Mo Osman, FCRH ’14, received the Trailblazer Award, which recognizes a graduate from the past 10 years whose leadership is an inspiration to their fellow alumni, and Jack Walton, FCRH ’72, and Jeanette Walton, TMC ’71, GSAS ’73, shared in the Ram of the Year Award as alumni who enhance the reputation of the University through their professional achievements, personal accomplishments, and loyal service to Fordham. They’re the first duo to be so honored.

The event marked the third biennial awards ceremony hosted by the Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA), a dues-free group established in 2017 to unite alumni from all of Fordham’s schools. As alumni and guests mingled in the Penn Club’s second-floor ballroom, they were treated to the mellow sounds of the Fordham Lincoln Center Jazz Ensemble, playing from a small overhead balcony.

The Wednesday evening event featured a few firsts, too: It was the first time the reception was held in the landmark Beaux-Arts building that houses the Penn Club, which Fordham alumni and employees are now eligible to join. And it was the first FUAA reception for Fordham’s new president, Tania Tetlow, who has been busy on the road since last August, meeting with alumni across the U.S. and abroad. Alumni have been getting to know her on home turf, too: At homecoming last year, Sally Benner, chair of the FUAA Advisory Board, moderated a fireside-style chat with the president.

At the reception, Tetlow said that it’s a blessing to be able to look at the alumni community and see what Fordham “students will someday become.” She thanked attendees for the “lives of integrity that you have led, the impact you have had on the world, and the ways that you have mattered. It’s such a joy to know what these seeds we plant will become.”

Similarly, Michael Griffin, associate vice president for alumni relations and executive director of the FUAA, told attendees that his goal is to “engage as many of you as possible in a relationship that’s lifelong and meaningful.”

Education as a Gateway into Society

Upon receiving the Ram of the Year Award, Jeannette Walton said she and her husband, Jack, were “humbled to have been selected” by their peers, and they accepted the honor “in the name of all the alumni who worked so hard for Fordham and to support the students there.” She added that they have been devoted to Fordham for so long because they believe that education is important “not just for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, but for every student who wants to learn and become a productive member of society.”

The Waltons met in the Fordham yearbook office during the late 1960s, when she was enrolled at Thomas More College (then Fordham’s liberal arts school for women), he at Fordham College at Rose Hill. She grew up in the Bronx, he in Ohio; she had a career in medical research, he in finance. In the ‘70s, they were married, and they’ve stayed close to Fordham through the years: Two of their three sons—Robert, GABELLI ’01, and Andrew, FCRH ’05—went on to graduate from the University.

“I can’t tell you how flattered we are,” Jack said. “I thank you immensely. We were a little bit reluctant because we didn’t know what we had done to deserve the award.”

Humility has been a common trait among FUAA award winners over the years, but there should be no confusion over why their fellow graduates nominated the Waltons: For decades, they have been sharing their time and resources to help make Catholic education more accessible to underserved populations.

They established the Walton Scholarship Fund to provide financial aid to high-achieving undergraduates. They were the principal benefactors of the statue of St. Ignatius Loyola at the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses and the Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam organ in the University Church. They also helped restore Rose Hill’s science labs and founded the John C. and Jeanette D. Walton Lecture in Science, Philosophy, and Religion at Fordham.

Before presenting them with the award, Benner thanked the Waltons “for your daily examples of expressing love for Fordham, which has added up to decades of loyalty that all of us could emulate.”

‘Grandmasters of Benevolence’

Osman was so surprised he’d been chosen by his peers that he didn’t quite grasp what he was being told.

“When I called Mo to let him know he was selected as the Trailblazer awardee, at first he thought I was inviting him tonight so we could all vote the slate of candidates live, like it was American Idol,” Benner joked.

Osman, the director of alternatives at Wellington Management, immigrated to the Bronx with his family when he was a child, after fleeing Sudan amid military unrest when he was just 3 years old. Today, he’s grateful to Fordham for the impact it’s had on his life. He earned a degree in economics, completed several internships, and landed a position in a two-year rotational program at JPMorgan right after graduating in 2014. He was able to afford Fordham with financial aid and support from the Higher Education Opportunity Program. And that’s why, he’s said, it’s important to him to pay it forward to other students like him.

Since graduating nine years ago, he’s helped strengthen the University’s alumni network by contributing to scholarship funds; sponsoring receptions for his fellow alumni; participating in events run by MOSAIC, Fordham’s Multicultural Organization Supporting Alumni Initiatives and Community affinity chapter; and helping to launch the Alumni Career Fair as an inaugural member of the FUAA Advisory Board.

As he accepted his award, Osman encouraged his fellow alumni to remember what he feels is one of Fordham’s greatest lessons: to make a positive impact on the world. He asked them to “continue to be the great grandmasters of benevolence, respect, and also remain charitable.”

“Without your philanthropy, I would not be here today,” he said. “There are many more kids who would love a Fordham education, who have the potential to attend this great institution of ours, but just need that little push.”

“Sister Mary was much loved at Fordham, and by everyone who knew her,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “She was a guiding light to our alumni, especially the Marymount alumnae, and of course a dear friend and confidant to her fellow sisters of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. The Fordham family mourns with Sister Mary’s loved ones and friends, and with the many alumni who knew her company, our grief leavened with the knowledge that she surely rests with the Lord today.”

Sister Mary was known for her service to others. As Marymount alumnae chaplain at Fordham, she tended to the spiritual, social, and educational needs of her fellow alumnae. She went wherever she was needed to support those in crisis, traveling as far as Zambia and Zimbabwe. And she did it all with warmth, humor, and patience, said her colleagues and loved ones. 

“In this day and age, we’re quick to find faults in people,” said Michael E. Griffin, Fordham’s associate vice president for alumni relations and executive director of the alumni association. “Mary was somebody who always found the good.”

Sister Mary, previously known as Sister M. Gailhac, was born on August 6, 1940, in New York City to Carl and Florence Heineman Heyser.

As a child, she was shy, athletic, and “a bit of a tomboy,” said her older sister, Sally Heyser Ryan, MC ’58. They lived on the Long Island Sound, where Sister Mary enjoyed swimming and playing tennis. When they grew up and Ryan had five children of her own—and, eventually, 14 grandchildren—Sister Mary was very fond of them, Ryan said. 

“She was my only sister,” Ryan said. “I’m going to miss talking to her weekly and hearing about all the good work she was doing.” 

In 1962, Sister Heyser graduated from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, where she received a bachelor’s degree in social studies/science and economics. At age 24, she entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Tarrytown. She spent the next four decades working in ministries across the globe, from her home state to the African continent. From 2003 to 2009, she served as a provincial councillor of the Eastern American Province of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. 

From 2009 to 2018, she served as the Marymount alumnae chaplain in the Development and University Relations (DAUR) division. 

“She would always start the day by coming to our section of the office and saying hi to everybody,” said Shannon Quinn, associate director of alumni relations. “She would bring up something or other that she knew about you and check in on you.” 

Quinn recalled Sister Mary’s great collection of “snazzy” floral blazers, her opportune sense of humor, and her penchant for Planter’s Punch cocktails. She said Sister Mary taught her three lessons: to assume good intentions in others, incorporate joy in all things, and lead a balanced life. 

“The best thing—and something that probably a lot of people would say about Mary—is that knowing her made you a better person. Because you couldn’t be around Mary … without taking to heart her kindness of spirit,” said Quinn. 

She was a “bright light” who loved the color pink and saw the positive side of things, said Jane Bartnett, MC ’76, former president of the Marymount Alumnae Board. At alumnae board meetings, she delivered thought-provoking prayers that were relevant to world events. And she was a “healing factor” for many Marymount alumnae, including those who were still unhappy that the college, located on the Hudson River in Tarrytown, had to close in 2007.

“She really helped bring Marymount into the Fordham family,” Bartnett said. 

At Fordham, she delivered the opening prayers for many big events, including 2015 Commencement and a Washington, D.C. alumni chapter event honoring Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor that same year. At the 2015 Marymount Founder’s ceremony at the Rose Hill campus, the school’s alumnae board honored her with the Mother Butler Leadership award in honor of her service. 

Sister Mary’s service extended beyond Fordham. In a 2019 story posted by her religious order, she described what it was like to assist refugees at the Annunciation House, a volunteer-run sanctuary in El Paso, Texas. She drove to local bus terminals and an airport, where she helped refugees receive their tickets. She made peanut butter jelly sandwiches, packed food bags for the refugees, and served meals on site. Although she wasn’t fluent in Spanish, she struck up conversations through a Google translation app. Sometimes, she worked as long as 11 hours. 

“Mary was a woman who was passionately committed to ministry. She was willing to go anywhere and do anything,” said Catherine Patten, R.S.H.M, MC ’61, a fellow sister and a friend. “She had this great sense of mission and great care for the poor, immigrants, and people who are most in need, wherever she was.” 

Sister Mary also spearheaded grassroots efforts against human trafficking. She was featured in the book If Nuns Ruled the World: Ten Sisters on a Mission (Open Road Media, 2014) that described how she, along with six sisters from other New York congregations, formed a powerful coalition in 2005. 

“[She] became the glue for the group that would be known as NY-CRC-STOP: New York Coalition of Religious Congregations to Stop Trafficking of People,” wrote the book’s author, Jo Piazza, an award-winning reporter and editor. 

The group organized two Fordham conferences on human trafficking. Through the STOP Coalition, she helped raise funds for LifeWay Network to open its first safe house and assisted in opening two more safe houses in the New York City region. She served on the LifeWay Board for eight years. 

Last year, she moved to Immokalee, Florida, to begin a new ministry in immigration advocacy. Shortly before her death, she returned to the Marymount Convent in Tarrytown, where she received hospice care.

“She brought so much strength and joy to her role in building the bond between the Marymount College and Fordham University communities,” said Samantha MacInnis, MC ’00, current president of the Marymount Alumnae Board, in an email. “It was impossible not to feel that love and commitment when you were around her.”

She is survived by her sister, numerous nieces and nephews, and the members of her religious community. 

All services will be held at the Marymount Convent Chapel, 32 Warren Avenue, Tarrytown, NY. The wake is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 6, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Vigil service begins at 7:30 pm. The Mass of Christian Burial will be Thursday, Nov. 7, at 10:30 a.m. The burial will be at Mount Calvary Cemetery in White Plains. In lieu of flowers, gifts in her name may be made to Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, 50 Wilson Park Drive, Tarrytown, NY, 10591.

As in the past, the office will offer University alumni and friends some programming that includes tours of a few august institutions, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as trips to eateries, like Mario Batali’s Eataly.

The twist is that, this year, Fordham experts will lead the expeditions.

“We want alumni to know that Fordham is not just a stop for four years,” said Michael Griffin, assistant vice president for alumni relations. “We want to provide a measure of lifelong learning, and what a great place to do it, here in New York City.”

While anyone can take a guided tour through the Met’s Greek and Roman galleries, only the Fordham community can get a tour from Jennifer Udell, Ph.D., curator of University art and a noted specialist in Greco-Roman art.

Complimenting Udell’s April 3 tour will be the tour of the museum’s Italian Renaissance galleries to be given on May 9 by Gregory Waldrop, S.J., assistant professor of art history and music, who specializes in that particular period.

“Fordham students learn to be curious and that’s something that stays with them,” said Father Waldrop. “So it’s always a pleasure to have a chance to reconnect alumni with that tradition.”

Both historians hold an intimate knowledge of the museum’s holdings and the historical context from which they sprung. For his part, Father Waldrop spends a lot of time at the Met for his own research and teaching.

“New York City museums have some of the best collections in the world,” said Father Waldrop. “The Met certainly has the best collection of Italian works outside of Italy. It’s easily in the same league as London’s National Gallery and the Louvre.”

Elsewhere on the docket are: an April 11 backstage tour of WFUV by station manager Chuck Singleton; a demonstration of the new University organ, with Robert Minotti, director of Fordham University Choirs, on May 6; and a tour of the Upper West Side on May 21 with James Fisher, Ph.D., professor of theology and author of On the Irish Waterfront: The Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York (Cornell University Press, 2009).

Associate Professor of History David Hamlin, Ph.D., will give a tour of the New-York Historical Society’s World War II exhibit on May 14. Hamlin said it’s rare that faculty get the chance to reconnect with the alumni in a learning environment.

“I’m very much looking forward to this. Once we shoo students out the door we don’t see them very often, so it’ll be great to see and meet our handiwork,” said Hamlin. “One way to see if we’re doing our job is to meet students 20 years after they leave Fordham, and see how they’re engaged. We’re trying to construct citizens here—people who are curious about the world [and]maintain a lifelong interest in learning.”

Griffin said that Explore NYC has siblings in other alumni programming initiatives, such as the Fordham at the Forefront events. That traveling lecture series takes Fordham experts out of town, providing a platform from which they can weigh in on current events.

On Oct. 23, Panagopoulos discussed various presidential election-forecasting models and shared the latest polling data with a gathering of alumni and friends at the Hotel Sofitel. “2012: A Race Odyssey” marked the New York City debut of Fordham at the Forefront, a new series of events sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations.

“The median forecast is an estimate of 50.6 percent for Obama, a very slight advantage for the president,” said Panagopoulos, assistant professor of political science at Fordham, and director of the University’s graduate program in elections and campaign management, “But depending on what states those votes are in could end up deciding the outcome of the election.”

Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D.

Panagopoulos added: “Political scientists are actually quite good at predicting what will happen in presidential elections.”

(See what polling organization made the top of the list of Panagopoulos’ rankings of accuracy in pre-election polling.)

For the 2008 presidential election, nine out of 10 national forecasters predicted Obama winning the two-party popular vote. Alan Abramowitz, the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University, projected in his Time for a Change model that John McCain would get 45.7 percent of the two-party vote in 2008. “McCain ultimately got 46.3 percent of the major party vote,” said Panagopoulos. “[The model was] only off by half a percentage point.” In the 2012 forecasts, Abramowitz projected Obama winning 50.6 percent of the popular vote.

“Some of these models were estimated three, four months, sometimes almost up to a year before Election Day, before we even knew who the candidates were,” Panagopoulos said. “It may cause you to wonder if campaigns matter at all if you can come this close to predicting what’s going to happen long before the campaign unfolds.”

The Fordham at the Forefront series was launched on Oct. 1 in Atlanta, where Panagopoulos also spoke about the presidential debates and campaigns. More than 65 alumni attended the New York lecture and reception, representing nine out of Fordham’s 10 schools and colleges and a wide range of class years.

The Office of Alumni Relations intends to host several Forefront events throughout the year in the New York City metro area and around the country, highlighting Fordham faculty members’ expertise in such areas as trust in business, sustainability, and healthcare reform.

“Alumni will always be able to count on Fordham at the Forefront for an engaging presentation and discussion about things that matter in the world,” said Michael Griffin, assistant vice president for alumni relations. “We want to deliver lifelong learning to Fordham alumni and we want to demonstrate Fordham’s leadership in areas of universal significance.”

“Michael was chosen from a field of extraordinary candidates,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “I am delighted to say that he understands the Jesuit mission inside and out, and comes to Fordham with a strong desire to further that mission. Given his proven ability to connect with alumni and colleagues, and his track record of conspicuous achievement in the field, I have the utmost confidence that he will do much to advance the University’s interests, and to further tighten the bonds between Fordham and its extended family.”

Griffin comes to Fordham after working for more than 15 years at Columbia University, most recently as executive director for alumni relations. In this role, he led a number of university-wide initiatives which served all 16 schools and 300,000 alumni around the world.

A seasoned alumni relations professional and strategist, Griffin directed a large percentage of the overall alumni relations effort at Columbia including outreach to a network of 81 clubs worldwide, arts programming in New York City, the alumni center, and alumni affinity products. He also was instrumental in the development and launch of Columbia’s first university-wide on-line alumni community.

“In Michael I believe we have found the perfect fit for taking our program to the next level,” said Roger A. Milici Jr., vice president for development and University relations. “He is widely respected in the field and within the Columbia University community, and he brings extraordinary leadership abilities and organizational skills to an upgraded position. Previously, the staff leader of the alumni relations program was at the director level. We expect Michael to play a major role in elevating Fordham’s alumni services and activities in New York City and around the globe, and in transforming our program into a model one.”

Griffin began his term at Columbia as assistant director of athletics, a role in which he spent eight years before transitioning to alumni relations. His zeal for athletics began well before he arrived at Columbia, though. The son of a football coach, Griffin was an accomplished scholar-athlete at the University of Rhode Island and won multiple awards while a starter on the football team.

Prior to his employment at Columbia, Griffin worked in marketing at Burlington Industries in New York City and Dallas.

He earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in business management from the University of Rhode Island and a graduate certificate in sports marketing from New York University.