McMaster, whose maternal ancestors are from Lebanon, said curiosity brought him to the country a few years after he graduated, and he stayed, teaching English at several universities. Living abroad was a huge part of his undergraduate experience at Fordham. With encouragement from George McMahon, S.J., then dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, he spent his junior year studying in Paris.

“It was very unusual because I was the only one—there were no junior year abroad programs to speak of,” he said, laughing. “Basically it was a do-it-yourself program—you went to France, you registered in a French university, you passed the exams.”

McMaster said that one of the best parts was that he didn’t pay tuition because the French government at the time was covering the cost of higher education for all students enrolled in French universities, and Fordham accepted the credits he earned.

Staying Connected to Fordham

For others, the annual Golden Rams Dinner and Soiree— which honored alumni celebrating 50 or more years since their Fordham graduation and included a cocktail hour and dancing—was just another way to stay connected.

“I never left,” said Stan Pruszynski, FCRH ’73, with a laugh. He was there with his friend Richard Angelico, FCRH ’73, and the two performed a cappella at the dinner with other alumni of the Glee Club (now known as the Ramblers), one of the oldest student groups at Fordham. “The Glee Club has a very strong camaraderie—we have reunions. We have dinners with the Ramblers every year, we go to their concerts, so the connection’s never gone.”

Fordham also helped Rocco Staino, FCRH ’73, and Ann Petelka Picard, TMC ’73, develop a lifelong friendship.

“We’ve kept in contact for 54-odd years,” said Staino, a former editor of The Fordham Ram.

“We met on the open field there,” Picard said, smiling while referring to Edwards Parade. She said she was meeting her friend John, who worked with Staino on the newspaper, when the two were introduced.

Staino joked that he couldn’t believe it was his 50th reunion. “I hosted the 55th anniversary of The Ram [in 1973], and we invited all the alumni back, and I remember how old all those guys were,” he said laughing. “It’s nice to see how the Fordham tradition continues.”

‘Not a Time of Normalcy’

Many of Fordham’s newest Golden Rams noted that the years they spent at the University were some of the most turbulent in the nation’s history. They recalled the protests against the Vietnam War, which nearly resulted in the cancellation of finals in 1970, and described taking part in the first Earth Day celebrations that spring, at the dawn of the modern environmental movement.

“My freshman year, I was coming from a very small town in rural Maryland, so New York City was a big experience for an 18-year-old,” McMaster said. “The year that we came in, ’69–’70, was not a time of normalcy.”

It was also a changing time on campus, as more students of color joined the University, something Lauckland Nicholas, PCS ’73, reflected on while looking at photos he brought from his graduation.

“When I came to Fordham, there were very few Blacks and minorities on campus,” said Nicholas, who is now a lawyer in Washington D.C. But he said that Fordham had a very welcoming community. “I never felt out of place—I was here to receive an education and I did that.”

As she presented the 1973 grads with their Golden Ram medals, Fordham President Tania Tetlow reflected on the “tumultuous, momentous” years in which they studied at the University, a time that included not only the Vietnam War but also the shooting at Kent State and the Watergate hearings. Despite all of the pressures and challenges facing the class, she said, they went on to do remarkable things.

“What you’ve achieved in the last 50 years takes my breath away,” she said to applause. “You broke down doors that were still closed to people like us on Wall Street, in major law firms. Some of you founded nonprofits and reimagined American society, some of you taught fourth graders for 50 years.

“You’ve reminded us of how much Fordham has mattered to your lives … and you’ve expressed your love of this beautiful University and continue to invest in us.”

See more of our Jubilee weekend coverage. 

There’s no need to apply and no membership dues—just relevant, engaging programming for you to take part in. From timely lectures to career forums to social events, you’ll find many opportunities to connect with your fellow alumni. Your Fordham degree also grants you access to a host of special offers and benefits.

Make sure to visit forever.fordham.edu for an updated list of all things Fordham alumni!

Fordham Alumni by the Numbers

As new alumni, you’re part of a large, global network of Fordham Rams. There are more than 200,000 total alumni living in all 50 U.S. states and 160 countries. Around 57% of Fordham alumni live within 50 miles of New York, but there are 50+ regional chapters worldwide.

Upcoming Alumni Events

Jubilee at Rose Hill: June 2 – 4

Block Party at Lincoln Center: June 9

FUAA Night at Yankee Stadium: September 8

Young Alumni Yacht Cruise: October 6

Homecoming: October 7

Now, as she helps plan this year’s Jubilee reunion weekend, she wants her fellow alumni to reconnect with their own college memories—and how their Fordham experiences have fueled their lives and careers.

“I had a world-class education, and I took every bit of advantage of it … but I also loved that I was in New York City,” said Sullivan, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan Lovells, a global law firm. “I had organized my life so that I had no classes on Friday, and I would walk up to the D train, and I would go down to Fifth Avenue and window shop in stores that I couldn’t begin to afford.”

Sullivan is one of 15 alumni serving on the Class of 1973 planning committee, a dedicated group of volunteers helping to plan engagement events and reach out to fellow classmates leading up to the reunion celebration, from June 2 to 4. Though class years ending in 3 and 8 will be celebrated this year, all Rose Hill alumni are welcome.

As vice chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, Sullivan gets back to campus fairly often, but she said it’s not quite the same as getting to reunite with her fellow Rams.

“I am really excited at the prospect of seeing people who I have not seen in many cases since graduation,” she said, “and in some cases just rarely because I’m not in New York and a lot of my friends from Fordham stayed in the New York area.”

Breaking Ground—and Glass Ceilings

The women of Thomas More College—Fordham’s undergraduate school for women from 1964 to 1974—are known for being trailblazers in various fields, and Sullivan is certainly no exception. She’s one of the top energy lawyers in the country, having served as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy in the Clinton administration and as the department’s deputy general counsel for environment and nuclear programs.

Both of Sullivan’s parents—Eileen Ahern Sullivan, UGE ’42, LAW ’46, and Francis J. Sullivan, LAW ’34—were Fordham graduates, and they showed her firsthand the value of public service, particularly through their involvement with the fair housing movement. “We didn’t talk about ‘men and women for others’ then,” she said at a Presidential Welcome Reception she hosted with her husband, Larry Petro, at her firm’s offices in Washington, D.C. “That’s just the life they lived. And what they taught me.”

That sentiment fuels her efforts to combat climate change, both personally and professionally: She provided critical legal support for the world’s first deep geologic disposal facility for radioactive waste, for example, and negotiated the first agreements with electric utilities on voluntarily reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At Fordham’s 2015 Commencement, the University bestowed an honorary doctorate on her in recognition of “her exceptional and groundbreaking leadership in energy law.”

She’s passionate about giving back, as well. She’s a member of Fordham’s Doty Loyalty Giving Society and the 1841 Society, and has created and supported a number of endowed scholarships funds, including the Eileen Sullivan & Francis J. Sullivan Endowed Scholarship (named in honor of her parents), the Thomas More College Endowed Scholarship Fund, and the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.

Sullivan also has supported the Global Outreach program, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

‘A Very Fordham Thing’

Though she was a self-described “nerd” and serious student who focused her studies on metaphysics, Russian literature, and economics, she was among the student protesters who “took over” the University’s administration building during the Vietnam War. She described the early 1970s as an “era of protest” but added that their particular occupation was a very “Fordham experience,” meaning it was more orderly than most.

“I will never forget this guy in the business school had a can of Pledge,” she said, “and as we were leaving the building, he was polishing the table. We were very respectful of the space. It was totally Fordham, you know.”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
I am passionate about climate change. We are frying the planet, and there is too little urgency about the need to change our behavior. It is on all of us to do what we can to turn things around: Insist on carbon-free power from your local utility—it is available if you ask—take public transportation, don’t drink water that has traveled on the road (i.e., bottled water), “reduce, reuse, recycle” in every part of life, don’t order anything for home delivery if you can pick it up the next time you are out running multiple errands, and never order just one thing for home delivery. The traffic jam of delivery trucks in my neighborhood drives me crazy because of the horrific carbon footprint it represents. There are promising big solutions out there, but the little stuff that we can control matters more than we acknowledge.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I got was probably in first grade, when I told my mother school was too hard. She told me I could do it if I tried. Effort is not everything, but in my life, it has counted for a lot.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
In New York City, my favorite place is the Brooklyn Bridge, on foot. You can see the skyline of New York and the Statue of Liberty, which cannot help but inspire. At the same time, you can look at the river and New York Harbor and imagine New York before it was New York, when nature was all around. I think it is a magical walk.

The world has so many spectacularly beautiful and exciting places. Picking one favorite is hard. In the end, I come down to Antarctica. It is spectacularly beautiful and different from everywhere else I have been on the planet. And it is where I learned that penguins operate their own, very organized daycare centers. It was amazing to see some adult penguins stay behind with the babies who cannot yet swim while others went out and got food and brought it back for the babies and the daycare workers. For some reason, that made more of an impression on me than almost anything else I have seen in my travels.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I confess that I am not as much of a reader as I wish I were or should be. Sitting quietly is not my strong suit. However, a couple of years ago, I picked up Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman from one of those little neighborhood library boxes. I loved it so much I read it cover to cover twice in short succession. It was a tale of overcoming incredibly challenging personal circumstances with the help of acts of kindness of others. Notwithstanding the trauma underlying her story, I found it a very hopeful story.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
I was a philosophy major when Fordham was home to a pantheon of philosophy giants: Norris Clark, S.J., Robert O’Connell, S.J., and Quentin Lauer, S.J., to name a few. I cannot pick one among them. I loved the education I got as a philosophy major and can remember 50 years later some of the insights I took away from their classes.

What are you optimistic about?
In my family, I am often referred to as Pollyanna, which has become a noun that means “an excessively cheerful or optimistic person.” Does that mean I am optimistic about everything? I think it really means I am good at forgetting the bad stuff. But I guess I am optimistic that we can make a difference in this world, which has many things to be pessimistic about, if we try.

With his wife, Margaret “Posy” Courtney, by his side, two-time Olympic gold medalist Tom Courtney, FCRH ’55, joined the reunion festivities by Zoom from Florida. He took questions from his longtime friend and former Fordham track teammate Bob Mackin, FCRH ’55, who was among those in Loyola Hall.

Prior to the discussion, audience members watched a video of Courtney’s dramatic come-from-behind victory in the 800-meter race on November 26, 1956, at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Courtney—who later said he was proud to be described in the Melbourne newspapers as “The Fordham Ram”—set an Olympic record that day with a time of 1:47.7 before nearly collapsing from exhaustion.

“I was totally, absolutely spent,” he recalled during the reunion event. “All I could think of is, ‘I am in such bad, painful condition, I will never run again.’”

But he ran the next day, and several days later, on December 1, he anchored the U.S. team’s four-man 1,600-meter relay, winning his second gold medal. Because it was the last Olympics not broadcast live on television, he had to call his parents in Livingston, New Jersey, to let them know that he won.

Upon returning to New York, Courtney appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, and on December 12, 1956, Fordham feted him with a dinner at Mamma Leone’s restaurant in Manhattan and a parade in the Bronx—from Poe Park on the Grand Concourse to the Rose Hill Gymnasium, where he received a “huge, triple-decked, silver trophy” from Fordham President Laurence J. McGinley, S.J., The Ram reported the next day.

“Few men have worked as hard and achieved such personal fame in such a short time as Fordham’s Tom Courtney,” Ram reporters Ronald Land and Bill Sturner wrote.

The Fordham University Band led the procession through the Bronx, followed by the student body and the Livingston High School band. Wearing his white Olympics sport coat and a straw hat, Courtney rode down Fordham Road in the back of an open-top orange Cadillac—an experience he recounted in his 2018 memoir, The Inside Track.

“That was a lovely time,” he wrote, “and I was in a convertible with my coach, Artie O’Connor,” a 1928 Fordham graduate who offered Courtney a full scholarship and was the first to suggest that he try to make the U.S. Olympic team. “He was very motivational for me. As we went along, he took my losses much harder than I did. He was a dedicated, wonderful man. He loved Fordham and it helped me to love Fordham.”

After the Olympics, Courtney continued to set world records in 1956 and 1957 before retiring from competition. In 1971, he was one of the first five people, including Vince Lombardi, FCRH ’37, to be inducted into the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University and enjoyed a long career in business, retiring in 2011 as chairman of the board of Oppenheimer Funds.

“Fordham was a wonderful place, and I’m thankful for my experience there—and my scholarship too,” said Courtney, who for many years has been a generous supporter of the University.

Brian Horowitz, FCRH ’10, GSE ’11, head coach of the Fordham men’s track and field and cross country teams, thanked Courtney for his support of the program’s student-athletes.

“Walking into the Lombardi Center each day and seeing the Olympic rings and knowing that you represented Fordham so well is a real inspiration for myself as a coach and for the current members of the team,” Horowitz said. “We hope to continue to make you proud.”

Watch Courtney’s inspiring effort in this clip from Greatest Thrills from the Olympics. Host Bob Considine interviews Courtney, calling his run “the most courageous race I’ve seen in 25 years of sportswriting.”

The induction ceremony will be held at Cunniffe House at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, just prior to the Jubilee gala.

Established in 2008, the Hall of Honor recognizes members of the Fordham community who have exemplified the ideals to which the University is devoted. This year’s inductees include a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a world-renowned theologian, and a retired four-star general and recipient of the Medal of Freedom.

Reginald T. Brewster served as a Tuskegee Airman during World War II, a group that included the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces. In many ways, the Airmen were fighting two wars, he told Fordham News in 2018: one abroad and one at home. “The discrimination [in the United States] was sharp,” he said. “It was very critical and sometimes it was even hurtful.”

Upon returning to the U.S., he studied government and math at Fordham College before earning a J.D. from Fordham Law School in 1950 and embarking on a five-decade career as an attorney. When he died in 2020 at the age of 103, the Black Law Students Association at Fordham Law School said that through “his groundbreaking efforts,” he “served as a trailblazer for all Black students who attend Fordham today.”

Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., who retired in 2018 after 27 years as a distinguished professor at Fordham, is a beloved teacher and one of the most influential Catholic theologians in the world, internationally known for her work in systematic, feminist, and ecological theology, among other fields.

In her particularly influential 2007 book, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God, she examined how God is understood differently by men, women, poor and oppressed people, Holocaust victims, and people of a variety of faiths. “Faith,” she once said, “is hope that the world is good and that our efforts can make a difference.”

Jim Dwyer, who died in October 2020 at the age of 63, chronicled the life of New York City with conscience and compassion in a four-decade career as a journalist and author. A 1979 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill, he sought to tell the stories of everyday New Yorkers and give voice to those on society’s margins, including working-class immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and people convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Through his reporting and writing—for New York Newsday, the Daily News, and The New York Times—he worked to help the public understand the impact of major issues and events, most notably 9/11, as well as the inner workings of government agencies and how their decisions affect people’s lives. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work and was widely regarded as a generous colleague, friend, and mentor.

Herb Granath, a two-time Fordham graduate and trustee emeritus, was a pioneering force in cable television. A former president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, he started his career as an NBC page while he studying physics at Fordham. After graduating in 1954, he enrolled at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, earning a master’s degree in communication arts one year later. He steadily climbed the ranks of entertainment juggernauts, moving from NBC to ABC to ESPN and the Broadway stage. He became chairman of the board of ESPN after ABC purchased the cable channel in 1984, and he was responsible for the creation of several channels that are now household names, including A&E, the History Channel, Lifetime, and the Hallmark Channel.

Granath, who died in November 2019 at the age of 91, earned numerous awards, including two Tonys, an Emmy for lifetime achievement in international TV, and an Emmy for lifetime achievement in sports. He often spoke about the value of his Fordham education, noting that a course in logic was among the most influential he ever took. “It is amazing to me in American business how little a role logic plays,” he told Fordham Magazine in 2007. “It has been a hallmark of the way I approach business.”

Jack Keane, a retired four-star general and former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army, grew up in a housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and was the first member of his family to attend college. He began his military career at Fordham as a cadet in the University’s ROTC program. After graduating in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, he served as a platoon leader and company commander during the Vietnam War, where he was decorated for valor. A career paratrooper, he rose to command the 101st Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps before he was named vice chief of staff of the Army in 1999.

Since retiring from the military in 2003, Keane has been an influential adviser, often testifying before Congress on matters of foreign policy and national security. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020, becoming the sixth Fordham graduate to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor. In a 2017 interview with Fordham Magazine, he described the Jesuit education he received at Fordham as a transformational experience. “The whole learning process was about your own growth and development as a human being—not just intellectually but also morally and emotionally. I don’t think I would have been as successful as a military officer if my path didn’t go through Fordham University.”

Joe Moglia coached both high school and college football after graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1971, but in 1984, the New York native made a career change to finance, blazing a trail of ascent at Merrill Lynch and then at the helm of TD Ameritrade over 24 years. He returned to coaching in 2009, finishing his career with six seasons as the head coach at Coastal Carolina University, where he led the team to a 56-22 cumulative record and three Big South Conference titles before stepping down in 2019.

He is currently executive director for football and executive advisor to the president at Coastal Carolina and is chairman of Fundamental Global and Capital Wealth Advisors. Last year, he was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame, and in November, he was honored with a Fordham Founder’s Award. His career is the subject of the 2012 book by Monte Burke titled 4th & Goal: One Man’s Quest to Recapture His Dream. And Moglia has authored books on both coaching and investing—The Perimeter Attack Offense: The Key to Winning Football in 1982 and Coach Yourself to Success: Winning the Investment Game in 2005.

Peter B. Vaughan, Ph.D., served as dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service for 13 years. When he stepped down in 2013, he received the President’s Medal for “his collaborative and visionary leadership as an educator, and for his lasting impact on the University’s ability to lead well and serve wisely in the years ahead.”

Vaughan’s distinguished social work career is rooted in his undergraduate days at Temple University, when during the civil rights movement he was involved in court watching and voter registration efforts. He later served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and found himself tending to the mental health needs of soldiers on the front lines. For much of his career, Vaughan worked with communities of color, focusing especially on the health of African American boys. He was a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and later became acting dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work before he came to Fordham.

In 2012, the National Association of Social Workers presented him with its Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award. “Ours is a profession of hope, and I never miss a chance to pass it on to students when I am able to,” Vaughan told Fordham graduates at the Graduate School of Social Service diploma ceremony in 2013. “As you leave today to begin meaningful and illustrious careers, I hope you will live every day to make the world a better place—and keep hope alive.”

Jubilee 2022 will be held on the Rose Hill campus from June 3 to 5. Learn more and register today.

Both Moglia and Moorhead have found a great deal of success since their undergraduate days at Rose Hill. Moglia coached both high school and college football after graduating in 1971, but in 1984, he made a career change to finance, working at Merrill Lynch for 17 years before being named CEO of Ameritrade Holding Corp. (now TD Ameritrade) in 2001, leading the company to record earnings performance. He returned to coaching in 2009, finishing his career with six seasons as the head coach at Coastal Carolina University, where he led the team to a 56-22 cumulative record and three Big South Conference titles before stepping down in 2019. He is currently executive director for football and executive advisor to the president at Coastal Carolina and is chairman of Fundamental Global and Capital Wealth Advisors. Moglia was recently honored with a Fordham Founder’s Award, and later this year he will be inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame.

After playing quarterback and setting multiple records for the Fordham Rams from 1992 to 1995, Moorhead played professionally for a year with the German Football League’s Munich Cowboys and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh in 1998. After several more assistant jobs, Moorhead returned to Fordham for his first head coaching gig in 2012. In four seasons, he turned the struggling program around, leading the Rams to three NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision postseason appearances, a Patriot League title in 2014, and a 38-13 cumulative record. After Fordham, Moorhead took the offensive coordinator position at Penn State University, followed by the head coaching job at Mississippi State University and, currently, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach role at the University of Oregon.

In honor of their Jubilee years, they spoke with Fordham Magazine about how their alma mater impacted their lives and careers, and what makes Fordham special to them.

How did your Fordham education shape your approach to leadership, coaching and mentoring student-athletes?
Moglia: I was a father when I began at Fordham, so my freshman year, I had to give up sports and I was responsible for 100% of my education, and I had to support my wife and daughter. So that first year I drove a truck for the post office and a yellow cab in New York City. Fordham Prep offered me a coaching job, so my sophomore, junior, senior year, during the season, I coached ball, and in the offseason, I worked for my dad. I give that background because not too many freshmen had a more difficult freshman year than I did, and not that many students had more demands on their time. I think laying a foundation about not making excuses and taking responsibility for yourself has become very much my leadership philosophy. Treat other people with respect, live the consequences of your actions. The way I lived at Fordham and the philosophy of our Jesuit education laid the foundation for that.

Moorhead: As Coach Moglia mentioned, when you’re dealing with 18- to 21-year-olds, you’re an extension of the foundation that their parents have built, and you’re in charge of them to help them become a better person, better student, and a better player. I think the embodiment of that idea of the development of the whole person, as well as learning how to think and communicate, are the two biggest takeaways from my time at Fordham.

What does your Jubilee mean to you?

Moglia: With the 50th, the Golden Jubilee, I’ve got five decades of living my life on a foundation that was built when I was at Fordham. I love our University and I take tremendous pride in that. You look back 50 years. It’s hard for me to believe that time has gone by. But for me, the Jubilee is a representation of five decades of my life personally and professionally, in two career spans. I’ll always be indebted to our University for that.

Moorhead: I think of the relationships. Calvin Hargrove, who was one of my receivers, literally just texted me this morning, checking in to see how I’m doing. All the guys I played with, we still keep in contact. And not even necessarily football players, but all kinds of people from your experiences as a student. And then all the kids I had the fortune to coach. Not just [ones like]  Chase Edmonds who have gone on to great careers in the NFL, but guys who become great husbands, great fathers, great business leaders who made an impact on their community. I think of those 25 years and some of the things that you can put in a frame or put up on a wall—those things are great, but they gather dust and they fade with time. But the one thing I think is the most long-standing and most impactful is the relationships over that time.

You’ve both coached at other colleges. What do you think makes Fordham a unique place?
Moglia: What sets Fordham aside, I think, is the mantra: “New York is my campus. Fordham is my school.” No other university I’ve been at has had that unique combination of culture and education. All the things go on New York City. And there are so many things that are a piece of that. Fordham is a greater university because of its connection to New York City. And I believe New York City is a greater city because of its connection with Fordham.

Moorhead: Nowhere else do you intertwine the campus experience, the athletic experience, and then putting it in smack dab in the middle of New York City. There’s just so much that the city has to offer when you step off campus, but you could not walk out and still have a great college experience. Nowhere I’ve been as successfully intertwines the campus experience and the city experience, and allows the student to do so much in a short period of time.

Who’s the Fordham grad or professor that you admire the most?
Moglia: Fordham’s had so many incredible grads that have had success in so many different fields. But to be consistent for me and my life, I began my entire life as a coach, so it’d have to be Vince Lombardi. Lombardi was a graduate of Fordham. He’s an Italian guy. His parents were butchers. There were so many connections there for me. But at the end of the day, he was a great coach.

Moorhead: Yeah, I agree with coach. Obviously, Vince Lombardi as a graduate. And Richard Giannone, Ph.D., professor emeritus of English. He was one of my English professors at Fordham, and I thought he did an incredible job. And then, from my time there as a coach, the opportunity that Fordham president Father McShane and athletic director emeritus Frank McLaughlin gave me—those are things for which I’ll be forever indebted.

—Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Adam Kaufman.

In September, Mahayosnand and the other new board leaders held a virtual town hall to introduce themselves to the Marymount community, share information on how to get involved, and get a better sense of what members want—from the board and each other.

“What we’re hearing is they really want more engagement,” she said, “through more alumni events,” particularly ones with an emphasis on diversity and social justice.

The Enduring Spirit of Community

That desire for engagement and connection—that strong sense of community—is familiar to Mahayosnand: It’s what drew her to Marymount as a prospective student, she said, recalling her first visit to the Tarrytown campus. “I just felt comfortable … at home. I remember attending the orientation for students, and … we had Mass in the chapel, and I just really felt like this was a place where I want to be.”

Once enrolled, Mahayosnand pursued a double major in journalism and English literature. She praised the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary at Marymount for gently helping her find her way, asking her tough, challenging questions that forced her to think critically about her choices but never telling her “no.”

She said that kind of support has allowed her to step outside the box of her double major and into a career across multiple industries—from publishing to finance to IT—and her current position as vice president of business application at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.  “I think the relationship with Marymount was … always finding that opportunity, looking for that mentor. Find someone that you can connect with and see what they’re doing well.”

Putting Life Lessons to Work

Mahayosnand is committed to serving as a mentor. She’s a member of the Women’s Inclusion Network and the Financial Women’s Association—all because of the Marymount sisters’ lasting impact on her. “Being mentored by the sisters, understanding sisterhood and empowering young women to do their best, to guide them … I continue to do that here in my professional and personal life,” she said.

She also serves as a eucharist minister and a Sunday school teacher for second graders, preparing them for their sacraments of reconciliation and first communion at St. Aloysius Parish in Jersey City.

In addition to mentorship, other values instilled in her at Marymount—social justice, environmental sustainability, community—have stuck with Mahayosnand. In New Jersey, where she lives, Mahayosnand is president of the Jersey City Parks Coalition, which recently held one of its largest art exhibits, with more than 300 submissions across 10 parks. She’s dedicated to preserving green space in cities, creating new urban spaces and parks, and recycling and sustainability efforts. Recently, she worked with fellow alumna Debra A. DeVenezia, MC ’83, and the Jersey City Parks Coalition on an “OcTREEber” initiative, giving away more than 10,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs to residents.

After being absent from the Marymount scene for a few years—busy raising her daughters, advancing her career, engaging with her local community—Mahayosnand reunited with Sister Brigid Driscoll, R.S.H.M., GRE ’02, former president of Marymount College, and other graduates at the 2018 Marymount Reunion, held during Jubilee weekend on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. Feeling guilty about her recent absence from the Marymount community, Mahayosnand received some much-needed reassurance from Sister Brigid, who told her that her absence was nothing to be sorry about. “And that’s why I’m so invested in Marymount, really. I think all of us have a passion for the environment, the relationships with your professors, the friendships that last lifetimes. It’s really heartfelt. It’s wonderful.”

New Kids on the Block

Since that reunion, Mahayosnand has reengaged with the Marymount Alumnae Association and its board, serving on the events committee prior to being elected president. During the town hall in September, board members “talked about the opportunities and the relationship with Fordham.” (Marymount was part of Fordham from 2002 to 2007, when the college closed, and since then, graduates have gathered for reunions and other events at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.)  “We couldn’t do a lot of this programming without [Fordham’s] support, or giving us a home.”

Some of the newer initiatives include “Member Mondays” posts on Facebook. For those posts, Mahayosnand said she and her fellow board members are “highlighting [Marymount graduates] and their achievements. And we’re hoping to integrate that into our newsletters [and]class notes with Fordham, giving them more visibility.” There’s also a new virtual choir, whose first meeting was held virtually on Oct. 21. The choir will continue to meet for 30 minutes on Wednesday nights—no prior musical experience required. And on Dec. 6, the alumnae association will hold a virtual Founder’s Day celebration.

With no end to distancing measures in sight, and no shortage of graduates looking to connect with one another, Mahayosnand, the board, and the association have a tall order to fill, but the coterie at the center spurs them all into action.

“It’s just this sisterhood,” Mahayosnand said. “I hope I can create how I’m feeling with the other alumnae so they can reconnect.”

On Friday evening, when alumni would normally attend their class receptions, certified sommelier Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, will lead webinar attendees through a virtual wine tasting. In the spirit of the intellectually stimulating lectures alumni have come to expect from reunion weekend, Macari, whose family owns Macari Vineyards in Mattituck, New York, also plans to share a bit about the history of viticulture and winemaking, particularly in the North Fork region of Long Island. Alumni will have the chance to order wines from Macari Vineyards with a special discount code—or follow along with their personal favorites.

On Saturday, alumni will have the opportunity to hear directly from Father McShane, who will give an update on the state of the University over coffee. Later that afternoon, members of various alumni affinity chapters, including Rainbow Rams, MOSAIC, and Mimes & Mummers, will host virtual versions of their typical Jubilee gatherings.

While many alumni are sure to miss dancing at the Jubilee Gala and the outdoor fun of the Jubilee Picnic, they will have the chance to get some exercise and wind down through a yoga and meditation session led by Carolyn Funke, GSS ’19, who will help attendees feel centered and connected.

All alumni from across Fordham’s schools and campuses are invited to join the virtual festivities and are encouraged to follow Fordham’s social media accounts for more reunion content. A special webinar with Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, is also being planned for later in the month, and the reunions team hopes to hold an in-person gathering for 2020 Jubilarians when it is safe to do so.

To see a full weekend schedule and register for events, visit fordham.edu/jubilee.

Throughout the weekend, 35 members of the Class of 1968 participated in the Thomas More College Oral History Project, which was supported by Fordham faculty and run by a team of students spearheaded by Nutting, a professor emerita of history at North Seattle College.

The project, including audio recordings and transcriptions of the interviews, was published on the Fordham Libraries site last August. It highlights the kind of reminiscences often shared at college reunions—favorite classes, lifelong friendships, and defining moments—from a group of women who saw beyond the boundaries of expectation, both at Fordham and beyond.

‘A Real Blessing’

Nutting, a Washington Heights native who later moved to the Bronx, told stories both hilarious—like the time a professor threw a bologna sandwich out a classroom window—and moving.

“A real blessing occurred when Fordham decided that it would open its gates to women here at Rose Hill,” she said of the college, which opened in 1964 and closed a decade later. “If I had not come here, I would not be the kind of person I am,” she added. “Intellectually, socially, politically, religiously, Fordham transformed me.”

Nutting said that one of the most powerful memories she has of her time at TMC is of taking a Greyhound bus through the American South with Lorraine Archibald, her only African-American classmate.

After working together in Mexico and living with a local family as part of a Fordham program one summer, Nutting and Archibald were forced to take buses home because of a national airline strike. Out of fear for Archibald’s safety, they decided that Nutting would get off the bus alone to get them snacks at a rest stop in Texas.

“I was coming back,” she said, “and all of a sudden I was surrounded by what I call ‘good ol’ boys’ who wanted to know why I was sitting with that … they used the n-word. And I lost my Irish temper in a way a New Yorker can lose a temper.”

Nutting’s response defused a tense situation, but the long bus ride home “profoundly changed me,” she said.

She also recalled taking a course with legendary media critic Marshall McLuhan, who held the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities at Fordham at the time. “He taught us about the global village and he talked a lot about looking at the rear-view mirror as you go forward. Those two lessons became really important as I moved forward in history, and particularly as I taught history, because you need to have that perspective when you’re heading in a new direction.”

‘She Expected Great Things of Us’

Barbara Hartnett Hall, a Bronx native who discovered TMC when a recruiter came to her high school, also told her story as part of the project. She did not always think of higher education as a realistic possibility, but after receiving scholarships from New York state and from Fordham, she was able to attend.

“I felt like the luckiest person in the world,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine that that world was going to be open to me.”

Now a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Fort Lauderdale, where she practices land use and environmental law, Hall recalled being intimidated by the academic options at TMC. She signed up for 18 credits in her first semester before meeting with assistant dean Patricia R. Plante, Ph.D., who encouraged her to drop three credits. “‘You’re in New York City,’” she said Plante told her. “‘You know, this city is an education. You have to take advantage of it.’”

“She was pretty amazing,” Hall said of Plante, who later became the first woman dean of TMC, “because she treated us like she expected great things of us and that we were capable of it.”

Hall also shared memories of her time as co-founder and captain of the women’s basketball team. The women wore uniforms designed by a teammate’s older brother. “They seemed cool then,” she recalled of the outfits, “but they were funny when you look back.”

In talking about her time at TMC and afterward, Hall recalled walking into many new and unknown situations, including in the workplace. “I think there were a lot of firsts in our generation” she said, “and Thomas More was just one.”

‘My Life Was Suddenly Changing and Expanding’

Like Hall, Marie Farenga Danziger was born and raised in the Bronx, and saw a previously unthought-of opportunity arise with the opening of TMC.

She said that coming back to the Rose Hill campus for Jubilee last year gave her “this instant recall of my very first day at Fordham in September 1964. I remember walking up that path, in particular, focusing on the lovely trees on each side of the path and somehow knowing that my life was suddenly changing and expanding, and I was enormously excited.”

As a junior, she took the transformative step of studying abroad in Paris for the year, an opportunity that had drawn her to Fordham when looking into colleges. Despite having never flown on an airplane before leaving for Paris, Danziger became worldly during her year abroad, traveling throughout Europe and becoming fluent in French.

“It changed the rest of my life,” she said of the experience. “It made me the person I am today.”

Other formative experiences Danziger had at Fordham came from her time as the social chair for the Horizons club, which invited notable speakers to campus. In that role, she brought famous figures like Helen Hayes, Salvador Dalí, and Sidney Lumet to Rose Hill. This kind of cultural exposure made Danziger “feel that there [was]this wider world out there, and maybe, maybe, I had a bit of access to it.”

Danziger, who retired from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government just before the 2018 reunion, was touched to discover that several of her fellow alumnae still remembered her speech as class salutatorian in 1968. The speech, which came on the heels of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, referenced the movie Zorba the Greek, in which the title character teaches a young man how to dance in the face of sadness and violence.

“Fordham taught us to dance,” she said. “It certainly did that for me.”

Nutting expressed the same sentiment with a different metaphor: “I have told many people in my life that Fordham gave me wings,” she said.

“I want to see you soar,” she told the student interviewers. “In 20 years, I want to find out what you have done with your lives. And one of the things that you’re going to find out as women is that there are going to be some really difficult choices. Make them the best way you can … and you’ll find that you can do that.”

Jubilee 2019 will take place on the Rose Hill campus on May 31 through June 2.

—Adam Kaufman contributed to this story. 

“It was frustrating looking for a job. If you were a woman, the first thing they would ask was if you could type,” says Manning, a Bronx native who graduated from Fordham’s Thomas More College in 1969. “I always said no, even though I could, because I wasn’t looking for a job as a secretary.”

She had been a math major before earning a degree in psychology, so she could say yes to interviewers’ second question: “Are you good at math?” That got her in the door at Connecticut General Life Insurance, where she began her career in the fledgling field of employee benefits management. 

Exploring unknown territory was something Manning had done before. As a member of only the second class of Thomas More College (TMC), the women’s liberal arts college on the Rose Hill campus, she was part of a group that changed the culture at Fordham. “We felt like we were trailblazers,” she said. “The guys in our year or the year before, they were used to women. But the ones two years ahead of us were kind of like, ‘Who are these people and why are they here?’”

The women of TMC were a more elite group, Manning says, with higher average SAT scores and GPAs. “The men didn’t like hearing that.” 

Like many of her fellow TMC alumnae, Manning is proud of that history. But she has always identified more with Fordham University than with TMC specifically. 

“Fordham wasn’t ready to say they were coed. But we basically had most of our classes together,” Manning explains. “I had gone to an all-girls Catholic high school, and one of the reasons I wanted to go to Fordham was because there were guys there. I had a brother who was a year older than me, so I was very comfortable being around guys as friends, not just to look at who I was going to date.”

It was that feeling of kinship with the entire Class of 1969 that drew her to stay involved as an alumna. She’s helped plan her milestone reunions for many years—including her upcoming 50th Jubilee on May 31 through June 2—has supported scholarships for students, and served on a TMC/Fordham College at Rose Hill alumni board for seven years. That’s also how she met her husband, Jim Coffran, GABELLI ’67. Though they had overlapped at Fordham, they only met in 1986, at a Christmas party for alumni volunteers.

They now live in Surprise, Arizona, an area of the country Manning discovered during her 13 years as vice president of benefits at American Express, which brought her all over Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States. They started living there part time after Manning retired 14 years ago, and though there are many New Yorkers in the area (including a few of their Fordham friends), they come back to the East Coast every summer. 

“I could never give up my New York connections,” Manning says. 

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?
Trying to give back to help those less fortunate. I feel very blessed to have what I have, especially considering where I came from—growing up in a small apartment in the Bronx, sharing a room with my brother. I think everyone should give back and remember where they came from. Over the years, I have volunteered with different organizations and contributed to charities that support things that I care about. Currently I volunteer at a food bank here in Arizona. A group of us pick citrus fruit that the food bank turns into juice and distributes to the needy. I have also cooked for soup kitchens, taught English as a second language, and was on the board of a nursing home watchdog organization. And it’s all very rewarding. I truly believe that by helping others, you always get back more than you give.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I don’t remember getting a lot of verbal advice, but I was fortunate to have parents that showed me by example. They taught me to be responsible and to be concerned about other people, to not just focus on myself. My mom was very feisty and stood her ground when she needed to, but she was also always volunteering for things and supportive of everyone. I’ve always tried to do that.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
I love all of New York, but my favorite place is the theater district. I have always loved going to the theater. There is always so much energy and excitement surrounding that area. My current favorite show is Hamilton, and I think it might be the best one I’ve ever seen.

I was fortunate to travel around the world both for business and pleasure, but my favorite place is close to where I currently live. It’s Sedona, Arizona. It’s a very special place. The majesty of the red rocks is awe-inspiring; it has a spiritual quality to it. I don’t think anyone can fully imagine how beautiful it is without seeing it. We love sharing it with anyone that visits us.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. I read the book in high school and its message has stuck with me. I was so inspired by Atticus Finch’s integrity and his willingness to stand up for justice and the rights of other people. As I got older and became aware of the injustices and discrimination that people still experience, I tried to always be mindful about how I treated others and to stand up for my beliefs. I think we need more people like Atticus in the world today.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
Mary Higgins Clark. Mary was widowed at an early age and was left with five young children. Rather than feeling sorry for herself, she went back to school, started writing, and had a successful career. I have met Mary at several Fordham events through the years. Though she is a world-renowned author, she is so gracious and humble. She makes you feel like your conversation is very important to her. We also went to the same high school, Villa Maria. She seems to have stayed true to her Bronx roots.

“I’ve been very lucky in life,” he says, “including who I married.”

The O’Briens met in the mid-1960s at Fordham’s undergraduate business school in Manhattan, then located at 302 Broadway, and each earned a B.S. from the University in June 1968.

This spring, as they prepare to celebrate their Fordham Jubilee, their first as Golden Rams, they have been reflecting not only on their undergraduate days but also on the shared values that brought them together and inspire them to give back to their alma mater.

An Interborough Connection

Annette grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, part of a large extended Italian-American family; Dan was the oldest of seven children in a large Irish-American family based in Manhattan and New Jersey. They both went to Catholic high schools and were encouraged to attend a Catholic college.

At Fordham, they served together on the student council, but they didn’t begin dating until their senior year. A friend of Dan’s was dating one of the few other women in their class and suggested a double date. Dan asked Annette. “It grew from there,” he says.

That December, Dan started a six-week internship that took him away from campus, but he and Annette stayed in touch by letter, a method that may have added a tinge of romance to their blossoming relationship.

“That’s how the seed got planted and maybe kindled the spirit in both of us,” Dan says. By the time he came back to campus, “in the spring, we were steady.”

They found a lot of common ground, especially in the important role family played in their lives. “We just felt we came from the same kind of background and had the same goals and the same ideas,” Annette says of their connection.

In fall 1968, just a few months after graduating from Fordham, they selected an engagement ring together, and Dan proposed on a bench outside of Tavern on the Green, where they had gone for dinner.

Soon after, Dan, on the cusp of being drafted, decided to try to get into the Army Reserve. He was accepted later that year and served for six years, during which time he and Annette were married—at Annette’s family parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Brooklyn, in December 1969.

“We’ve always been on the same page in terms of where things go. We swim in the same direction,” Dan says of their marriage. “Our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. If we get angry, it doesn’t last. It just works, and we are happy about it.”

Reconnecting with Their Roots, Supporting Students

Over the years, their shared focus on family has been a key to their joy. The O’Briens have four daughters, and the couple hosts an annual Christmas Eve dinner that includes more than 50 family members in their Ridgefield, Connecticut, home.

They also have been running together for about 35 years, and typically compete in three or four half-marathons every year across the country, including ones in Georgia, Florida, and California.

The O’Briens admit that it took them 40 years before they re-engaged with their alma mater—at a time in their lives, Dan says, “when making connections to the past feels important.”

About 10 years ago, after meeting Fordham’s president, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., the couple established an endowed scholarship to help future generations of Fordham students.

“I always felt that I should give back to the school,” Annette says. “I liked being there, and I got a good education. I feel happy about giving back and helping kids, too.”

Like Annette, Dan says he’s “very happy to be reconnected.” In addition to providing scholarship support, he serves on the President’s Council, through which he mentors students and discusses his role as an adviser at J.H. Whitney & Co. in New Canaan, Connecticut.

“There is a great Fordham family throughout the country, and by reconnecting, you feel part of that again,” he says. “They extended their hand to me, and I’m happy to be back.”

—Maja Tarateta