It was a new ambience for the Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center: eerie music, wolf howls, ghoulish costumes, giant cobwebs, a hallway-size haunted house, laughter mixed with the occasional frightful yelp.

The one flaw in the spookiness? All that natural light flooding in through the huge windows. “The sun is always shining in, it’s beautiful,” said Gabriel Chavarria, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior passing through the Career Center and Campus Ministry areas.

The Haunted Open House marked a new effort to help fully integrate the McShane Center into University life by enticing students to wander the full length of the second floor, discovering the cavernous hallways and hangout areas along the way—as well as all the offices there to serve them.

The second floor’s Halloween-season transformation highlighted a much larger, permanent transformation of student life brought about by the campus center’s construction, a pillar of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Enhancing the Entire Student Experience

Construction on the campus center has continued since it opened to students last year. Amid the second-floor Halloween hijinks on Oct. 17, crews were working on the first-floor Marketplace renovation that will produce a vastly better dining experience in another nine months or so.

Unfinished as it is, the McShane Center already feels like students’ home. “This is such a huge resource, and I think it’s a real asset to the University,” said Isabella Guariniello, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who found the haunted house to be “a really cool way to interact with the students and the faculty here.”

Commuter student Ryan Nole, a Gabelli School of Business junior, appreciates being able to hang out in the campus center between classes. He’s noticed that it’s brought new visibility to student clubs and organizations and provides a kind of social lubricant—“I know if I want to see someone, they’ll probably be here,” he said while checking out the open house. “It definitely fulfills its role as a community space.”

In fact, with so many students gravitating toward the new student lounge and communal spaces on the first floor, “we wanted another way for students to kind of say, ‘Hey, there’s more parts to the building, there’s a whole bunch of stuff up here,’” said Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion—dressed up for the occasion as “Dr. Acula.”

Students partook of Halloween candy—including the allergy-free kind—and activities like pumpkin painting. All of the second-floor offices got into the act, including Student Services, the Office for Student Involvement, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

‘Cathedral-Like’ Light

To be sure, the new campus center has already been boosting the work of second-floor offices including the Career Center, which gained a new suite equipped with 10 interview rooms, event space, and other amenities, including new capabilities to promote career-related events.

The new suite “has truly elevated our office University-wide,” said Annette McLaughlin, director of the Career Center. The 840 career counseling appointments held from July through September represent a 24 percent increase over the same period last year, she noted.

Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning, or CCEL, now share a roomy, inviting suite with floor-to-ceiling windows providing “cathedral-like” light, in the words of Campus Ministry administrator Carol Gibney. It offers plenty of room for students to study or hang out and unwind, making it more likely that they’ll learn about something they want to get involved in, said Amanda Caputo, FCRH ’23, a program manager with Global Outreach. “Students [have]made this their home, in a way,” she said.

By providing generous, dedicated space for CCEL’s meetings with its New York City partner organizations, the facility “demonstrates the University’s commitment to community engagement and experiential learning,” said the center’s executive director, Julie Gafney, Ph.D.

“It helps to show that this is what we mean when we say we’re a Catholic and Jesuit institution,” she said. “We mean that we create spaces that put our mission work first.”

Learn more about the McShane Campus Center renewal and opportunities to give in support of it.

The first two phases of the campus center renovation are complete. The third phase, which will focus on the Marketplace dining area and other spaces, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Read more about the McShane Campus Center renewal and its impact on students. 

As always, football will be the centerpiece. Hot off a stellar 2022 season, the Rams have won three of their first four games and are ranked No. 15 in this week’s FCS Coaches Poll. They’ll take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., but the festivities begin bright and early, with the 12th Annual 5K Ram Run at 9 a.m., campus tours, and much more.

Here are five things you won’t want to miss at Homecoming this year.

1. The New McShane Campus Center Arcade

The four-story McShane Campus Center opened in early 2022 and has been at the heart of an ongoing campaign to support students’ wellness and success. Last month, the University unveiled the latest addition—an airy, sun-filled arcade with a sparkling glass entrance that links the campus center to the Lombardi Center and the historic Rose Hill Gym.

See it on the 9:30 a.m. tour, led by a current Fordham student and starting in front of the McShane Center—or stroll through anytime throughout the day.

2. Coffee and Conversation with President Tetlow

At her recent State of the University address, President Tetlow talked about Fordham’s “three sources of power”—research, Jesuit teaching, and opportunity—and explained why the University isn’t chasing status and rankings. Hear more from her on all things Fordham at this event on the third floor of the McShane Center at 10:30 a.m. And grab a cup of joe to fuel up for the day!

3. Moglia Stadium

The University will officially name its football and soccer stadium in honor of Joe Moglia—a 1967 Fordham Prep and 1971 Fordham College at Rose Hill graduate, award-winning football coach, and transformational business executive.

Planned renovations to the stadium include a state-of-the-art video board, seating and press box upgrades, new lighting, and more to enhance the game day experience. Moglia Stadium is part of the Jack Coffey Field complex that also includes Houlihan Park, the University’s baseball venue.

Check out the new signage for Moglia Stadium above the stands, and join us in honoring Joe Moglia at a special ceremony during the game.

4. Jesuit Gems, ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’

Take a campus walking tour with Robert Reilly, FCRH ’72, LAW ’75, former assistant dean of Fordham Law School, as he brings Fordham’s Jesuit history and mission to life—and encourages even the most devoted alumni to see Rose Hill with new eyes.

The tour, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Discover the Jesuit Presence at Rose Hill,” kicks off outside the McShane Campus Center at 11:30 a.m. Reilly will highlight statues and lecture halls, stained-glass windows and architectural details—like those on the stunning wrought-iron doors of Dealy Hall. The 10 panels forming the sidelights of Dealy’s western entrance depict the arts and sciences—philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, rhetoric, and more—that the Jesuits included in their Ratio Studiorum (Latin for plan of studies), originally published in 1599.

“The curriculum that the Jesuits created has become the curriculum of all universities throughout the Earth,” Reilly says. “That is a great tribute to Jesuit education worldwide.”

5. Family Fun

Homecoming has something for everyone—including the kids! Check out the Family Tent, adjacent to the main tent. It features caricature and balloon artists, coloring pages, and a shorter line for food and drink for busy parents.

This year’s celebration under the tents is now a fully ticketed event, and the Office of Alumni Relations is encouraging people to buy their tickets at a discount by Oct. 3. Check out the full Homecoming schedule and ticket options at forever.fordham.edu/homecoming.

—Nicole LaRosa and Ryan Stellabotte

Opened to the community on Aug. 1, the arcade brings together the new campus center—opened in 2022—with the Rose Hill Gym and athletics facilities.

Upon entering the arcade under a new glass canopy, students can now either proceed left into the addition and the original student center, right to enter the gym, or straight to head into the Vincent T. Lombardi Memorial Center, which is home to the indoor track, aquatics center, and intramural and recreational basketball and volleyball courts.

And not only will the new structure make it easier to get around these facilities—it will also offer gathering space of its own. With natural light streaming in through skylights and fixed seating with power outlets and USB ports, it is designed both for passing through and for relaxing and gathering.

Construction of the 25,000-square-foot structure began immediately after the opening of the campus center addition in 2022.

Larry Peifer, an associate and senior designer for the architecture firm HLW International, noted that the newly unified structure now features upwards of 250,000 square feet of student-oriented space.

“Four distinct, disparate structures are now one dynamic hub for the University. It’s a place that is really focused on student experience and well-being. It’s where students come to eat, it’s where they work out, it’s where they come to socialize. It’s where they come to cheer their peers on and their university on,” he said.

“These spaces are really here to enhance the student experience and help students develop connections for the rest of their lives.”

To make the space more than just a place that community members pass through, Peifer’s team used the challenges inherent in the project to their advantage. The entrances to the four buildings are at different elevations, and the space still needs to serve as an egress for each of them.

The solution was to construct a series of platforms, ramps, and stepped seating elements that create a multilevel forum where the seating is integral to the efficient circulation of crowds. The rough-hewn stone of the Gym frames one side, while the contemporary, now opened-up sides of the addition and the original building frame the other. Strategically placed plants provide a soothing element to the space.

A robust audio-visual and media system will allow speakers to broadcast announcements and content, and the tiered bench seating invites visitors to work together or just have a cup of coffee and check e-mail before heading off for the day. The basement level of the arcade also features new “smart” lockers for use by commuter students.

Ed Kull, director of Fordham Athletics, said the arcade will dramatically improve the experience of both student-athletes and fans. The new layout makes it dramatically easier for student-athletes to go from the locker room to the center’s common areas to relax with friends, or to the career center or the center for Community-Engaged Learning. They will also have easier access to the renovated Marketplace dining facility when it’s completed in 2024. (Learn more about the cafeteria renovation and destination dining options available on campus this fall.)

It will also vastly improves the experience of visiting the gym. On games days, the arcade will be home to a new box office and expanded concessions area. Additional bathrooms and improved accessibility will also improve the fan experience.

While fans will still be able to enter the Gym through the front doors, Kull said he’s excited to see how the arcade will be used for pre-game and post-game celebrations.

“Last year, the line was out to Edwards Parade to get into the Gym, so it’s great to have the flexibility of another area to gather, especially when it’s cold or raining,” he said.

“I’m pumped that we’re continuing to build and foster the school spirit on the campus that we’ve really been building the last two years.”