giants: Norris Clark, S.J., Robert O’Connell, S.J., and Quentin Lauer, S.J., to name a few. I cannot pick one among them. I loved the education I got as a philosophy major and can remember 50 years later some of the insights I took away from their classes.

What are you optimistic about?
In my family, I am often referred to as Pollyanna, which has become a noun that means “an excessively cheerful or optimistic person.” Does that mean I am optimistic about everything? I think it really means I am good at forgetting the bad stuff. But I guess I am optimistic that we can make a difference in this world, which has many things to be pessimistic about, if we try.

Now, more than five decades later, Ninehan is supporting her old New York City neighborhood, one of the hardest hit by COVID-19, while paying tribute to the lifelong mentor and friend she found at Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

Her gift to Fordham’s new Cultural Engagement Internships program—made in honor of the late history professor Anne M. Mannion, Ph.D., UGE ’58—helped make it possible for the Elmhurst Corona Recovery Collaborative to offer a paid internship this year, giving a Fordham student an opportunity to support the collaborative’s efforts to meet the food security, mental health, and other needs of community members impacted by the pandemic.

For Ninehan, who graduated from Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) in 1974 and earned a Master of Science degree from Fordham’s Graduate School of Education in 2000, supporting Fordham students is a way to express gratitude for the education she received.

“The people I met, the professors I had: It was a whole world. The elevator doors would open up and you didn’t know who was going to walk out—what new celebrity,” she said, recalling one particular instance during her first year when she attended a lecture by noted anthropologist Margaret Mead, Ph.D., who was teaching at Fordham at the time.

This access to outstanding professors was eye-opening for Ninehan, but it certainly wasn’t rare. She said history professor John F. Roche, Ph.D., who died in 2012, “was really an inspiration,” and Mannion even attended Ninehan’s wedding to fellow Ram William J. Ninehan, FCLC ’93, in 1975.

Ninehan remained close to Mannion, exchanging annual holiday cards with her until she died in 2013, a year after retiring from her 53-year-long career at FCLC. She credits Mannion with not only teaching her about history but also modeling how to teach.

“She was really the most outstanding professor,” Ninehan said. “Her enthusiasm, her love of subject: It all enhanced the pedagogy. You can learn methodology, you can learn classroom management, but if you don’t bring that spark that’s a love of your subject with you, it’s meaningless.”

Never Say Never

Despite her passion for teaching, Ninehan didn’t secure a full-time teaching position until 14 years after earning her bachelor’s degree. In the meantime, she parlayed the part-time job she’d held at Bloomingdale’s as a student into a full-time gig as a personal shopper. Due to her background in history, Ninehan often was assigned to work with foreign dignitaries and political figures, but she said it was “not what I intended to be in my life.”

Finally, while reading the newspaper on the way to work in 1988, she saw a classified ad for a seventh-grade social studies teacher—“just by the grace of God,” she said. “I never used to take the newspaper to work and one day I did.”

“I called when I got to my office and the secretary said, ‘Sister will call you back,’ and I thought, ‘Catholic school?’ And that’s where I’ve been ever since.”

Funnily enough, if it hadn’t been for some insistent advice Ninehan received as a student, her path may have differed. When applying for New York state teacher certification, someone suggested she also apply for New Jersey certification. As a “kid from Queens,” she thought, “I’m never going to live in New Jersey,” but that’s where her teaching career has taken place, the bulk of it at the very first school she found via the newspaper ad: Perth Amboy Catholic School in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

In addition to serving as a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at Perth Amboy, Ninehan was a principal there. After an autoimmune disease diagnosis in 2011 prompted her retirement, Ninehan continued to teach part time and volunteer at the school. Due to COVID-19, she hasn’t been able to return to Perth Amboy yet, but she said she helps out however she can.

“I’ve done things like revise the handbook and helped with alumni affairs—things of that nature,” Ninehan said. “Things that are not classroom per se, but school-oriented. So, it’s kept me in the loop.”

A Cause Close to Home

As a faithful Fordham donor for more than 20 years—a milestone that earned her entrance into the University’s Doty Society—and an “Elmhurst girl” who walked to PS 13 and high school, Ninehan didn’t think twice about supporting Fordham’s Cultural Engagement Internships program after learning about it during this year’s Lincoln Center Block Party reunion, held virtually in June. The program offers FCLC and Fordham College at Rose Hill students the opportunity to participate in paid internships at local nonprofits and cultural institutions, like the Elmhurst Corona Recovery Collaborative.

Ninehan is one of several alumni donors who have stepped up to help fund student pay and expand the program. She said that while Elmhurst has “taken quite a beating—economically and physically”—over the years, it “was a wonderful place to grow up,” and it means a lot to her that people are interested in preserving the community and helping the people who live there.

“The fact that an intern can help, it’s a double blessing,” she added. “I can help [a Fordham student]do something that’s meaningful and you could help the community you came from; it just made perfect sense.”

Fordham has meant a “great deal” to Ninehan, and she’s looking forward to a time when she can connect with the Fordham community in person again. (She’ll have opportunities pretty soon: Numerous in-person alumni events are returning this month, and Homecoming, scheduled for Saturday, October 9, will be in person, too.)

“In terms of the guidance I got, in terms of my courses, the influence of the professors, and then the lifetime relationships and the friends I made, the friends I still have, my husband: It’s all Fordham,” she said.

What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about teaching.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best piece of advice I ever received was to go to Fordham, because of my lasting personal relationships and its impact on my career.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
Although I have enjoyed visiting many places, my favorite place has always been my classroom.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I couldn’t possibly name just one book; influence or inspiration comes from many and sometimes unexpected sources.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
Anne Mannion’s love of history and her infectious enthusiasm made her a truly great teacher and role model.

What are you optimistic about?
Despite the many challenges that face us all, with the grace of God, I am optimistic about the future.

“I didn’t give until I had a regular job and I think my first gift was $100,” recalled Leahy, who has been giving for years and recently pledged a total of $684,000 to the University. “Now that I’m retired, I’m able to give back to a place that deserves it.”

Over the past few months, Fordham has quietly begun to recognize donors who have given to the University consistently for more than 20 years. They are being distinguished through a newly formed program called the Doty Society, named for the late George E. Doty, FCRH ’38.

The society is named in Doty’s honor because he was a consistent giver from 1957 until his death in 2012.

“The society doesn’t differentiate between donors that may have skipped a year here or there,” said Susan Ball, senior director of the Fordham Fund. “And the giving can be any amount, as long as it’s regular.”

Leahy, who grew up of modest means just a few blocks from the University, was the son of a train conductor. He said he wouldn’t have been able to attend Fordham had it not been for a New York State Regents Scholarship.

“I’m sure there’s still a lot of people in the Bronx who would find it difficult to go to Fordham these days as well,” he said.

Over Jubilee weekend, several University gift officers distributed pins to new society members, like Peggy Ferguson Boyd, FCRH ’90. The youngest of eight children, she was the only one to go off to college. She said she received a variety of grants that helped make her education possible.

“I give because it’s important for the institution to bring people like myself, who didn’t come from a strong financial background or a legacy family, to be able to come to Fordham,” she said. “Some years I gave $200, some years $50, but it adds up.”

Frank Lucianna, FCRH ’48, LAW ’51 has cumulatively donated more than $257,000.

“No matter what amount it was, I always gave,” said the 92-year-old lawyer.

Lucianna began at Fordham in 1942, but soon left to join the Army Air Forces during World War II. When he returned to Fordham, he became the captain of the track team. His granddaughter, sophomore Elizabeth Wafer, is now a member of the women’s track team.

Back then he commuted from Englewood, New Jersey, where he eventually started his law practice. His daughters Nancy and Diane Lucianna are also graduates of Fordham Law. Diane is a partner with her father in Hackensack, and Nancy has her own practice in Fort Lee.

Lucianna, who practices criminal law, credits Fordham with providing him with ethics that have kept him from “stepping over the red line.” He added that the University fostered in him a firm belief in redemption, even for some of the most hardened criminals.

“I go to Mass every day. It’s hard, but I do it—and I still make it in to court in time,” he said. He said that the mixture of immigrants and hardworking students he encountered at Fordham “were some of the best people I’ve ever met.”

“I have an outstanding debt to Fordham that I can’t forget. I’ll keep contributing as long as I can.”