Graduate School of Social Service – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu The official news site for Fordham University. Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:36:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://now.fordham.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/favicon.png Graduate School of Social Service – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu 32 32 232360065 Hispanic Heritage Spotlight: Faculty Films Illuminate the Latin American Experience https://now.fordham.edu/arts-and-culture/hispanic-heritage-spotlight-faculty-films-illuminate-the-latin-american-experience/ Wed, 09 Oct 2024 13:44:54 +0000 https://now.fordham.edu/?p=195473 It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and two Fordham professors have recently completed films that bring the Latin American experience to life. 

Jenn Lilly, Ph.D., and Rose M. Perez, Ph.D., both of the Graduate School of Social Service, have dedicated large parts of their careers to studying the emotional and psychological complexity of Latin American communities. Their findings inspired their respective film projects: one highlighting the unique grief of Cuban Americans who’ve left behind their homeland, and the other exploring the mental health challenges faced by many young Latinas. 

Longing for a Lost Homeland

Perez’s film, Cuba es Mí Patria: The Homeland I Keep Inside, explores the experiences of the Cuban diaspora through the framework of “ambiguous loss,” a theory she’s researched extensively. Unlike other forms of grief, ambiguous loss can lack closure and keep the “lost object” psychologically present indefinitely. 

According to Perez, the experiences of the film’s interviewees who left Cuba after the 1959 revolution exemplify this phenomenon. Like a ghosted lover or the parents of a missing child, many Cuban Americans live with unanswered questions that can make letting go impossible, like: Will I ever see my relatives again? Will Cuba’s political and economic situation ever improve? And, will I ever be able to return? 

Rose Perez. Photo: Bruce Gilbert

The conversations were often emotional, especially the interview Perez’s colleague conducted with her father. Perez and her family left Cuba in 1971. “He was so teary throughout the interview that it was really hard to edit his piece,” she said. 

The film appeared in several national and international festivals and won the Best Original Story award at the Touchstone Independent Film Festival in July. Locally, the next screening will be at the AMT Film Festival in Hell’s Kitchen Nov. 8-10. 

Perez says Cuba es Mí Patria is an excellent tool for educators, and will be relatable to anyone from an immigrant background. She hopes viewers will walk away with a “greater appreciation for the hidden trauma people don’t know we carry.”

Speaking Up about Latina Mental Health

In the short film Nuestro Apoyo (Our Support), which Lilly wrote with a group of young Latina collaborators, the drama on screen reflects a culture of silence around mental health issues in many Latin American families. With insights taken from Lilly’s academic research on Latina mental health, the short film depicts a young, first-generation woman’s struggle to bridge a generational and cultural divide with her parents and discuss her thoughts and feelings. 

A headshot of Jenn Lilly, a woman standing on a balcony
Jenn Lilly. Photo courtesy Jenn Lilly

To create the script, Lilly brought together a group of five young Latina writing partners — all Fordham students or alumni — and drew inspiration from their personal experiences. 

“One of my biggest takeaways was that this new generation is very aware of mental health and interested in preventive behaviors, but they’re encountering some difficulty in reconciling that with their families or their cultural views, which are often about keeping things within the family and not discussing things that could bring stigma,” said Lilly. 

Post-production work on the film wrapped in late September. Lilly plans to submit Nuestro Apoyo to some film festivals and then seek a distributor. Whatever happens next, she already experienced a moment of victory watching the film over Zoom with the five young writers. 

“It was really fun to see their reactions, especially when their names appear in the credits,” she said. “We all felt very emotional by the end. It was maybe the highlight of my career.”

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USA Today: Homophobic Speech in Youth Sports Harms Gay and Straight Boys, Fordham Researchers Find https://now.fordham.edu/in-the-media/usa-today-homophobic-speech-in-youth-sports-harms-gay-and-straight-boys-fordham-researchers-find/ Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:15:08 +0000 https://now.fordham.edu/?p=194537 Professors Laura Wernick and Derek Tice-Brown found wide-ranging implications from a culture of masculinity marked by anti-LGBTQ and other harmful language that pervades youth sports environments. Read more in this article.

“It harms the wellbeing of everyone,” said Laura Wernick, one of the study’s lead authors and an associate professor of social service at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, located in Manhattan, New York.

The study found that youths exposed to higher levels of such language were less likely to reap the benefits of youth sports environments, particularly self-esteem. The decrease in self-esteem was significantly greater among straight white cisgender boys than any other subgroup, Wernick said.

“The irony of policing masculinity,” they said, “… is that it’s actually having the opposite effect. It’s bringing these kids down.”

It’s not that LGBTQ youth aren’t harmed by such language in youth sports environments. But the effects on those and other marginalized youth are less pronounced, the researchers say, because previous life experience has equipped them with coping mechanisms.

“They may be more adept at dealing with stressors, because they’ve had that experience,” said Derek Tice-Brown, an assistant professor of social service at Fordham and the study’s co-lead author. “It gives them skills to address those issues as they come up. Whereas cisgender straight boys may not have had that experience to develop those skills.”

Such use of anti-LGBTQ language doesn’t hurt just queer and trans youth, Wernick said. “It hurts our community. It hurts all of us.”

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Photos: Block Party Reunion Draws Fordham Grads Back to Lincoln Center https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/photos-block-party-reunion-draws-fordham-grads-back-to-lincoln-center/ Tue, 11 Jun 2024 19:38:03 +0000 https://now.fordham.edu/?p=191625 More than 700 Fordham graduates from a diverse mix of schools converged on the Plaza at the University’s buzzing Lincoln Center campus on a perfect Friday evening in June to reconnect with classmates, celebrate community, and eat, drink, and dance under the stars and the Manhattan skyline.

The annual Block Party reunion, held June 7, kicked off with a late afternoon guided campus tour and a jazz performance by a group of student and faculty musicians. Alumni from five schools—Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Service, and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies—gathered for receptions throughout campus that honored distinguished alumni and celebrated retiring faculty. After the school-specific receptions, alumni and guests gathered on the Plaza, where they spent the night enjoying refreshments and a DJ. 

Take a look at the full set of photos from the evening!

Save the date for next year’s Block Party: Friday, June 20!

Group of people pose for the camera
Alumni returned to Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus for the annual Block Party event.
Three people talk at a microphone
Marsha Miller, FCLC ’74, GSS ’76 (center), was honored as a Golden Ram this year alongside many of her fellow 1974 classmates. Fordham grads celebrating their 50th reunion had a strong presence at this year’s Block Party. Several of them presented Fordham President Tania Tetlow with a ceremonial check for more than $2.3 million, representing the gifts they and their fellow Fordham College at Lincoln Center alumni made to the University in the past five years.
People pose for a picture
Fordham alumni pose at the dance party on the plaza.
A wide angle view of the Block Party
More than 700 Fordham graduates participated in this year’s Block Party reunion.
Three people pose for a photo
From left: Ailey/Fordham BFA in Dance graduates Antuan Byers, FCLC ’17; Maya Addie, FCLC ’21; and Jacob Blank, FCLC ’23, were among the attendees.
A woman holds a baby
Fordham President Tania Tetlow enjoys the Block Party festivities with one of the night’s youngest attendees.
From left: Jacqueline Hurt, GSS ’15, Maria Ortiz, GSS ’14, and Francisca Elizabeth Munguia, GSS ’14, pose on the plaza.
A group shot
Fordham alumni from five schools returned for the annual Block Party reunion.
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Your World Awaits—and It Needs Your Help, Kennedy Tells Graduates  https://now.fordham.edu/commencement/your-world-awaits-and-it-needs-your-help-kennedy-tells-graduates/ Sat, 18 May 2024 19:56:12 +0000 https://now.fordham.edu/?p=190591

Our fates are united, Joseph Patrick Kennedy III told the Fordham Class of 2024, and peace is possible when we recognize that “our pathway forward is together.”

Speaking at Fordham’s 179th Commencement on May 18, the U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs recalled that region’s painful history—and eventual peace—to illustrate that even amid longstanding war and division, there is reason for hope. 

“While we may come from different backgrounds and perspectives, the lesson Northern Ireland teaches is that our future is shared,” he said from Keating Terrace on the Rose Hill campus, just after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University.

“It is as true in Belfast as in Boston. It is true across our United States. It is true in Israel and Gaza, where terror and heartbreak, violence, and suffering must give way to a shared future. And it is true in every other corner and cranny of our planet.”

Joseph P. Kennedy III addresses the class of 2024.

A Bostonian who told graduates he loves New York (even if he can’t quite get behind the Yankees), Kennedy is a grandson of the former New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He represented the 4th Congressional District of Massachusetts for four terms before assuming his diplomatic role in 2022.

Northern Ireland’s journey from the strife known as the Troubles, which ended in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, is proof that change is possible, he told graduates.

“It’s not perfect. Like everything human, it is really messy and really hard. But 26 years later, the region is still at peace,” he said.

As the sun shone through clouds on the crowd of more than 20,000 people, Kennedy shared anecdotes about meeting people in Derry and Belfast who once were enemies but now are working together. 

“There is a difference between being guided by the past and being held hostage by it,” he said. 

“If we are bold and brave enough, we can learn to make space for each other, even when we disagree on really big things—if not for our benefit, then for those whose futures are yet to be written.”

He told graduates that the world they inherit needs them.

“It is a world that needs your vision and your grace. Your empathy and ambition. Your courage to choose to leave the world a little better than you found it,” he said. 

“And please hurry. Your world awaits, and it needs your help.”

A Time to Celebrate

In her second Fordham commencement address, President Tania Tetlow acknowledged that this year’s ceremonies hold special resonance for many students whose high school graduations were disrupted by the COVID pandemic. 

“What makes you special is how you use your gifts to matter to the world,” President Tetlow told graduates.

“Today is the day to glory in what you have achieved,” she said, noting that even the Empire State Building will be shining in the graduates’ honor tonight.

In graduating, students joined the ranks of millions of Jesuit-educated people around the world who can bond with each other simply by referencing the phrase cura personalis, or care for the whole person, she said. 

“But this isn’t the kind of secret handshake that gets you insider entitlement. Instead, it’s an enormous responsibility that you carry with you forever,” she said.  

“You came to Fordham with blazing talent, each of you blessed by abundant gifts from God. But—and this may be a rare thing to say at commencement—those gifts do not make you better than anyone else,” she said.

“What makes you special is how you use your gifts to matter to the world.”

The University officially conferred roughly 3,300 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the ceremony. Including those who graduated in August 2023 and February 2024 and those who are expected to graduate in August 2024, the University will confer nearly 5,700 academic degrees in all.

In addition to Kennedy, Fordham conferred honorary doctorates upon two other notable figures: Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and a leading global activist against capital punishment, and the University’s former board chairman Robert D. Daleo.

—Photos by Chris Taggart, Bruce Gilbert, Hector Martinez, and Taylor Ha

Watch the full ceremony here.


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Social Work Students Engage in Fieldwork in London https://now.fordham.edu/colleges-and-schools/graduate-school-of-social-service/social-work-students-engage-in-fieldwork-in-london/ Thu, 18 Jan 2024 15:19:33 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=180010 This year, students in the Graduate School of Social Service did their field education abroad for the first time. 

Through a partnership with Fordham’s London campus, GSS students can study abroad, learning about the differences between social work in the U.S. and the U.K. and visiting historic sites. This past summer, about 30 students participated in the two-week program, but two of them stayed behind for three more months to complete inaugural field internships abroad. 

“I felt like this program was made for me,” said Melanie Hills, 24, a master’s student from Glastonbury, Connecticut, who interned at a London community center and served predominantly immigrant populations. “It’s a multi-service, multigenerational approach—and it’s exactly what social work, in my mind, stands for.” 

A Moving Encounter with an Asylum Seeker

Hills worked at Coin Street, a community center that serves Waterloo and North Southwark residents, where she assessed the needs of local families and connected them with services. She recalled a pregnant woman who had experienced human trafficking in her native country and was seeking asylum in London with her two young daughters. Hills said she was able to connect the mother with a local school for her children, a children’s center that could teach her daughters how to communicate in English, and a midwife who could alleviate her stomach pain, despite some initial language barriers. 

“We couldn’t understand each other because our translator phone wasn’t working, so we just stood there, trying to communicate with each other. Finally, I used Google Translate,” Hills said. “She gave me this big hug afterwards, and I was like, ‘OK, this is why [we]do this.” 

As someone who isn’t native to the area, said Hills, it wasn’t easy to connect Londoners with certain services and understand what rights and entitlements they qualified for. But by the end of her internship, she described herself as “self-sufficient.” 

“I had support from Fordham the whole way through and from Coin Street, but I really worked hard, and I’m proud of myself,” said Hills, who regularly checked in with GSS faculty, deans, and her supervisor while abroad. 

This spring, Hills will graduate with her master’s degree in social work, and plans to work in hospital administration. 

“Being in London taught me how competent and powerful I can be,” she said.  

‘Helping People to Be Their Best Selves’ 

Master’s student Vaughn Rush interned at Oxford House, one of the first settlement houses in the United Kingdom that has evolved into a modern-day community center. Rush said he helped to facilitate multiple events, including a Somali culture festival and a “Black history bike ride.” 

“It felt [like]social work in a community-based sense because … they embedded the community in getting things that the community needed and working with them to help themselves,” he said. 

Rush, a 36 year old from Jamaica, Queens, has worn many hats. He is a veteran who served as a behavioral health specialist and medic in the U.S. Army for seven years and a male drag queen, among other things. After graduating this spring with his master’s degree in social work, he plans to earn his master’s degree in applied theater. He wants to combine his social work and theater skills “to make some mental health magic” in a non-traditional way, ideally for the U.S. Army or the Department of Veterans Affairs, he said. 

What he will take from his London internship experience is his growth in empathy, he said. 

“Listening to the differences in people’s lives and their values … showed the differences between us, but also the things we have in common,” Rush said, “and that helps with us being one big world … and helping people to be their best selves.” 

Watch the video below and learn more about the GSS program abroad

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20 in Their 20s: Hannah Babiss https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/20-in-their-20s-hannah-babiss/ Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:23:50 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=179942

A Presidential Management Fellow takes a broad view of social work

What does a social worker’s job look like? Those outside the field might picture someone who meets one-on-one with clients, or works at a hospital, school, or nonprofit. Hannah Babiss is proof that there is no one answer to that question.

Now in the midst of a prestigious Presidential Management Fellowship, a two-year training and leadership development program administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management that places advanced degree holders in U.S. government agencies, Babiss is using her studies in macro social work to impact federal policy.

“I felt like I wanted to have a greater impact to help support individuals and communities that might be experiencing challenges or barriers,” says Babiss, who earned an M.S.W. at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) in 2021. She had already gained experience in direct social work service before arriving at GSS. And although she considered master’s programs in public policy and international affairs, she was drawn to the field placements available through social work programs—and specifically to the small class sizes and electives at Fordham.

Policymaking to Make Lives Easier

During her time at Fordham, Babiss became involved in the GSS Student Congress, which she says not only helped her land the fellowship but also gave her experience in organizational structuring and leadership—skills she also developed as a research assistant for Professor Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., director of Her Migrant Hub, a website that helps women gain access to health care services and other resources in New York City.

Babiss began the fellowship in August 2022 as a budget analyst in the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she assessed the distribution of money for federal transportation projects and wrote budget justifications to clarify why line items were included as funds. She says the work has helped her understand how money ties into specific policies.

“My first year was a lot of training because I don’t have a background in finance or budgeting in particular,” Babiss says. “It was a lot of learning the ropes, but I learned a lot about the congressional budgeting process.”

When the fellowship ends next August, she plans to apply for jobs across various federal agencies. And while she has a particular passion for immigration, education, and mental health policy, she’s open to working in any area in which she can make a positive impact.

“I would love to see more efficient policymaking that helps make people’s lives easier,” she says. “I think that’s really what it boils down to—how can you improve the quality of people’s lives, while also making a policy that’s realistic and efficient and a good use of taxpayer dollars?”

Read more “20 in Their 20s” profiles.

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Full-Time BASW Students Can Start MSW In Person in Spring https://now.fordham.edu/colleges-and-schools/graduate-school-of-social-service/full-time-basw-students-can-start-msw-in-person-in-spring/ Fri, 17 Nov 2023 02:33:55 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=179115 Full-time students with a bachelor’s degree in social work can now start their master’s degree coursework in person at Fordham during the spring semester and complete their degree in August.

Now we are enabling students to come to campus and have the same opportunity to complete the program within a quick time frame as an online student would have,” said Melba Remice, assistant dean for admissions at GSS. “This is for students who really want the ability to complete the program quickly, while gaining experience, skill sets, and knowledge in an in-person setting.” 

What Are Advanced Standing Students? 

Advanced-standing Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) students already have a bachelor’s degree in social work and are now pursuing graduate school. What separates them from traditional students in the same program is the amount of coursework they are required to complete. In Fordham’s Master of Social Work program, full-time traditional students usually take up to two years to complete their graduate degree. But advanced-standing students who have already completed coursework and fieldwork in social work as undergraduates can apply their experience to their graduate programs and complete their master’s degree in less than a year. They save time—and money, said Remice. 

Saving Time and Money, While Studying in Person 

For years, Fordham allowed its full-time advanced-standing students to begin coursework only during the fall semester, not in spring, due to the nature of their coursework and fieldwork. (Only part-time advanced-standing students could begin school during the spring semester.) Starting in spring 2024, those students will be able to start their master’s program in the spring semester in either an online setting or in person, completing their degrees by the end of August. 

“The advanced-standing program provides graduate students more flexibility, a quicker timeline, and on-campus networking opportunities to advance their careers,” Remice said. 

The application deadline for Spring 2024 is Dec. 1. Learn more about the on-campus M.S.W. program.  

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Social Work Students and Faculty Partner with Women Asylum Seekers to Find Solutions https://now.fordham.edu/colleges-and-schools/graduate-school-of-social-service/social-work-students-and-faculty-partner-with-women-asylum-seekers-to-find-solutions/ Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:38:35 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=179171

Students and faculty in Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service are supporting women asylum seekers, one of the most vulnerable populations in New York City, by working with them to increase access to health care and mental health services and advocate for the protection of migrants’ rights.

On Nov. 10, they convened with activists who work in academia, city government, the law—and women asylum seekers themselves—to talk about future work and solutions. 

‘The Solutions Will Come From People’s Voices’ 

Over the past year and a half, more than 130,600 migrants arrived in New York City from countries like Venezuela and Senegal, seeking asylum from violence, persecution, and other traumas in their homelands. The city provides temporary shelter and helps migrants to apply for legal status, work authorization, and permanent housing, but it’s not easy to address every single need. In fact, the city just announced that it is limiting shelter stays for migrant families with children to 60 days in its housing system. 

“The city is doing the best that they can. But the solutions to what’s happening right now are not going to be coming from the city,” said Anne Williams-Isom, FCLC ’86, New York City deputy mayor for health and human services, at the symposium, which was held at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. “The solutions will come from people’s voices who have experienced this and who are sharing their stories with us, and hoping that academia and government and others will listen.” 

Her Migrant Hub

Anne Williams-Isom and GSS Dean Debra McPhee
Anne Williams-Isom and GSS Dean Debra McPhee

Those in academia are listening. Through Her Migrant Hub, a website created by Fordham faculty, students, and women asylum seekers, migrants in New York City are able to better understand their rights in the U.S. and easily access services with a direct impact on women’s well-being, such as health care, housing, and mental health. Perhaps most uniquely, they are taught how to tell their own stories and to advocate for themselves and their loved ones. 

Her Migrant Hub has greatly expanded since its inception in 2021. The community-driven program, which primarily receives funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation and is supported by additional funding from organizations like World Education Services Mariam Assefa Fund, is revamping its web platform based on suggestions from women migrants, students, scholars, and service providers. The website was updated this November with several new additions, including direct mental health support via phone, text, or video on the platform itself. 

In addition, Her Migrant Hub now has an advisory board that includes eight women asylum seekers who have become activists. Six of them are from the initial core Her Migrant Hub group; one is a representative for newly arrived women asylum seekers, and another is a representative of the community of indigenous Garifuna women asylum seekers. The board also includes two service providers who are able to listen to the women and develop solutions based on their feedback. They now meet in a dedicated space at the Lincoln Center campus that the activists and GSS students will decorate to reflect the different cultures and shared stories of the community. 

The Her Migrant Hub team, led by GSS professors Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., and Dana Alonzo, Ph.D., is also planning a series of trainings on trauma-informed care, migration-related trauma, and vicarious trauma for service providers who work with this population in New York City. Women asylum seekers will also receive training on how to educate migrant communities, employers, and service providers about forced migration and the challenges faced by their community.

A group of people seated around a table have a meeting.
A support group facilitated by GSS student Luisa Fernanda Sandoval Cortes, discussing Her Migrant Hub website changes in the HMH office at the Lincoln Center campus

Students Engaging with Migrants in Crisis 

GSS students are engaged in all of these efforts. Two sit on the advisory board alongside the asylum seekers. Eight are interning at organizations such as the New York City Mayor’s Office’s new Asylum Application Support Center and Emma’s Torch. Others are participating in Forced Migration and Social Work Policy and Practice, a new course co-developed by GSS professors and Her Migrant Hub’s women activists. This course is part of a project funded by New York Community Trust, which aims to develop best practices for social workers who work with migrant populations and engage students in specialized internships. 

Most recently, in October, clinical social work students under the supervision of Alonzo began providing one-on-one mental health support to migrants through the Her Migrant Hub website

Among the students involved in this collective work is Luisa Fernanda Sandoval Cortes, a Ph.D. student who serves as a case manager coordinator for a program for asylum seekers at Catholic Charities of New York. For Her Migrant Hub, she is a project coordinator, facilitating a mental health group for new women asylum seekers. She shared some key takeaways from her experiences at the Nov. 10 symposium.

“Social workers and professionals should be trained in assisting asylum seekers from an intersectionality perspective to be able to understand gender, race, language, and cultural differences among this population,” said Cortes, who also emphasized the importance of providing fast and extended work permits to migrants. “And I would add empathy.” 

A group of women and children smile for a group photo.
The Her Migrant Hub community and their families at the GSS symposium on Nov. 10

Read more about the symposium. 

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At Fordham Law School, Investing in Diversity—In All Its Dimensions https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/at-fordham-law-school-investing-in-diversity-in-all-its-dimensions/ Tue, 26 Sep 2023 20:51:23 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=176961 Feeling grateful to Fordham Law School for the education he received, Chris Torrente, LAW ’00, has been supporting the school for years—most recently, supporting a new diversity, equity, and inclusion effort that resonates with him personally.

His reasons stem from challenges family members have faced, and from his own experience as a first-year Fordham Law student whose vague worries about fitting in were quickly put to rest.

Chris Torrente
Christoper Torrente, LAW ’00

“I immediately had a feeling of belonging and felt a lot of support there,” rather than feeling like “the odd person out” as someone who came from a working-class family and was a first-generation law student, said Torrente, a senior partner with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis in New York.

Cultivating that sense of belonging is one aim of recent law school initiatives such as IDEAL, or Increasing Diversity in Education and the Law, founded in 2019 to help New York City college students from underrepresented backgrounds learn about careers in law. Torrente gave in support of IDEAL before the law school’s new diversity effort got his attention.

Supporting Students, Unleashing Potential

The number of Fordham Law students that report some kind of learning difference has steadily increased during the past decade. The differences range from physical ailments to sensory issues, cognitive or psychiatric challenges, and ADHD. An initiative under development, Empowering Every Mind, is aimed at helping them thrive at Fordham Law and as leaders in the profession.

“As law schools increasingly think about the importance of professionalism and leadership skills, I’m delighted that Fordham Law is squarely focused on supporting our neurodiverse students in ways that will help them realize their full potential as future lawyers and leaders,” said Joseph Landau, associate dean for academic affairs at Fordham Law, noting that these differences can be sources of professional strength.

Jill Torrente
Jill Torrente

Torrente and his wife, Jill Torrente, had seen this in a few close family members who have had to navigate learning differences, ADHD, or physical ailments while working to live up to their full potential by capitalizing on their strengths and tackling their challenges. In fact, these experiences were among the reasons that inspired Jill to go to graduate school and earn her master’s degree in social work from Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. “So when this initiative came up … it made a lot of sense for me and my wife to support it,” he said.

He noted that Kirkland and other law firms are striving to be accommodating to lawyers with learning differences. For example, Kirkland offers professional networks, mentoring, and other resources to support all attorneys in their professional growth.

“For me, this just is another dimension of making people feel like they belong, and enabling them to voice how they feel, and also make them feel comfortable being vulnerable,” Torrente said. “It opens the door for more candid conversations.”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are key priorities of Fordham’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student. Learn more and make a gift.

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Master’s Program Fosters Heath Care Industry Connections https://now.fordham.edu/business-and-economics/masters-program-fosters-heath-care-industry-connections/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 19:05:15 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=176053 Jobs for medical and health service managers are projected to grow 28% from 2022 to 2032, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This year, all the students in the fifth cohort of Fordham’s master’s degree in health administration program received a valuable connection to that growing field: student membership in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)

On Aug. 8, the group co-hosted, along with the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE), the “3rd Annual Better Together: Celebrating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” event at the Lincoln Center campus. Several members of the cohort were invited to attend.

Shifting from a Clinical to an Administrative Focus

One of them was Su Su Oo, a native of Myanmar who left her home last year to escape political repression and violence engulfing the country.

Oo had graduated from medical school there and worked for four and half years at a hospital before pursuing a postgraduate degree in public health in New Zealand. Before settling in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, she worked as a field support coordinator for the Myanmar Anti-Narcotics Association.

She soon found herself more interested in the administrative side of health care than the clinical aspects of the field. So she enrolled in Fordham’s program, which is offered through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

“The courses are very comprehensive and cover most everything you would need to understand the health administrative field. I loved learning about things like the social determinants of health and the factors that affect the quality of health care overall,” she said.

“My communication skills and negotiation skills have also improved a lot through the group projects we’ve done.”

Su Su Oo, one of four master’s students who volunteered at a recent National Association of Health Services Executives meeting held at Fordham.

Developing Skills Beyond One’s Comfort Zone

Jasmine Morales, a native of Co-op City in the Bronx who currently works as a radiology billing associate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, earned a certified nurse assistant (CNA) license when she was in high school. Nursing was not ultimately in the cards for her, but Morales stuck with the field.

“In my mind, I said, ‘Even if I can’t be a nurse, I can still help people in other ways, as long as I’m still in health care,” she said.

Her capstone project, on opioid addiction in the Bronx, opened her eyes to the reality of the healthcare system disparities in the United States.

“Going through this program, you see the whole spectrum of health care. The disparities are not just in New York either; it’s global,” she said.

She also feels more confident speaking in public now, having successfully presented her capstone findings to her class. It wasn’t easy, though; at the time, she said she was on the verge of tears.

“I had to learn and keep going moving forward, and part of that is getting you out of your comfort zone,” she said.

“As a leader, at some point in your career, you’re gonna have to talk in front of an audience.”

Preparing Graduates for Current and Future Challenges

Caroline Pogge, Dr.P.H., director of the program, said the goal is to develop leaders who will be prepared to manage both current issues in health care as well as future ones, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuous reverberations of the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare).

Past graduates of the program, which draws on experts from the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Social Service, the School of Law, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. have included a medical review officer at Con Edison and a care coordinator at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

“We want students to be able to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a situation; I know how to dig into a problem regardless of what that problem is,’” she said.

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Block Party at Lincoln Center Brings Tributes and Celebrations https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/block-party-at-lincoln-center-brings-tributes-and-celebrations/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 20:57:07 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=174285 The Lowenstein Plaza lit up for Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party The Lowenstein Plaza lit up for Block Party The Lowenstein Plaza lit up for Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Tania Tetlow with a graduate Tania Tetlow posing with a group of graduates Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Alumni celebrating at Block Party Block Party branded coozies Just two days after New York City was blanketed in orange haze due to wildfires in Canada, the air cleared, and on June 9, more than 600 Fordham alumni gathered on the Lincoln Center campus for the annual Block Party reunion in the heart of Manhattan.

“It is an astonishing thing that Fordham has this location at the center of everything,” Fordham President Tania Tetlow told attendees. “The epicenter of the global economy, the center of so much media, of arts and culture, of business, of everything you can imagine.”

The alumni who gathered—from Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Service, and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies—spanned generations and spoke of the lasting impact of their time at Fordham.

“This is a place with many happy memories and a place that really changed my life—my husband, my career, my lifelong friends,” said Karen Ninehan, a teacher and former school principal who earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham College at Lincoln Center in 1974.

When she decided to go into administration, she returned to campus to earn a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education in 2000. “I knew this was the place where I would get the best of everything,” she said.

A jazz band featuring students and faculty played in Pope Auditorium.
A jazz band featuring students and faculty played in Pope Auditorium.

As Ninehan and other guests arrived Friday evening, they had the opportunity to hear some live jazz in Pope Auditorium, thanks to a group made up of two music professors, four students, and Walter Blanding, a tenor saxophonist with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. They attended school- and club-specific receptions across campus before coming together on the plaza for food, drinks, and dancing well into the evening.

Reconnecting with Those Who ‘Helped You on Your Journey’

Margot Reid, GABELLI ’21, said she was especially excited for this year’s celebration—in part because as a member of Fordham’s Young Alumni Committee, she had had a hand in planning it.

“It’s something I look forward to—it’s like a big event of the season,” said Reid, who is a marketing associate as ESPN. “It’s nice to see and connect with everybody.”

Matthew Leone, FCLC ’17, another member of the Young Alumni Committee, was attending his first reunion. “I’m coming back just to find some sense of normalcy again and just to rekindle everything,” said Leone, who finished grad school at American University this spring and is working as an immigration paralegal. “I love seeing this different side of Fordham.”

Harleny Vasquez, GSS ’18, a social work career coach and the founding CEO of yourEVOLVEDmind, was among the featured speakers at the Graduate School of Social Service reception, which highlighted the diverse range of careers and opportunities open to MSW graduates.

“GSS did a wonderful job of teaching us our social work foundation,” said Vasquez, who received the GSS Alumni Service Award in recognition of her work with the school’s graduating students. “You hold the power to utilize your social work degree to design the career you desire.”

For Abigail Brown, Julian Goldstein, and Alice Wong, who bonded more than a decade ago in the Gabelli School’s executive MBA program, Block Party was a chance to reconnect and reminisce about their experiences.

Brown, who graduated in 2014 and now works for General Motors as a future retail development manager, said that she not only enjoys networking with fellow alumni but also catching up with faculty and staff.

“It’s really good to see where people are at, and to connect with old deans and faculty members who helped you on your journey,” she said. “It’s inspiring. That’s the word I always leave here with—inspiring.”

Paying Tribute to Influential Faculty and Advisors

At its alumni reception, Fordham College at Lincoln Center honored two retiring faculty members—English professor Anne Hoffman, Ph.D., and economics professor Janis Barry, Ph.D. Members of the Class of 1973 were inducted as Golden Rams, and there were special shout-outs to the Silver Rams of the Class of 1998 and other graduates celebrating milestone reunions.

“It’s really exciting because it brings back a lot of my classmates, and especially since this is our 20th reunion, we have a really good showing,” said Samara Finn Holland, FCLC ’03, a member of the Fordham University Alumni Association Advisory Board. “I think that makes this year stand out above the rest.”

Nearby, more than 20 alumni who worked on The Observer, the award-winning student newspaper at the Lincoln Center campus, gathered to catch up and honor Molly Bedford and Anthony Hazell, FCLC ’06, who stepped down last year as the paper’s visual and editorial advisors, respectively, after seven years.

Margo Jackson, Ph.D., Fordham President Tania Tetlow, and GSE Dean José Luis Alvarado, Ph.D.
Margo Jackson, Ph.D., Fordham President Tania Tetlow, and GSE Dean José Luis Alvarado, Ph.D.

And at the Graduate School of Education reception, retiring professor Margo A. Jackson, Ph.D., received the Dr. Kathryn I. Scanlon Award for her service and commitment to the University since 1999.

‘Fordham Was the Difference in Your Life’

This year marked the first Block Party for Fordham President Tania Tetlow, who spoke at various receptions across campus and also addressed a group of the University’s loyal donors at a cocktail reception in Platt Court.

“I love hearing the stories of how many of you feel like Fordham was the difference in your life,” she said, “the investment and opportunity that gave you the launch to everything that you wanted to do, and helped embed the desire in you to matter to the world.”

—Tanya Hunt, Kelly Prinz, and Connor White contributed to this story.

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