ASIF SIDDIQI
50 Years Ago, a Forgotten Mission Landed on Mars
Discover Magazine 12-1-21
“The Soviet space program was under a lot of pressure in the 1960s to achieve ‘firsts,’” says Asif Siddiqi, a Fordham University history professor who’s penned multiple books on the Soviet side of the space race.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse Verdict Sparks Split Reactions, Fears of Vigilantism
Bloomberg.com 11-19-21
“I am afraid that as people are empowered by this verdict to weaponize the public spaces, we will see more fatalities,” said Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate clinical professor at Fordham University School of Law.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT
‘I Want to Be a 21st-Century Trustbuster’: Zephyr Teachout on Her Run for A.G.
New York Magazine 11-24-21
Teachout is currently a professor at Fordham Law School, where she specializes in constitutional and antitrust law.

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Capital Campaign Watch: Dickinson, Fordham, Springfield, Tulane
Inside Higher Ed 11-22-21
Fordham University has announced a campaign to raise $350 million, probably by 2024. The university has raised $170 million so far.

Museum of American Finance to Present Virtual Panel on “SPACs: The New IPO?”
BusinessWire 11-30-21
“SPACs: The New IPO?” is sponsored by Citadel Securities and Vinson & Elkins. It is presented in partnership with the Fordham University Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.

Study Abroad Programs Reopen To Eager College Students
Gothamist.com 12-1-21
This fall, Fordham University only re-opened its London program. Joseph Rienti, director of the study abroad office, said the enrollment for that campus was higher than usual.

LAW SCHOOL FACULTY

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse Verdict Sparks Split Reactions, Fears of Vigilantism
Bloomberg.com 11-19-21
“I am afraid that as people are empowered by this verdict to weaponize the public spaces, we will see more fatalities,” said Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate clinical professor at Fordham University School of Law.

JOHN PFAFF
In Depth Podcast: Why Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted
Audacity.com 11-19-21
This week’s guests include Kim Belware, John Pfaff (sic), and Charles Coleman Jr.
… Pfaff (sic), an author and law professor at Fordham University, breaks down how self defense laws, open carry laws, and the burden of proof contributed to this case.

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
FTC Chair Khan Brings on AI Policy Advice From NYU Researchers
Bloomberg Law 11-19-21
They join Olivier Sylvain, a law professor from Fordham University, who is serving as Khan’s senior adviser on technology.

DORA GALACATOS
The future of geographic screens for NYC’s high schools is up in the air amid concerns over diversity, commutes
Chalkbeat.com 11-19-21
Dora Galacatos is the executive director of the Fordham Law School Feerick Center for Social Justice, which recently released a report calling for a number of reforms to make the admissions process more fair.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse’s Winning Strategy Rested on Tear-Filled Testimony
Bloomberg Law 11-19-21
Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at Fordham University School of Law, said there didn’t appear to be any obvious errors in the state’s case.

CHERYL BADER
Rittenhouse verdict raises stakes in Arbery trial
SFGATE 11-20-21
Cheryl Bader, a former assistant U.S. attorney and a professor at Fordham University School of Law, said that while people of any race can claim self-defense, implicit bias means that race will inevitably factor into who can successfully claim it.

RICHARD M. STEUER
The congressional debate over antitrust: It’s about time
The Hill 11-20-21
Richard M. Steuer is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School

ERIC YOUNG
Who Was Watching Over The CEO Of Activision Blizzard?
Forbes 11-22-21
Eric Young, a former chief compliance officer at a number of large global investment banks, and currently an adjunct professor for compliance at Fordham Law School, said about this matter, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
Hochul tops new poll
Politico 11-22-21
Olivier Sylvain will be senior adviser on technology to [FTC Chair Lina] Khan. He is a law professor at Fordham University and is considered a Section 230 expert.

CHERYL BADER
Table Topics: Oil Prices, Rittenhouse, and Ethical Debates
Player.fm 11-23-21
Cheryl Bader, clinical associate professor of law, Fordham

OLIVIER SYLVAIN
FTC Chair Lina M. Khan Announces New Appointments in Agency Leadership Positions
MyChesco.com 11-24-21
Olivier Sylvain will serve as Senior Advisor on Technology to the Chair. Sylvain joins the FTC from Fordham University where he has served as Professor of Law.

ZEPHYR TEACHOUT
‘I Want to Be a 21st-Century Trustbuster’: Zephyr Teachout on Her Run for A.G.
NY Mag 11-24-21
Teachout is currently a professor at Fordham Law School, where she specializes in constitutional and antitrust law.

BRUCE GREEN
Jan. 6 panel faces double-edged sword with Alex Jones, Roger Stone
The Hill 11-26-21
“Even people that have a tendency to lie in a lot of different contexts have strong motivation not to lie under oath because it puts them at risk,” said Bruce Green, a law professor at Fordham University and a former federal prosecutor.

BRUCE GREEN
Ahmaud Arbery trial shines a light on prosecutorial misconduct
DNYUZ 11-30-21
Bruce A. Green is the Louis Stein Chair at Fordham Law School, where he directs the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics.

BRUCE GREEN
10 Things in Politics: Kamala Harris’ Big Tech problem
Business Insider (subscription) 12-1-21
Bruce Green, who leads the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School, said it would be “misleading or irresponsible” to make such a commitment.

JOEL COHEN
When a President Comments on a Pending Criminal Case
Law & Crime 12-1-21
He is the author of “Broken Scales: Reflections On Injustice” (ABA Publishing, 2017) and an adjunct professor at both Fordham and Cardozo Law Schools.

TANYA HERNANDEZ
A college law professor who teaches critical race theory worries that educators are living through another ‘Red Scare’
Business Insider 12-1-21
Tanya Katerí Hernández feels fortunate to be a tenured professor at Fordham University School of Law, a private Catholic institution in New York City that she said supports her teaching on critical race theory.

FORMER LAW SCHOOL FACULTY

ALISON NATHAN
Who Is Alison Nathan? Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Judge
Newsweek 11-29-21
From 2008 to 2009, she was a Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law and before that, from 2006 to 2008, a visiting assistant professor of law at Fordham University Law School

ANNEMARIE MCAVOY
From Serious to Scurrilous, Some Jimmy Hoffa Theories
NewsNation USA 11-24-21
Former federal prosecutor and adjunct law professor at Fordham University Annemarie McAvoy discusses history and fascination of the Hoffa case.

GABELLI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS FACULTY

FRANK ZAMBERELLI
How does the Impact Index support sustainable fashion?
Sustainability.com 11-19-21
Frank Zambrelli, Executive Director of the Responsible Business Coalition at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, says, ‘it is not a green light or a red light. It’s merely a platform. Nobody’s saying this is a better skirt than this one; we’re just saying, “This skirt was produced this way, with these certifications”’.

BARBARA PORCO
Companies Are Falling Short Measuring Environmental Performance Against Goals: Report
Forbes 12-2-21
As I wrote last month, “All elements of ESG reporting are really based on proper risk management,” according to Barbara Porco, director for the Center of Professional Accounting Practices at Fordham Business School.

LERZAN AKSOY
Aflac Lands Top-15 Spot on the 2021 American Innovation Index
PR Newswire 12-1-21
“The pandemic continues to challenge companies to adapt their business models at a faster rate than in normal times,” said Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., professor of marketing at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SERVICES FACULTY

Aging Behind Prison Walls
WFUV-FM 11-30-21
Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service

ARTS & SCIENCES FACULTY

BRYAN MASSINGALE
Christians must develop an anti-racist spirituality, Mennonite authors argue
National Catholic Reporter 11-24-21
Among that year’s honorees was Fr. Bryan Massingale, who was then on the faculty of Marquette University in Milwaukee and now teaches at Fordham University in New York.

JACK WAGNER
In Their 80s, and Living It Up (or Not)
New York Times 11-26-21
Dr. Katharine Esty has the right idea. I am 85 and my wife is 80. I work out six times a week at my local gym, and I teach mathematics at Fordham University. We are fully vaccinated, including boosters.

KATHRYN REKLIS
Telling Native stories on TV
The Christian Century 11-19-21
Kathryn Reklis teaches theology at Fordham University and is codirector of the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice.

SHELLAE VERSEY
Forever Young: Seniors Dance in the Bronx
The Villiage Voice 11-24-21
“Even before COVID, we were already noticing the squeeze of gentrification on the social lives of older adults who were living in these communities,” Shellae Versey, an assistant professor of psychology at Fordham University, tells the Voice in a phone interview, referring to members of racial minority groups being priced out of their neighborhoods.

CHARLES CAMOSY
Takeaways from the USCCB’s General Assembly
National Catholic Register 11-20-21
To help shed some light on the broader scope of what happened in Baltimore, and the general assembly’s true significance, the Register spoke with Charles Camosy, a moral theologian at Fordham University;

CHRISTINA GREER
Eric Adams, off on the right foot
Marietta Daily Journal 11-20-21
The rubber’s yet to hit the road and I’ve written plenty already about my doubts and concerns about Adams and what Fordham University political science professor and my FAQ.NYC co-host Christina Greer calls his “nervous cop energy.”

CHRISTINA GREER
Thanksgiving is upon us
Amsterdam News 11-25-21
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

BRYAN MASSINGALE
Bryan Massingale wins social justice award from Paulist Center
The Christian Century 11-29-21
He currently teaches ethics at Fordham University, where he also serves as the senior ethics fellow for the school’s Center for Ethics Education.

ARISTOLTLE PAPANIKOLAOU
Jan. 6 panel faces double-edged sword with Alex Jones, Roger Stone
National Catholic Reporter 11-30-21
Looking ahead to the pope’s time in Cyprus and Greece, Aristotle Papanikolaou, co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, told NCR that “the symbolism is key.”

CHRIS RHOMBERG
Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs
Daily Magazine 11-30-21
“Workers may be tired of seeing the fruits of their labor go to corporations making record-breaking earnings,” Chris Rhomberg, a professor of sociology at Fordham University, said at that point. “The Deere workers evidently felt that the company could afford more.”

SARIT KATTAN GRIBETZ
Yeshiva University Museum Receives NEH Planning Grant
Yeshiva University 11-20-21
Additional consultants on the project are Sarit Kattan Gribetz, Associate Professor of Classical Judaism at Fordham University, who has particular expertise on the Jewish calendar and its development during the rabbinic period and on aspects of the calendar as they relate to the historical experience of Jewish women;

ASIF SIDDIQI
50 Years Ago, a Forgotten Mission Landed on Mars
Discover Magazine 12-1-21
“The Soviet space program was under a lot of pressure in the 1960s to achieve ‘firsts,’” says Asif Siddiqi, a Fordham University history professor who’s penned multiple books on the Soviet side of the space race.

DAISY DECAMPO
The Ethics of Egg Freezing and Egg Sharing
The Cut (subscription) 12-1-21
Daisy Deomampo, a medical anthropologist and associate professor at Fordham University who has researched donor egg markets.

NICHOLAS JOHNSON
School Board Finds Anti-2A Bias In Elementary School Textbook
Bearing Arms 12-1-21
As Fordham professor Nicholas Johnson brilliantly pointed out in his book Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms, the Second Amendment has long played a role in advancing the cause of freedom in the United States.

CHRISTINA GREER
December is upon us
New York Amsterdam News 12-2-21
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

FORMER ARTS & SCIENCES FACULTY

ROGER PANETTA
Houston highway project sparks debate over racial equity
MyNorthwest.com 11-23-21
Roger Panetta, a retired history professor at Fordham University in New York, said those opposing the I-45 project will have an uphill battle, as issues of racism and inequity have been so persistent in highway expansions that it “gets very difficult to dislodge.”

ATHLETICS

KYLE NEPTUNE
Early returns on the Kyle Neptune era at Fordham University positive
News12 New Jersey 11-19-21
The early returns on the Kyle Neptune era at Fordham University have been pretty positive.

Red Bulls Pick Up New Players In Super Draft
FirstTouchOnline.com 11-28-21
Janos Loebe, a German-born Fordham University product, will start to move from forward to attacking wingback, a key position on the field for New York.

ALUMNI

40 Under 40: Kyle Ciminelli, Ciminelli Real Estate Corp.
The Business Journals (subscription only) 11-19-21
[Kyle Ciminelli] Bachelor’s, finance, Fordham University; master’s, real estate and finance, New York University.

Devin Driscoll to Host Christmas Gathering
The Knoxville Focus 11-21-21
Devin Driscoll graduated from Catholic High School and went on to earn a degree from Fordham University.

Columnist Judith Bachman Captures The Spirit Of Sister Mary Eileen O’Brien, President Of Dominican College
Rockland County Business Journal 11-23-21
Sister O’Brien has dedicated herself to education for over 50 years. Sr. Mary Eileen earned a doctorate degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Fordham University and holds a master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education from Teachers College of Columbia University and a master’s in Mathematics from Manhattan College.

Lacerta Therapeutics Appoints Min Wang, PhD, JD and Marc Wolff to its Board of Directors
BusinessWire 11-24-21
Dr. [Min] Wang received her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Brown University and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Teva Attorneys Leave Goodwin Procter For Greenberg Traurig
Law360.com (subscription) 11-24-21
He earned his law degree from Fordham University School of Law.

She went through foster care. Now she leads one of the oldest U.S. child welfare organizations.
MSNBC 11-29-21
[Kym Hardy] Watson, who holds degrees from Fordham University and Baruch College, CUNY, began her career in the 1980s after a summer job working with youth at St. Christopher’s Home.

FreedomCon 2021 – Native Lives Matter
Underground Railroad Education Center 11-27-21
[Loriv Quigly] earned her bachelor of arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from St. Bonaventure University, and a master of arts in Public Communication and Ph.D. in Language, Learning and Literacy from Fordham University.

The Hall case in the Poconos and malice in the US | Moving Mountains
Pocono Record 11-27-21
Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo holds a doctorate in Catholic Theology from Fordham University and authored a column on religion for the Washington Post from 2008-2012.

The Success Of Emmy Clarke, Both In And Out Of The Camera
The Washington Independent 11-29-21
[Emmy Clark] decided to attend Fordham University. She finished her studies in 2014 and received a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Media Studies.

Paraco’s CEO puts business lessons, family experiences in print
Westfair Communications Online (subscription) 11-19-21
…was born in Mount Vernon, the oldest of four sons He attended Fordham University, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in…

Greenberg Traurig Further Strengthens Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Practice
PR Newswire 11-19-21
In addition, [Glenn] Kerner has experience in complex commercial litigation, antitrust, real estate litigation, and other civil litigation. He has a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and a B.A. from Cornell University.

Three Universities Have Announced the Hiring of African Americans to Diversity Positions
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Ed 11-19-21
[Tiffany Smith] holds a master’s degree in education, specializing in counseling services, from Fordham University in New York.

President Biden nominates second out woman to federal appellate court
LGBTQ Nation 11-21-21
[Alison Nathan] has clerked in the Supreme Court and taught at Fordham Law School and NYU Law.

GOTS ramps up oversight on product claims in North America
HomeTextilesToday.com 11-22-21
[Travis Wells] earned his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) in Corporate Law from George Washington University Law School and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Global Sustainability and Finance from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.

Malcolm X’s 5 surviving daughters: Inside lives marred by tragedy and turmoil
New York Post 11-23-21
[IIyasah Shabazz] graduated from the elite Hackley School, obtained a bachelor’s degree from SUNY New Paltz and a master’s degree in human resources from Fordham University.

Michael R. Scoma is recognized by Continental Who’s Who
PR Newswire 11-24-21
From a young age, Dr. [Michael] Scoma knew he wanted to pursue a career helping others. He started off earning his Bachelor of Science from Fordham University.

STODDARD BOWL: 2021 game will honor the former greats, Maloney’s Annino and Platt’s Shorter
MyRecordJournal.com 11-24-21
After Platt, [Michael] Shorter did a post-grad year at Choate, where he was an All-New England running back, then went on to play four years at Fordham University, where he earned a degree in Economics.

Local performer returns to state with ‘Fiddler’
HometownSource.com 11-24-21
From there [Scott Willits] went to The Ailey School and Fordham University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance in New York.

The Singer Who Calls Himself Sick Walt
Long Island City Journal 11-24-21
After graduating from Fordham University with a degree in communications and a minor in German and singing in a cover band, Sick Walt set out on a traditional (he means boring!) career path, taking what he calls a corporate “suit job” in a financial institution.

Aleksander Mici files to run for U.S. Senate
Bronx Times 11-24-21
[Aleksander] Mici, 46, is a practicing attorney with a law degree from Fordham Law School.

Robert Hughes
Citizens Journal 11-20-21
Bob [Robert Hughes] has a MA in economics from Fordham University and a BS in business from Lehigh University.

Grassroots solutions and farm fresh eggs
The Bronx Free Press 11-27-21
[Jack] Marth first connected with POTS when he was a Fordham University student in 1988, as he volunteered to help in the soup kitchen.

Suozzi enters governor’s race
The Daily Star 11-29-21
A graduate of Boston College and Fordham Law School,, [Thomas] Suozzi lives with his wife, Helen, in Nassau County.

Latino students succeed in graduate school with the support of the Hispanic Theological Initiative
FaithandLeadership.com 11-30-21
The Rev. Dr. Loida I. Martell recalls a critical, do-or-die moment she faced while pursuing a Ph.D. in theology from Fordham University.

Governor Hochul Announces 2021-2023 Fellows
Governor.ny.gov 11-30-21
[Shaquann Hunt] received a B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from Colby College and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

With Graduate Degree She Worked At McDonald’s, She Now Owns Three
Patch.com 11-30-21
Just after Sara Natalino Amato received a graduate degree at Fordham University, she went to work at an Orange McDonald’s.

Lamont nominates Nancy Navarretta as Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner
Fox61.com 12-1-21
[Nancy Navaretta] earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Boston College, and a Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology from Fordham University.

United Way Board of Directors Appoints Four New Members
Patch.com 12-1-21
[Marjorie] De La Cruz was awarded the Fordham School of Law 25th Annual Corporate Counsel Award; Latino Justice 2019 Lucero Award and was featured in Hispanic Executive in March 2019.

Jasmine Trangucci, LCSW-R is Meritoriously Named a ‘Top Patient Preferred Psychotherapist’ Representing the State of New York for 2022!
DigitalJournal.com 12-2-21
[Jasmine Trangucci] then went on to complete her Master of Social Work degree at Fordham University in 2005.

Hamilton Re-Signs Anderson as General Manager
OurSportCentral.com 12-2-21
A 2006 graduate of Fordham University, [Jermaine] Anderson earned his Master of Business Administration from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in September of 2019.

Hers Is a Filmmakers Festival
The East Hampton Star 12-2-21
Ms. [Jacqui] Lofaro grew up in Greenwich Village and graduated from Fordham University.

Connell Foley elects new managing partner
ROI-NJ 12-2-21
[Timothy] Corriston earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his B.A. from Hobart College. He also holds an LL.M. in environmental law from Pace University School of Law.

OBITUARY

Walter Miner Lowe, Jr.
Auburn Citizen (subscription) 11-24-21
Born in NYC, he was the son of late Walter Sr. and Florence Lowe. Walter was a 1958 graduate of Fordham University and an Army veteran serving his …

Denis Collins
Legacy.com 11-24-21
He graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1967, and attended Fordham University, with various mis-adventurous detours to Trinity College in Ireland, Talladega College in Alabama, and Stony Brook University in Long Island.

Sr. Marie Vincent Chiaravalle
Legacy.com 11-29-21
She attended St. Elizabeth Teacher College, Allegany, Fordham University in New York City and graduated from St. Bonaventure University, Allegany, with a bachelor of science degree in education.

Frank J. Messmann III
The Enterprise 11-26-21
He received a doctorate from Fordham University.

Roderick Dowling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11-28-21
He received his law degree from Fordham Law School as the President of his class in 1965, paying for his tuition through multiple jobs as a waiter, lifeguard, and a Fordham scholarship.

Mary Waddell
The Atlanta-Journal 12-1-21
Mary was born in Manhattan, New York to James and Anna McHugh McGuinness on August 18, 1927. She attended St. Barnabas High School in the Bronx and graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry before joining the global headquarters of the New York City-based public relations firm Carl Byoir & Associates.

On Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m., the movement will be the focus of a technological expansion of Fordham’s own Center on Religion and Culture, which will premiere its first documentary short film The Shaker Legacy at a screening at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. (Password: FORDHAM) The film focuses on the connection between the group’s deeply held religious beliefs and Shaker furniture, for which they are well known.

The screening of the nine-minute film will be followed by a panel discussion featuring two experts from the film, Kathryn Reklis, Ph.D., an associate professor of theology at Fordham, and Lacy Schutz, executive director of the Shaker Museum and the historic Shaker site in New Lebanon, New York.

The panel will also feature Courtney Bender, Ph.D., a professor of religion at Columbia University. It will be moderated by Center on Religion and Culture Director David Gibson, who led the project and narrated the film.
Gibson said filmmaking was something he’d hoped to do since joining Fordham in 2017, and the work that Reklis had done on the Shakers with a Luce Grant she secured in 2018 struck him as the perfect opportunity.
“We want to highlight Fordham’s faculty and research efforts, and we also want to ground this in religion, culture, and New York,” he said.

“So this whole project about the Shakers, and the new museum they’re building in Chatham, New York, is perfect for this kind of treatment.”

The film, which is a mix of archival photography, drone footage, and on-site interviews with Reklis and Schutz, is meant to whet the appetite of those who know nothing of the Shakers. The group was founded in 1770 by Mother Ann Lee, a native of England who moved to the United States in 1774 and eventually settled near Albany. The group she founded was defined by a radical embrace of celibacy; communal living; simple, elegant furniture; and ecstatic behavior during worship services that earned the group the “Shaker” name.

For Reklis, the Shakers offer an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be an American, what it means to be religious, and what it means to live in a community. These are questions that have resonated even more since the start of the pandemic, she said. Many of the experts she convened as part of her research project told her they were first drawn to Shaker furniture, whose influence can be seen today in every Ikea around the world. But as these scholars learned more about the Shakers, they quickly concluded that the furniture was simply a physical manifestation of a deeper, radical take on life.

“Our fixation became about questions of utopianism and community. Is it possible to think outside of capitalist models of production, communal arrangements, and taking care of each other?” she said.
“None of us are going to become Shakers, take vows of celibacy, or live in this communal life. But why are they so perennially fascinating, and what can we learn about the kind of radical visions they had about what it meant to be religious, American, and a witness to something really distinct?”

Viewed from today’s perspective, the Shakers were profoundly paradoxical, she said. Since all members took a vow of celibacy, no one was born into the group, which lasted 150 years (there are currently three members left). All new members were either converted or were taken in as orphans, as there were no state-run orphanages in the United States at the time. That necessitated an openness to outsiders, who brought with them new skills and expertise. It also resulted in communities where men and women were treated equally, and Black and white converts were welcome.

“They embraced every technology that came along. Many of the communities had 400, 500, or 600 people living together. To produce the food that you needed, you needed to embrace mass scale,” she noted.
“What I find most intriguing about the Shakers is where their unique theology and ecstatic religious experience met really practical, communal life concerns. That’s super fascinating to me, and I hope that other people will be intrigued and maybe think for a moment about different models.”

Gibson said he hoped that focusing on the design legacy of the Shakers would spur viewers to explore the Shakers in a more depth way.

“We wanted to highlight not what a cool Shaker box looks like, or a Shaker-style chair. People know that. We really wanted to focus on where that design came from. It’s not just a look or an aesthetic. It was born out of their religious beliefs and their communal style of living. It was very practical; it was very pragmatic,” he said.
“This was the largest Utopian movement in U.S. history, and it lasted 150 years. It’s another part of our country’s history, and even as we’re being torn apart now, there’s another path that we have followed in the past and that we can learn from today.”

“Today’s events are designed for recognition, celebration, and appreciation of the numerous contributors to Fordham’s research accomplishments in the past two years,” said George Hong, Ph.D., chief research officer and associate vice president for academic affairs.

Hong said that Fordham has received about $16 million in faculty grants over the past nine months, which is an increase of 50.3% compared to the same period last year.

“As a research university, Fordham is committed to excellence in the creation of knowledge and is in constant pursuit of new lines of inquiry,” said Joseph McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said during the virtual celebration. “Our faculty continue to distinguish themselves in this area. Today, today we highlight the truly extraordinary breadth and depth of their work.”

Earning Honors

Ten faculty members, representing two years of winners due to cancellations last year from the COVID-19 pandemic, were recognized with distinguished research awards.

“The distinguished research awards provide us with an opportunity to shine a spotlight on some of our most prolific colleagues, give visibility to the research achievements, and inspire others to follow in their footsteps,” Provost Dennis Jacobs said.

Recipients included Yuko Miki, associate professor of history and associate director of Latin American and Latinx Studies (LALSI), whose work focuses on Black and indigenous people in Brazil and the wider Atlantic world in the 19th century; David Budescu, Ph.D., Anne Anastasi Professor of Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology, whose work has been on quantifying, judging, and communicating uncertainty; and, in the junior faculty category, Santiago Mejia, Ph.D., assistant professor of law and ethics in the Gabelli School of Business, whose work examines shareholder primacy and Socratic ignorance and its implications to applied ethics. (See below for a full list of recipients).

Diving Deeper

Eleven other faculty members presented in their recently published work in the humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary studies.

Jews and New York: ‘Virtually Identical’

Images of Jewish people and New York are inextricably tied together, according to Daniel Soyer, Ph.D., professor of history and co-author of Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People (NYU Press, 2017).

“The popular imagination associated Jews with New York—food names like deli and bagels … attitudes and manner, like speed, brusqueness, irony, and sarcasm; with certain industries—the garment industry, banking, or entertainment,” he said. “

Soyer quoted comedian Lenny Bruce, who joked, “the Jewish and New York essences are virtually identical, right?”

Soyer’s book examines the history of Jewish people in New York and their relationship to the city from 1654 to the current day. Other presentations included S. Elizabeth Penry, Ph.D., associate professor of history, on her book The People Are King: The Making of an Indigenous Andean Politics (Oxford University Press, 2019), and Kirk Bingaman, Ph.D., professor of pastoral mental health counseling in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, on his book Pastoral and Spiritual Care in a Digital Age: The Future Is Now (Lexington Books, 2018).

Focus on Cities: The Reality Beyond the Politics

Annika Hinze, Ph.D, associate professor of political science and director of the Urban Studies Program, talked about her most recent work on the 10th and 11th editions of City Politics: The Political Economy of Urban America (Routledge, 11th edition forthcoming). She focused on how cities were portrayed by the Trump Administration versus what was happening on the ground.

“The realities of cities are really quite different—we’re not really talking about inner cities anymore,” she said. “Cities are, in many ways, mosaics of rich and poor. And yes, there are stark wealth discrepancies, growing pockets of poverty in cities, but there are also enormous oases of wealth in cities.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hinze’s latest edition will show how urban density did not contribute to the spread of COVID-19, as many people thought, but rather it was overcrowding and concentrated poverty in cities that led to accelerated spread..

Other presentations included Nicholas Tampio, Ph.D., professor of political science, on his book Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018); Margo Jackson, Ph.D., professor and chair of the division of psychological and educational services in the Graduate School of Education on her book Career Development Interventions for Social Justice: Addressing Needs Across the Lifespan in Educational, Community, and Employment Contexts (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019); and Clara Rodriguez, Ph.D., professor of sociology on her book America, As Seen on TV: How Television Shapes Immigrant Expectations Around the Globe (NYU Press, 2018).

A Look into Migration

In her book Migration Crises and the Structure of International Cooperation (University of Georgia Press, 2019), Sarah Lockhart, Ph.D. assistant professor of political science, examined how countries often have agreements in place to manage the flow of trade, capital, and communication, but not people. While her work in this book specifically focused on voluntary migration, it also had implications for the impacts on forced migration and the lack of cooperation among nations .

“I actually have really serious concerns about the extent of cooperation … on measures of control, and what that means for the future, when states are better and better at controlling their borders, especially in the developing world,” she said. “And what does that mean for people when there are crises and there needs to be that kind of release valve of movement?”

Other presentations included: Tina Maschi, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate School of Social Service, on her book Forensic Social Work: A Psychosocial Legal Approach to Diverse Criminal Justice Populations and Settings (Springer Publishing Company, 2017), and Tanya Hernández, J.D., professor of law on her book Multiracials and Civil Rights: Mixed-Race Stories of Discrimination (NYU Press, 2018).

Sharing Reflections

The day’s keynote speakers—Daniel Alexander Jones, professor of theatre and 2019 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, and Tony Award winner Clint Ramos, head of design and production and assistant professor of design—shared personal reflections on how the year’s events have shaped their lives, particularly their performance and creativity.

For Jones, breathing has always been an essential part of his work after one of his earliest teachers “initiated me into the work of aligning my breath to the cyclone of emotions I felt within.” However, seeing another Black man killed recently, he said, left him unable to “take a deep breath this morning without feeling the knot in my stomach at the killing of Daunte Wright by a police officer in Minnesota.”

Jones said the work of theatre teachers and performers is affected by their lived experiences and it’s up to them to share genuine stories for their audience.

“Our concern, as theater educators, encompasses whether or not in our real-time lived experiences, we are able to enact our wholeness as human beings, whether or not we are able to breathe fully and freely as independent beings in community and as citizens in a broad and complex society,” he said.

Ramos said that he feels his ability to be fully free has been constrained by his own desire to be accepted and understood, and that’s in addition to feeling like an outsider since he immigrated here.

“I actually don’t know who I am if I don’t anchor my self-identity with being an outsider,” he said. “There isn’t a day where I am not hyper-conscious of my existence in a space that contains me. And what that container looks like. These thoughts preface every single process that informs my actions and my decisions in this country.”

Interdisciplinary Future

Both keynote speakers said that their work is often interdisciplinary, bringing other fields into theatre education. Jones said he brings history into his teaching when he makes his students study the origins of words and phrases, and that they incorporate biology when they talk about emotions and rushes of feelings, like adrenaline.

That message of interdisciplinary connections summed up the day, according to Jonathan Crystal, vice provost.

“Another important purpose was really to hear what one another is working on and what they’re doing research on,” he said. “And it’s really great to have a place to come listen to colleagues talk about their research and find out that there are these points of overlap, and hopefully, it will result in some interdisciplinary activity over the next year.”

Distinguished Research Award Recipients

Humanities
2020: Kathryn Reklis, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, whose work included a project sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation on Shaker art, design, and religion.
2021: Yuko Miki, Ph.D., associate professor of history and associate director of Latin American and Latinx Studies (LALSI), whose work is on Black and indigenous people in Brazil and the wider Atlantic world in the 19th century.

Interdisciplinary Studies
2020: Yi Ding, Ph.D., professor of school psychology in the Graduate School of Education, who received a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education for a training program for school psychologists and early childhood special education teachers.
2021: Sophie Mitra, Ph.D., professor of Economics and co-director of the Disability Studies Minor, whose recent work includes documenting and understanding economic insecurity and identifying policies that combat it.

Sciences and Mathematics
2020: Thaier Hayajneh, Ph.D., professor of computer and information sciences and founder director of Fordham Center of Cybersecurity, whose $3 million grant from the National Security Agency will allow Fordham to help Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions build their own cybersecurity programs.
2021: Joshua Schrier, Ph.D., Kim B. and Stephen E. Bepler Chair and professor of chemistry, who highlighted his $7.4 million project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on perovskites.

Social Sciences
2020: Iftekhar Hasan, Ph.D., university professor and E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in International Business and Finance, whose recent work has included the examination of the role of female leadership in mayoral positions and resilience of local societies to crises.
2021: David Budescu, Ph.D., Anne Anastasi Professor of Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology, whose work has been on quantifying, judging, and communicating uncertainty.

Junior Faculty
2020: Asato Ikeda, Ph.D., associate professor of art history, who published The Politics of Painting, Facism, and Japanese Art During WWII.
2021: Santiago Mejia, Ph.D., assistant professor of law and ethics in the Gabelli School of Business, whose work focuses on shareholder primacy and Socratic ignorance and its implications to applied ethics.

Kathryn M. Reklis, an assistant professor of theology, is poised to study the religious group, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation’s Theology Program to Fordham University. The grant, a companion to a larger grant that the Luce Foundation’s American Art Program awarded to the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon, is geared toward exploring the experiential and communal aspects of Shakerism.

A Unique Take on the Spirit Within

“The choices that the Shakers made about the kinds of furniture they made were part of their larger theological ideas about the dwelling of the spirit inside each and every human being,” Reklis said.

“They also created radical social experiments. They were very gender egalitarian for their time, their communities were run equally by men and women, they undertook very progressive education experiments, and they created experiential communes that encouraged the spiritual awakening and insight of all their members.”

Lacy Schutz, executive director of the museum, will co-direct the project with Reklis. Together they are recruiting eight Fellows for the project. They will convene two conversations at Fordham and one at the Shaker Museum, beginning this fall and running through fall 2019.

Confirmed Fellows include:

Courtney Bender, Ph.D., professor of religion at Columbia University

Ashon Crawley, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies and African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia

Lesley Dill, artist

Carter Foster, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Prints and Drawings, Blanton Museum

David Leslie, executive director of the Rothko Chapel

Sally Promey, professor of religion and visual culture and director of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion, Yale University Divinity School

Maggie Taft, Independent Scholar/Haddon Avenue Writing Institute

When complete, the group will share their findings through a to-be-determined means, such as a symposium, an art show, or a series of academic essays.

“This project is bringing together religious studies scholars, theologians, art historians, scholars of material culture, practicing artists, and museum professionals both to understand more about the Shakers themselves, but also to think about the question, how do we make public knowledge about a group like the Shakers? We want to explore how artists, academics, and museum professionals all contribute to how we understand the relationship between religion and art,” Reklis said.

“What do you do with the legacy of a group like this? It’s not just the purview of a tiny little group of specialist scholars.”

Artists and Theologians in Conversation

In her research, Reklis has explored questions about embodiment and ecstatic Protestantism. As a co-founder of the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, she brought artists and theologians into public conversation. But the Shakers are a relatively new area of that research, which she says makes the project even more exciting.

“Our goal at the Institute (for Art, Religion and Social Justice) was to bring practicing artists and religious professionals into conversation about social justice. I’ve spent a lot of time in conversations across the art and theology worlds,” she said.

“That work was so meaningful to me, and the most exciting part of this new project is the partnership with the Shaker Museum.”

Over the course of the three meetings, the Fellows will work with the Shaker Museum’s extensive collection of Shaker material culture and will think with Lacy Schutz and the museum leadership about how to incorporate the mission and spirit of the Shaker experiments into the museum’s work itself.

Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon (shakerml.org) is dedicated to preserving the history of the Shakers, including their furniture and architecture as well as their values of inclusion, innovation, integrity, and conviction. It stewards the historic site in New Lebanon, New York, which is open year-round for recreation and self-guided tours, and offers tours, exhibitions, and public programs seasonally. The museum also has a campus in Old Chatham, New York, open year-round by appointment, where the administrative offices, collections, library, and archives are housed. The museum’s collection of over 56,000 Shaker items is the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world.

On Feb. 2, Fisher, a professor of theology, used his final address to his colleagues to tell his own families’ story.

“I was determined not to do one of those ‘My family is crazier than your family’ kind of histories, because I wouldn’t know how crazy anybody else’s family is,” said Fisher, who is retiring in May to spend more time in California with his son Charlie, who is autistic.

“But the complementarity of [mine and Charlie’s]cognitive systems is such a positive thing, I started to get much more positive feelings about my own family’s history. I wondered about people who may help me understand who we are.”

He discovered, among other things, that his great grandfather moved from Brooklyn to Panama in 1906 to work as a plumber on the Panama Canal. There, he became Chief and Senior Sagamore of the fraternal organization the Improved Order of Redmen.

“They wanted to transplant all the putative virtues of white American Christian Republicanism to this utopian community on the Isthmus of Panama. The Improved Order of Redmen was one of these kinds of organizations,” Fisher said, noting dryly that membership was not, in fact, open to Native Americans.

“I had to readjust the longevity of my father’s side of the families’ devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. I’d been off by 12 to 15 centuries. My great grandfather was nobody’s idea of a Roman Catholic. He was in fact, a pagan.”

He died under mysterious circumstances, and Fisher’s great grandmother moved back to Brooklyn, where Fisher discovered she lived in Vinegar Hill, next door to William Sutton, the infamous bank robber who was credited with saying he did it, “Because that’s where the money is.”

His family, which would also later call Woodbridge, New Jersey, home, also belied the popular model of Catholic immigrants flocking to parishes to create a sort of “old world communal setting.”

“My father’s family presented itself as the ultimate exemplar of just that model, but empirically it was not true. They lived where the work was; they lived on the waterfront in Brooklyn, Manhattan and North Jersey,” he said.

And although his grandparents experienced the terror of a resurgent of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920’s, they did just fine in the end.

“They were homeless in the 1930’s. By 1946, because of the war, my grandfather worked up in his job, and sent their sons to the University of Notre Dame—the eighth wonder of the world for American Catholics,” he said.

Fisher’s talk was part of Arts and Sciences Faculty Day. This year, honorees included
Christopher Aubin, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, who was honored for excellence in teaching in science and math;

Jim Fisher, Ph.D.,professor of theology, who was honored for or excellence in teaching in arts and humanities

Christina Greer, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, who was honored for excellence in teaching social sciences;

Maryann Kowaleski, P.h.D., Joseph Fitzpatrick SJ Distinguished Professor of History and Medieval Studies, who was honored for excellence in teaching in graduate studies.

The evening also celebrates 12 members of the arts and science faculty who have been chosen to work together to discuss innovative teaching techniques. The group, which includes graduate students and cuts across campuses and disciplines, meets five times a semester for two semesters to share recent scholarship in the field of teaching stories, and techniques. This year’s cohort includes:

Emanuel Fiano, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology

Abby Goldstein, associate professor of visual arts

Henry Han, Ph.D., associate professor of Computer and Information Science

Carey Kasten, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish

Christopher Koenigsmann, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry

Jesus Luzardo, Ph.D. candidate of philosophy, Graduate School of Arts and Science

Jason Morris, Ph.D, associate professor of biology

Meenaserani Murugan, Ph.D., assistant professor of communications

Silvana Patriarca, Ph.D., professor of history

Kathryn Reklis, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology

Margaret Schwartz, Ph.D., associate professor of communications

Richard Teverson, assistant professor of art history

Dennis Tyler, Ph.D., assistant professor of English

Alessia Valfredini, Ph.D., lecturer of Italian

Listen here:

Full transcript below

Patrick Verel: Your work has led you to write about social media, books, movies and TV shows, most recently NBC’s, The Good Place. How do you decide what to write about?

Kathryn Reklis: I always will look for things that I, myself, personally love. Strangely, some of the things I love the most I can’t write about them right away. Maybe it’s I’m too invested in them or they’re too close to home. I don’t want to step back and really think about them more critically, but they might be percolating for a while. I also try to pay attention to what is really popular. If something is sort of sweeping up broad, big cultural conversations, even if it’s not something I might choose to watch or read on my own, I will probably take a look at it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also look for things that people might not be paying attention to, that are not necessarily getting as much mainstream coverage, and could I hold them up as something interesting or exemplary to pay attention to. I probably also look for themes a lot, with sort of unexpected connections. Ways that maybe two different shows or a crop of movies or shows or podcasts or music albums that are sort of dealing with similar themes across a lot of different genres or platforms, and what that might say that’s interesting about our culture, about the moment that we’re in.

Patrick Verel: What’s one that you had to let percolate for a while?

Kathryn Reklis: One that I know is already like that for me is the new HBO series, The Deuce. I really loved the first season of that show. I think there are many fascinating and interesting things going on about it and there’s no way I could write about it. But it’s gonna be an ongoing series and so I’m hoping over time. Transparent was a series like that for me. I love it. I did write about it after the first season finished, but I have since watched it and felt like I could write about it all the time.

Patrick Verel: When you find examples of religion in American pop culture, what does it tend to focus on?

Kathryn Reklis: It’s actually been one of my sort of rules to myself in how I think about writing about pop culture, is not really to look for explicitly religious themes in shows, but to try to think about what these different cultural objects or experiences might help us understand about ourselves or the moment that we’re living in.

Patrick Verel: The most recent one that you featured, that was this show The Good Place.

Kathryn Reklis: Mm-hmm (affirmative). So, that’s an example. I was aware when that show came out a couple years ago. I saw a preview for it and I thought, oh, I don’t know, that looks kind of cheesy or not sure that I’m that interested in that. Then, I kept hearing about it and then people I trust and admire were saying, “Oh, it’s a really great show.” So, I started watching it. I was a big fan of the creators’ earlier sitcom Parks & Rec, such an optimistic show about civic involvement and about this loan. Idealistic, committed, public servant who is gonna make her community better through diligent, earnest, I mean almost laughably earnest, commitment to her ideals, and now I feel like in this particular moment, that is just, it’s almost painful. It’s not funny anymore.

Here’s a show that’s playing with similar comedic beats and rhythms, but is pressing a different point, right? Really asking us to think about what we mean by sort of, kind of just common, run of the mill, ordinary on the street level goodness. Like, what do we mean to be a good person and why has it become so hard to seem to have a cultural standard around basic goodness or civility in our sort of larger culture? So, it intrigued me in that way, right, and really drew me in as saying something that we might need to be paying attention to now, that even in a couple years ago, might have felt forced or more cheesy and not it actually feel like almost morally serious, even though it’s a very funny show.

Patrick Verel: Now this has been an excruciating year for many people. Do you see signs of hopefulness in either your studies or in the media in general?

Kathryn Reklis: Speaking just about pop culture or writing about pop culture, I mean, to some degree, the last couple months have been excruciating in that realm as well, with just revelation after revelation of sexual abuse and misconduct, which has left me feeling like the entire culture industry is just built on this sort of rotten foundation of misogyny and misused power. But I would say that I think over the last few years, even in the last year, more diverse voices, more people of color, more women are making cultural objects and experiences are getting a broader outlet for that work. I don’t think it’s, the problem’s not solved but there are, I think, little glimmers of hope that different stories are starting to be told and different voices are starting to be held up, and hopefully underneath that slightly different power structures of who gets to decide what stories are told and what voices are held up. So I think it’s a small sliver of hope.

If you think about media much more broadly, not just the pop culture, but social media, then I was probably at the point, even a year ago, where I was starting to be suspicious that as much I have studied and written about and thought about social media, that maybe it really was just a distraction machine designed to sell us advertisement. But in the last year, I’ve also really felt experienced for myself. Certain social media networks, really in my community, I live in Astoria, Queens, and community groups that sprung up online, but have really taken on offline activity too. So, it’s given me hope that actually it is a tool that this new media age that we’re living in, this sort of social media age we’re living in, can also be a tool for real community connection.

Patrick Verel: What’s been the most inspiring story you’ve come across recently?

Kathryn Reklis: A story that really, I mean just resonated, I think about it all the time that really resonated with me was actually an interview that I read online with the anthropologist, Anna Tsing, who has just written a book called The Arts of Living at the End of the World. She’s an anthropologist of basically, well, many things, but the kind of industrial technologies that humans have unleashed that are destroying the very prospects of any form of life on the planet, which is a very of course depressing and not particularly helpful topic, and yet this new work and the way she talks about it, of trying to look for examples in the non-human natural world, as well as the humanly influenced world of possibilities of life, sort of existing over, under, within and connections of living organisms, human and non-human that I think offer us really, it’s not a blueprint, it’s not an easy like, here are five steps to save the planet, but a sort of vision of paths not taken or ways we might imagine what it means to live into a future that we are also partly responsible for destroying. So, maybe that’s not hopeful to other people, but I found it, it stuck with me as, in actually my deepest moments of despair as something to return to.

Patrick Verel: Is there anything about the field of theology that lends itself to hopefulness?

Kathryn Reklis: There’s a very classic or standard understanding of theology, especially of Christian theology, but other theologies too as being all about a kind of hopefulness. Hope in the next life, hope in future justice, hope in ways to make ourselves better people or to redeem ourselves. Then that’s the exact same thing that becomes one of the most strident criticisms of religion and of Christianity, in particular. It gives us false hope where we put all our hopes on some future moment that may or may not come to be and it prevents us from doing anything real and sustained in this world.

For me, a lot of my work as a teacher and scholar is to try to really pull back the layers of how it is we got to where we are. A sort of history of the moment we’re in and where it comes from. A lot of that is to see how it is constructed, right? It’s made by humans, it’s the product of human activity. But to say that something’s made by us doesn’t mean it’s not real.

In some ways … So, there’s an easy way to say, well, if it’s not natural or biological or given, then it’s just fictional or made up. But in another way, the things that we make in these deep structural societal ways are maybe the most real things because now we’re invested in protecting them and sort of building our lives around them. So, for me peeling them back just to see how much power they exert on us, how deeply and fundamentally they shape who we are and our variability to think the kinds of thoughts that we have. Yet at the same time, in doing that to see that they don’t have to be the way that they are. That in them it’s not easy work, you can’t change anything in a sort of whole scale way. There’s no easy solution but there’s a, it’s like a crack or a fissure or a little opening towards a path not taken or a future not yet realized, and that is to me why I’m in this work.