Crain’s New York recently published an education report that included “People to Watch in Higher Education.” Father Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, made the list.

The leaders profiled “play a critical role in the city’s culture and economy,” it said in the Oct. 14 issue.

Crain’s writer Judy Messina described Fordham’s growth strategy as ambitious.

“Under its president, the Rev. Joseph McShane, 64, Fordham is in the middle of a $1.6 billion, 25-year effort to expand its Bronx and Lincoln Center campuses. It is part of a larger strategic plan to raise the rankings of its graduate programs, attract a more national and international student body and turn the 172-year-old institution into the country’s pre-eminent Catholic university. 

“We want to be a destination for the brightest kids in the country, Catholic and not,” Father McShane said.

The article pointed out the “growing allure” Fordham’s location in the heart of New York City.