“In this new role, Vanessa will be a critical partner in implementing the shared vision and mission of Fordham University in London, which includes offering distinctive academic programs, developing strategic institutional partnerships, and establishing the London campus as a vibrant and visible hub for Fordham’s multifaceted activities in the region,” Provost Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., said in a statement.

A Londoner and a Ram 

Beever is a Londoner living in the city’s Twickenham district. She served for nine years as the deputy head at the business school of another Catholic institution, St. Mary’s University. She last served at London South Bank University, which is comparable in size to Fordham; she had been director of education and student experience there since 2018. In addition to her experience in higher education, she holds significant legal experience in New York and London, where she worked for the firm Shearman & Sterling. She earned an LL.B in law from the University of Bristol and graduated magna cum laude from Fordham’s LL.M. program in International Business and Trade Law.

“I relish the opportunity to reestablish connections with Fordham and to make a significant contribution to its ongoing success and development,” said Beever.

Of her time as a student at Fordham she said, “The professors were very keen for us to share our experiences from our own countries—different legal traditions and approaches.”

She said that experience underpinned her work in corporate finance at Sherman & Sterling, where she worked as a transactional lawyer across a variety of cultures and jurisdictions. She’s confident that cross-cultural experience will serve her well in her new role.

“I was an English woman practicing U.S. and New York law, working with European clients and U.S. investment bankers. This project management expertise will help me as I am working across many functions at Fordham,” she said. “So, for example, I might have worked with a European company where the client had no familiarity with the Securities and Exchange Commission requirements in the U.S. Now, similarly, I’m sure I have colleagues in New York who won’t have any idea of the U.K.’s Quality Assurance Agency [for Higher Education]requirements, but I’m very confident I can guide them through.”

Indeed, one of the first items on Beever’s desk will be to usher potential master’s degree programs through that governing body, colloquially known as the QAA.  But, she said, her primary concern will rest with the undergraduate students already there, and the 300 or so undergraduates arriving this spring.

Fordham has offered programs in London for over 15 years. In 2018, the University moved its London offerings to a new campus in the Clerkenwell area. Fordham London’s programs are split between the Gabelli School of Business and the liberal arts, with liberal arts courses are open to all undergraduates from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Gabelli School, and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. Students take 15 credits a semester.

Changes at an Inflection Point

Among the many changes well underway at the campus is Beever’s very role itself, which replaces the British-inflected position of “head” with that of senior director, reflecting an emphasis on the many administrative realities of operating an overseas campus for a large New York-based institution like Fordham, said Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Ellen Fahey-Smith, Ed.D.

Fahey-Smith chaired the executive search committee tasked with finding a leader who could work well with academic deans in New York and liaise with governing bodies like the QAA—while also ensuring that students, faculty, and staff adhere to U.K. health protocols in an ever-shifting post-pandemic landscape.

Other changes include physical renovations to the building. The pandemic opened up the opportunity to reconfigure former theatrical spaces into more classroom space while the building sat empty. The renovations, as well as robust online programming, were overseen in part by Mark Simmons, who was operating as the interim head after Richard P. Salmi, S.J., stepped down in June 2020.

Fahey-Smith said the provost’s office will also continue to work with the International and Study Abroad Programs Office to find ways to continue some of the innovative online opportunities that were created as a result of the pandemic.

“What we learned from the pandemic is that it’s not necessarily business as usual any longer, and that holds true for Fordham London,” she said. “Whether it’s through lectures or the Gabelli London speaker series, which was really a phenomenal success, the online programs really brought the two cities so much closer together.”

Fahey-Smith clarified that any continuation of online programming would require bringing a variety of stakeholders to the table in today’s new normal. She said that was a strength of Beever’s which impressed the Fordham London Advisory Board.

Andrea Mennillo, who chairs that board, said its members are excited to welcome Beever to the Fordham family.

“We are confident that Vanessa will bring talent and experience to support Fordham’s advancement internationally,” Mennillo said. 

Diversity of Thought

Greg Minson, FCRH ’98, the global COO of real estate at Goldman Sachs in London and vice-chair of the Fordham London Advisory Board, said that it’s a big plus to see a woman take the helm. Many on the board cited Beever’s background, both inside and outside of academia, as an important asset that will help move Fordham London forward.

“Vanessa hasn’t been in academia her entire career, and anytime there is significant change, like there is now, diversity of thought is hugely powerful,” Minson said. “She has a very fresh perspective and can react to a changing environment.”

Minson is an Irish Catholic from the New York tri-state area who graduated from Fordham when it was still more of a regional school filled with students from similar backgrounds. His first day on the job in downtown Manhattan was something of a culture shock, as he joined a large, diverse, international firm, and it took him time to adjust to the different cultures. He added that he hopes that students attending Fordham London won’t be coddled by a home-away-from-home environment. Rather, he’d like to see them challenged with international perspectives that prepare them for a diverse and global workforce.

An International Hub in an International City

Minson’s perspective gels with Beever’s view of her hometown.

“London is so well connected to Europe as well as to the rest of the world. It’s ideally located geographically, but also academically and intellectually to many different cultures,” she said. “It is also an extraordinarily diverse city,” she said. “I will be encouraging students to explore and go to different neighborhoods and eat the food, shop the shops, and to hang out and see what’s going on.”

She added that there will also be opportunities for Fordham to collaborate with other London-based institutions that will help enrich the students’ experience.

“Fordham was an absolutely transformative experience for me,” she said. “It had really good programming that allowed me to get a fantastic job in New York and make my career. I’m hoping that I can contribute to the success of students who come here.”

“We wanted to get into quality education, the ability to move around the city in our communities, the ability to get jobs, get paid, live in the community, get married, have children. And I think … we realized we could make a difference if we did it ourselves.”

These words come from Judith “Judy” Heumann, a 72-year-old pioneer of the disability rights movement recently featured in TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Heumann reflected on her life of activism at Fordham’s fifth annual Distinguished Lecture on Disability, “The Disability Rights Movement: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We Need to Go,” in a Zoom webinar on Oct. 14. 

A Five-Year-Old ‘Fire Hazard’ Girl

Heumann became New York City public schools’ first teacher in a wheelchair after winning a landmark court case. She helped spearhead the passage and implementation of federal civil rights legislation for disabled people, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, a federal law that prevents discrimination against individuals with disabilities. She also served in various leadership roles, including the World Bank’s first adviser on disability and development and the first special adviser for international disability rights under the Obama administration. In recent years, she has been working to change the portrayals of disabled people in the media as a senior fellow for the Ford Foundation. 

At the beginning of the webinar, she recalled that when she was a five-year-old girl with polio, the principal of a local school told her she couldn’t attend classes because she was a “fire hazard.”

“As I was getting older and meeting other disabled people, in my special ed classes and then at camp, it was becoming very apparent that we were facing discrimination without any real group of people speaking up against discrimination,” said Heumann, who had joined students earlier that day for a Q&A about the recent film Crip Camp, which featured the stories of disabled teens—including Heumann—at camp in the 1970s and their role in igniting the disabilities civil rights movement.

In that same period, she said, she also saw scores of people on TV standing up for civil and women’s rights across the country. They inspired her to lead demonstrations, start new organizations, and use legislation to fight discrimination directed toward the disability community, all while working closely with the community, religious leaders, and labor unions.

“All [these]types of activities were what enabled congressional representatives and U.S. senators to understand that the discrimination that disabled people were facing was not something that happened once in a while,” Heumann said. “It happened in every community, in every state—and it happened regularly.” 

Ongoing Obstacles for the Disability Community

In the wake of much progress, the disability community continues to struggle, said Heumann. Many Americans don’t realize they have a disability protected by law; others face stigmas and repercussions related to their disability, she said. There is a disproportionate number of disabled individuals in juvenile and adult facilities—people who may not have ended up in prison if they’d received “appropriate services along the way.” There isn’t enough money being dedicated to education for both nondisabled children and disabled children on local, state, and countrywide levels, she said, and many teachers-in-training at colleges and universities are not taught how to teach students in inclusive settings. 

Toward the end of the evening, the moderator of the event, Navena Chaitoo, FCRH ’13, a research manager at New York City mayor’s office of criminal justice, asked Heumann how people could take specific steps to help the disability community. 

“We’re talking about stronger parent training programs. We’re talking about better programs in universities for teachers, principals, and superintendents,” Heumann said. “We’re talking about our local school boards. Who are the people that you’re electing? … Are they fighting for you and your kids with disabilities?” 

“It all gets, to me, back to voting and knowing the people who are running for office and being more demanding and working collaboratively together.”

‘We Need to Normalize This’

In a Q&A, an audience member asked Heumann how society could lower stigmas around “invisible disabilities” like mental illness. 

“You look at Covid right now, and we’re talking about people having increased anxiety, increased depression, other mental health disabilities, and our inability to speak about this is both harmful to the individual person, to the family, and to the community at large. And so I think like with each category of disabled people, we need to normalize this,” Heumann said. She added that that specific movement needs to be led by people who have psychosocial disabilities themselves, like Andrew Imparato, executive director at Disability Rights California, who has openly spoken about his experience with bipolar disorder. She emphasized that we need to listen to people’s experiences and try our best to understand them. Lastly, she noted the importance of advocacy across generations and for youths, including students, to stand up for themselves. 

“Most importantly is allowing people the space and giving people the protections that they need,” Heumann said. “We have 61 million disabled people in the United States. If 5 million of us on a regular basis were speaking up and speaking out, it would have an amazing impact.” 

The live Zoom lecture, which featured two American Sign Language interpreters and live captioning, comes under two key initiatives on disability at Fordham: the disability studies minor and the research consortium on disability. The event was organized by the Faculty Working Group on Disability and co-sponsored by the offices of the provost and chief diversity officer, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Law, the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Social Service, and the departments of economics and English. 

Watch the full webinar in the video below: 

To make this happen, the University is undertaking an unprecedented overhaul of the way it delivers academic instruction.

Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., Fordham’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said the new model, a “flexible hybrid learning environment,” will make it possible for the University to offer an excellent education to students during an uncertain time. And just as importantly, if another outbreak of COVID-19 forces New Yorkers to once again shelter in place, it will enable Fordham to shift seamlessly away from face-to-face instruction.

“None of us can anticipate how the next year will unfold in regard to the virus, because the epidemiologists are still studying and learning about it, and so much of it depends on human behavior,” Jacobs said.

“Unlike some institutions that have tried to play the crystal ball and said, ‘We need to start early and get done early,’ or, ‘We have to start late and get done late,’ what Fordham said was, ‘We wanted to create an environment that’s versatile and resilient, to deliver a quality Jesuit education under any circumstance.’”

The new model, which Jacobs announced to the University community on May 11 and detailed in the document Fordham’s Academic Approach in 2020-2021, relies on a blend of asynchronous learning, where students pursue assignments on their own time, and synchronous learning, via either in-person classroom teaching or through video platforms such as Zoom.

Planning for Social Distancing

Jacobs, one of the primary members of a task force convened by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), charged with quickly developing guidelines and best practices for restarting of higher education in New York, said this approach will fulfill two distinct challenges the University expects to face when it welcomes nearly 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students back for the fall semester. For starters, it will enable Fordham to follow social distancing requirements that are expected to be mandated by the State of New York.

“We can take a class of 24 students who would normally meet once a week for three hours, split them into two groups, and have one group come for the first 90 minutes, and then the second group for the next 90 minutes, knowing that each group will also engage in asynchronous material, to balance out the course,” he said.

Many specific aspects of the plan are still in the works, and all nine of Fordham’s colleges and graduate and professional schools are working to implement it in ways that make the most sense for their students.

In addition to achieving lower campus density, Jacobs said the second concern the model addresses is the possibility that not every student or instructor will be able to attend class, due to health concerns, visa issues, or family issues related to the ongoing pandemic. Students who cannot attend classes will still be able to access asynchronous content, and synchronous content such as live lectures will be made available to them through videoconferencing technology. And if an instructor is unavailable for a time, students will still have access to the content they have prepared in advance.

Building a Flexible Model

He said the framework is akin to the bones of a skeleton, and that the University’s schools and distinct academic programs such as performing arts, lab sciences, and humanities, are currently putting flesh on it. It was borne out of open discussions held within the University community in April, and incorporated many lessons learned from the shift to online learning that took place in March.

“It would be like if you are in the middle of performing a play on Broadway, and someone says, ‘Stop! Now we’re all going to go into a TV studio and finish the play.’ How you do that on TV is very different in how you shoot and act than how you would do it on stage. That’s what we were faced with this year,” he said.

“What we’re doing now is building something flexible that can be done on stage or on TV, and therefore can accommodate all the possible scenarios that anyone might dream up for the next year.”

Doing that requires the development of content for courses that can be delivered asynchronously, a new skill for many faculty members. So this summer, professors are working with teams under the supervision of Steven D’Agustino, Ph.D., Fordham’s director of online learning, and Alan Cafferkey, director of faculty technology services, to transition elements of their course into Blackboard, the University’s learning management system.

“We start with the question, ‘What is the kind of learning you’re hoping students achieve?’ and then build out the kind of experiences in either the asynchronous or synchronous portions of the course that support that,” Jacobs said, noting that faculty will continue to refine plans for curriculum throughout the summer.

Fostering Community and Collaboration

The classroom isn’t the only aspect of University life that will change in September. In addition to the work being overseen by Jacobs’ office, 13 separate working groups from around the University are working on plans for how everything from housing and dining to the library will function once health authorities deem it safe to bring students back to campus. One group, led by Jonathan Crystal, Ph.D., vice provost, associate vice president and associate chief academic officer, is working on ways to help incoming first-year students form a sense of community over the summer that will carry on into the fall when they meet in person.

Through all the planning, Jacobs has consulted with counterparts at colleges in New York City such as Columbia, New York University, Yeshiva, and CUNY, as well as other schools throughout New York state and members of the Association of Jesuit and Colleges and Universities. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, sits on the state’s New York Forward Reopening Advisory Board.

“It’s remarkable, but perhaps not surprising, how similar our situations and our challenges are,” he said, noting that many institutions’ first instincts were to try to outsmart the virus, predict what its next move would be, and then create a solution that would match it.

“What we recognized is, whatever we come up with, if we try to do that, we’re going to be wrong. The virus is going to follow a course that’s far much more complicated than any of us can understand,” he said.

Maintaining a Commitment to Cura Personalis

The clarity and stability that are built into the flexible education model are also meant to enable the University to uphold the Jesuit tenet of cura personalis, or “care for the whole person,” during challenging times.

“Today’s generation certainly connects via social media to one another. Their sense of relationship is already very much tied to using technological tools. It is not as incompatible for them to engage in relationships virtually, and I think what we’re trying to do is build out opportunities for their relationships to bud and flourish,” he said.

Professors and administrators from offices such as Counseling and Psychological Services, Disability Services, or Mission and Ministry, and Multicultural Affairs are also striving to make themselves available to students, he said.

“They’re making efforts to make contact with every student, even during these remote periods, to let them know we’re thinking about them and care deeply about them.”

Fordham will post brief updates on reopening and other University matters by end-of-business each Friday on the Fordham Coronavirus webpage.

I am writing to share with you the outcome of the process of planning for continuity in Fordham’s academic programs next year. As you know, over the course of the past three weeks we have been engaged in intensive conversations about how we can best protect the health and well-being of the members of the Fordham community while still delivering the quality Jesuit education our students expect.

Fordham’s Educational Mission in a Time of Pandemic

We are living through a global societal crisis, the full ramifications of which may not become clear for some time. The academic year ahead will be dramatically different than all the others we have experienced as teachers and students.

In our 179-year history, Fordham has faced major crises of various types: civil war, worldwide economic depression, urban neglect and conflict, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. During each of these perilous moments, the University community came together to discern how to live out our mission as educators and persons for others in the midst of uncertain and painful circumstances.

With this message, I am humbly asking for your assistance, as all members of the faculty, staff, and administration work collaboratively and creatively to help Fordham address the unprecedented challenge emerging from this pandemic: in the face of uncertainty and significant environmental constraints, to fulfill the promise that drew our students to Fordham, the Jesuit university of New York City. The University community is relying on us to ensure that Fordham stays strong through this crisis.

Our Plans for the Year Ahead

Here I would like to outline in broad strokes Fordham’s academic approach next year. The University’s schools and colleges will each have the opportunity to adapt this model to the needs of their own students and academic programs. At the same time, our colleagues across the University are already engaged in a parallel process of planning for Fordham’s finances and operations, including crucial work in the realms of health services, student life, facilities, research continuity, and academic technology. Importantly, the Office of Human Resources, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of Finance are developing policies that address appropriate accommodations for individual employees who may have compromised immune systems or other complications. Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Jeffrey L. Gray and I are co-coordinating, along with a steering committee of senior administrative leaders, a set of working groups on Reopening Fordham, and we will be reporting to the campus community as further details become available.

Over the past few weeks, the process of planning for the continuity and resilience of Fordham’s academic programs has unfolded rapidly, and for that reason I am all the more grateful for the thoughtful and generous engagement of numerous members of our community. More than 170 faculty and staff attended a town hall meeting, and more than 100 proposed ideas individually or in groups. We spoke with more than sixty students (admitted undergraduates and current undergraduate, graduate, and professional students) in focus groups. Several dozen administrators with expertise in technical areas of the University’s operations offered feasibility assessments, and a group of twenty-one members of our Academic Review Team, led by Kendra Dunbar and Bozena Mierzejewska, made recommendations to the deans, President’s Cabinet, and Father McShane. Rosters of these colleagues appear beneath my signature below, and I extend deepest thanks to each of them.

The model we have adopted to guide teaching and learning at Fordham this coming year draws upon insights offered by all the groups I just named. I have prepared a document conveying details about the academic calendar, summer session, instructional delivery, community building, and the start of the fall semester. I am sharing the same document with members of the faculty, as well as with our students.

Let me be clear: Fordham will be fully in session throughout the academic year 2020-2021. To the greatest extent that the public health situation permits, we seek to teach our students in person and on campus. However, if on-campus operations are disrupted by the pandemic, our fundamental commitment is to continue providing an outstanding, transformative Jesuit education without interruption and without any sacrifice of quality.

This commitment necessitates that we deliver instruction in ways that will differ notably from years past and from this spring’s. Across the University, we will be implementing a flexible hybrid learning environment that will combine, and enable students to benefit from the different advantages of, both asynchronous and synchronous learning. With your help, the University  will be able to provide all those who teach with resources and support in adapting unfamiliar pedagogies to meet the needs of our students and embody the values of Jesuit higher education.

Next Steps and the Critical Role of Administrator and Staff Colleagues

As I indicated earlier, the next stage in academic planning for the year ahead will occur at the school and college level. Each unit will have the freedom, and the responsibility, to adapt the University’s overall approach to its own disciplinary context and circumstances. I have asked the deans to work with the school and college councils, as well as with department and area chairs and the faculty at large, in developing creative and flexible ways to implement our model in the context of each academic discipline and profession. Input from staff and administrative colleagues throughout the University, whether in Enrollment, Facilities, IT, Student Affairs, or other equally important areas, will be critical.

We will also be inviting incoming undergraduate students to join small virtual communities, in which we will offer a new set of engaging activities and opportunities so that our students can learn with and from one another, even at a distance. Fordham’s administrators and staff enable the University to function not only professionally but also with grace and compassion. I fully acknowledge that what our present circumstances demand will place new burdens and responsibilities on you and on colleagues throughout the institution, especially during summer months usually devoted to other activities. I recognize the sacrifices that will be necessary, and I thank you profusely for making them.

Indeed, how Fordham prepares and delivers our academic programs next year will make the difference between our students thriving in a novel educational environment adapted for our times, or languishing in one that leaves them disaffected and disengaged. Alongside our colleagues on the faculty, you represent the University and our mission to our students at a time of precarity.

You will not be alone. This past Friday, I met with colleagues in the Provost’s Office, the President’s Cabinet, and Martha K. Hirst, senior vice president, chief financial office, and treasurer, to begin identifying the suite of new resources needed to facilitate the adjustments that the year ahead will require. Even though the University’s budgets are severely constrained, we will need to invest significantly in the areas of instructional technology and support for online and hybrid pedagogies. I am grateful to our colleagues in IT, under the leadership of Shaya Phillips, interim chief information officer, who have begun to carefully review existing classroom technologies, software solutions, and the availability of instructional design experts. We will provide further details in the very near future.

Concluding Thoughts

In closing, I am proud that our community’s work to discern together our plans for the year ahead has resulted in a model that is true to Fordham’s deepest values and aspirations. Along with the deans, the members of the President’s Cabinet, and Fr. McShane, I am convinced that our plans (a) prioritize the health and well-being of every member of the University community, especially those most vulnerable to COVID-19; (b) enable outstanding, deeply relational education even amidst variations in the public health situation; (c) assure our students that their studies will not be delayed; and (d) honor the expertise and creativity of all who teach. Most of all, I am proud that we have arrived at this model together, as members of a shared community of learning and inquiry.

Please know that all of you, and especially all those who contributed to the intensive planning of the past few weeks, have my most grateful thanks.

Best wishes,

Dennis C. Jacobs
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Academic Review Team

• Kendra Dunbar, Assistant Director for Equity and Inclusion, Office of the Chief Diversity Officer; co-chair
• Bożena Mierzejewska, Associate Professor and Area Chair for Communications and Media Management, Gabelli School of Business; co-chair
• Gregory Acevedo, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Service
• Robert Beer, Associate Dean for Science Education, Fordham College at Rose Hill; Associate Professor of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Steve D’Agustino, Director of Online Learning, Office of the Provost
• Hooman Estelami, Professor of Marketing, Gabelli School of Business
• Anne Fernald, Special Faculty Advisor to the Provost for Faculty Development; Professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Carl Fischer, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Christina Greer, Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Samir Haddad, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Iftekhar Hasan, University Professor and E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in International Business and Finance, Gabelli School of Business
• Jeffrey Haynes, Director of Information Technology, Gabelli School of Business
• Margo Jackson, Professor, Graduate School of Education
• Joseph Landau, Professor of Law
• Ji Seon Lee, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Service
• Sophie Mitra, Co-Director, Disability Studies Minor; Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Patricia Peek, Dean of Undergraduate Admission
• Barbara Porco, Clinical Professor of Accounting and Taxation, Gabelli School of Business
• Jacqueline Reich, Chair, Department of Communications and Media Studies; Interim Chair, Department of Classics; Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Alessia Valfredini, Lecturer in Italian, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Sarah Zimmerman, Professor of English, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Panel of Expert Colleagues

• Lerzan Aksoy, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives; Professor of Marketing, Gabelli School of Business
• John Buckley, Vice President for Enrollment
• Mary Byrnes, Director, Office of Disability Services
• Roxana Callejo Garcia, Associate Vice President, Strategic Planning and Innovation, Fordham IT
• John Carroll, Director, Public Safety
• Jonathan Crystal, Vice Provost
• Megan Decker, Assistant Dean for Sophomores, Gabelli School of Business
• Keith Eldredge, Dean of Students, Lincoln Center
• Fleur Eshghi, Associate Vice President, Instructional Technology/Academic Computing, Fordham IT
• Monica Esser,  Director of International Enrollment Initiatives, Office of Undergraduate Admission
• Beth Fagin, Deputy General Counsel, Office of Legal Counsel
• Gene Fein, Assistant Vice President for Academic Services and Records, Enrollment Group
• Toni Jaeger-Fine, Assistant Dean for International and Non-JD Programs, School of Law
• Joshua Hummert, Assistant Director of Financial Planning and Analysis
• Ron Jacobson, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Office of the Provost
• Maureen Keown, Director, University Health Services
• Lisa Lancia, Director, Office of International Initiatives
• Christina McGrath, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Operational Services, Enrollment Group
• Robert Moniot, Associate Dean, Fordham College at Lincoln Center
• Francis Petit, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Gabelli School of Business
• Jeannine Pinto, Assessment Officer, Office of Institutional Research
• Paul Reis, Associate Vice President for Academic Finance and Planning, Office of the Provost
• David Swinarski, Associate Dean; Associate Professor of Mathematics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Marco Valera, Vice President for Administration

Steering Committee

• Eva Badowska, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Associate Vice President, Arts and Sciences
• Patrick Hornbeck, Special Faculty Advisor to the Provost for Strategic Planning; Secretary, Faculty Senate; Chair and Professor, Department of Theology, Arts and Sciences
• Dennis Jacobs, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; chair
• Eve Keller, Past President, Faculty Senate; Director, Fordham College at Rose Hill Honors Program; Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Donna Rapaccioli, Dean, Gabelli School of Business
• Peter Stace, Senior Vice President for Enrollment and Strategy

He comes to Fordham from Santa Clara University, where he served as provost and vice president for academic affairs for eight years. Jacobs led Santa Clara’s strategic planning process, recruited all of the school’s current academic deans, helped faculty launch the first three online degree programs, and created a new office for diversity and inclusion. 

As a chemistry professor for many years, Jacobs conducted research on reactions relevant to semiconductor processing in the microelectronics industry. In 2002, he was named the U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In addition to his role as Fordham’s chief academic officer, Jacobs is a painter, a father of three adult children, and a brand new grandfather.

In a Q&A with Fordham News, Jacobs speaks about his early inspiration and outlines his goals and plans for Fordham.

What inspired you to become a scientist? 

My father was a fifth-grade teacher, and he would bring home materials from his class. He stored a whole boxful of things in my room when I was quite young, maybe 8 or 9. I went through the box, trying to figure out all the stuff: circuit boards, batteries, lightbulbs, wires. I started connecting them to see if I could make them work. I would make burglar alarms and small robots. If I clapped my hands, the door to my bedroom would automatically open. 

I would also plug things into the walls in my room. Some of them would spark, taking out the power to the whole house; other times, small fires would start. But every time, I learned more and more about how the world works. And I realized that although I thought I wanted to be an inventor, really what was driving me was curiosity. It was asking the question, why? 

You’ve lived on the West Coast for most of your life. What drew you to Fordham?

Given the location Fordham has in New York City, this global gateway, this mecca around everything from finance to fashion to media, how can this Jesuit university at Fordham be a real guiding light and partner in this region, and in the world? There are very few universities in the country that can do what Fordham can do, given its commitments and its location, and so what attracted me is to come and be a part of that. 

You’re the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. What does that entail?

The provost is the chief academic officer. I’m responsible for ensuring that the student experience fulfills the promise of a Fordham degree. It includes things like international study, what happens to the library, undergraduate research, and the ability of our students to interface with the arts here at Lincoln Center. Whatever it may be, if it shapes the academic experience, it is the responsibility of the provost. 

You’ve attended many student research symposiums here, including this year’s Calder Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. What strikes you about their work? 

You can see a student on fire. I mean, you can see students lighting up because they’ve found something where they can make a difference. Whether they choose to do it for the rest of their life or not, it is a transformative moment for a student to be able to say, I worked on tackling this issue or problem.  

It’s also important that our faculty are engaged in advancing the frontiers of knowledge in their respective disciplines. We create knowledge through research, we share that knowledge, we disseminate it in our teaching. Research plays a vital role in Fordham’s mission.

One of your goals as provost is to improve undergraduate retention and graduation rates. How do you plan to address these things? 

Intentional programming that meets the full and comprehensive set of needs of students is part of helping students feel very early on—sometimes even in their first six weeks—that they belong here. We’re going to take a deep dive into looking at how we can do better in that regard at Fordham. 

Another goal of yours is to better integrate the academic programs and communities across the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses. Can you elaborate? 

I think what brings us together is often when we think about large problems or challenges that can’t be solved by a single discipline or unit. That’s when collaboration across units makes even more sense. 

One of the things I’ve been working with the deans on is thinking about these bigger areas where we want to make an impact. Imagine urban inequality. It would certainly involve economics, but it would also involve understanding sociology and anthropology. Understanding educational systems where inequalities often exist involves understanding the law and social services, creating a response that’s holistic in a community or serving a need. All of a sudden, you ally units—students, faculty—around those kinds of problems. 

The geographic divide between Rose Hill and Lincoln Center is yet another challenge. But it gives us two very different local environments in which to live and work. As an urban campus, we’re also situated better than many to have authentic relationships with our neighbors and partners and address across a broad swathe of challenges and issues spanning from the Bronx to Manhattan. 

The University is creating a faculty space with 3-D printers and virtual reality gear, where they can try out new technology that might be used in their classrooms. It’s one of several planned projects under the Continuous University Strategic Planning (CUSP) Committee, of which you are a co-chair. Tell me about that. 

Yes, there’s a renovation underway in the lower level of the Walsh Library to create the LITE (Learning and Innovative Technology Environment) space for faculty to experiment—using cutting edge technology, virtual reality, and other things—and create a new learning environment for our students. In other words, we’re creating a place for faculty to come together and think and reflect on how their teaching practice can change and adapt to better meet the needs of students. 

Our students come to us today with a very different mindset than 10, 20, 30 years ago. They’re digital natives. They interact with each other and the world differently. And higher ed is changing very rapidly now. For Fordham to get ahead on that, I think we have to create opportunities for faculty and administrators to reflect on where our students are, what their needs are, and how we can best teach them. 

We’ll have a kind of a maker-lab type of space for faculty to experiment and try new and innovative things—pilot them, assess whether they have benefits or not, and to the extent that they do, then support and scale them up. We’re waiting for the contractors to start renovation on the space.

Lastly, what’s something that many people—particularly new members of the Fordham community—don’t know about you?  

I paint paintings and I play the piano. My art is eclectic: everything from surreal to abstract to landscape. It all depends on my mindset at the time. (See Jacobs’ paintings on Instagram @dcjacobs2.) 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Eli Clare acknowledged during his 2019 Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability that these and other difficult questions he raised in his talk come without easy answers.

During his wide-ranging lecture, Claire analyzed what it means to restore something to its natural state. He also identified examples in which the paradigm of restoration falls short—as in instances of disability at birth when there never was a “before” that could be restored.

A writer, activist, and teacher, Clare wrestled with the notion of cure. Not entirely against it nor entirely for it, he embraced the ambiguities and contradictions of this “messy middle,” yielding no tidy solutions, but rather providing attendees with a starting point for vital, challenging conversations about disability and environmental destruction.

His talk, titled “Notes on Cure, Disability & Natural Worlds,” explored the meanings of words like restoration, natural, and normal, contextualizing the ideologies and assumptions that underlie their use, and considering what this language reveals about our culture and thinking.

The lecture built upon concepts explored in Clare’s latest book, Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure.

Clare’s writings “challenge us to think deeply about the ways that racism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia shape our perceptions of what constitutes a ‘normal’ body-mind or a valuable life,” Interim Provost Jonathan Crystal said while introducing the lecture.

(Clare utilizes the term body-mind “to resist the white, Western impulse” to conceive of the body and mind as distinct systems. “They are one tangled, complicated, complex, ambiguous, contradictory entity,” he said.)

In his lecture, Clare called for a “broad-based grappling” with “the ideology of cure”—a way of thinking that has subtly permeated our culture. Cure, by its very definition, Clare explained, carries with it the notion of restoration—of something damaged in need of fixing.

Clare reflected on his own interactions with strangers, who often respond to his cerebral palsy by offering unsolicited platitudes, prayers, crystals, or vitamins. “Even if there were a cure for brain cells that died at birth, I’d refuse,” he said. “I have no idea who I’d be without my tremoring and tense muscles, slurring tongue. They assume me unnatural, want to make me normal, take for granted the need and desire for cure.”

“How would I, or the medical-industrial complex, go about restoring my body-mind?” Clare continued.

“The vision of me without tremoring hands and slurred speech, with more balance and coordination, doesn’t originate from my visceral history,” he said. “Rather it arises from an imagination of what I should be like, from some definition of normal and natural.”

By engaging with topics ranging from the pernicious assumptions about disability embedded in a Sierra Club antipollution advertising campaign to the work of environmentalists striving to transform a former agribusiness cornfield back to tallgrass prairie, Clare also explored connections between environmental loss and body-mind loss.

Through his interrogation of the concept of restoration, as applied to both people and ecological systems, Clare ultimately laid bare an essential question: “How do we witness, name, and resist the injustices that reshape and damage all kinds of body-minds—plant and animal, organic and inorganic, non-human and human—while not equating disability with injustice?”

Bella Eitner, a sophomore at the Rose Hill campus who is pursuing a minor in disability studies, said she found valuable lessons in Clare’s writing and activism. “I think getting into advocacy is really important, and a lot of the things that he says about it are very useful, especially coming from someone with a disability himself,” Eitner said.

The annual Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability, now in its fourth year, is organized by the Faculty Working Group on Disability and co-sponsored by the Provost’s Office and the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer.

–Michael Garofalo

On April 8, colleagues, friends, and associates who knew him best closed out the University’s yearlong celebration of the cardinal with an evening of discussion, prayer, and fellowship.

“The Apologetics of Personal Testimony: A Celebration of the Life and Faith of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.,” featured a panel discussion, a Mass and a dinner reception on the Rose Hill campus, Cardinal Dulles’ home for 20 years.

The day began at Tognino Hall, where Michael C. McCarthy, S.J., vice president for Mission Integration and Planning at Fordham, moderated a panel discussion featuring Michael Canaris, Ph.D., GSAS ’13, assistant professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago, Anne-Marie Kirmse, O.P., former research associate for the McGinley Chair in Religion and Society at Fordham, and the Most Reverend James Massa, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Sister Kirmse focused on Cardinal Dulles’ journey of faith, from his early years in a deeply religious Presbyterian household to his casting off belief in God in high school and first two college years, to his conversion experience and his search for a church in which to practice his faith.

Cardinal Dulles was educated at Choate Rosemary Hall and Harvard University, and his family included a father who became secretary of state (Washington Dulles International Airport is named for him) and an uncle who became head of the CIA. He converted to Catholicism and went on to become the first American who was not a bishop to be named a cardinal. That same faith, she said, sustained him in the time of declining health in the years before his death.

Canaris as well picked up on that suffering—which he saw first-hand as Cardinal Dulles’ last doctoral student—speaking about “the crucible of torture in his last months.” In the end, Canaris, who is editing a volume based on papers on Cardinal Dulles delivered during events at Fordham this past year,  said Cardinal Dulles was like the tested man in the Letter of James.

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him,” he said.

Bishop Massa recounted Cardinal Dulles’ long engagement with ecumenical dialogue, as well as the cardinal’s growing disappointment with how that dialogue was conducted, and where it was headed. While he stressed that Cardinal Dulles never reversed himself on the subject and “personally stood by all the ecumenical statements he had ever signed,” he said Cardinal Dulles believed “the ground had shifted” since early years after the Second Vatican Council and said a new term for this new landscape was needed.

“Avery gave it a name: ‘Mutual enrichment by mean of personal testimony.’ That focus on the witness of one’s Christian life became a motif of Cardinal Dulles’ later years, and was powerfully testified to by his final illness,” he said.

A Mass of remembrance concelebrated by the Jesuit community of Fordham followed at the University Church. Bishop Massa served as principal celebrant, and Patrick J Ryan, S.J., the Lawrence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, delivered the homily.

At a dinner reception at Bepler Commons, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, recalled Cardinal Dulles’ humble nature, noting that after he was elevated to Cardinal in 2001, he pointedly declined the honorific “Your Eminence” in favor of the traditional “Father.”

Cardinal Dulles was also close friends with Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, he said, and when his health started to fail him in his later years, Egan visited him often and offered him a final resting place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“Dulles flatly told him ‘no.’ After some back and forth, he explained his reason: he wanted to be buried next to his Jesuit brothers,” Father McShane said.

“Avery Dulles was buried next to man a who taught high school math—a good guy.”

The evening was sponsored by the Spellman Hall Jesuit Community, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Mission Integration and Planning, and the Center on Religion and Culture.

—Additional reporting by David Gibson and David Goodwin

Jacobs comes to Fordham from Santa Clara University, a Jesuit university in California, where he has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2011. From 2004 to 2011, he was associate provost and vice president for undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. Jacobs will replace Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., who died suddenly on July 2.

“In Dr. Jacobs we have gained an innovative and thoughtful leader, and one who is well prepared to lead the faculty during what promises to be a period of great change in academia,” said Father McShane.

“I am deeply impressed by his experience, intellect, and humanity, and am proud to call him a colleague.”

Jacobs said he was drawn to Fordham because the University understands that liberal arts education is about more than transferring knowledge and honing skills. Rather, he said, Fordham aims to develop persons of character and integrity who aspire to lead ethical lives of meaning and purpose.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be joining the Fordham community. I am excited to help the University adapt and innovate its program offerings, explore mutually beneficial partnerships, and launch strategic initiatives aligned with Fordham’s distinctive Jesuit mission,” Jacobs said.

A native of California, Jacobs earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University in 1988, and his bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of California, Irvine, in 1981 and 1982, respectively.

He first joined the University of Notre Dame in 1988 as an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry; he became a full professor in 2000. His research focused on reactions relevant to semiconductor processing in the microelectronics industry. Among his most notable projects was a yearlong experiment in 2008 that he designed to take place on the International Space Station. The experiment, which recorded how polymeric materials (plastics) degrade under continuous attack by energetic particles in low Earth orbit, was part of an effort to develop inexpensive, lightweight materials for use in next-generation satellites.

In 2002, Jacobs was named U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

At Santa Clara, he has led the university’s strategic planning process; helped secure many major fundraising gifts; assisted faculty in launching the school’s first three online degree programs; and provided leadership throughout the design process of several new academic facilities, including a new STEM complex.

He also created Santa Clara’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, which supports deans and department chairs in the recruitment of underrepresented faculty and fosters diversity and inclusion in the university’s community and curriculum.

Jacobs’ hiring was the result of an intensive search spearheaded by a 13-member committee that sought input from the University community on who should replace Freedman.

Father McShane also announced that Jonathan Crystal, Ph.D., who assumed the role of interim provost after Freedman’s death, will be promoted to the newly created position of vice provost, the senior member of Jacobs’ staff.

Staff from the Fordham provost’s office took the lead in organizing the United Nations’ first-ever International Education Day.

Held during International Education Week on Nov. 16, the event brought together leaders from the UN, government, and nongovernmental organizations around the world to talk about goals, best practices, and the power of global education to create a better world. More than 700 were in attendance in the UN’s New York headquarters, including Fordham faculty members, staff, and students.

Salvatore Longarino and Kelly Roberts, both of the Office of International Services in the provost’s office, spearheaded the event. They worked in conjunction with NYU, Columbia, City University of New York, and other universities who were represented in the day’s programming.

“In these times, when nationalistic themes have become stronger around the world, we felt it was imperative to bring together our international community from Fordham, New York City, and the world and reaffirm our common global goals,” said Longarino. “Our event was designed to celebrate the role of international education in creating a more peaceful, just, and equitable world.”

The day’s programming included three panel sessions: “Global Leadership Development”; Inspiring the Next Generation of Peacebuilders—The Power of Civil Society to Engage Youth to Take Action”; and “Education Across Borders—Ideas, Innovation, and Idealism from Intercultural Exchanges.”

Roberts organized the second panel, which focused on the power of young people to create positive change. It featured leaders from the UN’s youth programs and other youth organizations.

“Our goal in planning the youth panel was to highlight the unique innovation abilities of emerging adults in the context of peace and development,” said Roberts, “and to inspire the next generation of changemakers to take action to make the world a better place.”

Madison Ross, a member of the UN Department of Public Information’s Youth Steering Committee, called upon young people to “see human development as a right, not a privilege. See education as a right, not a privilege.

“There are close to 60 million youth without access to education,” Ross said. “We shouldn’t take it for granted … there should be no barriers for such human rights.”

In a special ceremony, Longarino and Roberts were each presented with an award in recognition of their leadership and advocacy in creating the inaugural event.