Thanks to a new grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the library will be able to keep adding to the COVID-19 archive that it began assembling in April 2020. The archive is currently made up of items that are reminiscent of the many stages of the pandemic, including “Do Not Sit Here” signage and floor arrow decals, Fordham’s COVID-19 “Five Things” e-mails, photos of testing tents, and press coverage from the Observer newspaper. LoSchiavo said there are currently roughly 400 items in the collection, and she’d like to get to 1,000 by the end of the year. 

It’s an ambitious goal, but LoSchiavo is optimistic it can be done. The federal grant of $30,299 will allow the library to purchase heavy-duty, high-end scanners to catalogue printed material and camera equipment to conduct interviews with as many members of the community as possible. From the shutdown in March 2020, to the transition to remote learning, to connecting with colleagues from home, to deep cleaning building interiors, LoSchiavo wants to hear from the people who lived it. 

“I really thought this was a way to show future historians how lives changed under the duress of a pandemic. If enough schools do this, it’ll be a way to compare and contrast how public institutions handled it, how private institutions handled it, and how as a large Catholic, Jesuit university in the middle of New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, it affected our students’ lives,” she said.

The hope is to get everyone on record, from vice presidents and deans to administrators, faculty, and staff. LoSchiavo said the library is still working on a formal way to reach out to everyone in the University community and let them sign up for interviews; she plans to share updates via the library’s blog. Interviews will be conducted in person, over the phone, through Zoom, and via e-mail.

She’s especially interested in highlighting the can-do spirit that the community embraced during the pandemic.

“We shut the doors at the library on Friday, March 20, but we never stopped. On March 21, we were still at it, virtually. I had teams of people who just knew what they had to do, and they just kept getting it done,” she said, noting that this was a pattern that was repeated across the University.

“I look at what the facilities people had to do in the spring and summer to get us open for August 2020. The maintenance people were certainly in this building every day and night, cleaning. These are people we want to talk to.”

Above all, LoSchiavo is cognizant that as months and the years pass, people tend to forget how quickly things changed. But hopefully, everyone will be able to look back at that time with pride.

“When we got back, I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘Well, no one was laid off,’” she said.

“For the most part, I felt like it was a really a spirit of optimism, and hopefully that’s what will come through.”

Fordham’s donors, alumni, and friends gathered on Nov. 8 not only to honor the Founder’s Scholars—Fordham students whose scholarships are supported by the event—but also to pay tribute to the evening’s honorees: Emanuel “Manny” Chirico, GABELLI ’79, PAR; his wife Joanne M. Chirico, PAR; and Joseph H. Moglia, FCRH ’71.

“I would like to thank all of you for supporting this long-overdue annual celebration of our beloved University,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

Father McShane noted that there was “eager longing” for this Founder’s Dinner, in part because of the last 18 months but also because it kicked off the new campaign for the student experience.

“We also celebrate the public launch of the Cura Personalis campaign, a campaign that will make it possible for the University to continue to redeem the promise that it has made to its students for 180 years: the promise to provide them with the kind of personal, empowering, and transformative care that has always been the hallmark of a Fordham education,” he said. “I am happy to tell you that, thanks to the generosity that you have already shown, we have already raised $170 million toward the $350 million goal. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

All attendees were required to be fully vaccinated and wear a mask when entering The Glasshouse, which featured sweeping views overlooking the Hudson, outdoor terraces, and an airy ballroom lit by modern chandeliers.

Supporting the Students

David Ushery, the anchor for NBC 4 New York’s 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts, emceed the Founder’s Dinner, which began in 2002 and has raised more than $42 million to support the Fordham Founder’s Scholarship Fund. Ushery received an honorary doctorate from Fordham in 2019, and his wife, Isabel Rivera-Ushery, is a 1990 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill.

“You have supported 130 Fordham students through this program—students who would not have benefited from our fine Jesuit education without your support and generosity,” Ushery told the more than 1,000 attendees. “You have impacted the scholars’ career paths as they are ‘setting the world on fire.’ Your impact on them guides their impact on others.”

The New Campaign

That impact will be taken to new levels through the University’s new fundraising campaign. Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, which aims to enhance the student experience as well as prepare students to work for social justice and be leaders in today’s world. The campaign pledges to renew Fordham’s commitment to care for the whole student as a unique, complex person and to nurture their gifts accordingly.

The campaign features four main pillars: access and affordability, academic excellence, student wellness and success, and athletics—with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals embedded in each of them. The night also featured the debut of a new campaign video that highlights the student experience at Fordham.

Founder’s Scholar Sydney Veazie, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, said that the Jesuit value of cura personalis, or care of the whole person, has been an essential part of her experience at Fordham. At Fordham, Veazie said, the Latin noun cura is transformed into a verb—something that students, faculty, and staff put into action.

“[Cura Personalis] becomes an active call, a mission statement, and a defining feature of this University to care for the students who call it home—to attend to us and to our needs,” said Veazie, a double major in international political economy and classical civilization. “Each student can expect personalized care, personalized attention during our time here.”

Veazie, a Fordham tour guide who currently volunteers as a team lead for the Fordham chapter of Consult Your Community and at Belmont High School, said she plans to take the lessons of cura personalis that she learned at Fordham and carry them forward.

“I’ll be going to law school in the fall of 2022, and I eventually hope to work in government and politics and infuse cura into everything I do,” she said.

Veazie said that none of this would have been possible for her or her fellow Founder’s Scholars without the support of those in attendance.

“I cannot stress enough how important this kind of investment is,” she said. “Fordham’s emphasis on cura personalis yields a student body, a community, that itches to pay forward the lessons, the care, and the holistic development we’ve received during our time here.”

Thomas Reuter, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill and United Student Government president, served as student MC for the second half of the program. He said the campaign will help ensure that all students feel at home at Fordham and that they’re able to take advantage of the opportunities the University offers.

“This campaign will invest in what we love most about Fordham…its student-centered Jesuit, Catholic education that nurtures the whole person,” he said. “This campaign will renew and enhance our distinctive educational experience that has transformed lives since Fordham was founded in 1841.”

Honorees

Father McShane expressed gratitude to the evening’s honorees for their efforts to support Fordham’s mission and its students.

“You are extraordinary … you are generous with your time, treasure, and talent … and you stand as exemplars of the renewal of the University in its identity and mission,” he said.

Manny Chirico, a titan of the fashion industry, is the longtime chairman and CEO of PVH Corp., the world’s second-largest apparel company; he plans to retire next month. Chirico served as the company’s CEO beginning in 2006 and as its board chairman since 2007. He currently serves on the boards of Montefiore Medical Center and Save the Children, while Joanne serves as the vice president of the Parish Council at Immaculate Conception Church in Tuckahoe, New York, and is on the board of Montfort Academy.

Manny, who is also a Fordham trustee, recalled that when he was a senior at Fordham, he took a philosophy class with a Jesuit professor who quoted St. Ignatius Loyola: “Go forth and set the world on fire.”

“I really like that quote, it sounded like something Vince Lombardi would say just before he sent his team out to play in the Super Bowl,” Chirico said. “I had no idea what it meant, but I wrote it down in my notebook.”

Chirico said that he asked the priest what this quote actually meant.

“In typical Jesuit fashion, he said to me, ‘Young man, that’s what you need to figure out,’” he said. “So for the last 40 years, I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to go forth and set the world on fire—I’m still working on it—but I do realize that there is no formula and no set answer. It’s a challenge to make a difference in the small things we do every day.”

Joe Moglia has combined his love of finance and football throughout his life, working as a championship-winning defensive coordinator at Dartmouth before joining the MBA training program at Merrill Lynch and eventually becoming CEO and chairman of TD Ameritrade, a post he held for more than 24 years, before returning to football as the head coach at Coastal Carolina University. Moglia currently serves as the chair of athletics at Coastal Carolina and board chairman of Fundamental Global Investors and Capital Wealth Advisors.

When he was a senior at Fordham, Moglia took a job coaching at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, and said that he wanted to provide his players with something more than just a desire to win.

“How do you lay the foundation upon which those boys become men?” he said.

“We created a philosophy that said, ‘A real man, a real woman, a real leader, stands on their own two feet, takes responsibility for themselves, always treats others with dignity and respect, and deals with the consequences of their actions,” he said.

Moglia said that this mindset and philosophy came from Fordham.

“This is a university for others, that loves others, so for me, for whatever I may have accomplished in my life, at the end of the day I’m so incredibly proud to be part of Fordham … and hopefully as I go forward, I continue to make Fordham proud,” he said.

The Chiricos and Moglia were originally supposed to be honored in 2020, but that Founder’s Dinner was canceled due to the pandemic. They were also recognized earlier this year at a virtual toast for scholars and honorees.

The night also featured several performances: Tyler Tagliaferro, a 2017 graduate of the Fordham College at Lincoln Center, played the bagpipes as guests walked in; the Young People’s Chorus of New York City performed; Jesira Rodriguez, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center senior and a Founder’s Scholar, sang the national anthem; and the Fordham Ramblers closed the evening with an a cappella rendition of “The Ram,” Fordham’s fight song.

Father McShane called on those in attendance to honor the members of the Fordham community who preceded them by investing in and supporting current students.

“You were formed by and now possess the intangibles that make for Fordham’s greatness, and that distinguish Fordham from other universities,” he said. “You are men and women for others. You are men and women of character, grit, determination, integrity, expansiveness of heart, and restlessness of spirit. And so, I turn to you to enable Fordham to make the kind of rich transformative experience that you received here available to your younger brothers and sisters.”

Under the theme “Philanthropy | Empowerment | Change,” the morning’s keynote speaker, financial journalist and author Stacey Tisdale, MC ’88, spoke specifically about how priorities have been upended by workers during the pandemic, with women leading the charge for better work/life balance. Indeed, as the day progressed, panelists spoke of a balance struck by necessity, often on Zoom in the kitchen with the kids across the table.

“Women are heads of households, even though we’re certainly not treated that way,” said Tisdale, speaking to hundreds of virtual attendees. “Women participate in the provider side of the financial equation much more than they used to, but the belief that it is a man’s job to provide for his family and it is a woman’s job to take care of her family is still common.”

Tisdale noted women control over 60% of all the personal wealth in the U.S. and a majority of the personal wealth in the world. Yet, only 22% of women rate themselves as very well prepared for financial decision-making.

“There’s a confidence gap here we’re talking about,” she said. “Women were not always taught to be empowered in our financial decisions. I’m challenging you to go a little bit deeper. Where do you want things to change?”

She challenged viewers to examine self-perceptions.

“You are already perfect. If you don’t believe this, it is due to a flaw of your understanding,” she said. “Get rid of this understanding and you will become rich. Know that you’re born with the ability to accomplish things. The numbers stuff is the easy part.”

Fordham College at Lincoln Center junior Jayda Jones told attendees how scholarships
made her journey at the University possible.

Being Vulnerable and Promoting Empathy

In a panel following Tisdale’s talk titled “Compassionate and Collaborative Leadership in the Workplace,” Fordham Law adjunct professor Katherine Hughes, LAW ’08, GSAS ’08, said that having her kids doing schoolwork across the table while she met colleagues on Zoom changed her perception of leadership.

“I think that part of being a leader now is to show those pieces of myself and show my vulnerability,” she said, adding that wearing her heart on her sleeve has made her an empathetic leader.

“You forget that you’re dealing with people sometimes, one of the silver linings [of quarantine was that]I was forced to see people as people,” she said.

Eventually, however, the kitchen became far too small. She now works from her basement to create a perceived separation from home life with an up-the-stairs commute for dinner.

Christina Luconi, PAR, chief people officer at the cybersecurity firm RAPID7, concurred that creating personal space remains key for those working virtually. She breaks up her day with a long run to put herself in the “right headspace for the day.” Fellow panelist Peggy Smyth, FCRH ’85, said that she too needs long walks to as a break from being “a short-order cook” for her athlete sons and being the U.S. senior advisor on global infrastructure for QIC, the Australian investment firm.

Marjorie Cadogan, FCRH ’82, LAW ’85, said that while she agreed that creating space between work and life in the virtual workplace is important, she said virtual meetings have broken down a perceived wall. 

“One of the great things for me was to be able to see work as a part of life,” she said. “Work is a piece of a whole and you really do have to understand that you have to work with the whole [of life]to get the best of the piece.”

In the chat, she elaborated.

“You have to talk to people about their own relationships, hobbies, activities that are important to them and hopefully be able to share those important priorities,” she wrote. “The communication issue is a big one, because people communicate in different ways. Sometimes you just have to tell people what you need and what style of communication you respond to best to deliver your best work or response.”

Getting Real: Leadership Amidst Pain

In an afternoon panel titled “Compassionate and Collaborative Leadership in the Community,” Kimberly Hardy-Watson, FCRH ’84, president and CEO of Graham Windham, a nonprofit working with families in the city’s underserved communities, brought the brutal realities of the pandemic home.

“I have had to say goodbye to 52 people in this time frame and I’m not an anomaly. Whole communities were impacted by the loss and I’m still finding out who we lost,” she said, adding that the deaths have made everyone reframe priorities.

“I’m pleased at the pushback, [workers]are voting with their feet and saying that work life/harmony is important,” she said, noting that many workers are looking for new jobs in what was referred to as the Great Resignation.

Yet, Hardy-Watson admitted that even she was reticent to reveal everything she was going through during the pandemic. She contracted the virus herself, and with so many people depending on her, she coped with it in silence. Eventually, she stepped back and acknowledged what was going on.

“There’s a level of authenticity that has happened in this time that I haven’t seen in a while and there are huge opportunities in that,” she said.

Jane Abitanta, GABELLI ’85, ’86, concurred.

“I feel that the pandemic has cracked hearts open, she said, adding that communication had been more authentic and honest. “But not everyone feels ready to move forward. There’s that idea that we want to create normalcy and that’s not going to be easy for everyone to do—and I’m not even sure that’s a good idea.”

In her role as founder and CEO at the communications firm Perceval Associates, Abitanta recently spoke to a high-ranking real estate investor who said his firm was underwriting a financial plan that forecasts a pandemic every five years.

“We’re in a chronic crisis mode and have to get even more creative in virtual communication and in person, but not everyone is ready for that,” she said.

Naelys Luna, GSS ’01, ’05, founding dean of the College of Social Work and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University, agreed that even leaders need to acknowledge that they’re experiencing trauma.

“[T]he process of becoming a leader is much the same as becoming integrated human beings; many times we spend a tremendous effort of putting out fires and when you put that together with the chronic stress [of the pandemic]—and certainly we all feel it—it puts you in a reactive mode and that alters the way you see things.”

Giving as Your Authentic Self

Joan Garry, FCRH ’79, former executive director of the gay rights organization GLAAD, who now runs her own nonprofit consulting firm, said that the authenticity one sees emerging in the workforce has permeated all sectors of the economy, including nonprofits and philanthropy. But it’s not a new concept, she said. It’s one she learned at Fordham.

“As our Jesuit values remind us, we are women for others,” she said. “So, take a look in the mirror, you’re staring at an activist.”

She noted that women make 90% of the philanthropic decisions for the nation’s families. Indeed, many of the attendees said they already belonged to one of Fordham’s Giving Circles, which allow donors to give regularly—starting at $100 a year—to any area of the University, from STEM funds, to a mission-focused fund called Living the Mission, to particular colleges or graduate schools.

Indeed, in her own family, she and her wife spearheaded a giving circle among her children and their cousins. The kids decided to give to a wildlife foundation. When the foundation sent a stuffed polar bear to the house as a thank you gift for giving, her son was furious. He wanted all the money they gave didn’t go to real animals.

She referred to the get-something-for-giving scenario as the “Girl Scout Cookie Syndrome.”

“It’s all about the thin mints,” she said. “Even the well-informed people who know about the great work of Girl Scouts develop some form of sugar amnesia.”

She equated the so-called cookie syndrome to inauthentic special events pegged to bold-named celebrities rather than the cause, leading some attendees to have no idea what they’re supporting. She pointedly excluded the Fordham Founder’s Dinner, which she said brings the mission of the evening to life.

“This pandemic has changed all of us in ways we do not yet understand,” she said. “We need to look at everything with intention to make sure our life has meaning and purpose.”

And that includes philanthropy, she said.

“We have to give with an understating of our privilege and with a sense of joy.”

“It is increasingly obvious that the STEM disciplines now share the same prominence as the humanities as a lingua franca of educated citizens,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “One cannot navigate the modern world without a basic understanding of STEM, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation gift helps ensure Fordham students are equipped to lead their fields in the decades ahead.”

The foundation was established by Len Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born, American-educated industrialist who holds dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom. Through the foundation, Blavatnik has given more than $800 million to institutions around the globe.

“Fordham’s next 181 years will be shaped largely by its STEM programs,” Roger A. Milici, Jr., PAR ’22, vice president of Development and University Relations, said of the University, which will celebrate its 181st anniversary in June. “This inaugural investment by a global philanthropist, generously made through the Blavatnik Family Foundation, is both inspiring and acknowledgment of how philanthropy creates impact. This gift will advance our ability to make a rigorous Jesuit education in the capital of the world more accessible and richer in this important field of discovery and innovation.”

Support for Students Through Scholarship 

The foundation has allocated $200,000 of the gift to fund the Blavatnik Scholarship for Excellence in STEM, which will provide financial aid resources to high-achieving Fordham undergraduates majoring in STEM fields.

“Scholarships like this one play an important role in enabling diverse and talented students to come to Fordham to study with our outstanding STEM faculty who are doing groundbreaking work in areas like integrative neuroscience, environmental science, computer science, and more—work that is making a difference in the city, the nation, and the planet,” said Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

Promoting Research

The remaining $50,000 will fund the Len Blavatnik STEM Research Fellowship, which will support student research projects in STEM areas. The fellowship money will be allocated by the deans at Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Fordham College at Rose Hill.

Fordham College at Rose Hill Dean Maura Mast, Ph.D., said the fellowship will provide needed support for student researchers.

“Fordham undergraduates consistently publish with faculty, present at conferences, and are true partners in the creation of new knowledge,” said Mast, who teaches a STEM course based on a recently released second edition of a textbook she co-authored, titled “Common Sense Mathematics.”.

Mast noted that Fordham is one of the top institutions to induct students into Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society; 72 Fordham students joined this past spring. She said she has found that students appreciate that their research may lead to more questions than answers.

“They see STEM as a place of discovery, creativity, complexity, and problem solving,” she said. “Doing science helps them understand the world and make it better.”

She added that some students set out to address the big problems of the day, such as diseases like COVID-19, HPV, and cancer, as well as environmental issues such as climate change, soil erosion, pollution, and water quality. Yet others are drawn to small-scale challenges, like developing ways to use nanowires in common applications such as glucose sensors and fuel cells, studying the relationship between genetic mutations and mitochondrial diseases, and researching particle physics, she said.

“Thanks to donor support that provides funding for research grants, lab supplies, and conference participation, undergraduate research has become a signature program in both [of Fordham’s undergraduate liberal arts]colleges,” she said.

“I think one of the reasons you’re here is to make the world a better place than the one you arrived to,” she said. “And philanthropy is an incredibly powerful tool for that. I want the women at the Women’s Summit to own that. I want them to see that. I want them to evangelize that.” (Update: Watch Garry’s address at the Summit.)

Making the World a Better Place

For Garry, the desire to make the world a better place stems, in part, from her personal life. In the early 1990s, two decades before the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage, she and her partner, Eileen, were discussing the next steps for their family.

“I believed really deeply that if we were going to have a family that it was incumbent upon us to do what we could to make the world as safe as possible for them,” she said.

They became plaintiffs in a precedent-setting case in New Jersey in 1993, and Garry eventually became the first woman in the state to legally adopt her partner’s biological children.

“It was a huge ‘aha moment’ for me, recognizing, cheesy though it may sound, that one person can really make a difference,” she said on an episode of the Fordham Footsteps podcast last summer. “And it was huge news,” she added. “The story of our family was educating people about members of the LGBT community in a very different kind of way. In the early 1990s, gay families were not common at all, and I realized that the media had this incredible power and responsibility to tell these stories and really shape how the LGBT community was perceived and understood.”

At the time, Garry was an executive at Showtime Networks, but her family’s victory in court inspired her to take her career in a different direction a few years later. In 1997, she was named executive director of GLAAD, a national nonprofit organization that aims to “rewrite the script for LGBTQ acceptance” and tackle “tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.”

“Because GLAAD focused on the media as an institution where we could change hearts and minds, the bridge from corporate media to the nonprofit sector was a no-brainer for me,” Garry said.

Garry said that when she started at GLAAD, there were “precious few images at all” of LGBTQ people in the media, and when they were featured, the depictions were usually negative. She built partnerships with media executives to change that, working with the producers of Survivor to help get a gay man on the popular TV show in 2000 and successfully lobbying The New York Times to feature gay and lesbian couples in its “Vows” section.

“We are part of the fabric of society,” she said. “The object of the work was to ensure that the media representation reflected the diversity of our society that included LGBTQ members.”

Lessons Learned

Garry said her work at GLAAD was influenced by her previous jobs, particularly at MTV, where she began her career soon after graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill with a degree in philosophy and communications.

At MTV, Garry learned the “dynamics, energy, and the urgency of a startup,” which became valuable to her as she transitioned to leading GLAAD.

“Running a nonprofit organization, they have a very similar energy [to a startup]—moving quickly, often too quickly, under-resourced,” she said. “The other piece that corporate America provided me was an understanding that numbers tell a story.”

And even before MTV, while still a student at Fordham, Garry said she learned about the value of having a mentor.

She got her start at MTV, several months before the network launched in 1981, thanks in part to her mentor James N. Loughran, S.J., FCRH ’64, GSAS ’75, a Fordham philosophy professor who later served as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. Father Loughran encouraged her to reach out to a Fordham graduate who was looking to build a team for a new project at Warner Communications.

“All I know is that one moment I was unemployed, and the next moment I was sharing an office with someone and looking at the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, and feeling like I had won the lottery,” she said with a laugh. “Little did I know that we were creating the business plan for what would become MTV.”

The ‘Accidental’ Consultant

All of those lessons helped prepare Garry for another career transition—starting her own consulting firm for nonprofits.

After working at GLAAD for eight years, Garry decided to focus more on helping raise her three children, who were in middle and high school at the time.

“We believe that older kids need you even more than younger kids,” she said with a laugh. “And so I went home to be on the ground when they got home from school.”

She began to take on some jobs as a way to “maintain my sanity,” Garry said, adding that she became an “accidental” consultant. In 2012, she launched a website to share tips, advice, insights, and lessons she learned from her time in the corporate and nonprofit worlds. The site “took off,” she said, and eventually led to a full-time consulting business and a book, Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership: Because the World Is Counting on You (Wiley, 2017).

Garry said that she found that many nonprofit leaders don’t have advocates and supporters for their work, which is why she also launched the Nonprofit Leadership Lab to help provide support, networking, and professional development to leaders of nonprofits.

“These jobs—whether you’re running a food pantry or whether you’re researching the cure for a disease or you’re advocating for the Latinx community—these are hard jobs,” she said. “They’re really hard to get right and far too often these leaders do not have champions.”

Inviting People In

Garry said that one of the pieces of advice she plans to give those who attend the Summit, and one she often shares with nonprofit leaders, is to invite people in to be a part of their causes and work.

“It makes people feel good to give money to causes they care about—it is an invitation, an invitation to get closer to those things that drive meaning and purpose in your life,” she said. “And why wouldn’t you invite people to do that? They can always say no. But I’d like to be invited. And so I have grown to understand through all of the work that I have done raising money, that it is  [about]  offering someone the opportunity to bring meaning and purpose into their lives in a different way.”

In particular, Garry said that she wants to invite women to use philanthropy to support the causes they care about.

“Women have not been socialized in the same way as men to be philanthropic; they have had fewer opportunities,” she said. “And I would like them to leave feeling inspired to be engaged in philanthropy in whatever way it makes sense for them.”

Watch the Fifth Annual Fordham Women’s Summit. Garry’s keynote address begins at 3:44:20.

“This fund will directly give students opportunities to feed their souls and bodies with nourishment in the form of meals, conversations, and retreats,” said Carol Gibney, director of solidarity and leadership in Campus Ministry. “I’m thrilled for the students who will be the beneficiaries of Theresa’s generous donation.”

Mao, now 85, is a retired chemist, businesswoman, and philanthropist who grew up in Taiwan and moved to the U.S. when she was 18 years old. In 1964, she was hired by one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil Corporation, then known as Esso Research, as the company’s first female chemist with a Ph.D. When she was 46 years old, her husband, Peter T.H. Mao, M.D., a pathologist, suddenly died from a heart attack. She became a single mother who raised their two daughters, then a junior at Rice University and a first-year student at Harvard University. In order to provide a living for herself and her family, she switched her career to investment in real estate, which included citrus farms, vineyards, and a fruit packing house. Both daughters followed in their father’s footsteps in medicine: The oldest is an ophthalmologist in Florida; the youngest is a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Massachusetts. 

Mao was raised in a family of Presbyterians, including a grandfather and two uncles who served as ministers. But she became a devout Catholic as a teenager in Taiwan. One day, she encountered a Catholic priest on a long bus ride. Seven months later, she sought refuge in a mountainside church during a thunderstorm—coincidentally, the same priest’s church. The next summer, she studied under his wing and learned what it means to be Catholic. In August 1952, she was baptized by that same priest, John T.S. Mao, who would provide a scholarship for her to attend Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. In 1962, she married Father Mao’s youngest brother, Peter T.H. Mao. 

When she was a young woman in her 20s, she was accepted to teaching assistant programs at three schools in New York City—Columbia University, New York University, and Fordham. She said she was impressed by the reputation of the first two schools, but she chose Fordham because of its Catholic background; she wanted an education that would strengthen her own faith.  

“I probably value my religion as a Catholic more than a person who was born Catholic,” Mao said earlier this year, “because I picked it.” 

Mao loved her years at Fordham, but she was disappointed that there were no religious events or retreats for graduate students. Mao was also an international student who couldn’t afford to fly home to Taiwan during holiday breaks. Life on campus could feel isolating, she said. 

“Undergraduates meet each other a lot more. Graduate students are different. They come in; they go. There’s so little time to meet each other,” she said. 

Mao took matters into her own hands. One day after a late-night chemistry experiment, she suggested to her classmates that they eat dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant together. That one dinner turned into bimonthly meals with up to 20 students. They piled into cars—sometimes seven students in one vehicle—and shared meals at local Chinese restaurants, where Mao introduced them to Cantonese-style roast duck and baos. Their special dinners expanded to include Italian restaurants on Arthur Avenue and trips to roller skating rinks and musicals in Manhattan. 

“Everybody just loved to go. We started with a small group, and then later on, everybody wanted to join in. We got to know each other a lot better … Now I want to help [today’s graduate students] develop their relationships,” said Mao, who earned a master’s degree in chemistry in 1960 and a doctorate in physical chemistry in 1964.

This year, she established the Theresa Lim Mao Graduate Student Retreat Endowed Fund, which will support an annual retreat program and dinners for graduate students at Fordham who want to deepen their relationships with their classmates and their faith. 

“Retreats are a way to literally retreat from everyday life and step aside from busy schedules, particularly for students,” said Gibney, who will help coordinate the inaugural events this spring. “They offer students an invitation to deepen their understanding of who and what feeds their spirit, their relationships with others and God, with our rich Ignatian history and spirituality as a compass and guide.” 

Mao’s fund is part of a planned gift that designates Fordham as a beneficiary of her individual retirement account. She is beginning to add funding to her endowment fund annually, to support the initiative now. Mao said she wants students to pay it forward, the same way she has done throughout her life. 

“All of us can contribute to society by doing something for other people. If we contribute something to society instead of just making money and serving ourselves, in a small way, we can make the people around us happier,” said Mao, who now lives in Florida near her oldest daughter. “If all of us can do a little bit of that, that would be really wonderful.”

Pandemic Exacerbated Health Challenges in Communities of Color

“While we are not yet on the other side of COVID-19, we know that this pandemic—which is likely the largest public health crisis we will see in our lifetimes—has been nothing short of a collective trauma,” said Ross, who spearheaded the grant effort and is the principal investigator. “It has disproportionately affected communities of color and has placed New York City’s youngest residents at risk of a host of adverse health and behavioral health outcomes. To mitigate these challenges, there is a dire need for a well-prepared behavioral health social work workforce equipped with skills in prevention, interprofessional practice, and health equity that mirrors the population most affected.”

Addressing Need for Social Workers from Diverse Backgrounds

The project, which is part of HRSA’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program for Professionals, sets out to address workforce shortages in social work and lack of diversity in the profession while equipping workers with skills designed to address the potential impact of adverse childhood experiences, said Debra McPhee, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Work.

“The overarching goal of PIPELINE for Youth Health is to create a sustainable pipeline of racially and ethnically diverse behavioral health practitioners equipped with the skills needed to work effectively with youth,” said McPhee.

Each year, a total of 27 student fellows—26 MSW students and one doctoral candidate—will be supported with stipends to offset the cost of tuition while they participate in a specialized training program that prioritizes prevention, integrated care, and health equity for underserved young people. The project has been funded for five years; 75% of the student fellowship slots are reserved for students of color.

The PIPELINE for Youth Health team is led by Ross and includes Binta Alleyne-Green, Ph.D., associate professor, Larry Farmer, Ph.D., associate professor, Janna Heyman, Ph.D., professor and Henry C. Ravazzin Chair; Christie Hunnicut, director of field education; Liz Matthews, Ph.D., assistant professor; Yvette Sealy, Ph.D., associate professor; Linda White-Ryan, Ph.D., associate dean of students; and Anne Williams-Isom, D.Min., professor and Dumpson Chair in Child Welfare.

Ross said the new training program will prioritize prevention, integrated care and interprofessional practice, and health equity in the youth behavioral health workforce. The program begins this fall, when students will participate in required coursework; a PIPELINE Integrative Seminar; and a special speaker series featuring innovations in prevention-oriented practice with children, youth, and their families.

“We were already facing a major shortage of youth behavioral health practitioners here in New York City even before COVID-19 emerged. The need is now greater than ever,” said Ross. “I am very excited to work with the PIPELINE for Youth Health team to develop and implement a specialized behavioral health training program that will greatly enhance the social work workforce dedicated to serving the children, youth, and families of New York City.”

“That fact that the New York State Department of Education selected the Community Schools Technical Assistance Centers to coordinate and implement the CARES Act funding is recognition of the work the statewide centers are doing,” said Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean for educational partnerships and the executive director of the Graduate School of Education’s Center for Educational Partnerships, which is responsible for CS-TAC. “We welcome the opportunity to distribute this much-needed funding.” 

Fordham CS-TAC is one of three state-funded centers across New York that support community schools in a specific region; Fordham’s center has been responsible for more than 250 community schools across New York City’s five boroughs since the center was founded in 2018. 

Last spring, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide quick and direct economic assistance for American employees, families, businesses, and industries. A portion of the federal funds allocated to New York were given to two of the state’s CS-TACs, which are now responsible for distributing them to areas that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.  

There are two phases for this 18-month initiative. In a few weeks, Fordham CS-TAC will invite community-based and faith-based organizations across New York City and on Long Island to apply for state CARES funds—which are separate from the city’s CARES funds—in grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000; grants will be awarded in May or June. 

“Those organizations will be doing everything from providing mental health support to resolving food insecurity—all the different things that families are struggling with now,” said Kevin Coyne, Fordham’s CS-TAC director. “Ultimately, our goal is to connect schools and districts to organizations that already exist in their community so that this initiative can be sustainable.” 

This fall, Fordham CS-TAC will begin the second phase: professional development workshops that train teachers and staff on how to incorporate social and emotional learning into their lessons—and in turn, teach those strategies to their students. To create more inclusive workshops, Fordham CS-TAC will collaborate with professionals in special education, bilingual education, and family engagement. 

“There’s an urgent need to provide not only monetary and physical help, but also the ability to process the trauma that they’ve been experiencing,” Coyne said. “If we want our kids to return to school and be successful, we need to make sure that we’ve met their physical and emotional needs.”

Coyne said he hopes the $1.25 million in CARES funds will be put to good use. 

“It seems like a huge grant when you hear the number, but we’re going up against really significant headwinds in terms of hardship,” Coyne said. “The hope is that these CARES funds will help to resolve some of the inequities and negative impacts from the pandemic.” 

“It has been, as we New Yorkers would say, ‘a hell of a year.’ And yet, we, Fordham, did not surrender,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, raising a glass from his office at the Rose Hill campus to his computer screen during the virtual event. “Against all odds, and thanks in no small measure to your great generosity, we were once again able to lean into the moment and to move forward with a sense of purpose and with defiant hope … On behalf of everyone at Fordham, especially our students, I thank you for your ongoing support—support that enabled us to prevail and to dream of a future filled with hope.”

The event offered an immediate way to celebrate the scholars, donors, and honorees this spring, when the Founder’s Dinner would normally take place. The in-person dinner has been rescheduled for Nov. 8, with plans for the usual Founder’s fanfare at a new Manhattan venue—the Glasshouse—pending guidance from city and state authorities.

More than 100 members of the Fordham community gathered on Zoom to salute the 2021 Fordham Founder’s Award recipients: Emanuel (Manny) Chirico, GABELLI ’79, PAR, chairman and former CEO of the global apparel company PVH Corp., and his wife, Joanne M. Chirico, PAR, and Joseph H. (Joe) Moglia, FCRH ’71, former CEO and chairman of TD Ameritrade, chairman of Fundamental Global Investors and Capital Wealth Advisors, chairman of FG New America Acquisition Corp., and chair of athletics and executive advisor to the president at Coastal Carolina University.

“Although we’re not together in person, we are thrilled to be together virtually to celebrate,” said Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, Fordham trustee and Founder’s Dinner co-chair. “We have, this evening, our Founder’s honorees, past and present, and all of you: our generous donors and our Fordham Founder’s scholars, representatives of the University’s most diverse scholarship fund.” 

This past year, the University raised $2,658,795 for the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund—the largest amount raised since the first Fordham Founder’s Dinner in 2002—and celebrated the close of Faith and Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid. The newest fundraising campaign, which will focus on the student experience, will be launched at the rescheduled 2021 Founder’s Dinner, said Luccio, co-chair of the new campaign.

Then and Now: A Video Update from 17 Former Founder’s Scholars 

The virtual reception began with the screening of a pre-recorded video featuring former Founder’s Scholars who provided updates on their careers and growing families, from as near as the South Bronx and as far away as Belgium. Among them was an aspiring family medicine physician at University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, a director of strategy at The New York Times, a communications strategist who works with the European Commission, and a Harvard Law School graduate and current director on Barclays’ litigation team in New York, where she lives with her husband, a fellow Fordham alumnus, and their two-year-old daughter.

“As you can see and hear, not only are they all over the United States and the world, but they are having incredible experiences in making impacts on our society,” said Luccio, a Founder’s 2012 honoree, directly addressing the donors on the Zoom call. “And I know all of you are just as proud as I am to be a part of this incredible group in supporting these absolutely amazing young men and women.” 

An Aspiring Cosmologist, A Woman Leader in Global Business, and A Future Ambassador

Three of the current 48 Founder’s scholars shared their stories and gratitude in real time. They reflected on how their Fordham scholarships helped them pursue their career goals amid the pandemic and beyond. 

Benjamin Coco, FCRH ’23, said he is able to attend Fordham for a fifth year to finish his double degree in physics and English and double minor in math and philosophy, thanks to the Founder’s Scholarship. 

“I was inspired by former Founder’s Award recipient, Alex Trebek, to pursue as much knowledge as I can,” said Coco, who plans on pursuing a doctorate in astrophysics. “This universe is filled with countless mysteries, and I hope to discover many of them. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to all of you for making this happen for me.” 

For Kristen Harb, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business and a California native, the pandemic posed a series of challenges. Despite the distance and three-hour time zone difference, Harb worked with her classmates to create the first club at the Lincoln Center campus focused on empowering women in finance and economics, where she helped to mentor more than 120 students. 

“In May, I will receive much more than a degree in global business,” said Harb. “In the past year, I have learned so much about what I am capable of in times of hardship and how my Jesuit education has prepared me to thrive in the face of adversity—and for that, I am eternally grateful.” 

The third and final student speaker, Tauland Kaca, FCLC ’21, shared a personal anecdote. When he was 8 years old, his family immigrated to the U.S. from Albania, a former communist regime that limited his parents’ career paths. Kaca said his parents sacrificed their livelihoods and family ties at home to give him and his older brother access to greater opportunities abroad. But a lack of resources began to jeopardize their hopes for their two sons. 

“Since my parents endured many financial burdens to support my brother, who also went to Fordham and then to Columbia for his master’s, I decided to commute from Brooklyn to the Lincoln Center campus. Regardless, it didn’t take long for me to realize the financial strain my Fordham education was placing on my family … When I received the Fordham Founder’s scholarship last year, those worries faded away. This is especially true amid the pandemic, since my parents have been laid off for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, my dreams have yet to be derailed,” said Kaca, who is considering becoming a judge or a foreign ambassador. “I want to thank you for your support, but most importantly, I want to thank you for your willingness to help students like myself work towards their dreams, free of financial worry.” 

‘This Evening is Our Gift to You’ 

The hour-long evening reception included several other components, including an opening prayer from Fordham trustee Thomas J. Regan, S.J.; pre-recorded performances from Fordham’s Satin Dolls, Ramblers, and the University Choir; and a virtual wine tasting conducted by Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, general manager of Macari Vineyards on the North Folk of Long Island. Two Founder’s scholars, Sydney Veazie, FCRH ’22, and Cameron Chiulli, GABELLI ’21, also livened up the night with several Fordham-related trivia questions, which guests participated in via Zoom’s poll feature.

“This evening is our gift to you. The 48 Founder’s scholars are so grateful that we are still learning, thriving, and dreaming at Fordham with your generous support,” said the evening’s emcee, Founder’s scholar Stevie Rosignol-Cortez, FCLC ’21, a political science student from Texas and an aspiring foreign correspondent.

At the end of the night, Father McShane and Bob Daleo, GABELLI ’72, chair of Fordham’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the Founder’s Dinner, offered several toasts to the three Founder’s 2021 honorees; the previous Founder’s award recipients, many of whom joined the virtual reception; and Bill Baker, president emeritus of Thirteen-WNET and Fordham’s journalist-in-residence, who retired this year from his 12-year-long role as the Founder’s Dinner emcee. 

“My friends, let me end with a final toast to the evening,” said Father McShane. “To Fordham: may she always be what she was founded to be—a daring and dangerous school where character has been formed, talent has been nurtured, and hope has been borne for 180 years.” 

On March 16, Fordham received a helping hand from the State of New York, which awarded the University a $5 million matching capital grant from the Higher Education Capital Match Program (HECap).

The grant, which is administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), will pay for construction of the glass-covered arcade, or passageway, that will connect the new 71,000-square-foot, four-level addition to a renovated McGinley Center, the Rose Hill Gym, and the Lombardi Center. The addition is set to open this fall. 

A Partnership with State Government

For every dollar in state matching funds, private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in New York must provide $3 in support of their projects. The projected timeline of the campus center’s Phase II renovation is expected to be 14 months.

Fordham was one of 35 colleges and universities to receive the grant this year. Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations, whose office secured the grant, said she was thrilled that Fordham received the maximum amount possible. A major part of the application process centered around demonstrating that the project will generate jobs and benefit the community at large, she said.

“What this investment allows us to do is not only expand the University’s resources for our students but to expand community access to the University,” she said, noting that Fordham allows community nonprofits to hold meetings on campus, free of charge.

Contributing to the Economy

At $5 million, the grant is the largest in a series of grants totaling $14.75 million that Fordham has secured from the state over the last five years. Last year, a $2.5 million State and Municipal Facilities Grant was awarded for lab renovations at John Mulcahy Hall. In 2018, the University received a $3.75 million HECap grant for a steam boiler replacement in Thebaud Hall. And in 2019, Massiah-Arthur’s office secured a $1 million HECap grant for renovating the façade and creating an open green space at Lincoln Center.

Massiah-Arthur said the funds showed that leaders in Albany appreciate the value that private colleges and universities bring to the state’s economy. According to a 2017 report by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, Fordham’s total economic impact on the New York City region is $1.5 billion.

The project will also generate approximately 250 union jobs, ranging from laborers to engineers, over the course of the contract.

“The fact that independent universities have a capital program [HECap] that’s specific to us demonstrates that our capital construction is very important, especially when you consider that as a sector, our institutions contribute about $88 billion to the New York state economy,” she said.

“This just goes to show that a partnership between the state and our sector can be a benefit not just for the institution but the state, the regions, and communities we’re in.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, who recently served as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, said he was gratified that New York’s leaders see institutions like Fordham as partners worthy of support.

“The new center will be at the heart of the campus experience and therefore at the heart of the University’s mission,” Father McShane said.

“It will bring together all students, faculty, and staff under one roof, in a space that maximizes opportunities for shared meals, shared learning, and shared recreation. We are grateful that the Dormitory Authority recognized both Fordham’s need and our contribution to the state’s intellectual, cultural, and financial health.”

A Unique, Light-Filled Space

The arcade and the new entrance to the center promise to be the most dramatic of all the elements of the new campus center. Marco Valera, vice president for administration, said that the only other building that currently features a large indoor space bathed in natural light from above is the Platt Court atrium at the Lincoln Center Campus.

In addition to joining the original McGinley Center with the addition, the new arcade will stretch to the east and north to envelop the space separating those two buildings from the Rose Hill Gym and the Lombardi Center.

It is also arguably the trickiest part of the construction, Valera said, as it requires demolition, rehabilitation, and construction in close proximity to spaces that will continue to be occupied.

“The uniqueness of this particular space is that it joins the new building with the old stonework of the gym, so you’ve got a little flavor of the kind of gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they join old buildings to new buildings,” he said.

In an 1841-minute period from March 1 to March 2, 2,779 donors contributed just over $1.3 million to Fordham schools, initiatives, programs, and scholarships. Participants came from 44 states, the United Kingdom, and China.

This year’s Giving Day theme was “Imagine More,” and encouraged donors to help “change the world through Fordham and support causes that matter.”

Fordham Law School, the Fordham Greatest Needs Fund, and Athletics were some of the areas receiving the greatest support.

Individuals and groups, such as the Fordham College Alumni Association, offered matches to encourage participation and make donors’ contributions go farther. The alumni association contributed $30 for every graduate who donated, regardless of the amount, up to $30,000. More than 1,000 alumni donated to help unlock this challenge.

For the first time ever, the University also hosted a Marymount Giving Day, which raised over $28,000 from 106 donors. The donations will go to the Marymount Legacy Fund to help continue the legacy of Marymount College, provide educational access to students, and continue the efforts of the women of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary.

Current Fordham students were also involved in the day through the Student Philanthropy Committee. They were encouraged to either make a gift or log volunteer hours in the community. Over the two-day period, Fordham students logged 2,165 volunteer hours, surpassing their goal of 2,021 hours. They volunteered in areas such as healthcare, homelessness, religious organizations, and more.