Global education – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu The official news site for Fordham University. Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:41:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://now.fordham.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/favicon.png Global education – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu 32 32 232360065 Fordham Spearheads First-Ever International Education Day at U.N. https://now.fordham.edu/education-and-social-services/fordham-spearheads-first-ever-international-education-day-at-u-n/ Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:41:29 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=109526

Staff from the Fordham provost’s office took the lead in organizing the United Nations’ first-ever International Education Day.

Held during International Education Week on Nov. 16, the event brought together leaders from the UN, government, and nongovernmental organizations around the world to talk about goals, best practices, and the power of global education to create a better world. More than 700 were in attendance in the UN’s New York headquarters, including Fordham faculty members, staff, and students.

Salvatore Longarino and Kelly Roberts, both of the Office of International Services in the provost’s office, spearheaded the event. They worked in conjunction with NYU, Columbia, City University of New York, and other universities who were represented in the day’s programming.

“In these times, when nationalistic themes have become stronger around the world, we felt it was imperative to bring together our international community from Fordham, New York City, and the world and reaffirm our common global goals,” said Longarino. “Our event was designed to celebrate the role of international education in creating a more peaceful, just, and equitable world.”

The day’s programming included three panel sessions: “Global Leadership Development”; Inspiring the Next Generation of Peacebuilders—The Power of Civil Society to Engage Youth to Take Action”; and “Education Across Borders—Ideas, Innovation, and Idealism from Intercultural Exchanges.”

Roberts organized the second panel, which focused on the power of young people to create positive change. It featured leaders from the UN’s youth programs and other youth organizations.

“Our goal in planning the youth panel was to highlight the unique innovation abilities of emerging adults in the context of peace and development,” said Roberts, “and to inspire the next generation of changemakers to take action to make the world a better place.”

Madison Ross, a member of the UN Department of Public Information’s Youth Steering Committee, called upon young people to “see human development as a right, not a privilege. See education as a right, not a privilege.

“There are close to 60 million youth without access to education,” Ross said. “We shouldn’t take it for granted … there should be no barriers for such human rights.”

In a special ceremony, Longarino and Roberts were each presented with an award in recognition of their leadership and advocacy in creating the inaugural event.

 

]]>
109526
Fordham Opens New London Centre https://now.fordham.edu/university-news/fordham-opens-new-london-centre/ Wed, 31 Oct 2018 23:04:51 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=107802 Event photos by Leo Wilkinson, architecture photos by Tom Stoelker, student photos by Afshin FeizWith all the elegance and sparkle of the British capital, Fordham opened its new London Centre campus in the city’s Clerkenwell neighborhood on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

The ceremony marked the official dedication of the new campus, which will be home to American university students as they study and immerse themselves in the storied culture of the U.K.’s cosmopolitan city.

As the scent of rosemary, mint, and roast pork wafted from the gleaming new kitchen off the student lounge, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, reminded students, faculty, alumni, and staff of a time when such copious consumption once spelled doom for a group of Jesuits who lived in hiding nearby at a time when anti-Catholic sentiments ran high.

The year was 1628, he said. Protestant shopkeepers began to notice an unusual amount of “provisions and necessaries” being carried in to the Jesuits’ quarters.

“This excited their suspicion,” said Father McShane, reading from a 17th-century account of the events. “They, therefore, gave notice and the house was surrounded about 9 o’clock in the morning. The authorities broke in and searched the house from top to bottom. The rector was found and taken … Others were caught elsewhere. … Only one was condemned to death, having admitted the fact of his treason,” he read.

“Three hundred and ninety years later, the Jesuits have returned to Clerkenwell!” he said to laughter and applause.

“But this time around … may the word go out that this is a place of learning, warmth and welcome, a place where every soul finds a home, every student finds instruction, and the world is welcome to our door.”

[doptg id=”126″]

An Appeal for Wisdom Beyond Books

The Right Reverend Nicholas Hudson
The Right Reverend Nicholas Hudson

The evening began with an inaugural Mass of the Holy Spirit at St. Peter’s Italian Church, which sits just a stone’s throw from the London Centre on Clerkenwell Road. In his homily the Right Reverend Nicholas Hudson, auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Westminster, encouraged students and professors at the new center to seek wisdom beyond the classroom and their careers.

London Centre on Clarkenwell Road
London Centre on Clarkenwell Road

Dedication, History, and Renewed Commitment

After Mass, the crowd headed back at the new campus for the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony. There, Jonathan M. Crystal, Ph.D., interim provost, gave a brief history of Fordham’s four-decades in London, beginning when leadership at Marymount College of Fordham and a group of instructors from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts established the London Dramatic Academy (LDA), a conservatory steeped in the British acting tradition, in Brownlow Mews. By 2009, Fordham moved from that location to a larger space at the University of London’s Heythrop College in Kensington Square, adding both business and liberal arts curricula. Crystal credited a meeting between the former dean of Marymount and the principal of Heythrop College with expanding Fordham’s London campus to 3,500 square-feet.

Jonathan Crystal
Interim Provost Jonathan Crystal

“With the dedication today, of our newly renovated, 17,000 square foot space—that’s 1,580 square meters—Fordham’s new London Centre is central to the University’s international strategy,” Crystal told the crowd. “In a location known for tech startups and repurposed warehouses, ever more opportunities exist as we stand committed to prepare all our students—graduate, professional, and undergraduate—to be global leaders, ready to achieve and excel in a world that is increasingly interconnected in cultural, economic, and political dimensions.”

‘Build Me a House’

Crystal then ceded the floor to students, several of whom sang an appropriately-themed song by Leonard Bernstein titled, “Build Me a House.” After the performance, deans, donors, and students joined together to cut the ribbon with giant scissors, officially opening the center.

Charlie Arnedt, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, took a moment to thank the faculty and staff of the center for help personalizing the city he’s called home since August. He said had no idea how immersive the London program would be through coursework and class excursions. He spoke of visiting the Imperial War Museum and feeling its visceral memory of the Great War, hearing the acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall, and observing “the height of empire and scientific achievement at the world’s meridian at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

“Thanks to my professors, I’ve formed a special connection to London as a place to live and a place to learn,” said Arnedt. “Like New York, London is my campus and Fordham is my school.”

Student Lounge
Student lounge

A Cultural Crossroads

The center is a campus for students from Fordham and other universities to study abroad and immerse themselves in the culture of the city as well as the continent. For some students, it serves as launching point for long weekend sojourns to Paris and other European cities.

“We are fortunate that London is a global capital that not only represents the U.K., but also represents all the many cultures of the world; this is a crossroads and has been for centuries,” said Richard P. Salmi, S.J., head of the London Centre.

Spencer Solomon and Anthony Davidson
London Centre student Spencer Solomon and PCS Dean Anthony Davidson

Every semester, dating back to when Fordham London Centre was at Heythrop College, the Office of Student Affairs arranges trips to the continent. Through a partnership with Loyola Chicago’s Rome Center, Gabelli School students can hear lectures and take tours from local professors and celebrate Mass at the Vatican. Liberal arts students  have visited Vienna and Berlin in the past. This spring they will be going to Lisbon. And more locally, student affairs arranges group trips to sporting events and the theater.

“Our students come here only for one for semester, but it’s always gratifying to me to see how they grow and change over that short period,” said Father Salmi. “They oftentimes come in a little bit timid, almost as though they’re reliving their freshman experience all over again, but then by the end of the semester it’s amazing the see the transformation. They become global.”

A Vibrant, Central Location

The newly renovated London Centre campus began as two Victorian-era buildings—probably built for commercial use—that were later combined to form the offices and manufacturing plant of Winstone Printing Inks, which served nearby Fleet Street newspapers. A north wing was added, most likely in the 1920s or ’30s.

The vibrant student-friendly Clerkenwell neighborhood is a former industrial neighborhood that built a new reputation as design and tech firms began moving in during the 1990s. It’s close to the city’s financial district, West End theaters, the British Museum, and St. Pancras International Railway Station (with trains that can reach Paris in less than three hours).

Students ordering paella on Leather Lane.
Students ordering paella on Leather Lane

Leather Lane, across the street from the center, is an outdoor market with dozens of small trucks serving up a variety of street food, from Spanish paella to Vietnamese pho. Down Clerkenwell Road, near St. Peter’s, an Italian grocery and a Roman pizzeria cater to the area’s Italian community, while just a bit further up the road, Turkish barbers offer a cut and shave.

Business, Liberal Arts, and Drama

Undergraduate classes are currently open to students registered full time at a U.S. college or university. Students hail from St. Louis University, Marquette, Loyola Marymount, Loyola Chicago, Cornell, and Pomona College, to name just a few. The London Dramatic Arts program typically accepts 24 students and the undergraduate programs are nearing capacity for this coming spring with more than 300 students.

John Harrington, Ph.D., academic dean of the center, said that the program’s strengths lie in the “outbound” and the “inbound”: “Students make relevant site visits around the city,” he said, “and experts from different fields come into the classroom.”

Undergraduate students can start attending Fordham London Centre in the second semester of their sophomore year and should maintain a 3.0 average. Alongside with LDA, the center’s programs are split between the Gabelli School of Business and the liberal arts. Liberal arts courses are open to all undergraduates from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Gabelli School, and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. Students take 15 credits a semester.

Studio for the London Dramatic Academy
Main studio for the London Dramatic Academy

International Internships

The center also offers an internship program where some students work two days per week alongside their coursework.  Placements in the past have been in the fields of marketing, international relations, television, health science, and banking.

“Increasingly, over time, the students are more interested in international internships,” said Harrington, adding that 35 students have already been placed for the spring.

On the graduate level, some schools have programs that are up and running, such as the Graduate School of Social Service’s summertime course on settlement houses. Debra McPhee, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, joined several Fordham deans in London for the dedication. She held a meeting on Oct. 29 with U.K. settlement house leaders to deepen ties and explore the possibility of student placements.

“We continue to look at initiatives that will bring the community into the school and the school into the community, which is an objective at home too,” said McPhee, adding that her fellow graduate school deans were equally excited by the opportunities.

“Everybody feels like being here together and having the opportunity to be in the space to talk with each other has been helpful on how we could do some interdisciplinary work here, which is sometimes hard to do in New York,” she said. “There’s definitely been some spark.”

Father Richard Salmi and students from the center

A Space for Intimate Connections

It’s a spark that has captured undergrads as well, said Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. Mast said students who often find themselves studying alongside peers who share their major tend to interact a bit closer with other disciplines on London’s more intimate campus.

“Here it’s a tremendous community,” said Mast. “They’re getting to know the Gabelli students and the LDA students in ways they wouldn’t in another space.”

Mast said she also noted that the “Fordham is my school; New York is my campus” ethos swaps well with London.

“They love the way they’re going to museums and the way the courses really take advantage of the city and take advantage of bringing experts into the classroom,” she said. “They told me, as dean, they want more of this in New York City.”

Some of the courses offered reflect immersive experiences in liberal arts, such as an Art and Architecture course that takes place every other week on the streets of London. Likewise, a Writing London course include a Harry Potter walk, while a course on Shakespeare includes visits to the theater.

“A big part of Fordham’s educational approach is applied learning, using the city as our campus, and London provides a new whole way to do that,” Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business.

Courtney Welyczko, a junior at the Gabelli School of Business, said using the city as a campus will be something she can carry into her career and into other cities as well.

“I know that whatever career I end up in, I’m going to be experiencing people from a wide range of locations in the world. So it’s good to get into the context of different styles, and London has its own distinct style,” she said. “This is an incredible city to study, and so is New York, and the fact that there’s a Fordham in London made my decision to come here very easy.”

]]>
107802
School of Religion and Religious Education Focuses on Global Education https://now.fordham.edu/living-the-mission/school-of-religion-and-religious-education-focuses-on-global-education/ Fri, 08 Jun 2018 22:01:47 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=91396 Photo by Tanisia Morris For Faustino “Tito” Cruz, S.M., dean of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE), global education not only strengthens our understanding of our lives and the lives of others, it also helps to nurture reflective and culturally responsive professionals in ministry.

“Sometimes when we talk about humanity, we have a very limited construction of what it is, and it’s limited by the extent to which we have engaged with the human family,” said Cruz, who has visited more than 50 countries, including South Africa, Germany, and Japan. “If there is one thing that I, as an educator, would like to pass on or inspire others to consider, it is for them to experience the world.”

Cruz, who was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, came to Fordham on July 1 after serving as associate dean of academic affairs in the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. Recently, he has facilitated partnerships between GRE and international universities in Asia and Europe.

On May 28, GRE signed an agreement with De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila, which currently offers the only Ph.D. in religious education in Southeast Asia. In addition to fostering the exchange of academic publications and scholarly information, the agreement would give qualified DLSU students the opportunity to study at GRE beginning this fall. A month before partnering with DLSU, Fordham signed a similar memorandum of understanding with the Pontifical Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb. For many years, Fordham has also partnered with Ateneo de Manila University, a Jesuit university, as part of its study-abroad program, which Cruz said he is hoping to strengthen in the coming months as GRE collaborates more closely with Ateneo de Manila’s Formation Institute of Religious Education.

Why is it important for spiritual or religious leaders to “experience the world”?

The more we experience the world, the more we experience humanity. I think empathy is what the leadership of today needs—the ability to be in another person’s shoes, to discern and make decisions that are mindful of the different faces to whom we’re accountable. This really is a question of accountability. I always ask students what their communities of accountability are because leadership education, ministerial formation, and pastoral ministry aren’t personal practices. They are communal practices for the transformation of church and community, not only of individuals.

How did your own experiences traveling the world and ministering to different communities inform your perspective on global education?

As an immigrant, I’m very aware of insider-outsider relationships. I’m very attentive to dominant-minority relationships. I’m very sensitive about who’s not around the table in conversations and decision-making. In the classroom, I’ll purposely ask the question: Who should be in the classroom with us right now? And what might be some of the reasons for which they are not? A constitutive part of faith-based leadership is a deep awareness that there are people making decisions that affect other people’s lives. In response, faith-based leadership ensures that  we claim the agency, which allows us to participate actively in discernment and decision making.

What do you think is unique about this period in history that requires leaders to be culturally responsive?

A lot of our challenges today are grounded in religious conflict. The more we learn about the religious and spiritual lenses that we use to understand our daily lives and  struggle, the more we can understand our neighbor. Religiously, it is shifting from a posture of stranger to neighbor. We make a stranger a neighbor by understanding intentionally what it is in their religious socialization or cultural upbringing that makes them act the way they do. There is no better time than today to make use of our religious resources to understand current events—like the refugee crisis, human trafficking, and the removal of immigrant children from their undocumented parents.

How do you think Fordham’s partnerships with De La Salle University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Croatia align with your vision for GRE?

I personally chose the Pontifical Catholic University of Croatia because it is 10 years old. An emerging university is a vulnerable community. This is a good partnership, particularly in pastoral counseling and spiritual care, because of what Croatia and neighboring countries have recently experienced. They are still going through the effects of trauma. They are still recovering from of the traumatic effects of war. They would provide a broader perspective on how trauma affects people outside of America. I hope this will widen our students’ perspectives about what the human reality is all about.

De La Salle University is one of the largest research universities in the Philippines and they are also the home of the Religious Educators Association of the Philippines, with very comparable focus to GRE. For us, the focus is on global education and what the multiple practices of religious education are in that part of the world.

]]>
91396