“My dream is that we have this culture of wellness here, where we have all the resources that you could possibly need to thrive and we make them accessible,” said Annunziato, professor of psychology and associate dean for strategic initiatives. “We thought by tying it all together, maybe it makes it easier and normalizes it, so there’s no stigma attached to needing help with something.”

So far this initiative has included launching academic coaching services, creating a centralized page featuring resources from the dean’s office and from across campus, and hosting events on skills like time management and studying.

Academic coaching services provide support to students looking to improve their organizational skills, learn time management strategies, and create study plans. Students can either be referred directly by an instructor or they can ask the dean’s office or their advisor for a referral if they think one-on-one coaching could help them.

Kristina Stevanovic, FCRH ’22, who worked with Annunziato on this initiative before she graduated, said that she appreciated the dean’s office’s willingness to add student services that go beyond academics.

“For people coming out of high school, you’re all of a sudden so free, and you don’t have a structure,” she said. “That newfound freedom can be exciting and overwhelming especially if you don’t have the best sense of time management.”

Wellness Wednesdays, a new Instagram campaign, has included advice such as how not to study and tips for managing stress.

Annunziato said that the office is also continuing to add resources to its website, based on student feedback, particularly for students feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

“We’re asking students what they would like—we want to be informed and driven by their voices in all of these things,” she said.

Dean’s office events and workshops are helping to raise awareness of some of these resources. In the fall, they hosted two sessions on “How to NOT Study for Midterms” and also organized tabling events in the campus center to let students know about tutoring and other programming offered.

Students can visit the academic wellness page on the dean’s site or follow @fordhamfcrh on Instagram to stay up to date.

The idea for the study emerged in fall 2020. Fordham had reopened its campuses after its University-wide pivot to virtual instruction the previous March, and was requiring masks as well as other precautions to contain the coronavirus. Universities everywhere were doing similar things, hoping to avoid COVID-19 spikes that would force them to once again shift to completely remote education.

When this shift didn’t need to happen that fall at Fordham, students sighed with relief. And a student-faculty cohort in the psychology department grew curious.

“As a group that studies health behaviors especially among young adults, we were fascinated by this,” said Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic initiatives and professor of psychology at Fordham College at Rose Hill. “I thought, ‘There’s probably something special about Fordham students that’s contributing.’”

She and her student researchers in the Pediatric Psychology and Health Behaviors lab prepared a survey that was completed by 92 students before the planned closure after Thanksgiving break. It asked about their level of compliance with masking and other measures to contain the coronavirus. It also measured motivators including empathy and concern for the collective good, which dovetail with the Jesuit identity of the University.

Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, was a senior author of the study, titled “Students for others: Correlates of adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.” The title reflects a key precept of Jesuit education that is constantly reinforced, noted one of the student co-authors, Kristina Stevanovic, FCRH ’22.

“From the second you arrive on campus, [Joseph M. McShane, S.J., now president emeritus of Fordham] talked about being men and women for others, and any Fordham event you attend where they’re talking about Jesuit values, it’s men and women for others,” she said. “Maybe it just is the fact that we hear it over and over again.”

Promoting Health Awareness in the Young

The study, published in July in the Journal of American College Health, is one of many to grapple with the question of how to get adolescents and young adults to take health precautions seriously, even though they’re more likely to take risks and may find it hard to make a behavior change if their peers aren’t doing the same thing.

A lot of the work in Annunziato’s lab centers on young people’s adherence to medication regimens after receiving liver transplants, so focusing on coronavirus precautions “felt like a natural shift,” said another coauthor, Rebecca Tutino, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Fordham. She also noted that the topic was close to home for the student researchers.

“We [were]all students ourselves going through the same lived experience as everyone else who took part in this study.”

Students’ health behaviors weighed heavily on leaders as universities everywhere grappled with how to approach the fall 2020 semester, the study says. Out of 3,000 institutions surveyed by the Chronicle of Higher Education about their reopening modes, the study notes, 34% offered courses primarily online, 23% were primarily in-person, and 21% were in hybrid mode. Only 10% were fully online.

Fordham took a blended approach—after shifting to remote education in March 2020 following the pandemic’s outbreak, the University offered hybrid courses in fall 2020 and gave students the option of taking all their classes online. Residence halls opened, and masks, social distancing, and other precautions were required. If COVID cases had totaled 5% of the on-campus population, Fordham would have had to return to fully remote learning for two weeks, per New York state policy.

Rates stayed low and stable through Thanksgiving break, after which Fordham pivoted to remote learning for the remnant of the semester, as it had planned to do since the prior summer. The low COVID rates were a nice surprise, Tutino said—“We were like, what is going on here? What is it about our student body that is allowing for this to happen?”

Their study offers some insight.

Survey Results

Students completed a web-based Qualtrics survey during the month leading up to Thanksgiving break in 2020. The results showed students were largely following the rules—for instance, more than 90% were washing their hands and wearing masks both inside and outside, either all or most of the time. More than 90% were mostly abiding by travel restrictions, and nearly 70% were practicing social distancing all or most of the time.

Their reasons for complying were the key finding, Annunziato said. A less-prominent reason was social support, or feeling like one’s peers support your actions—usually a strong predictor of health-related behaviors. Also less prominent was self-efficacy, or one’s sense of personal control over an outcome or circumstance.

Instead, students’ behaviors were more driven by empathy, fear of COVID, taking others’ perspective, and a sense of collective benefit. Stevanovic noted the interrelations between these reasons—“If you’re able to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, I think you’re a little bit more likely, then, to have a collectivist attitude, and espouse greater empathy,” she said. “I can just clearly see how those constructs end up relating and being correlated to one another.”

Tutino said the findings line up with what she saw among students in her program—respecting other people’s boundaries, taking care to sit far enough apart in class, or perhaps opening windows to make everyone feel comfortable and safe, she said.

The study notes some possible limitations: for instance, most respondents were women, and they held more liberal political views. And they had chosen to attend a Jesuit university that embraces certain values.

Future Directions

But the study still offers useful insights, Annunziato said. “In my field of pediatric psychology, I’ve talked to a lot of folks who are intrigued by this,” she said. “We really struggle in terms of developing interventions that are meant to cultivate or bolster health behaviors. I think there’s excitement that the Fordham experience has helped to maybe fill in some missing pieces when it comes to motivators of young adults.”

The findings show that empathy and collectivism could have bearing on other health behaviors such as underage drinking or getting vaccinated, the study says.

Stevanovic presented the research in March 2022 at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in New York City, where she saw a lot of research projects related to COVID. Because of this experience, “I think I really just want to study health behaviors, ultimately, and population health,” said Stevanovic, who is now a clinical research coordinator in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Tutino noted that “we got so many responses right away” after posting the study’s questionnaire.

“To see such a high response rate and to have people sending the links to each other and sharing it without us even having to ask, that was really wonderful,” she said. “I feel like all of us were thinking, ‘Why aren’t we doing this more?’ This is a population that’s happy to help us with our research, and we can really learn so much from them.”

These academic advisors are part of the Fordham College Advising Center, a new system that the University adopted following an extensive analysis of students’ needs and nationwide best practices led by Maura Mast, Ph.D., and Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., the deans of the colleges at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, respectively.

The new system, which was developed and implemented with the input of committees of faculty, staff, and students across the University, provides students with a professional advisor who can help with college logistics, while faculty will continue to provide academic mentoring. 

For course schedules, forms and paperwork, degree plans, and assistance in connecting with other University services, such as counseling or financial aid, a student can turn to their new professional advisor. That advisor will work with them during their first and sophomore years. As they transition into junior year, the plan is to assign them a different advisor trained to help them chart their post-graduation path.

Throughout their four years, students will also connect with faculty mentors who will help them deepen their understanding of their chosen disciplines while connecting them with research experiences, internships, and professional networks.

A System Designed for Current Times  

The new system is designed to meet the challenges facing the current student body.

“The needs of the students are different today,” said Auricchio. “Anxiety and depression are at all-time highs. Everybody’s saying, ‘There should be more counseling services,’ but not every issue requires counseling, and not every student wants counseling.”

Mast noted that another benefit to the change is that faculty will be free to focus more on academics.

“We know that faculty at Fordham really love connecting with students in ways that can inspire them. We want to build on that,” she said. 

“That’s why we’re carving out this role as a faculty mentor that really taps into the strengths of what faculty do.”

The new system, which will be in effect for this year’s first-year students and subsequent classes, is being overseen by Ashlee Burrs, associate dean for academic advising, who comes to Fordham with deep experience in both student affairs and academic advising at institutions including the Jesuit institution John Carroll University, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Long Island University, and, most recently, Yeshiva University. Burrs said the new model is meant to facilitate student success by providing a single point of contact.

“The new model is giving us the opportunity to personalize their experience a little more, get to know them, and give them what they need to be successful,” she said.

While some of the advisors —there are five at Rose Hill and three at Lincoln Center—were working for Fordham previously, and some were hired externally, Burrs noted that all have backgrounds that naturally lend themselves to a cura personalis approach.

“They’ve all done that holistic advising, where they can say, ‘Great, you have your classes, what else can I help you with while you’re sitting here? If it’s financial aid, I can pick up the phone and say [to my financial aid contact], “Hey, I have a student who needs help, can I send them over?”’” she said.

Knowledgeable and Ready to Help

One of the beneficiaries of the new system is Dylan Parks, a native of White Sulfur Springs, New York, who is pursuing a degree in international political economy at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. He was paired with Chelsea Wicks, a member of the new advising team who helps students majoring in modern languages, interdisciplinary majors, and the social sciences.

Parks had a “super close relationship” with his high school’s guidance counselor and social worker and was nervous it might be different in college.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I met Chelsea and got to speak with her. She is so knowledgeable and gives what I feel is really good advice. She gives her opinion and can guide you if you’re a little unsure, but ultimately the decision is yours, and she respects that,” he said.

He’s dropped by her office four times since the semester started, including once to ask her about switching out of a class before the deadline for adding or dropping classes.

“I love that she’s very flexible. It really feels like a very collaborative effort,” he said.

Building Relationships

Wicks previously worked as an academic counselor at the University of Louisville and holds an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She joined the staff in August, excited about helping to build a new program.

“I think that’s the appeal for a lot of the advisors who got hired. They’re going to have a lot more say and input in the advising model than we would if we had gone into one that was already created,” she said. 

She’s especially proud of how the team handled the add/drop deadline, given the sheer number of students who needed assistance in a short window of time.

During that period, Wicks was “averaging 90 emails a day from students asking about their schedules,” she said. “It was hard to get them that info and also build a relationship with them. But that’s really our role.”

Jennifer Giorgio worked at Fordham College at Lincoln Center for over a decade and jumped at the opportunity to be part of a new system, as an advisor at Fordham College at Rose Hill. She now advises students majoring in biology, chemistry, psychology, and social work, along with some undecided students. 

“I have students asking me about a variety of things, like counseling services, tutoring, or even things like, ‘Where do I buy my textbooks, or I set up my printer?’” she said.

“I’ve presented myself as the person who they can turn to and will connect them to resources around campus.”

Taking a Holistic Approach

The new system emerged from the work of an 18-member task force that convened in 2020, as well as from feedback solicited throughout the spring of 2022 from a wide spectrum of the University community. Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and associate dean for strategic initiatives at Fordham College at Rose Hill, co-chaired the task force along with Martin DiGrandi, Ph.D., chair of the natural sciences department at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. 

The group took stock of the advising system, researched approaches at other Jesuit institutions and at peer institutions, and reviewed recommendations from professional societies focused on academic advising and student success.

Annunziato noted that most universities have embraced the “professional advising” model that Fordham’s new model is based on.

“Across the board on the task force, the most important thing we were looking at was, ‘How could we serve students’ needs more holistically?’” she said.

There’s a real benefit for faculty as well, she said. As a core advisor, Annunziato used to help first-year students make sure they fulfilled their core curriculum requirements. She also advises students who have declared psychology as their major. She no longer has to advise non-psychology majors, and has more time to be an academic mentor to those who can benefit from her specific expertise.

“I think this is going to free me up more in the way of professional development and career development,” she said.

“It’s like a dream to be able to do these things with a partner who is overseeing all the logistics and transactions and is somebody the student has grown comfortable with.”

Improving Advising for All

The Class of 2026 isn’t the only one benefiting from the changes being made. At Fordham College at Lincoln Center, sophomores who would have normally bid adieu to Conor O’Kane, who served them last year as assistant dean for first-year students, can continue to work with him and his staff, since he has transitioned to the role of assistant dean for sophomores. The college has also created a new position called senior director of core advising, which is geared toward sophomores.

Mast said that Fordham College at Rose Hill has always had a strong advising system for sophomores, and noted that they will also benefit from an academic coaching program launched this fall. 

“By helping students and connecting them to other resources, we are hoping to really support those sophomores. We are piloting this initiative with the expectation that it will help sophomores, and some juniors, reflect on their goals and strengthen their academic abilities.”

From examining how sports affect the behavior of young men to studying DNA replication and repair to exploring camp fashion at the Met Gala, student researchers tackled a diverse group of topics on the Rose Hill campus this summer. As participants in Fordham’s first annual Undergraduate Summer Research Program, the group of 40 Fordham College at Rose Hill scholars lived on campus from May 31 to Aug. 4 and formed a research community.

“We had STEM, humanities, and social science students in the mix. One of our goals was to get them to learn how to present their research to a wide audience—and to learn about what the others are doing,” said Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.

There have been summer research programs in the past, she said, but none that brought together the various disciplines and provided on-campus housing as well as a stipend. As in the spring and fall research programs, students also get a supply budget. There were regular cross-disciplinary events, such as a weekly lunch where faculty discussed their research interests with students. The program was entirely funded by gifts from donors.

Succinct, Efficient Presentations

The program, which was organized by Psychology Professor Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic initiatives, and Christopher Aubin, Ph.D., associate professor of physics, culminated on Aug. 2 and 4 with succinct presentations. Each student had only five minutes to present their findings, which was then followed by about three minutes to take questions from an audience of fellow presenters and faculty.

“You just have a few minutes to tell someone why what you do is really important and if you can’t do it in that amount of time then maybe you don’t understand it well enough,” said Aubin. “It’s harder to give a short talk than a long talk and five minutes is definitely very short, but I always like to tell students that they need to learn how to make their elevator pitch.”

Mentoring Younger Students Provides Teaching Experience

As in years past, local high school students from the STEP Program were invited to assist the undergraduates in science research.

“Obviously it’s a win for the high school students because they get to work very closely with a more experienced student in the lab and they’ll just learn faster that way,” said Elizabeth Thrall, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry. “But it’s also a win for the undergraduate who’s mentoring a high school student because they get a better understanding of their project by teaching it and explaining to someone else.”

Thrall mentored rising seniors Michael Foster and Madeline Drucker on a project focused on a process known as translesion synthesis, a mechanism that is used for copying DNA that has been damaged. The process has implications for the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and the mutation of cancer cells. Drucker’s task was to make new bacterial strains that could be examined in the microscope, with Foster validating the work. It’s complex research that when undertaken by students during the school year often gets interrupted by other classes and activities.

A Full-Time Focus on Research

“The program is unique because they just make so much progress in their research because they can devote themselves to it full time,” said Thrall. “Things that we do in the lab are very hard to fit in around classes, but when they’re there for a whole day, they can just be there for every step of the process. And I think that really helps them to see how everything fits together and take more ownership.”

Foster, who is planning on pursuing a Ph.D. to become a professor, said the presence of a high school student in the lab gave him an opportunity to practice teaching. He was assigned to mentor high school senior Laura Maca Bella. Drucker took on a mentorship role as well.

“Laura was just fantastic at it. She took to it really quickly and it’s not easy stuff. It was a lot of information for her to get and not a lot of time. It was really gratifying to see her be able to run these experiments independently,” said Foster. “Madeline may not have worked as closely with Laura as I did, but she always tried and help explain things to Laura when maybe I had flubbed it.

Drucker said that flubs and mistakes are part of the nature of working in a lab.

“It’s a growing environment and you’re there to build off of each other and we learn from each other’s mistakes and move forward,” said Drucker. “If you notice somebody make a mistake, you’re there to help them. And that’s where it’s nice being here this summer; it feels like the pressure of school is kind of off and we can just do the science.”

The program was funded with gifts from several donors, including a significant gift from Boniface “Buzz” Zaino, FCRH ’65, a senior advisor at Royce Investment Partners. His gift helped forge the creation of the research community, providing for the on-campus housing and cross-disciplinary events.

Zaino, who worked his way through Fordham as a cater waiter, said he relished the time he spent on campus talking about philosophy with the Jesuits in the student center. In a phone interview, he said was pleased to hear that a similar atmosphere had evolved over the summer with students discussing their work with each other over coffee or lunch.

“Back then, we would philosophize over stuff that had nothing to do with the coursework, so hopefully the new program will grow to be the same thing so students can watch the reaction of their peers and expand on what they know.”

Zaino said that even in his own work he loves the part of his job that requires in-depth research.

“In my field when we talk about investment research for the stock market, you can always tell when someone does independent research because it’s the best kind of knowledge; it expands perspectives so they make better decisions,” he said. “Through research, you begin a process of inquiry that opens up worlds for students. It’s emboldening.”

“It seems like 14 years since we last gathered to celebrate, in person, your amazingness,” Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, told students and faculty mentors in Keating Hall’s first floor auditorium on May 5. “I’m so grateful and happy that we’re here today.”

In his congratulatory remarks to students and faculty, Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, recalled when he was an undergraduate who landed his first research opportunity through a faculty mentor. 

“I really fell in love with the process of discovery and research because someone gave me a chance,” said Jacobs, who has a research background in chemistry and physics. “You’ll look at the world differently because of the experiences you have engaged through research.” 

This year, more than 200 students shared their projects through in-person presentations in Keating Hall classrooms, live Zoom sessions from their homes, and pre-recorded videos available online. Their research spanned many fields, including health sciences and technology, healing and well-being, COVID-19, and anti-racism and social justice. 

Asian Music and Jazz

The symposium kicked off with a live concert performed by Miguel Sutedjo, FCRH ’23, an Indonesian American jazz pianist, and two classmates in Butler Commons. Sutedjo’s project explored how Asian and Asian American musicians blend jazz with Asian sounds to create a unique style of music. 

“I wanted to investigate the music of other great Asian American and Asian jazz musicians in order to understand my positioning within this art form,” Sutedjo said, addressing more than 30 students and faculty members seated in chairs spaced six feet apart.

Transitioning to Adulthood in A Pandemic

In a Keating classroom, several students presented research on community and environmental health. Valeria Venturini, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who studies anthropology and psychology, analyzed factors that shape the decisions of young American adults who are considering moving out of their childhood homes, especially during the pandemic. She interviewed six Fordham students and found that financial concerns in today’s economy were stronger factors in delaying a move than the pandemic. The young adults were motivated to move out because of independence and the ability to make their own decisions without parental consent, but some students, especially second-generation American males, felt pressured by their families to stay at home or close to home. 

“Not a lot of research is being done about this in the United States,” Venturini said. “The intersection of cultural values, economic status, and mental health in this population of emerging adults should be looked at further.” 

Learning How Rice Adapts

Colleen Cochran, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who studies economics, environmental studies, and sustainable business, examined the genes of rice—one of the most important crops worldwide—to better understand how the plants might respond to the increasing threat of climate change. Cochran and her co-authors hypothesized that more diverse genes make rice more resilient to environmental change. After analyzing existing data on 230 types of rice that were subjected to drought, they found that the plant’s ability to adapt to different environments was not strong. 

“Rice probably feeds more people in the world than any other crop, so understanding how it [responds to climate change]… is extremely important in global food security,” said Cochran, who served as a 2019 Fordham-New York University research intern and a Udall scholar. 

Cochran was honored by the Fordham College Alumni Association for her dedication to undergraduate research, along with two faculty mentors: Edward Dubrovsky, a biological sciences professor, and Mark Naison, professor of history and African and African American studies. 

Pride: Not Always a Deadly Sin

At the end of the symposium, Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic initiatives, played a video montage with photos of this year’s more than 60 faculty mentors and the ’90s classic “Simply the Best” by Tina Turner playing in the background, while students in Keating Hall’s first floor auditorium cheered and applauded. Finally, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, lauded the mentors and mentees for their tenacity during a difficult year. 

“I know that pride is one of the deadly sins, but in the case of Fordham pride, it’s actually a virtue. And on this day, you have every reason to be very proud,” Father McShane said, addressing his audience live from Zoom. “My heart is filled with gratitude to you for your courage, your desire for knowledge, and all that you have done this year.”  

“Dean Mast and I were determined to celebrate our senior researchers and their extraordinary work this year,” Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., professor of psychology and associate dean for strategic initiatives at Fordham College at Rose Hill, said in an email. “I am so deeply grateful for this chance to see them and to celebrate all that they have done.”

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, more than 200 FCRH undergraduate students conducted research this semester. The school also saw a record number of travel grant submissions this spring, though the majority of them were suspended due to the pandemic. Research results were published in a commemorative program for the FCRH 13th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and the 10th volume of the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal.  

More than 50 people joined the two-hour-long Zoom call, including faculty, donors, graduating seniors, and their labmates and friends. Each student presenter spoke for several minutes about their research, on topics from nonsuicidal self-injury to the relationship between Instagram use and adolescent male body image. 

“At the [in-person] research symposium, I’m going from one place to another,” Maura Mast, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, said during the Zoom session. “[But today] I was able to focus on each talk. I pulled up your abstract. I actually had my 14-year-old with me for a while—she’s very interested in many of your topics, she may follow up with you—so it was just terrific. It just reminds me of the joy of learning, and that’s what we’re all about.” 

‘A Sense of Normalcy During This Weird Time’

Lindsey Register, a communications and environmental studies double major, presented her senior thesis: “Documentaries Making a Difference: Communication Effects of Environmental Film and Television.” She surveyed roughly 90 Rose Hill students via SurveyMonkey and investigated how nature documentaries have impacted their lives. 

Register recalled the first documentary that made an impact on her life: The Cove, an Academy Award-winning film about dolphin-hunting practices in Japan. 

“It was about an issue I had never been presented with in my life,” said Register, who first watched the film in a high school science class. “It was so fascinating to me because these people were out there advocating for an issue that I had never known about … I really liked how a film was able to give me that impact of inspiration and feeling of advocacy.” 

For her senior thesis, Register also created policy recommendations for environmental education. 

“I think governments should be more involved in the funding of documentaries, in the funding of environmental education as a whole,” said Register, who is now searching for jobs that combine her two majors. “There also should be stricter policies in the screening of facts and information that are portrayed in the documentaries.” 

Shubarna Akhter, a psychology and biological sciences double major, also spoke about her senior thesis, “South Asian Mental Health Service Use: Risk and Protective Factors for Young Adults.” While working as a research assistant in the labs of two faculty members, Tiffany Yip, Ph.D., and Lindsay Till Hoyt, Ph.D., Akhter learned that many Asian Americans—especially South Asians—don’t use mental health services as frequently as other racial and ethnic groups. 

To investigate, she recruited and paid 20 students of South Asian heritage to participate in focus groups at Rose Hill and share their personal experiences, with the aid of a fall undergraduate research grant. She analyzed her data and developed risk and protective factors for using mental health services. Finally, she made predictions on how future interventions could promote mental health services among South Asians. 

“As an aspiring psychiatrist, I was able to have these important conversations with South Asian young adults in a professional setting,” said Akhter, who wants to eventually work in the Bronx with minority communities. “I learned what we can do to better improve that field that I want to go into.” 

Unlike past presentations, Akhter had no poster to show. Instead of hearing “Congratulations!” in person, she received congratulatory emojis on Zoom. But the virtual symposium was still a special experience for Akhter and her family. 

“I really felt the energy radiating from everybody, and I felt like everyone was so engaged at hearing about what I had to say,” said Akhter, who presented her project from home in the Bronx, with her parents cheering her on from the sofa across from her. “And just listening to everybody else was inspiring, and it really gave a sense of normalcy during this weird time.”

A Homemade Poster and Yoga

As a gift to the graduating seniors, Annunziato’s nine-year-old twin boys created a “Howl at the Moon” poster and showed it to the students on camera. 

“That’s a bar off of Arthur Ave that my students have told me about for years,” Annunziato explained in an email. “My sons have been very moved by what our seniors especially are going through and surprised even me with this hilarious poster that was meant to be a tribute to senior week.”

Towards the end of the Zoom call, many of the participants struck a yoga pose and took a group screenshot for Nicole Smina, a student who is training to become a yoga teacher. Smina explained that she is participating in a 14-day yoga challenge, which requires posting photos on social media. In the spirit of her practice, she wanted to post a photo of people doing yoga in a Zoom call. 

“You’re really exposing people who are in sweatpants right now,” one student joked. 

“We are such versatile researchers!” Annunziato added. 

As the event came to a close, Annunziato offered a few last words. 

“You’ve given me joy, you’ve given me laughs, and I feel like we’re still together. So, thank you,” Annunziato said, raising a glass and a toast to everyone on Zoom. “Cheers to our senior FCRH researchers.”

“It’s total chaos here, trying to support [Fordham College at Rose Hill] operations and third grade in my dining room,” Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic initiatives at FCRH, a psychology professor, and a mother, said in an email.  

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government closed all New York City public schools last week. Last Monday, the school system’s 1.1 million students — the largest school system in the country — transitioned to remote learning, which will last until at least April 20.

But many parents and educators have been struggling with their new normal. How do you work remotely from home while caring for your kids? How do you connect with your students on an online platform? How do you help students who don’t have access to computers or the internet? 

Seven members of the Fordham community, from professors to current students, shared tips on how parents and educators can navigate remote learning throughout this pandemic. 

“This is a new experience for a lot of teachers,” said Alesia Moldavan, Ph.D., an assistant professor of mathematics education in the Graduate School of Education who has taught remotely through Fordham’s partnership with the 2U program. “But I think it’s also going to push the way we look at education. We can broaden our resources and really make use of what is out there.” 

Advice for Parents 

Create a schedule with your kids. It can provide structure, routine, and momentum for children — especially those with disabilities and developmental delays, said Annie George-Puskar, Ph.D., an assistant professor in curriculum and teaching in the Graduate School of Education who supports children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. A schedule should include getting up at the same time each day and having a set bedtime. “Turn it into a family activity and write it down — similar to how children have rules and expectations at school,” said George-Puskar. “If something doesn’t work, give yourself grace to readjust and figure it out as you go.” 

John Craven, Ph.D., an associate professor of education in the Graduate School of Education, and his family are following schedules, too. When the pandemic began, he and his wife asked their five boys, ages 11 to 19, to create a schedule for themselves. 

“It’s not a two-month-long snow day. Get up. Have breakfast. Check your Google Classroom. Prioritize the work that you have to do. Insert the breaks — get out and stretch, walk around the block. That’s all with the caveat that you’re not congregating with friends,” Craven said. “This is not a break — this is the new normal for now.” 

Develop a designated workspace for your child. This can help children separate their school time from recreational time. Listen to your child’s input, too. A productive place to complete homework could be a closet, as it was for David Rufo’s nephew. “Children are predisposed to think more divergently than adults,” said Rufo, Ph.D., an artist and clinical assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education. “Adults tend to rely on formulas, whereas children approach tasks in ways that are creative and imaginative. Therefore, children should be considered integral to the problem-solving and decision-making processes.” 

Create check-in times with your household. Set up a convenient time when family members can congregate and share what they’re up to. At the end of the week, take turns sharing something you learned; perform a skit, read a personal essay, or conduct a science experiment. “These types of dynamic and performance-based group share activities provide ways to celebrate learning and also have that communal family time so valued by children,” Rufo said. 

Don’t be afraid to relearn tough topics like calculus. When your child asks you for help with homework, you might not know where to start. “The National Council of Teachers in Mathematics provides a lot of resources,” said Moldavan. “You can type in the search word for what you’re interested in looking at, like finding the limits or a derivative. It will walk you through all the steps.” 

You don’t always need technology to learn. “Math can be part of cooking or baking. Reading can be done using newspapers and magazines and school textbooks. Think a little bit creatively about how we can still do some academic learning through the resources we may have more readily available in the home,” said George-Puskar.  

Annunziato and her sons are finding ways to stay creative at home, too. 

“We have built a sand pit in the backyard, cleaned the basement today so they could scooter there in the rain, and there are crafts galore going on. We also have been doing a ton of baking and cooking for picnics and meals. My boys are enjoying too finding ways we can help my parents and our elderly neighbors,” she said in an email. “As a mom-psychologist, I am trying to cultivate a sense of security and structure with whimsy that maybe is missing during the usual hustle and bustle.”

Convey a sense of safety and care. Be sensitive to your child’s losses, from plays to concerts to sports events to graduations. “School is very, very important. But I think the impact of this pandemic on students emotionally may run in deep, quiet waters. We want to watch for that,” said Craven. 

Try to maintain a sense of normalcy. Ask your child what they did in school today, said Craven. What did they learn? Did they have any issues or troubles? 

Have access to your child’s email. Make sure your child is staying on top of all the messages they are receiving from their teachers and school. “It’s really important for the parents to monitor that email with the student,” said Craven. 

Tips for Educators 

Keep things simple in the beginning. Get students comfortable with navigating the new system. “Have a routine in your instruction as you set up your Google Classroom,” said Craven. That might mean starting every class with stating the purpose of the day’s lesson, the outcomes, and how they’ll be assessed. 

Think about the best way to support your students and their families. “The way we’re doing that is through sending positive messages, allowing them the time to interact with us, whether that’s on the phone or text messages or a Google Classroom,” said Emma Salandra, a fifth-grade teacher in Manhattan and a student studying general and special education in the Graduate School of Education. “If they’re struggling with a worksheet we’ve sent home, I’ve FaceTimed or talked on the phone with them.”

Visual check-ins are important. By seeing a student’s face through video chat, you pick up on nonverbal cues that demonstrate whether or not a child understands the material. “A shrug may indicate, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’; raised eyebrows may show someone is puzzled. A smile can indicate ‘Yes, I do understand what’s being received,’” said Fran Blumberg, Ph.D., a developmental psychologist and a professor in counseling psychology in the Graduate School of Education. 

Online programs can allow students to advance at their own pace. “This allows students who might need that extra time to review material multiple times, but also allows other students to go on to the next lesson or think about how they can expand on that topic and make it more challenging for them,” Moldavan said. 

Reach out to your colleagues for help. That includes math specialists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. “No educator is an island. I know you’re at home by yourself, but reach out to your colleagues and other teachers or providers so that you are working together,” George-Puskar said. 

Online Resources for Families 

When looking for online resources, students and their families should first refer to their local district, said George-Puskar. This will keep children aligned with the district curriculum. Local districts may also provide physical resources to students, including laptops and tablets. In the meantime, providers like Spectrum are offering free Wi-Fi access for a limited time to households. 

GSE educators suggested more resources that could be helpful for parents, caretakers, and teachers to keep students engaged at home. Among them are the New York State Education Department, the New York City Department of Education, BrainPOP, PBS KIDS, Khan Academy, and Common Sense Education’s resources for families and educators during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Keep an open mind that the curriculum is a guide. And while we need to follow that, we can embed other resources into it to make it stronger,” Moldavan said.

Perhaps above all, many educators agreed that it’s important for parents and teachers to have patience with the whole process. 

“Under the current COVID-19 situation, teachers now face pressure to develop plans in a matter of days at most,” said George-Puskar. “So it is important to have some patience with the process as we figure it out together.” 

Plant-Based Meat. Garrett Broad, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication and media studies and author, More Than Just Food (University of California Press, 2016)

There has been tremendous growth in the plant-based food sector over the last several years, and there are a number of reasons why 2018 could be the biggest year yet for this emerging market. First and foremost, concerns about health, the environment, and animal welfare have led to increased public demand for plant-based alternatives to meat and animal products that are tasty, affordable, and convenient. At the same time, there has been an explosion of entrepreneurial initiative and innovation, as well as organizing and advocacy, in an effort to get these products in stores, restaurants, and other food service locations across the country and around the world. The meat industry has certainly taken notice—some companies are concerned about the threat that plant-based products represent to their bottom line, but others are actually investing in plant-based foods to get in on the action at this early stage.

Protest Demonstrations. Heather Gautney, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology and budget committee advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

In 2018, look for large-scale demonstrations and targeted protest activity outside the White House and in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, especially over immigrants’ rights. Following last year’s Women’s March, there remains a core group of women activists who continue to organize. A few months ago they put on a large-scale conference, and have an ongoing, committed project of movement-building around women’s issues.

[And] there are lots of ways for people to protest besides tens of thousands of people assembling in the street. On immigration round-ups and the issue of sanctuary cities, I think there may be widespread local demonstrations and acts of mass disobedience—protecting people from being taken away. There are all sorts of micro forms of resistance that can take place within communities. When the health care debates were happening in Washington D.C., when demonstrators where showing up at town hall meetings and shaming their congressmen and senators, I think that made a substantial impact on what happened to the outcome.

Internet Service. Olivier Sylvain, associate professor of law and director, McGannon Center for Communications Research

Now that the Federal Communications Commission has repealed “network neutrality” regulations that prohibited internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from privileging some content over others, we will all want to closely monitor the quality of our internet service.  The FCC Chairman claims that the prior rules made it difficult for providers to invest in novel new services.  Those rules, however, barred service providers from exploiting their coveted gatekeeping market position to discriminate against disruptive competitors; they prohibited, for example, providers from making it costlier for then-emergent start-ups–with names like Amazon and Netflix–to become market-makers in video distribution.

Now that network neutrality is gone, we should keep our eyes on the quality of video on Amazon and Netflix.  We should also watch for subscription fees increases for those services.

Mergers and Acquisitions. Sris Chatterjee, Ph.D., professor and chair of global security analysis finance and business economics, Gabelli School of Business

2017 has been a very good year for M&A. With the economy continuing to show strong fundamentals and the new tax law, 2018 is most likely to continue this upward trend in merger activity.

FinTech and digital technology represent a major disruptive force that will shape many mergers in 2018. We have already started to see this trend in 2017 when many companies across different industries outside the tech-sector acquired firms with the desired digital capabilities. This trend will also continue in 2018. Acquisition of American or European companies with an established brand name and market by firms in China, India and other non-Western countries has been another feature of M&A activity in recent times. This is also likely to continue.

These positive aspects of a stronger M&A outlook in 2018 need to be balanced against other factors that may have a restraining effect. The first factor that comes to mind is the effect of the U.S. government’s decision to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger. AT&T is fighting this decision in court and the outcome will have an important effect on M&A activity in 2018. The second factor to consider is that market multiples are already high, perhaps too high in light of meager growth. This, coupled with the high average premium that we witnessed in 2017, means that deals, on average, are going to be pricey.

Vatican Fashion. J. Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and department chair

Of late, the fashion world has been demonstrating increasing interest in things religious: consider, for instance, Alexander Wang’s 2016 show at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue. But the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art will take this trend a step further with its 2018 exhibition, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The exhibition pairs liturgical and ceremonial vestments and artworks from the Met collection with designer garments inspired in some way by Catholicism. Traditionalist Catholic groups have sometimes responded with alarm to artistic displays that appear to mock or satirize their faith. The new Met exhibit (which opens in May) may encounter resistance from such quarters, but local Catholic leaders were consulted in the planning process. And the Vatican itself loaned more than 50 of the pieces that will be on display. In the end, the Met may more than anything else showcase the manifold ways in which the Catholic tradition continues to inspire artists of all stripes.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Shannon Waite, Ed.D., clinical assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education

In 2018, I predict that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will become more diverse and that the conversation will broaden from being focused on race and ethnicity to include socio-economic status.  I would pay attention to how the cuts to programs and initiatives that indirectly support HBCU’s and/or the students they serve impact the student’s access to higher education. I also expect the conversation about whether these institutions can continue to fulfill the role they have historically played and remain viable options for the demographic of students they traditionally serve to become more prominent.  I expect questions about whether HBCUs still have a place in our society today to become a part of the conversation that will spark a national debate.  Finally, I would pay attention to how the current administration responds to the criticism that the commitment made to bolster HBUCs has not been honored.

Bitcoin. Giacomo Santangelo, Ph.D., senior lecturer of economics

Much like international currencies, people trade Bitcoin to exploit arbitrage opportunities (buy low, sell high) in the market. However, today the bitcoin has more in common with Beanie Babies from the 1990s than with international currencies. The market for Bitcoin is being driven by speculation, not investment. Speculators buy an asset, often taking huge risks, in the hopes of making ’a quick buck.’ It would have been ill-advised to invest your retirement in Beanie Babies or Pokemon cards in the 1990s; although, at the time, you could make fast money buying/selling on eBay . . . until you couldn’t. Whether Bitcoin will eventually settle at $20k, $1 Million, or $1, the volatility of the recent weeks indicates that when speculators lose interest in Bitcoin, the bubble will burst. The bitcoin will only continue to have ‘value’ if people continue to believe it has value. At the moment, people have no rational reason to do so. It is unlikely Bitcoin will continue a meteoric rise, uninterrupted, in 2018.

Helicopter Parenting and Hovering. Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and head of Fordham’s Pediatric Psychology & Health Behaviors group

We are in an era where parenting styles—such as helicopter, or hovering— are raising concerns about our children’s ability to develop independence and advocate for themselves. Indeed, in the medical community during the last decade there has been a push for adolescents to learn early how to self-manage their special health care needs.

My colleagues and I have been studying this process among a large sample of adolescents from around the country. We found that adolescents who say they are self-managing (versus those having more parental involvement) and those who say they are doing more than their parents think they are, have worse outcomes. This includes difficulty managing their medications. These findings perhaps signal that for some adolescents, it is critical to work with their parents rather than move them into the background. So [going forward]maybe a little hovering is okay.

Real Estate’s Downward and Upward Trends. Hugh F. Kelly, Ph.D., special advisor to Fordham’s Real Estate Institute in the School for Professional and Continuing Studies

The 2018 outlook for commercial properties in New York is mixed. Tenant demand for office space is strengthening on the basis of strong job growth in finance and business/professional services. These job gains are timely, as a new generation of offices is coming to market in significant volume. Lateral movement amongst corporate users should continue, creating vacancy in some older buildings. But high prices and low cap rates will keep overall transactions on a downward trend.

In retailing, especially storefront properties on high-traffic avenues, vacancy is quite high, as asking rents have tended to exceed the price that can be economically supported by stores sales. I’d expect capitulation from landlords if that trend intensifies; low returns are better than no returns.

The residential market is sorting out an excess of luxury development while dealing with the ongoing crisis of affordability. As a result, multifamily construction in the outer boroughs may be 2018’s most significant trend.

(Patrick Verel, Tom Stoelker, and Tanisia Morris contributed to the article.)

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a hard one for most young people, let alone for a child who has undergone an organ transplant at the same time.

One Fordham psychologist knows that to such a child, learning to be responsible can be the difference between life and death.

Rachel Annunziato, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and a pediatric psychologist, has studied this specific cohort for several years. In a 2007 retrospective study, Annunziato and her co-researchers noticed that some metropolitan area post-liver-transplant adolescents (four out of 14, in fact, over about a five-year period) died when they moved over from pediatric care to adult care.

Annunziato wanted to find out why.

“Deaths are unusual in this population,” said Annunziato, who does her research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. “The data suggested that there was something about the transition that was dangerous.”

Annunziato discovered a disconnect between what pediatric (“peds”) clinics were recording and what adult clinics were reporting: Adult clinics were telling her that the young patients didn’t listen to instructions, did not take care of themselves and sometimes didn’t even show up for appointments.

“The adult clinics’ perception was that the peds clinics were sending them the worst patients and keeping good ones for themselves,” she said.

In reality, the transition was proving hard for young patients, said Annunziato, in part because the clinics operate differently: peds clinics schedule on average four annual visits, compared to adult clinics’ rate of one or two annually. Peds clinics rely more on parental intervention and have a much lower caseload, as there are fewer child transplant patients.

The young patients, most of whom were from low-income households, were simply falling off the radar in transition.

“Many of them had never talked to a doctor in their lives without a parent, or had never called in a refill or scheduled an appointment,” said Annunziato. “In the adult system, nobody was holding their hand anymore.”

For patients taking an immunosuppressant, she said, irresponsible behavior is no light matter. If transplant patients lose the functioning of their new livers, she said, there may be no second transplant opportunity.

The 2007 results suggested that peds clinics had to do a better job of building transition skills, said Annunziato, so in 2008 she and her co-researchers launched a series of program improvements coupled with a longitudinal study now enrolling 20 young transplant patients.

Under this study, Annunziato acts as “transition coordinator” for the cohort as they move from pediatrics to adult care. Participants were enrolled in the study during their very last peds clinic visit. Annunziato’s team is following their progress through the adult system.

The patients are assessed every six months (data collection is done partly by Annunziato’s undergraduate and graduate students). In between, Annunziato operates as a “go-to” person for the participants, troubleshooting on their behalf and keeping various coordinators, social workers and physicians informed.

One improvement Annunziato has made is to make certain that the first adult clinic appointment is scheduled very soon after the last peds appointment. She also counsels the patients on patience: Often adult clinics do not provide test results quickly and do not call back immediately.

As this is an ongoing study, some of the research findings have already been presented in a 2010 issue of the journal Pediatric Transplantation—and they are positive, said Annunziato. With just minimal time commitment (approximately three hours a week) the transition program has kept all 20 participants alive and on track.

It is Annunziato’s hope that the results of the completed study, expected by 2013, will demonstrate improved outcomes, and offer data-driven, empirical research documenting the value of using a transition coordinator.

“A lot of groups have advocated for transition coordinators but nobody has studied their effectiveness—until now,” said Annunziato. “We hope our data is promising enough that this could be a model, not just for transplants but for other pediatric conditions as well.”

Annunziato has received a Fordham summer fellowship to start doing similar research on adolescent kidney transplant patients.

On Feb. 3, Annunziato was honored by the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences for her undergraduate teaching expertise in the sciences. (see Four Fordham Faculty Feted in this issue) She said she is fortunate to be able to bring real world experience to her students by involving them in collecting research data in the hospital’s pediatric specialty clinic.

“My undergraduates are the same age as my patients,” she said. “So it is rewarding for them both. They can more easily share experiences.”

The assistant professor of psychology already had created and implemented a screening program for ethnically diverse cardiology patients at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, to identify patients who also needed mental health care. She and a team collected data on some 1,000 patients.

Preliminary information showed that when a mental health practitioner is embedded and available right in the cardiac clinic, cardiac patients are more willing to seek psychiatric help for depression or PTS.

Now, Annunziato will launch a longitudinal study of the same patients to see how much those cardiac patients who originally suffered from PTS have seen their physical condition worsen. The study will be one of the first of its kind to measure the effect of psychiatric symptoms in heart patients over time, Annunziato said.

“There is data to say that folks who are depressed are more likely to experience negative physical consequences after a heart attack, such as re-hospitalization, or even death,” she said. “Our group is suggesting that it is the same with PTS.”

Because of the huge potential for negative results in patients with a cardiac condition, it is important to identify those whose risk may be exacerbated by a mental health issue, Annunziato said.

Eventually, Annunziato will seek to publish the results of “A Prospective Investigation of Posttraumatic Stress, Depression and Medical Outcomes in Cardiac Patients,” in a top-tier journal.