FCRH honored seniors who attained excellence in their fields, as well as those who received Fulbright fellowships and other scholarships, or were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and other honor societies.

Michael E. Latham, Ph.D., dean of FCRH, addressed the assembly by noting the international theme of this year’s Encaenia, as many of the award recipients had traveled extensively for study, community outreach and personal enrichment.

“Tonight, I would like to reflect on that broader global dimension of our experience,” Latham said.

To inspire this reflection, Latham recalled the swiftness with which news of the recent Japanese tsunami tragedy spread through every form of media, whether print, broadcast or electronic.

Placing this event within the context of 20th and 21st century history, he pondered whether this age of global interconnection has actually fulfilled its potential to unify people and nations.

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“Does the phenomenon of rapid, mass communication always deepen our capacity for real human understanding and empathy? Does it always expand our spiritual and intellectual horizons?” Latham asked.

In considering these questions, Latham offered that this might not always be the case. Quoting Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., superior general of the Society of Jesus, he suggested that the worldwide communications network has at times led to “the globalization of superficiality,” which limits our capacity for true compassion.

But he stressed that the Class of 2011 is well equipped to confront this threat of superficiality and the lack of empathy that accompanies it.

“I believe your Jesuit education at Fordham, both inside and outside the classroom, has provided you with the crucial resources necessary to remain open to a broader, deeper, richer kind of solidarity,” he said.

“I pray that the moral foundation that you have acquired here will help you understand that across the lines of race, class, culture, gender and religion, we are all part of a common human family. As you leave Fordham, may you continue to be a vital part of the world’s geography of hope at home and abroad.”

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The Claver Award, which is named for St. Peter Claver, an 18th-century Spanish Jesuit, was presented to Craig Small, a Latin American and Latino studies major. The award recognizes the senior who most exemplifies Fordham’s dedication to community service.

Nora Moran, an urban studies major, received the Fordham College Alumni Association Award for the student who best shows the Fordham spirit. The award, an armchair bearing the Fordham insignia, provided an excellent perch from which Moran listened to Latham’s address.

Megan C. Wiessner gave the valedictorian address in which she recalled that when she arrived at Fordham, she did not immediately feel inspired and even considering transferring.

However, she credited the strength of Fordham’s core curriculum, the bonds she formed with fellow students, and the cultural richness of Fordham’s New York City campus with transforming her experience and solidifying her connection to the University.

She recalled one professor in particular who taught her to see how every person she encounters in life is unique and will never be encountered again.

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She reminded her assembled classmates that “whatever friends we’ve made here at Fordham, these people don’t exist anywhere else and they never will.”

Referring to their shared intellectual endeavors and questioning, Wiessner told her peers, “We’ve changed each other . . . we’ve changed Fordham, and we’re not done yet.”

“Michael E. Latham’s readable and insightful book casts recent nation-building undertakings within a century-long history of the faiths—and delusions—of America’s recurrent efforts to ‘modernize’ others. The broad scope of this book recommends it to scholars, policymakers, and citizens alike.”

Emily S. Rosenberg, University of California, Irvine, author of Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion 1890–1945

“Well-written, broad-gauged, and just plain smart, The Right Kind of Revolution ably synthesizes, indeed moves beyond, the scholarship on American efforts to ‘improve’ the Third World. The new standard work on American modernization and development policies, it is has much to teach scholars and graduate students while still being suitable for use in undergraduate courses.”

David Engerman, Brandeis University, author of Know Your Enemy: The Rise and Fall of America’s Soviet Experts

Latham is also the author of Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and “Nation Building” in the Kennedy Era, and coeditor of Staging Growth: Modernization, Development, and the Global Cold War and Knowledge and Postmodernism in Historical Perspective.

Cornell University Press
P.O. Box 6525,
Ithaca, NY 14851-6525
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www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 277-2211 | Fax: (607) 277-6292

Father Boyce began his career at Fordham as an assistant professor of music in 1985 after earning his doctorate in musicology from New York University (NYU). He rose to associate professor, and  became chair of the department in 2006. Recently he was named full professor.

A native of Canada, Father Boyce was ordained a Carmelite priest on June 4, 1977 at St. Therese of Lisieux Church in Cresskill, New Jersey. He was in residence at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Tenafly, N.J.

Father Boyce’s area of expertise was the study of Medieval Latin liturgy and the Carmelite liturgical tradition, from historical, legislative and spiritual perspectives. Most recently, Father Boyce published Carmelite Liturgy and Spiritual Identity: The Choir Books of Kraków (Brepols, 2008), a 500-page book, featured recently in Inside Fordham, on Carmelite choir books that he discovered in a small Kraków convent.

In addition to his doctorate degree, Father Boyce held a bachelor of arts in French and bachelor of music in piano from McGill University; a master’s degree in musicology from NYU; a master’s in theology from Washington Theological Union and a master’s of music in piano from Catholic University of America.

“Fordham has lost a multitude in Father Boyce,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “Not just a scholar of music, he was an accomplished musician himself, a generous mentor and teacher of music, and a genial colleague. The University, the church and the world of musical scholarship are all poorer today. He will be missed greatly by the Fordham family and by his Carmelite brethren.”

Michael E. Latham, Ph.D., interim dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, recalled Father Boyce not just as a scholar who attained a national and international reputation, but as the kind of person who taught extra class sections to support the work of his junior colleagues.

“A dedicated, compassionate teacher, he was a leader in his department,”  Latham said. “He was, in all respects a wonderful, caring devoted colleague.”

The Wake and Mass of Christian Burial will take place at:

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church
10 County Road
Tenafly, N.J.  07670
(201) 568-0545

Wake:

Thursday, February 25
7 to 9 p.m.

Friday, February 26
2 to 4 p.m.
7 to 9 p.m.

Mass of Christian Burial:

Saturday, February 27
10 a.m.        

Father Boyce is survived by his brother Raymond, his sister Diane Forestell (Roy), his cousin Joan Foster, nephews Michael and Lucas Forestell, stepmother Betty Boyce, stepsisters Stephanie Dunne (and family), Patricia Kearns and Victoria Kearns, cousins and his Carmelite family.

The convocation took place a day after students arrived on campus. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, noted that the class of 994 members was the most talented in the college’s history, with an average SAT score of 1252.

In his welcoming address, Father McShane recalled the words that St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, said to St. Francis Xavier, his best friend and classmate at the University of Paris, when Loyola asked him to become the first Jesuit missionary to China.

“As he sent St. Francis Xavier off, he said simply these words, ‘Go and set the world on fire.’ That was the last exchange between the two of them,” Father McShane said.

“I say to you, members of the lucky class of 2013, while you’re here, set the University on fire. Not literally, of course,” he continued. “When you finish here, I will say to you then, go set the world afire with your love, with your talent and with your dreams and ambitions.”

The convocation was also an opportunity for administrators to convey their high expectations for the incoming class. Michael E. Latham, Ph.D., Fordham College at Rose Hill’s interim dean, said he hoped students would find themselves extremely troubled by the injustice in the world.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer, reminded students about the important role that social justice and community-building play in a Jesuit education.

“The process of creating a truly inclusive community serves as a powerful witness to a world divided by nationality, race, social class and religion. Inclusive communities challenge the world in which the poor and those without power are oppressed,” he said.

Freedman cited a recent New York Times Magazine story about the oppression of women worldwide, calling it the foremost human rights cause in the world today.

“If we improve the lot of women by elevating the quality of women’s lives in the less-developed world and across the globe, we will move much closer to solving many of the world’s problems, from poverty to terrorism,” he said.

To make it clear why students should take their obligation to social justice seriously, J. Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology, led the group through an experiment. Hornbeck asked them to imagine that the 1,100 people assembled in the theatre represented the 7 billion people who will live on the planet in 2011.

Asking those with green stickers on the backs of their programs to stand up, Hornbeck noted that those 535 people represented the 48 percent of the world’s population who live on less than $2.50 a day.

At the end, he called for those with black dots, and only one stood. That person, he said, represented the 1/10th of 1 percent of the total number of people in the world who have the opportunity to attend a major American research university.

“We live in a nation and in a world of great inequality between the privileged and the marginalized, and almost all of us share, in some way, in that privilege and in that marginalization,” Hornbeck said.

“We could simply accept that as the status quo. But it’s in the very nature of the University to resist such an easy way out,” he said. “It’s in Fordham’s nature, as a Jesuit school, to force us to confront the gritty underside of reality, where there is suffering as well as joy.”

Michael E. Latham, Ph.D., has been appointed interim dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) at Fordham University.

Latham, an associate professor of history, joined the Fordham faculty in 1996. He is a noted scholar of American foreign relations and 20th century American political and intellectual history.

“Dr. Latham is highly regarded by his peers as an accomplished scholar, superior administrator and supportive colleague,” said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer and professor of natural science at Fordham. “He is a gifted teacher and an experienced faculty leader who understands and is deeply committed to supporting and promoting the University’s mission.”

Currently the chair of the tenure and reappointment appeals committee, Latham has worked on the executive committee of the faculty senate and the committee on salary and benefits. He brings more than a decade of experience in University governance to the role of interim dean.

Latham accepted the dean’s position following the departure of Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., who was named president of Manhattan College. Latham assumes his new duties on July 1, 2009.

“Fordham College at Rose Hill is a terrific institution,” Latham said. “It is not only a top-flight academic institution, attracting truly excellent students, but it’s also a place that has a profound sense of mission and a deep commitment to community service.”

Among his goals for the college, Latham said he aims to work collaboratively with faculty to strengthen opportunities in undergraduate research and international education.

“We’re an outstanding liberal arts college in one of the world’s great cities,” he said. “We need to promote and expand international opportunities for our students. It’s vital in any academic field, and vital in any career or profession that students may want to pursue.”

Latham also plans to further promote the Saint Edmund Campion Institute in the life of the college and augment integrated learning communities, unique programs in which students with similar academic interests share classes, living space and outside activities.

“I want all of our students to be aware of the Campion Institute and aspire to the level of academic excellence that would make them candidates for prestigious awards,” Latham said.

“Likewise, our integrated learning communities have been a tremendous success. That’s one of the things that Brennan O’Donnell put in place that he has done a fabulous job with, and that I’d like to see expand.”

Latham said he will continue to participate in academic conferences, and eventually hopes to integrate teaching into his duties as dean.

“I’m very happy in the classroom and, quite frankly, it’s been a real source of satisfaction for me,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to let go of it completely because I am constantly refreshed by our students.”

Latham earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Latham is the author of Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and “Nation Building” in the Kennedy Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2000). His forthcoming book, Imposing Modernity: The United States, Development, and the Postcolonial World from the Cold War to the Present will be published by Cornell University Press. He is also a co-editor of two scholarly volumes and has written 10 articles that have appeared in respected journals.

“We are very pleased that Dr. Latham will be stepping up to the dean’s chair at Fordham College at Rose Hill,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Having been the dean of the college, I believe Fordham will be well served by Dr. Latham’s considerable scholarship and administrative and teaching experience.”

Latham, an associate professor of history, joined the Fordham faculty in 1996. He is a noted scholar of American foreign relations and 20th century American political and intellectual history.

“Dr. Latham is highly regarded by his peers as an accomplished scholar, superior administrator and supportive colleague,” said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer and professor of natural science at Fordham. “He is a gifted teacher and an experienced faculty leader who understands and is deeply committed to supporting and promoting the University’s mission.”

Presently the chair of the tenure and reappointment appeals committee, Latham has worked on the executive committee of the faculty senate and the committee on salary and benefits. He brings more than a decade of experience in University governance to the role of interim dean.

Latham accepted the dean’s position following the departure of Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., who was named president of Manhattan College this week. Latham assumes his new duties on July 1, 2009.

“Fordham College at Rose Hill is a terrific institution,” Latham said. “It is not only a top-flight academic institution, attracting truly excellent students, but it’s also a place that has a profound sense of mission and a deep commitment to community service.”

Among his goals for the college, Latham said he aims to work collaboratively with faculty to strengthen opportunities in undergraduate research and international education.

“We’re an outstanding liberal arts college in one of the world’s great cities,” he said. “We need to promote and expand international opportunities for our students. It’s vital in any academic field, and vital in any career or profession that students may want to pursue.”

Latham also plans to further promote the Saint Edmund Campion Institute in the life of the college and augment integrated learning communities, unique programs in which students with similar academic interests share classes, living space and outside activities.

“I want all of our students to be aware of the Campion Institute and aspire to the level of academic excellence that would make them candidates for prestigious awards,” Latham said.

“Likewise, our integrated learning communities have been a tremendous success. That’s one of the things that Brennan O’Donnell put in place that he has done a fabulous job with, and that I’d like to see expand.”

Latham said he will continue to participate in academic conferences, and eventually hopes to integrate teaching into his duties as dean.

“I’m very happy in the classroom and, quite frankly, it’s been a real source of satisfaction for me,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to let go of it completely because I am constantly refreshed by our students.”

Latham earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Latham is the author of Modernization as Ideology:  American Social Science and “Nation Building” in the Kennedy Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2000).  His forthcoming book, Imposing Modernity: The United States, Development, and the Postcolonial World from the Cold War to the Present will be published by Cornell University Press. He is also a co-editor of two scholarly volumes and has written 10 articles that have appeared in respected journals and edited collections in the field.

“We are very pleased that Dr. Latham will be stepping up to the dean’s chair at Fordham College at Rose Hill,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “Having been the dean of the college, I believe Fordham will be well served by Dr. Latham’s considerable scholarship and administrative and teaching experience.”

Opened by Archbishop John Hughes more than 160 years ago and entrusted to the care of the Jesuits in 1846, Fordham College at Rose Hill was the first Catholic institution of higher learning in the Northeast. The college is located on the second largest green campus in New York City and is the academic home to roughly 3,334 undergraduates. The Jesuit tradition is characterized by excellence in teaching and by the care and development of each student.