“Rather than just reading and learning from theory, I want to practice it,” said Ahmed, 27, who will earn her master’s degree from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies this May. 

Enabling Telemedicine with Free Software for Developing Countries

Ahmed was born and raised in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan. In 2014, she moved to the United Kingdom. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and health from the University of Roehampton. Initially, she wanted to pursue her master’s degree in dietetics and become a dietician. But when her son was born, it became difficult for her to pursue her original goal.

Instead, she entered the inaugural cohort of Fordham’s master’s program in applied health informatics. The program, which welcomed its first class in 2022, teaches students how to create cost-effective information systems for hospitals and health care providers. 

“What we teach in the program is how to make effectively free software for health records. Without these electronic health records, it’s very difficult to do telemedicine, which can significantly help to deliver health care in developing countries,” said the program’s director, John Chelsom, Ph.D.

Helping an African Orphanage with Electronic Records

For Ahmed’s capstone project, Chelsom connected her with international relief organization Humanity First, which put her in touch with an African orphanage that wanted to convert its health records from paper into electronic files. 

“An electronic health record is an online record of a patient’s personal information and medical history data that can be updated over their lifetime. Whenever a child enters the orphanage or is adopted, they need to fill out forms and submit them to the government. The orphanage wanted to make those forms electronic so they’re more safe, secure, and easily shareable, and all the data is in one place,” Ahmed said. “To actually install the program on their computers, we [Chelsom and I] will need to visit the orphanage … and I’m planning to continue working with them after graduation.” 

Balancing School with Motherhood, Thanks to an Online Program

At Fordham, Ahmed developed her information and technology, artificial intelligence, and programming skills. Although she never had a permanent physical campus, she participated in two Fordham-hosted residential workshops at St. Edmund Hall, the oldest residence at the University of Oxford, where she met some of her American classmates in person for the first time, as well as other professionals from around the world. And thanks to her online coursework, she was able to care for her family while pursuing her education. 

“I did my household chores in the morning, put my baby to sleep in the afternoon, and attended lectures from 2 to 5 p.m. Sometimes my son woke up in the middle, but it was possible for me to continue my studies because I was at home, where it’s easier for me to manage him,” said Ahmed, who lives in London with her husband, their 2-year-old son, and her mother-in-law. “For people like me who have children or dependents to look after, studying or working online is a great opportunity.” 

This spring, she will travel to Fordham’s main campus for the first time with her family for Commencement. She plans to use her new degree in a field related to data management, where she hopes to make a difference. 

“I want to create something that will help people in the real world,” Ahmed said. 

“I have such deep roots here, and I’m thrilled that we have a London campus,” said Tetlow, who has familial and professional connections in the U.K. “I’m so excited to dream even bigger about what we can do.”

The Oct. 26 event was part of a series of presidential welcome receptions scheduled for this academic year. Over the past few months, Tetlow has connected with members of the Fordham family in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. She is planning on visiting at least 10 more cities, including New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Miami.   

The reception was held at the Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe. It was attended by about 120 guests who traveled from the United Kingdom and other countries to attend. In total, about 10,000 Fordham alumni live abroad. 

From the Shard’s 34th-floor Sky Lounge, guests wined and dined while taking in panoramic views of the River Thames and iconic London landmarks such as Tower Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral. 

The reception began with a moment of silence for the late Scott Simpson, LAW ’82, a member of the Fordham London Advisory Board and the father of two Fordham graduates, who died last spring. Ginger F. Zaimis, a current board member, recited her translated excerpt from Meditations, a famous text by Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Later, Tetlow presented a token of appreciation to the evening’s host, William Loschert, GABELLI ’61, a trustee fellow who played a significant role in bringing Fordham London to life. (In 2021, he was also knighted by the Vatican.) 

Life Abroad in the ‘Greatest City in the World’

Before Tetlow formally addressed the guests, three current students offered her a warm welcome and reflected on their time at Fordham London. 

Kyla McCallum, a senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, introduced herself as a transfer student from the University of Michigan. She said that when she decided to enroll at Fordham, she heard stories from students at other universities who had experienced tough transfers. For her, it was the opposite. Upon her acceptance, she learned that she would need to complete the rest of her education on Fordham’s campus—and luckily, the University has one in the heart of  London. 

“In addition to receiving a Jesuit liberal arts education, I also get a global experience—something I barely dared to hope for after transferring amid the COVID pandemic,” said McCallum, who studies new media and digital design.

At Fordham London, she is learning about the business of fashion, Christianity, and Shakespeare. The latter course offers trips such as an outing to Shakespeare’s Globe, where McCallum and her classmates saw The Tempest and another Shakespeare play that features a 21st-century twist.  

“What I didn’t anticipate from my Shakespeare class was for our professor to take us to a queer retelling of A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” she said. “Fordham professors are remarkably dedicated to inclusion of diverse identities in their curriculum.” 

In London, she said, she has found a new culture and a future abroad. In fact, she’s planning to apply to master’s programs at schools in the United Kingdom after she graduates. 

A Gabelli Education in London: One of the ‘Financial Capitals of the World’ 

Matthew O’Sullivan, a junior at the Gabelli School of Business, has lived in London for only about two months, but said the city now feels like home. He’s even gotten used to vehicles driving on the left side of the road.

“I’ve gotten very comfortable with being here, even down to simply crossing the street—looking right, and then left,” said O’Sullivan, a business administration student from Garden City, New York.

O’Sullivan said that being able to study in both New York and London is especially helpful for him, since the two cities are among the world’s financial capitals. Sometimes, though, the best education comes from experiencing life in London—from trying beans on toast to successfully traversing the city in the Tube, he said. 

“During my time here, I’ve witnessed two monarchs, almost three prime ministers, so who knows—I could be prime minister by the end of the semester,” O’Sullivan joked. “But studying abroad here in London has … certainly has opened up a new chapter in my life, just as we’re opening a new chapter in the history of Fordham by welcoming President Tetlow to our amazing community.” 

Fordham London: ‘A Judgment-Free’ Home 

The final student speaker, Bradley Moyer, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, delivered a poignant speech about the role that the University has played in his life. Moyer said that he started college during a difficult time in his personal life, and the pandemic worsened his situation. The Fordham community offered him the support that he needed, he said. 

“Fordham offered me support with excellent professors and new people that I could rely on,” said Moyer, a New Jersey native who is majoring in communication and culture. “The staff at Fordham … helped me in the summer to get through missed work and had faith in me when I felt like I had none.” 

Moyer—who participated in Fordham’s second drag show—said Fordham’s New York and London programs both offer “judgment-free zones that allow everyone to be who they are.” 

‘I’m So Glad to Be Among You’ 

Tetlow concluded the evening with some reflections on her own connections to the United Kingdom. 

In her late 20s, she joined the British-American Project, an organization that promotes cross-cultural understanding among young leaders. Through the group, she made many friends in London and met her future husband, Gordon Stewart, who was living in Glasgow at the time. Today, she has a daughter, Lucy, who has American/British dual citizenship; a stepson who lives in Scotland; and a home in Fife, Scotland, with their family. 

“I am proudly bilingual. I drink a cuppa. I take out the rubbish. I feel chuffed from all this praise,” she said, to laughter. “And I can, if I’ve had a couple of pints, even understand Geordie. That’s how local I feel.”

Tetlow asked the guests to help her to build on the strengths that already exist at Fordham’s London campus by sharing potential student internships, guest speakers, and resources with Vanessa Beever, senior director of Fordham London. 

“Thank you for demonstrating what Fordham means, what our students become, to the parents who’ve entrusted us with your children, to the friends who’ve helped us in so many ways,” Tetlow said. “We love you all—and I’m so glad to be among you.”

View all the photos from the event here. 

But a June 11 conference held by the Graduate School of Social Services (GSS) in London reframed social workers’ traditional focus from helping the needy to one of fighting for basic human rights.

The conference took place at the University of London and brought together an international collection of agency representatives, advocates, legislators, and academics.

Organized in partnership with the Human Rights Consortium, Associate Professor Sandy Turner, PhD, and Associate Professor Shirley Gatenio-Gabel,PhD, presented at the conference with panel discussions in the morning and workshops in the afternoon.

GSS Dean Debra McPhee said that social services’ departmental budgets don’t usually allow for extra time or money to attend conferences, let alone one with an international focus. Thus, the afternoon workshops proved to be a very valuable component to those participants who came.

“People doing this work are overtaxed and don’t have the opportunity to exchange best practices on subjects that range from human trafficking to dealing with a disaster,” she said. “So getting the chance to talk was very important. Otherwise, it’s just another conference.”

Gatenio-Gabel agreed that the breakouts also allowed practitioners and policymakers to boil down the morning’s academic presentations.

“If you look at human rights principles, international laws, conventions, and treaties, they all sound wonderful, but how to make them come alive is the challenge,” she said.

McPhee said there is real need for the conversation to be had across professional, academic, and policy making platforms because if the social workers begin to function from a human right perspective, it shifts the burden from clients having to prove need to governments having to provide basic services that are a human right.

“It was the oldest monument I’ve ever seen,” said the accounting major, who was making her first trip overseas. “And I was awestruck. I’d never experienced anything in America that ancient.”

Starr traveled to England earlier this year with a cohort of Gabelli School of Business students and enrolled in Gabelli School of Business in London, a study-abroad program that is housed in the Fordham London Centre in Kensington. She lived in central London in a flat with five classmates, managing to get through demanding coursework and still make weekend trips to the continent to see Rome and Barcelona.

Since beginning in 2008 as a summer-abroad experience with just 30 students, the Gabelli School of Business in London has added fall and spring semester programs, as well as scholarships. Enrollment has more than doubled since 2010 from 66 students to this year’s high of 141. Although the school is just one piece of the entire Fordham London Centre (there are also drama and liberal arts cohorts), it accounts for nearly half of the center’s students.

What attracts business students to London? For one thing, the Gabelli School encourages students to study abroad, and not just for the travel experience, said Graham Bolton, the program’s director.

“The goal is an immersion in European commerce and an enhanced business perspective that only an extended time overseas can provide,” said Bolton. “It’s almost a prerequisite nowadays for any business student’s C.V. to show they have that wider experience.”

And while students are encouraged to travel in their spare time, the program is anything but “education lite,” he said. Classes follow the Gabelli School syllabus and are graded the same.

In a typical fall semester, the program has 14 course offerings balanced between requirements and electives. Some electives are tailored to locale—for example, a Texts and Contexts course might focus on English writers or Shakespeare’s plays.

Three years ago, the program got a boost through the addition of internships, mostly through the efforts of Chris Hogan, FCRH ’95, partner in the London office of accounting firm KPMG. Hogan worked with Bolton to create paid internships at the firm’s London office for three to six Gabelli school students per semester.

He describes the internships as “a pretty tough gig.” Although there is management-oversight, student interns run client-facing projects that wrap up with a formal presentation to the firm’s senior leadership, said Hogan. Because work styles in London can differ from those of U.S. firms, student interns must also show flexibility, resilience, and emotional intelligence.

“It’s the kind of thing I would have loved to participate in when I was a Fordham student,” said Hogan. “So that certainly played a part [in my involvement.]”

Gabelli School junior Elan Saynay completed one of the London internships last academic year, dealing with taxation issues of individuals moving in and out of the United Kingdom. Her greatest takeaway, she said, was “exposure to global business practices.”

“I [corresponded]with individual taxpayers, tax regulation bodies, and KPMG employees in the UK and throughout the world,” she said, adding that she developed an “invaluable skill” through that experience.

Conversely, Hogan said that the Fordham interns have quickly developed a reputation for resourcefulness.

“Fordham students are business thinkers, but they are also capable writers who can be relied upon to express themselves well,” he said. “That is not common these days.”

In an effort to continue the Gabelli School in London’s expansion, Bolton is working to attract students from Fordham’s sister Jesuit universities. Hogan and Bolton have also talked about hosting at least one of the classes at KPMG’s offices on Canary Wharf—the new financial center rivaling the heart of Old London’s financial hub, The Square Mile.

Studying abroad left an impression on Starr, who, as a summer student, was not eligible for a London internship. She is inspired by the fact that all of the Big Four accounting firms—Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, and Pricewaterhouse-Coopers—have offices in London.

“I would definitely consider taking a job there,” she said.

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to more than 15,100 students in its four undergraduate colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in West Harrison, N.Y., the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y., and the London Centre in the United Kingdom

— Janet Sassi