In his State of the University address, Father McShane reported that among Fordham’s achievements is a record-high endowment of $548 million.

“This is the highest that our endowment has ever reached, surpassing the $513 million that it had reached just before the economic downturn,” he said.

A robust endowment, Father McShane explained, is crucial to providing students with financial aid, supporting academic operations, and securing the University’s reputation. In the spirit of reaching ever upward, the University will continue toward its endowment goal of $1 billion, Father McShane said.

Other capital projects at Fordham have also shown marked growth. Following the successful completion of the $104 million, 460-bed residence hall complex at the Rose Hill campus in 2011, this year’s capital projects carry on the impressive trend. The $38 million renovation of Hughes Hall, the new home of the Gabelli School of Business, finished on time and has opened for the new academic year. Also on schedule is the construction of the new Law School and residence hall at Lincoln Center. The building, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2014, will cost $250 million when completed, making it the largest capital project in the history of Jesuit education, he said.

Fordham’s capital campaign, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, exceeded its goal of raising $45 million last year, bringing in $49.5 million for the University. Specific goals within the capital campaign, including scholarship endowments and support for academic programs, also exceeded the prior forecast.

Father McShane, however, remained adamant about boosting other areas of the campaign, such as endowed professorships and capital projects, as well as making sure the campaign overall continues to move upward, calling it his number one priority.

“We will continue our work in these areas and will continue to welcome gifts for the oversubscribed
categories as we make the final push to raise the remaining $50 million,” he said.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said the launching of the Bronx Science Consortium will continue to be a priority in the upcoming year. A partnership among Fordham, the New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, Montefiore Medical Center, and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine/Yeshiva University, the consortium will undertake research and education initiatives to address critical scientific and medical issues.

“The recently launched Bronx Science Consortium offers a new model of research, education, and community engagement,” said Freedman. “It brings together five dynamic institutions with deep historical ties to The Bronx and growing collaborative ties to each other. They will work very closely this coming year to develop its enormous potential as a central hub of scientific excellence with local, national, and global impact.”

Commenting on admissions, Father McShane announced that Fordham welcomed its most talented class in the University’s history, and one in which 32 percent of the class came from underrepresented backgrounds. The average SAT/ACT score for the incoming class of 1,849 students is 1264, an 11-point gain over last year. In addition, the class comprises 11 President Scholars, 78 National Merit caliber students, 51 National Merit Scholars, 24 National Hispanic Scholars, three National Achievement Scholars, and one United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts (one of only three recipients in the country). Some 93 percent of its members received some form of financial aid.

Nevertheless, this announcement came with a cautionary note: Intensely shifting demographics and a slow, uneven economic recovery mean that increased competition among colleges, especially in the Northeast, will make next year a challenge.

Moreover, acute media scrutiny on the value of higher education and potential cuts from both the state and federal governments will inevitably have an impact on institutions of higher education.

“We are entering into a more competitive, more financially challenging, and more closely watched period in the coming years,” he said. “Therefore, we will have to be ever more creative in the ways in which we educate our students and go about our work.”

Other Fordham achievements include:

• Several schools rose in last year’s U.S. News & World Report, most notably the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), which leapt to No. 11 from No. 18. The Law School rose one place to No. 29 and received solid rankings in several of its programs. In addition, BusinessWeek named the Gabelli School of Business the 49th best undergraduate business program in the nation, up from No. 52.

• Last year students won eight Fulbright awards, four Boren awards, three National Science Foundation fellowships, two NYC Urban Fellowships, and one Lilly Fellowship for Graduate Study.

• Faculty grant activity and publications boast impressive numbers. Fordham faculty carry $51 million in multi-year grant funding, up 52 percent in five years. Across the schools, faculty members published 203 books and 304 articles, and made 1,168 presentations at scholarly conferences.

“I can not give enough credit to the campaign volunteers and staff,” said Al Checcio, vice president for development and university relations. “Even in one of the toughest economic climates I’ve seen in my career, our trustee volunteers and professional staff have been able to convey the importance of Fordham’s mission, and the need to support that mission financially. As Fordham moves forward in the public phase, the schools and colleges will play a larger, more active role.”

The campaign will raise $500 million to support new facilities, more student scholarships, more endowed faculty chairs and more funding for academic endeavors throughout Fordham’s colleges and schools. Half of the money raised will fund academic improvements, including $150 million for endowed scholarships and endowed professorships and $100 million in support for various academic endeavors.

This year Fordham raised $32.6 million in cash (gifts and pledge payments), and $50.1 million in pledges. At the end of the “silent phase” of the campaign, in March, the University had raised $266 million: more than half the overall goal. See the campaign website for more details, and for ways to give to Fordham: http://www.fordham.edu/campaign.

On March 30, Fordham University launched the public phase of a far-reaching fundraising campaign in support of new levels of academic excellence at Fordham and greater stature for the University as a nationally prominent center of learning.

Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham seeks $500 million to support new facilities, more student scholarships, more endowed faculty chairs and more funding for academic endeavors throughout Fordham’s colleges and schools.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, announced the campaign before an audience of more than 900 supporters gathered at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan.

“For 168 years, Fordham has always told its sons and daughters to move beyond the limitations or constraints that they feel hold them back,” Father McShane said. “This night, we return the favor. This night, we pay back this institution that embraced us with faith, nurtured us with love and sent us out into the world with hope. This night, we announce the public kickoff of the most ambitious capital campaign in Fordham’s long and storied history.”

Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham seeks new stature for the University by 2016, the 175th anniversary of Fordham’s founding. It comes at a time when the University is climbing sharply in college rankings, gaining more recognition for its academic programs and attracting more of the nation’s top students.

“The campaign for Fordham University will be a transforming experience for this University,” said John Tognino (FCLS ’75), chairman of the Fordham Board of Trustees. “It will be the catalyst to propel us to 2016, when we will be the premier Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States, and it will afford us the opportunity to continue to fulfill our mission, and that is educating men and women of distinction.”

The campaign is more than halfway complete, with $266 million raised. It has been leaving its mark on the University since 2004—during the campaign’s “quiet” phase—in the form of endowed faculty chairs, endowed scholarships and new residence halls being built on the Rose Hill campus.

The campaign has already drawn three gifts of $5 million, four gifts of $7 million and three gifts of $10 million.

The campaign kickoff took place immediately following the Fordham Founder’s Award Dinner, which honored two Fordham benefactors and members of the Board of Trustees—James E. Buckman, Esq. (FCRH ’66) and John P. Kehoe (FCRH ’60, FCLC ’85)—who are also co-chairs of the campaign.

At the event, Father McShane described campaign goals that will bring improvements throughout the University.

Academic Support
Half of the money raised by the campaign will fund academic improvements. That includes $150 million for endowed scholarships and endowed professorships and $100 million in support for various academic endeavors: faculty recruitment and retention; research endowments for faculty; funding for Fordham centers and institutes; and support for academic programs such as on-campus living and learning communities and honors programs.

The University seeks more scholarship funding so it can continue to open its doors to the most academically promising students—now, and in future generations, Buckman said.

“I was very fortunate to be able to attend Fordham via scholarships provided to me by the University as well as by other sources. Had I not received that scholarship help, it would have been very difficult for my parents to send me to Fordham,” he said. “We still have a number of students who are in similar situations.”

Another campaign goal is to add 40 endowed chairs, thereby attracting more of the nation’s top scholars while improving the student-to-faculty ratio and allowing faculty more time for research and mentoring students. The increase is also expected to diversify the fields of academic expertise at Fordham and pave the way for innovative, interdisciplinary programs on topics of current interest, Buckman said.

Fordham wants endowed chairs in science education, immigration and refugee studies, interfaith dialogues and environmental science, among other topics with deep resonance.

Annual Giving
The University has set a goal of $80 million in annual support that helps meet emergent needs throughout the University. These gifts, frequently matched by corporations and foundations, help keep tuition down and give the University financial flexibility for meeting new funding challenges.

Some annual gifts are unrestricted, allowing them to be used University-wide, while others may be directed to particular colleges and schools to support research, travel to academic conferences, or other academic needs.

Facilities
The University has outgrown its facilities since the last campaign, which was pegged to the 150th anniversary of the University in 1991, Kehoe said.

“In the interim, we have not had a campaign to go and fuel the resources of the University and to continue to build it,” he said.

One major project is a new building for Fordham Law School, widely acknowledged as one of the best law schools in the country. It has 1,500 students in a building designed for 650, and its space per student is less than half the amount offered by the nation’s top 20 law schools.

Other improvements sought for the Lincoln Center campus include a 400-bed residence hall and classroom renovations. One campaign goal for the Lincoln Center campus has already been realized: the Veronica Lally Kehoe Studio Theatre, a state-of-the-art facility, dedicated in February, which was made possible by a $2 million gift from Kehoe.

On the Rose Hill campus, the campaign is raising funds for the construction of Campbell, Salice and Conley residence halls, to be built on the southwestern part of campus by 2010.

Groundbreaking for the halls was held last year. The projects are supported by benefactors including Thomas P. Salice (CBA ’82); his wife, Susan Conley Salice (FCRH ’82); Robert E. Campbell (CBA ’55); and his wife, Joan M. Campbell.

A new campus center and a recreation and intercollegiate athletics center will also come to the Rose Hill campus as part of the campaign. The 140,000-square-foot campus center will house campus ministry, student services, a ballroom, a food court and a career planning and placement center, among other features.

The recreation and athletics center—measuring 150,000 square feet—will reconfigure the outmoded Lombardi Memorial Athletic Center and the Rose Hill Gymnasium into a state-of-the-art center for sports and physical fitness.

The facilities projects will cost $170 million.

Kehoe noted that the University already has in place the essential infrastructure of learning—dedicated students and a Jesuit tradition of educational achievement.

“We don’t have the facilities other universities have. But we turn out excellence,” he said.

Apart from the specific improvements being sought, a central part of the campaign is Fordham’s Jesuit identity, with its attention to the full development of each student—intellectual, spiritual and moral—and its emphasis on being men and women for others.

“It’s not just about bricks and mortar, although that’s very important. It’s not just about meeting campaign goals, although that’s very important,” Father McShane said. “It’s really about investing in an institution that has, from its very founding, been all about the work of transforming people, transforming the city, transforming the world and serving God.”

Said Kehoe: “In Fordham, you find not just education, you find a way of being, a way of thinking. There’s love at Fordham. There’s redemption at Fordham. Fordham is a continuing way of life.”