Gillan Larkin said Gillan lived a “full life” and was beloved by many.

“It may sound like I’m painting a beautiful picture of someone who is gone, or that it’s just his daughter saying it, but everyone who knew him says that he was one in a billion,” said Gillan Larkin.

Born a mere stone’s throw from what would become Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, Gillan was as much of a Fordham Ram as one could meet. He met his beloved wife Paula on campus after she was admitted into the first class of Thomas More College. She was a junior and he was a senior. He graduated in 1967, she graduated in 1968, and they were married in 1969. He would go on to get his Ph.D. at Fordham in 1974 from the Graduate School of Education.

Gillan Larkin described her father as a “positive, upbeat, kind, interested, generous, selfless, and patient person.” Indeed, online and on social media, similar tributes have been pouring in from alumni who were touched by a dean that many have described as a consummate gentleman.

Juan D. Y. Gutierrez, PCS ’15, recalled bringing his son to a New York Giants game with tickets donated by Gillan to a FordhamVets raffle. Once at the stadium, Gillan was there to greet them and watch the game together.

“It was the first-ever football game my son and I watched in person. Thank you, Mr. Gillan,” Gutierrez wrote on the University’s Facebook wall.

Throughout his time at Fordham, Gillan had a knack for taking on growth opportunities. He served at PCS when the school was still referred to as the School of General Studies and Continuing Education. He lobbied to change the name to Ignatius College, to honor St. Ignatius, a non-traditional student. There, he inspired non-raditional students to continue with their studies like the school’s namesake.

“I was just thinking of him about a month ago and how much he helped me during my time at Fordham,” Lennette Octaviani, PCS ’07, wrote on Facebook. “He was my dean when I was in what used to be Ignatius College. He was truly a great man and I couldn’t thank him enough for all his help. I was able to graduate because of him.”

Gillan’s efforts in Westchester helped further the mission and visibility of the University’s Westchester campus north of the city, said Grant Grastorf, Ed.D., the academic operations administrator there.

“As an alumnus and former dean, he strongly believed in a liberal arts education,” said Grastorf. “Many former students frequently stopped by to visit him and he was often writing recommendations to graduate school and jobs.  He encouraged me to get my doctorate as well.  He wanted everyone to succeed.”

His daughter recalled that Gillan was constantly going to a variety of business association breakfasts throughout the county.

“He waved the Fordham flag in Westchester with business people and let them know that Fordham was a presence,” she said. “He was not a morning person, and the business people always have 8 a.m. breakfasts, but he’d go to all kinds of things like that.”

Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., the former dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Services, is a Westchester resident who co-founded the FordhamVets Initiative with Gillan.

Today, the initiative has evolved into the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services and has two full-time employees. Matthew Butler, PCS ‘16, directs the office. Butler noted that Fordham was one of the early adopters of the Yellow Ribbon Program (an education benefit offered specifically to eligible veterans and dependents under the Post-9/11 GI Bill) before the red tape between higher education and the Veterans Administration had yet to be untangled.

“The VA is one of the largest bureaucracies there is, so somebody needed to take a leadership position, to put their arms around the complexity of making sure that the benefits were working for the veterans and for Fordham, so that they could concentrate on their studies and not worry about if the paperwork was done properly,” Butler said of Gillan’s role in navigating the complex process. Since the Yellow Ribbon program was adopted in 2009, more than 1,000 veterans have graduated from the University, Butler said.

Gillan also helped the University understand what would be needed to support veterans to make the transition to higher education and integrate on campus.

“The program opened the door to folks like myself to go back to school, who would’ve never been able to afford to come to Fordham or New York City,” said Butler. “But Mike was also aware that we needed to make sure that the veterans felt like complete members of the community. You know, that’s something. That’s a legacy that I continue to build on to make sure that our veterans have all the rights and privileges as full members of the community.”

Vaughan recalled that he and Gillan came up with the idea for the initiative after Gillan had been talking to officials in the state capital about veterans’ education and Vaughan had just returned from a conference held by the VA in Washington, D.C., on the same subject.

“It was almost simultaneously that we said we have to talk about this, and we did, and then we met with someone he knew from the Department of Veterans Affairs with the state, and then we met of course with the then-provost [Stephen Freeman, Ph.D.], then Father McShane, who said, ‘Go ahead.’ And then, as they say, the rest was history.”

Vaughan said over time the two formed a bond over their shared interest in adult learning. He added that Gillan’s efforts helped Fordham build ongoing opportunities for returning students, but he also focused on making sure students got work when they got their degrees. He said the many breakfasts he attended opened opportunities in Westchester business for Fordham graduates. And he made sure that their experience wasn’t merely transactional.

“Separate from an education, because he knew we had a great education, he really wanted our older and nontraditional students to participate in the University in a meaningful way so that their education wasn’t just something that they came and did, but that they really felt that they were a part of Fordham, came back to Fordham, and really let them know that Fordham cared about them. I think Mike carried that forward in ways that were immeasurable.”’

Gillan is survived by his wife Paula, children Kristina Bach and Michelle Larkin, both of Yonkers, as well as grandchildren Reece, Emily, and James. He spent his last few years, as in years past, enjoying the Jersey Shore and cheering on the New York Giants, said Gillan Larkin.

Gillan’s wake was held on May 31 at Westchester Funeral Home in Eastchester, New York, and his funeral Mass was held on June 1 at Annunciation Church in Crestwood, New York.

In an effort to coordinate disparate veteran groups from across the University, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) has hired a Veterans Coordinator and has set aside space for the vets to meet, hang out, study, and organize events. The space will be staffed with student vets hired through the Veterans Administration’s work-study program.

The initiatives were announced last Thursday when Fordham welcomed dozens of veterans to an orientation at the Law School’s sleek new mock courtroom.

For several years, the Fordham vet community has been nurtured by Michael Gillan, Ph.D., and James Hennessey, Ph.D., through the Fordham Veterans Initiative. But with Gillan recently retired as associate vice president of Fordham Westchester, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) Dean Isabelle Frank, Ph.D., has assumed the role of co-chair alongside Hennessy, who is dean at the Graduate School of Education.

Fordham Student Veterans Association President Pat Hackett and B-Vets President Chris Maloney give vets the lowdown.

“We have the largest number of vets by far at PCS, so it was a very natural transition for us,” said Frank. “We have great hopes that the school will be able to help vets University wide.”

The need for coordination is clear. Each school at Fordham has its own veterans group; PCS’s Armed Forces of Fordham is the largest with 300 members. Then there’s Graduate School of Business Administration’s B-Vets, and the Graduate School of Social Services’ GSSVets, with about 30 members each. SERV, at the Law School group, has 15 members. The University is also affiliated nationally through the Student Veteran’s Association; there are at least 1,000 members of Fordham Veteran Alumni; and several veteran organizations partner with Fordham.

Luis Garcia and fellow vets met up at the Law School’s new digs

“This is something we started talking about last year,” said Pat Hacket, a PCS senior and president of Student Veteran’s Association at Fordham. “We figured we could tackle multiple issues, multiple problems, from multiple venues, with everyone coming to one place.”

Mike Abrams, who teaches a seminar to the vets on career transition leadership at PCS, has assumed the role of coordinator.

The new veterans space is in Room 839 at the Lowenstein Center.

Several events have already been planned for the school year, some in coordination with other veteran groups and schools, like tonight’s Ruck March at Merchants’ Gate Plaza, the entrance to Central Park at Columbus Circle at 6:30 p.m. The Fordham Vets will meet with vets from around the city in an effort to raise consciousness of veteran suicide.

Other events on the docket include the 9/11 Heroes Run on Randall’s Island on September 6, the Veterans Day Parade on November 11, and a gala benefiting Toys for Tots on December 13.

Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice-president and co-chair of FordhamVets Task Group, was in the middle of New York’s Veterans Day Parade on a Fordham sponsored float when he got the news.

“What veterans share in common coming back from any conflict is that they want to get on with their lives,” said Gillan. “They want to get on with being students.”

He added that the University’s commitment to the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program no doubt played a role. The program was an optional provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill passed in 2009 and is considered the most comprehensive expansion of veteran education benefits since World War II.

Even though there is a national cap on the Yellow Ribbon benefits, the University has bypassed the limit and increased its Yellow Ribbon commitment to cover all tuition and fees for Post-9/11 veterans, he said.

“We are once again able to say ‘Top 25,'” said Gillan. “Plus, this is the fourth consecutive year that Fordham is the #1-rated private school in the metropolitan region.”

–Tom Stoelker

Fordham came in at No. 23, rising from No. 55 in 2010 and from No. 34 in 2011.

Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice-president and co-chair of FordhamVets Task Group, said the magazine’s 30-page 2012 questionnaire allowed space to added narrative content detailing improvements in the program—of which Fordham had many to report. He added that nearly 650 schools responded to the magazine’s survey.

The improved standing stems in part from the University’s commitment to the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, an optional provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill passed by Congress in 2009. The bill is considered the most comprehensive expansion of veteran education benefits since World War II.

Even though there is a national cap on the Yellow Ribbon benefits, the University has bypassed the limit and increased its commitment to cover all tuition and fees for Post-9/11 veterans.

Fordham was among the very first institutions to sign on to the program. In the most most recent 2011-12 academic year, the University’s Yellow Ribbon expenditure exceeded $300,000, and in the year ahead it is expected to reach $800,000. Enrollment by veterans across the University has shot up from a pre-2009 average of about 30 veterans, to a fall 2012 enrollment of 287.

Gillan added that one of the keys to the FordhamVet program’s success is that, although opportunities for affiliations with other veterans abound, student-veterans are by no means required to participate.

“What veterans share in common coming back from any conflict is that they want to get on with their lives,” said Gillan. “Although they want to be appreciated and recognized, many don’t want to be defined by the [service]experience.”

“They want to get on with being students.”

“We’ve had student veterans graduate previously, but this is the first substantial graduating group,” said Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice president at the Lincoln Center campus and co-chair of the FordhamVets Task Group.

In the last three years, the number of student veterans has steadily increased, owing to the 2009 launch of the Fordham University Veterans Initiative (FordhamVets), which offers services to help veterans transition from the military to college life.

Whereas the number of veterans enrolled prior to 2009 averaged around 30, nearly ten times that number of veterans and their dependents have since come to Fordham, with the spring 2012 enrollment reaching 265. According to Gillan, the group anticipates that number will climb to 300 in the upcoming academic year.

Moreover, in the last year Fordham leapt from No. 55 to No. 34 in Military Times EDGE magazine’snational list of the top 100 “veteran friendly” colleges and universities—the only New York City university in the top 50.

“It’s not by accident that we became nationally ranked,” Gillan said. “We’ve prepared ourselves to do a good job with the veterans that come to us, and we’ve taken steps through publicity and other materials to let them know that we are prepared to welcome them when they arrive.”

The FordhamVets Initiative was established in response to the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provides financial assistance and housing to veterans pursuing education. Included in the Bill is the Yellow Ribbon Program, through which colleges and universities can voluntarily fund up to 50 percent of tuition and fees not covered by the Bill’s basic provision of $17,500. The Department of Veteran Affairs then matches the school’s contribution.

Fordham contributes the maximum amount—50 percent—and also does not cap the number of veterans who can benefit from the program.

“Thanks to Father McShane, Fordham was one of the first universities to announce that it would participate in this Yellow Ribbon Program to the fullest extent,” Gillan said. “It was from the onset an institutional commitment across a lot of offices and a lot of people to bring these young men and women to us, and has resulted in our being able to serve them well.”

Marco Bongioanni, who enrolled in the Graduate School of Education (GSE) after serving two tours with the Army in Iraq, said the program has supported him throughout his education at Fordham.

“Three years ago, I did not have the slightest idea that I would complete such a program,” Bongioanni said. “But Fordham gave me the tools and professional training to allow me to pursue a career helping other veterans.”

Bongioanni graduated with a master’s in education from GSE’s Mental Health Counseling program, which he will use to help others who have been in his position.

“I would like to work the veteran community, especially those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.

In addition to supporting students financially, FordhamVets runs various workshops and seminars to help veterans move “from desert to desk,” Gillan said. In the fall, GSE’s Human Resiliency Institute implemented Edge4Vets, a workshop series that draws on principles taught in the military to help veterans acclimate to student life.

Student veterans also have access to the Veterans Writing Project, a weekly workshop that assists veterans in writing about their experiences. Free of charge to all veterans, the workshops conclude in a publication of the participants’ writings. A public reading of the latest anthology, Afterwords: The Way Home, drew a standing-room-only crowd at the Lincoln Center campus on June 7. Another series of workshops begin this month on the Westchester and Lincoln Center campuses.

“It’s another example of how Fordham goes above and beyond just helping veterans who are enrolled in the school,” Bongioanni said.

Despite arriving with some anxiety about adjusting to college, the veterans who passed through the program have thrived, Gillan said, and their experiences at Fordham have become a launching pad for further academic and personal growth.

“The change I see is in their sense of confidence in this undertaking and their sense that the sky’s the limit,” Gillan said. “They say, why finish here?”

Steve Moylan Photo by Nina Romeo

The program is an optional provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which went into effect in August of 2009 and is considered the most comprehensive expansion of veteran education benefits since World War II.

Under the Yellow Ribbon Program, colleges and universities can fund up to 50 percent of tuition and fees not covered by the basic GI Bill. The Department of Veterans Affairs will then match the school’s contribution.

Fordham was one of the first universities in the country to commit to participating in the program at the highest level.

The University’s renewed commitment comes at a crucial time, as amendments to the GI Bill in January of 2011 introduced a national cap on VA benefits in order to create conformity across all states; this reduces benefits in some states like New York, particularly impacting students at private institutions with higher costs of education.

Despite the increased costs to the University, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, is steadfast in keeping Fordham at its current participation level, ensuring continued full support for both current and new students or their dependents.

“Fordham University supports the Yellow Ribbon Program, and will continue to support it, simply because it is the right thing to do,” Father McShane said.

“Given that hundreds of thousands of young veterans have already reentered civilian life, and that many more will follow in the coming decade, the least we can do is ensure that they have access to an education that helps afford them lives of dignity and purpose,” he said.

Steve Moylan, a first-year finance student in the Graduate School of Business Administration, is one of the veterans who has benefited from the program.

Moylan spent four years in the Marine Corps, during which time he served one seven-month tour of duty in Iraq as a platoon commander and another seven-month tour in Afghanistan as a company executive officer.

Fordham’s participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program was one of the things that cemented his decision to attend the University, he said. For Moylan, it’s one of the assets that help make Fordham “the most attractive option for veterans” in New York City.

Learning that changes had been made to the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Moylan said he wasn’t worried. “I knew that Fordham was going to do the right thing. They have a commitment to doing right by the Program,” he said.

Marco Bongioanni, a student in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), had a similar response to the news.

“I knew that Fordham was going to cover us because that’s the kind of school they are,” he said.

Bongioanni, who just finished his first year at GSE, served as an officer in the Army from 2001 to January of 2010, and he is now in the Army Reserves. His service has included two tours of duty in Iraq, in 2003 and 2007-2008.

After completing his master’s degree, Bongioanni plans to work for the VA as a licensed mental health counselor.

Since the inception of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Fordham has seen a dramatic rise in the number of veteran students.

According to Michael Gillan, Ph.D., co-chair of the FordhamVets Task Group, before the fall of 2009, there were on average 30 veterans in the University during any given year; but over the past 4 semesters that number has risen to 235 veterans and their family members at the University’s 10 schools across three campuses.

Of the total number, approximately 150 vets are eligible for Yellow Ribbon benefits. They have served at least 36 months of active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, or they served 30 continuous days after 9/11 and have been honorably discharged from active duty for a service-related disability.

Now that changes have been made in federal assistance, Gillan foresees that some schools may reduce their financial commitment or lower the number of students they help, or they may opt out of the Yellow Ribbon Program altogether.

But veterans at Fordham can rest assured. “Our current students will be covered, and the message to the student veterans who follow them is that Fordham is still in this full bore,” Gillan said.

“It’s great to be out front on this again; hopefully other universities will follow. These men and women have certainly earned it.”

– Anne Treantafeles

Held at the Abigail Kirsch/Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown, N.Y., the event honored dedicated individuals and business friends who, through community service and support, have made an impact on the lives of girls. Funds for Girl Scout camps and other activities were raised through a silent auction at the event, which had the theme of “The Power of the Promise.”

Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice president for the Westchester campus, accepted the award on behalf of the University.

“When we opened our new campus at 400 Westchester Ave. (in West Harrison), we were committed not just to providing first rate degree programs, but also to deepening and extending our roots and connections with important organizations in the community,” Gillan said. “What more important and fitting group than Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson? Fordham’s core commitment is not just educational excellence for its own sake, but as our Jesuits say, education for the formation of ‘men and women for others,’ something that is consistent with the Girl Scouts’ promise.”

Gillan thanked the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson board and staff and praised those “most responsible for bringing this award about,” such as Lynne O’Connell, assistant dean of admissions for Fordham College of Liberal Studies, who initiated the relationship between the University and the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, and Mary Kate Donato, program associate for Fordham’s Executive MBA (EMBA) programs, and Francis Petit, Ed.D.,  associate dean for the EMBA programs, who led a Girl Scouts “Cookie Institute,” an entrepreneurial training workshop for Girl Scouts from the Heart of the Hudson Council, in November.

The Cookie Institute was the first event under a new partnership between Fordham and the Heart of the Hudson Council. Future events, such as a Career Day, are in the works.

“We are looking forward to many more collaborations in years to come and to being at the very least, a semi-finalist for this award each and every year,” Gillan said.

TD Bank was also honored by Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson with a Leadership Award. The Humanitarian Award was presented to the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson Archives Committee.

Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, Inc. serves southeastern New York state: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. Its central administrative office is in Pleasantville, with regional offices in Kingston, Middletown, New City, Pleasantville and Poughkeepsie.

Anne Kelly Treantafeles photo by Ed Cody

Treantafeles, who succeeds Lynne O’Connell, M.P.H., assistant dean of Fordham College of Liberal Studies, will oversee the University’s veterans initiative, launched in the spring of 2009 to help veterans return to college under the current federal G.I. Bill.

The University currently serves about 235 veterans in its Yellow Ribbon Program, which removes any financial obstacles between eligible post-9/11 service members and a Fordham education. The University was one of the first in the nation to commit to full participation in the program, which got underway in 2008-2009.

Treantafeles’ new duties will be part of her new position as assistant director of admissions, marketing and recruitment for the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS). Since 2005, she has worked in the capacity of executive secretary to the GSS/Westchester assistant dean.

In addition to her Fordham experience, Treantafeles brings experience in veterans’ issues to her new role. She serves as the veterans’ issues chair for the National Association of Social Workers—Westchester Division and she recently completed a yearlong clinical social work internship at the Veterans Administration Hudson Valley Health Care System in New York.

The search for a new adviser was overseen by Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice president for Westchester and Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., dean of GSS. Gillan and Vaughan are co-chairs of the FordhamVets Task Group.

For more information on FordhamVets and the veterans initiative, visit the website.

FordhamVets, an initiative including all of the University’s undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, is intended to ensure that academic and support programs are as “veterans-friendly” as possible.

Fordham also has committed to participating in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Yellow Ribbon Program. This provision of the GI Bill encourages degree-granting institutions to provide tuition assistance to veterans over and above standard VA education benefits.

The work of designing and implementing FordhamVets is the responsibility of a task group appointed by Joseph McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. The group is co-chaired by Michael Gillan, Ph.D., dean of the undergraduate college for adults, and Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Service.

Members include student service and financial aid officials, as well as Steven Dougherty, the past president of Laurel House, who attended Fordham’s earlier program for Vietnam-era veterans, eventually earning his Ph.D.; and Paul Tobin, currently pursuing his master’s in social work at Fordham, who is president of the United Spinal Association and leads the service organization VetsFirst.

Juan Fortes of the New York State Division of Veterans Affairs will serve as an adviser to the group.

“Fordham has always served the veteran population,” Gillan said. “Now, with so many coming home and getting on with their lives, we want to make sure we are ready to help them.”

Vaughan, a Vietnam War veteran long active in veterans’ groups, said, “I can think of few things more important than assisting these men and women to achieve their goals.”

Involving all three of the University’s campuses, FordhamVets’ first event will be an open house at Fordham Westchester, to be scheduled later this spring.