“We know that the parents in our Bronx community may have some difficulty completing FAFSA applications—both because it’s something new for them, and also because the forms are all in English, and they may not able to understand what it is that they have to enter,” said Eva Garcia, executive director of the New York City Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBE-RN) at Fordham.

Over the past two months, local high school seniors and their parents have been coming to the Rose Hill campus to get help navigating the tricky paperwork that accompanies college applications.

In the second annual series of four workshops hosted by RBE-RN—a state-funded center at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education—and College Goal New York, volunteers have sat down with families to pore over the complex forms and help them eliminate hurdles that might otherwise stop them from applying to college or prevent them from continuing once they’ve started.

“This partnership is driven by the need to address the high incidence of dropouts among English-language learners in high school,” said James Rodriguez, retired teacher and coordinator at College Goal New York, which aims to increase FAFSA completion rates, particularly for low-income, first-generation families.

“On average, nationally 52 percent of students who are eligible to apply for financial aid apply,” Rodriguez said. “Three New York City districts are below the national norm, at 42 percent. Two of the three districts are in the Bronx—district 8 and district 10. And this campus is sitting in juxtaposition between the two districts.”

Breaking the Language Barrier

The Bronx is a borough filled with non-native English speakers and an array of languages: Spanish, French, Bengali, Russian, Italian, Albanian, the Ghanaian language of Twi, and Kru—a language spoken by people from Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia. But for families whose first language is not English, filling out FAFSA forms can be challenging.

One of the families that attended the workshop was a mother-daughter duo: Maria Ponce, a native of Mexico, and Kenny Herrera, a high school senior at Knowledge and Power Preparatory Academy—a three-minute walk from the Rose Hill campus.

When Ponce arrived at a workshop held on Nov. 3 in Hughes Hall, she was clueless about what would come next. But after attending the 20-minute info session—an orientation given entirely in Spanish by Hispanic Federation members—she said she realized the paperwork process wasn’t so difficult after all. Completing the FAFSA application itself took 10 to 15 minutes, Herrera estimated.

“Fue difícil Mami la aplicación?” Herrera asked her mother in Spanish. Was the application difficult?

No, Ponce replied. “It’s very important to have people who can speak Spanish here, that could help you out,” she said, with Herrera translating. “It’s a very diverse place here [in the Bronx].”

A Convenient One-Stop Shop

The families filled out the online forms in Hughes Hall’s first-floor trading room, packed with more than 40 computer terminals used by students in the Gabelli School of Business. If the families encountered a problem, there were plenty of people to help them: local high school guidance counselors and volunteers from financial aid departments at nearby colleges, which included Fordham students and alumni.

“Every time you get stuck with a question, you can ask them and they help you,” said Khaled Saleh, who came to the Nov. 10 workshop with his son Abdulsalam.

Alyson Weaver, FCRH ’05, GSS ’13, a workshop volunteer and high school social worker in the Bronx, described the workshops as a “one-stop shop” where families could inquire about how to create the FAFSA accounts, read their tax returns, and decipher the application process.

“There’s an expert or someone who’s really knowledgeable that can help navigate the process for them, and reduce some of the stress and anxiety behind filling out these forms,” she said.

The parents who come to these workshops are often quiet, humble, and a little fearful, Garcia said.

“I understand what they’re going through,” said Garcia, a Puerto Rican native who moved to New York when she was 11 years old. She recalled her high school years in the ’70s—improving her fluency in English, living in a low-income household, and filling out her FAFSA application on paper, rather than online. Garcia also remembered organizations like ASPIRA (which translates to “aspire” from Spanish) that helped her and other Latino students navigate the college application process. “My parents wouldn’t have been able to help me fill out an application because they were learning English themselves, working, and trying to raise a family,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important—organizations like these, helping out students.”

Hughes Hall, the five-story, 19th-century stone building at the heart of Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, was officially rechristened as the home of the Gabelli School of Business (GSB) in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 27.

On the steps of the building’s new entrance, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, linked the occasion, which was attended by a wide swath of the Fordham community, to Sept. 27, 1540. On that day, St. Ignatius Loyola asked Pope Paul III to approve the founding of the Society of Jesus, the mission of which would be to serve God in the challenges and opportunities of the real world.

“His sons, therefore, were to be men of discerning hearts and minds and bold vision who would dream world-engaging, world-changing dreams, and who would engage the world with a rare and bracing combination of street smarts and dogged persistence,” Father McShane said.

Bold vision, street smarts and dogged persistence are traits that Mario J. Gabelli, GSB ’65, also possess, Father McShane added. Gabelli’s $25 million gift in 2010, the largest in the University’s history, made possible the renovation of the building named for Fordham’s founder, Archbishop John Hughes.

“Mario is a man who is blessed with a great restlessness, a bold and visionary mind, relentless persistence and the street smarts that one would expect of a son of the Bronx,” Father McShane said.

“He is, moreover, a man who has made his mark on the world by engaging the world with and through both his business sense and his remarkable support of education, which he sees as a way of transforming the world.”

The new building is significant for the Gabelli School, as it brings together faculty members and students who were previously scattered at various buildlings around campus. Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School and of the business faculty, called the building a dream come true.

“In two brief months, Hughes Hall has shown me that a great building—one that has life, vitality, and energy—is that way because of the special synergy it has with people, “ she said. “That includes the people inside it— our students and faculty—and the people behind it.”

“It is the perfect mix of old-world charm and modern-day business elegance. It is a physical space that respects history but leads to the future. And it is, most importantly, a home. As any professor here will tell you, the glass walls make it very easy to see who’s at home. And, in truth, we are all at home.”

For Mario Gabelli, the afternoon was an opportunity to look back as well as forward, as he recalled attending Fordham Prep in 1957 when it was housed at Hughes Hall.

He exhorted those in attendance to support faculty, facilities, financing and students, which together form the backbone of higher education.  Education, he said, is one of the underpinnings of meritocracy, which, along with the free market and the rule of law, keeps the nation strong.

“I cobbled my way through the Prep, to college, and to graduate school through scholarships, so we have to find a way to give back and keep that flame burning,” he said.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University, called the occasion an example of how “miracles of daily life happen every day” at Fordham.

“Hughes Hall is a superb, state-of-the-art facility that moves us to our next level of excellence. Global interconnection defines today’s business world, and Hughes Hall reflects this dynamic reality.”

Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president for development and university relations, said it was almost two years to the day that the Gabelli gift was announced at a kick-off event marking the college’s $60 million campaign, part of Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham.

“Today Hughes Hall is the home of the Gabelli School of Business—a state-of-the-art facility within a beautiful and historic structure,” he said. “We cannot thank you enough for your leadership, support, dedication, and service to Fordham.”

For Fordham’s newly renovated Hughes Hall, home of the Gabelli School of Business, straddling the worlds of 19th century revivalism and the digital age presented not just a stylistic challenge, but a technical one.

Ultimately, the $38 million renovation has allowed a contemporary interior to slip in behind the building’s French gothic façade, built in 1891.

At first glance, the renovation would almost appear to be a restoration, but a studied view reveals a surgical approach that didn’t shy away from the new. Wide marble steps lead up to sliding glass doors that swoosh open beneath a clean-lined glass canopy, where a lobby cuts straight through the building on a north-south axis. Architects used a white Vermont marble on the stairs to harmonize with original stonework, but the glass openings bring the visitors into another realm entirely.

Inside, most rooms are enclosed in glass, reflecting the current design trend in businesses to portray transparency. Stairwell landings and administrative offices provide large lounge areas to foster spontaneous collaboration.

Behind one glass wall in the lobby is the school’s pièce de résistance: a trading room featuring Bloomberg terminals and streaming stock tickers. A video wall can be programmed to track how the Student Managed Investment Fund is performing. The trading room’s glass wall holds a “smart film” that can provide privacy from the busy lobby area: just a flip of a switch transforms the wall from clear glass to digital images.

The new building houses six meeting rooms, three conference rooms, several student lounge areas (one encircled by faculty offices), and a 160-seat lecture hall. Five of the seven classrooms seat 50 students each.

All of those classrooms include video conferencing capabilities, while some have camera-tracking systems enabling faculty to walk about the room while a camera follows them. Lectures can be streamed to remote locations in real time or edited later to include slides.

Two of the rooms hold Smart Boards with interactive screens. Faculty and students will make edits directly to the screen that will save onto a laptop.

In order to accommodate a lecture hall in the lower level that seats 160 students, the building foundation had to be lowered nearly eight feet, allowing the basement floor to be dropped three feet.

All told, the renovation has nearly quadrupled the college’s physical space.

When the renovations got underway in 2010, architects considered retaining the building’s original 19th century lean cast iron columns. But ultimately, they decided that all of the interior should go, said John Spaccarelli, Fordham’s director of facilities and special projects.

“When we were done gutting, the only thing that was remaining from the original building was the four masonry walls,” said Spaccarelli. “Nothing else was left, not even a nail.”

A gut renovation was no small decision from both an engineering standpoint and theoretical standpoint, said architect Jennifer Brayer, a partner at HLW, the firm charged with overseeing the renovations. But after several planning sessions with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, all involved decided to clearly demarcate past from present.

“It’s all about the juxtaposition of materials,” said Brayer. “There’s a purity in distinguishing what is old and what is new, and then celebrating that.”

If deciding to draw the line between past and present proved a challenge, engineering it was a feat. The major task—dropping the entire foundation eight feet—required workers to excavate beneath the original stone walls, one 40-inch section at a time. As the digging proceeded, the area was shored up with lumber to keep the soil from collapsing in. Once completed, the pit was pumped with concrete.

The old materials were carted off with an eye toward staying green. “Every piece of material that left this site was recycled,” said Spaccarelli. A full 65 percent of the new construction is also fabricated from recycled materials.

With the new foundation in place, footings and 75-foot I-beam columns followed, which took on the role of supporting the new structure, relieving the 122-year-old stone façade of its primary duty. Next, crossbeams had to be brought in through windows to span the building’s 50-foot width. After the old floors were removed, crossbeams were raised back up to the original floor height, so that the windows would once again fall into the original placement between the floor and ceiling.

Perhaps the building’s boldest gesture is a green glass replacement for the old copper roof. Following the original mansard in form, if not function, the glass both provides windows for faculty offices and continues up past the interior so as to hide rooftop equipment. The composition gives the roof a pavilion quality from the outside; inside, angled glass windows make some faculty offices feel like Parisian garrets.

“We wanted to respect the past, but again there was a desire not to mimic it,” said Brayer, adding that she credits Father McShane and Dean Rapaccioli for taking a chance on a distinct gesture that points to the future.

This is the third year that the university has entered the competition, which runs through April 1. As with the past two years, Fordham will participate in the “benchmark” division of the competition, which challenges dormitory residents to see who can simultaneously collect the most paper, cardboard glass, metal and plastic and generate as little solid waste as possible.

Weekly updates will be issued by sustainability consultant Great Forest and sent to the residence halls weekly so students can track their progress.

The competition does not include administrative or academic buildings, but this year the Rose Hill campus’ ten residence halls do have a partner in Hughes Hall, the new home of the Gabelli School of Business.

As part of the universities’ ongoing sustainability programs, Hughes Hall has been outfitted with seven new Waste Watcher Recycling Stations. The stations, which contain three bins for paper, plastic and garbage, are part of a pilot program that may be implemented in some of the 147 classrooms at the Rose Hill campus.

For more information about Recyclemania, visit http://recyclemaniacs.org.

Ultimately, the $38 million renovation has allowed a contemporary interior to slip in behind the building’s French gothic façade, built in 1891.

At first glance, the renovation would almost appear to be a restoration, but a studied view reveals a surgical approach that didn’t shy away from the new. Wide marble steps lead up to sliding glass doors that swoosh open beneath a clean-lined glass canopy, where a lobby cuts straight through the building on a north-south axis. Architects used a white Vermont marble on the stairs to harmonize with original stonework, but the glass openings bring the visitors into another realm entirely.

Inside, most rooms are enclosed in glass, reflecting the current design trend in businesses to portray transparency. Stairwell landings and administrative offices provide large lounge areas to foster spontaneous collaboration.

Behind one glass wall in the lobby is the school’s pièce de résistance: a trading room featuring Bloomberg terminals and streaming stock tickers. A video wall can be programmed to track how the Student Managed Investment Fund is performing. The trading room’s glass wall holds a “smart film” that can provide privacy from the busy lobby area: just a flip of a switch transforms the wall from clear glass to digital images.

The new building houses six meeting rooms, three conference rooms, several student lounge areas (one encircled by faculty offices), and a 160-seat lecture hall. Five of the seven classrooms seat 50 students each.

All of those classrooms include video conferencing capabilities, while some have camera-tracking systems enabling faculty to walk about the room while a camera follows them. Lectures can be streamed to remote locations in real time or edited later to include slides.

Two of the rooms hold Smart Boards with interactive screens. Faculty and students will make edits directly to the screen that will save onto a laptop.

In order to accommodate a lecture hall in the lower level that seats 160 students, the building foundation had to be lowered nearly eight feet, allowing the basement floor to be dropped three feet.

All told, the renovation has nearly quadrupled the college’s physical space.

When the renovations got underway in 2010, architects considered retaining the building’s original 19th century lean cast iron columns. But ultimately, they decided that all of the interior should go, said John Spaccarelli, Fordham’s director of facilities and special projects.

“When we were done gutting, the only thing that was remaining from the original building was the four masonry walls,” said Spaccarelli. “Nothing else was left, not even a nail.”

A gut renovation was no small decision from both an engineering standpoint and theoretical standpoint, said architect Jennifer Brayer, a partner at HLW, the firm charged with overseeing the renovations. But after several planning sessions with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, all involved decided to clearly demarcate past from present.

“It’s all about the juxtaposition of materials,” said Brayer. “There’s a purity in distinguishing what is old and what is new, and then celebrating that.”

If deciding to draw the line between past and present proved a challenge, engineering it was a feat. The major task—dropping the entire foundation eight feet—required workers to excavate beneath the original stone walls, one 40-inch section at a time. As the digging proceeded, the area was shored up with lumber to keep the soil from collapsing in. Once completed, the pit was pumped with concrete.

The old materials were carted off with an eye toward staying green. “Every piece of material that left this site was recycled,” said Spaccarelli. A full 65 percent of the new construction is also fabricated from recycled materials.

With the new foundation in place, footings and 75-foot I-beam columns followed, which took on the role of supporting the new structure, relieving the 122-year-old stone façade of its primary duty. Next, crossbeams had to be brought in through windows to span the building’s 50-foot width. After the old floors were removed, crossbeams were raised back up to the original floor height, so that the windows would once again fall into the original placement between the floor and ceiling.

Perhaps the building’s boldest gesture is a green glass replacement for the old copper roof. Following the original mansard in form, if not function, the glass both provides windows for faculty offices and continues up past the interior so as to hide rooftop equipment. The composition gives the roof a pavilion quality from the outside; inside, angled glass windows make some faculty offices feel like Parisian garrets.

“We wanted to respect the past, but again there was a desire not to mimic it,” said Brayer, adding that she credits Father McShane and Dean Rapaccioli for taking a chance on a distinct gesture that points to the future.

The new Hughes Hall:

A Perfect Mix of Old-World Charm and
Modern-Day Business Elegance

A Perfect Mix of Old-World Charm and
Modern-Day Business Elegance

At first glance, the renovation would almost appear to be a restoration, but a studied view reveals a surgical approach that didn’t shy away from the contemporary. Wide marble steps lead up to sliding glass doors that swoosh open beneath a clean-lined glass canopy, where a lobby cuts straight through the building on a north-south axis. Architects used a white Vermont marble on the stairs to harmonize with original stonework, but the glass openings bring the visitors into another realm entirely.

Inside, most rooms are enclosed in glass, reflecting the current design trend in businesses to portray transparency. Stairwell landings and administrative offices provide large lounge areas to foster spontaneous collaboration.

Behind one glass wall in the lobby is the school’s pièce de résistance: a trading room featuring Bloomberg terminals and streaming stock tickers. A video wall can be programmed to track how the Student Managed Investment Fund is performing. The trading room’s glass wall holds a “smart film” that can provide privacy from the busy lobby area: just a flip of a switch transforms the wall from clear glass to digital images.

The new building houses six meeting rooms, three conference rooms, several student lounge areas (one encircled by faculty offices), and a 160-seat lecture hall. Five of the seven classrooms seat 50 students each.

Seven of those classrooms include video conferencing capabilities, while some have camera-tracking systems enabling faculty to walk about the room while a camera follows them: Lectures can be streamed to remote locations in real time or edited later to include slides.

Two other rooms hold Smart Boards with interactive screens: Faculty and students will make edits directly to the screen that will save onto a laptop.

In order to accommodate a lecture hall in the lower level that seats 160 students, the building foundation had to be lowered nearly eight feet, allowing the basement floor to be dropped 3 feet.

All told, the renovation has nearly quadrupled the college’s physical space.

When the renovations got underway in 2010, architects considered retaining the building’s original 19th century lean cast iron columns. But ultimately, they decided that all of the interior should go, said John Spaccarelli, Fordham’s director of facilities and special projects.

“When we were done gutting, the only thing that was remaining from the original building was the four masonry walls,” said Spaccarelli. “Nothing else was left, not even a nail.”

A gut renovation was no small decision from both an engineering standpoint and theoretical standpoint said architect Jennifer Brayer, a partner at HLW, the firm charged with overseeing the renovations. But after several planning sessions with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, all involved decided to clearly demarcate past from present.

“It’s all about the juxtaposition of materials,” said Brayer. “There’s a purity in distinguishing what is old and what is new, and then celebrating that.”

If deciding to draw the line between past and present proved a challenge, engineering it was a feat. The major task—dropping the entire foundation eight feet—required workers to excavate beneath the original stone walls, one 40-inch section at a time. As the digging proceeded, the area was shored up with lumber to keep the soil from collapsing in. Once completed, the pit was pumped with concrete.

The old materials were carted off with an eye towards staying green. “Every piece of material that left this site was recycled,” said Spaccarelli. A full 65 percent of the new construction is also fabricated from recycled materials.

With the new foundation in place, footings and 75-foot I-beam columns followed, which took on the role of supporting the new structure, relieving the 122-year-old stone façade of its primary duty. Next, crossbeams had to be brought in through windows to span the building’s 50-food width. After the old floors were removed, crossbeams were raised back up to the original floor height, so that the windows would once again fall into the original placement between the floor and ceiling.

Perhaps the building’s boldest gesture is a green glass replacement for the old copper roof. Following the original mansard in form, if not function, the glass both provides windows for faculty offices and continues up past the interior so as to hide rooftop equipment. The composition gives the roof a pavilion quality from the outside; inside, angled glass windows make some faculty offices feel like Parisian garrets.

“We wanted to respect the past, but again there was a desire not to mimic it,” said Brayer, adding that she credits Father McShane and Dean Rapaccioli for taking a chance on a distinct gesture that points to the future.

On the steps of the building’s new entrance, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, linked the occasion, which was attended by a wide swath of the Fordham community, to Sept. 27, 1540. That was the day that Saint Ignatius Loyola asked the Pope to approve the founding of the Society of Jesus, the mission of which would be to serve God in the challenges and opportunities of the real world.

“His sons, therefore, were to be men of discerning hearts and minds and bold vision who would dream world-engaging, world-changing dreams and who would engage the world with a rare and bracing combination of street smarts and dogged persistence,” Father McShane said.

Bold vision, street smarts and dogged persistence are traits that Mario J. Gabelli, GSB ’65, also possess, he added. Gabelli’s $25 million gift in 2010, the largest in the University’s history, made possible the renovation of the building named for Fordham’s founder, Archbishop John Hughes.

“Mario is a man who is blessed with a great restlessness, a bold and visionary mind, relentless persistence and the street smarts that one would expect of a son of the Bronx,” Father McShane said.

“He is, moreover, a man who has made his mark on the world by engaging the world with and through both his business sense and his remarkable support of education, which he sees as a way of transforming the world, both here at Fordham, and elsewhere.”
Story continues below

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., GSB ’83, dean of the Gabelli School and dean of the business faculty, noted, as someone who spent her undergraduate years at Rose Hill, that the new Hughes Hall is a dream come true.
“In two brief months, Hughes Hall has shown me that a great building — one that has life, vitality, and energy — is that way because of the special synergy it has with people. That includes the people inside it — our students and faculty — and the people behind it,” she said.

“It is the perfect mix of old-world charm and modern-day business elegance. It is a physical space that respects history but leads to the future. And it is, most importantly, a home. As any professor here will tell you, the glass walls make it very easy to see who’s at home. And, in truth, we are all at home.”

For Mario Gabelli, the afternoon was an opportunity to look back, as well as forward, as he recalled Fordham Prep in 1957 when it was at Hughes Hall. He exhorted those in attendance to support faculty, facilities, financing and students, which together form the backbone of higher education.  Education, he noted, is what one of the underpinnings of meritocracy, which along with the rule of law and the free market system keeps the country strong.

“I cobbled my way through the Prep and to college and through graduate school through scholarships, so we have to find a way to give back and keep that flame burning,” he said.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University, called the occasion an example of how “miracles of daily life happen every day” at Fordham.

“Hughes Hall is a superb, state of the art facility that moves us to our next level of excellence. Global interconnection defines today’s business world, and Hughes Hall reflects this dynamic reality,” he said.

Roger A. Milici, Jr., vice president for development and university relations, reflected that it was almost two years to the day that the Gabelli gift was announced at a kick-off eventmarking the college’s joining of Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham. The school’s $60 million campaign includes:

• $30 million for the renovation of Hughes Hall;
• $15 million to create endowed faculty chairs
• $7.5 million for endowed scholarships; and
• $7.5 million for academic initiatives

“Today Hughes Hall is the home of the Gabelli School of Business – a state of the art facility within a beautiful and historic structure,” he said. “We cannot thank you enough for your leadership, support, dedication, and service to Fordham.”

Photos by Chris Taggart

The outside is draped in netting that obscures much of the building, but inside Hughes Hall construction is continuing at a feverish pace. Creating a new home for the Gabelli School of Business within the shell of a 19th-century structure is tricky, but the building, at the heart of the Rose Hill campus, is on schedule to open this fall. These images show the project at various points over the past six months.

1891: Built by the Rapp & Johnson Lumber Co. It is known as “Second Division” or “Junior Hall,” and was home to Fordham Preparatory School. (College students, who were known as the “First Division,” reported to Dealy Hall.)

Summer 1935: Renamed Hughes Hall in honor of Archbishop John Hughes, the University’s founder.

October 1972: Fordham Preparatory School’s $6.9 million new home is dedicated in a ceremony attended by Terrence Cardinal Cooke.

March 1973: The College of Business Administration Student Government passes a resolution beginning a student-faculty poll on the desirability of moving CBA faculty into a renovated Hughes Hall in September. The motion passes even as some class officers express concern that the move from Faculty Memorial Hall will “break up the community spirit” of CBA.

June 1973: Hughes Hall is converted into a multidisciplinary building, housing faculty offices, athletic facilities and conference rooms.

1978: The building is mostly used for storage.

June 1982: The first three floors are converted into a temporary dormitory for 180 freshmen.

Summer 1984: The fourth and fifth floors are converted into a dormitory, and an elevator is added to the structure.

2011 and 2012: The building is gutted and converted into the new home of the Gabelli School of Business.

Thanks to Raymond Schroth, S.J., and Monsignor Thomas J. Shelley for their assistance.