“[A]fter a great deal of prayer, reflection, and consultation, I have decided that this will be my last year as President of our beloved University,” Father McShane wrote yesterday in a message to the Fordham family.

“It has been a blessing to work with so many talented and devoted faculty and staff, and with more than a hundred thousand gifted and community-minded students,” he added. “Likewise, I have had the great fortune of working with and on behalf of our many generous and involved alumni and donors, and with the members of our Board of Trustees, especially the Board Chairs with whom I have worked: Paul Guenther, John Tognino and Bob Daleo. Together they have been the engines of Fordham’s success, over which it has been my great joy to preside.”

Father McShane succeeded Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., on July 1, 2003, to become the 32nd president of Fordham. By next June, he will have served 19 years in the position, matching his predecessor’s record as the University’s longest-serving president.

Under Father McShane, Fordham completed a decades-long transformation from well-regarded regional institution to prestigious national university—growing larger, academically and fiscally stronger, and more diverse than ever.

Since 2003, Father McShane has raised $1 billion for the University, overseen the quadrupling of its endowment to more than $1 billion, and invested $1 billion in new construction and infrastructure improvements.

His tenure has also been marked by record-breaking advances in enrollment; campus expansions in New York and London; innovative new academic programs and partnerships; increased support for student-faculty collaboration and research; a renewed commitment to community engagement; and a burgeoning global alumni network—all of which have helped lift Fordham to new levels of national and international distinction and influence.

“The Board of Trustees and the Fordham community have watched with admiration Father McShane’s unbridled energy, pastoral care, long devotion, and deep wisdom,” Robert D. Daleo, GABELLI ’72, chair of the Fordham University Board of Trustees, wrote today in a letter to the Fordham community. “We are deeply grateful for all he has done for the University and its students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents.”

Daleo said the University will work with global executive search firm WittKieffer and establish a search committee composed of trustees, faculty, staff, and students to identify the next president of Fordham. WittKieffer will hold a series of virtual town halls this fall to solicit input from the Fordham community, he said. And he expects the board to announce the new president next spring. (More information about the transition is posted at fordham.edu/presidentialsearch.)

In the meantime, the University will have the opportunity to “celebrate Father McShane and his many accomplishments throughout the year,” Daleo wrote.

“His leadership has set the stage for the next president to continue Fordham’s growth and prominence.”

A Leader of Character

Throughout his tenure as president, Father McShane has described a Fordham education as “ever ancient, ever new,” borrowing a phrase from St. Augustine.

“We are ever searching for greater opportunities for service that the signs of the times reveal to us and demand of us,” he said during his inaugural address in the Rose Hill Gymnasium on October 24, 2003. And yet a Fordham education is timeless, he said, and fundamentally about character development—supporting, challenging, and empowering students to become global citizens whose lives are marked by “competence, conscience, compassion, and commitment to the cause of the human family.”

When historians of Fordham look back on the McShane era, they will undoubtedly note a host of key indicators of growth and success at the University (see the list below), but just as impressive, trustees and others in higher education say, is Father McShane’s influence as a leader of character—someone who is quick-witted, morally focused, and personally humble but bold and full of ambition for Fordham.

“Father McShane has been an incredible leader, and Fordham has become a new and better institution under his leadership,” said Fordham Trustee Valerie Rainford, FCRH ’86. “He leaves a legacy of excellence, integrity, and perseverance not just with the Fordham family but with the broader community, all guided by his faith and an unwavering commitment to helping his fellow man and woman achieve their God-given gifts. He is a giant in academia who leaves behind big shoes to fill.”

In his message to the Fordham family, Father McShane deflected any praise for what the University has achieved.

“I have utterly no illusions about how all of this was accomplished and what my role has been. I believe (actually I know) that all that has been accomplished at Fordham in the course of the past eighteen years is not the result of my work,” he wrote. “Rather, it has been the result of uncommon teamwork, a shared dream and a deep devotion to the values that Fordham has always stood for and from which it has derived its strength.”

Beyond Fordham, Father McShane is widely regarded as an eloquent, tireless advocate for Jesuit education and for improving college access overall. He has served on the boards of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), several Jesuit institutions, and the American Council on Education.

“For more than his 25 years at Fordham, Father McShane has been an important voice for Catholic higher education, for Jesuit universities, and, indeed, for the importance of public and private support for education of all citizens, especially the marginalized and those who have been deprived of this critical opportunity,” said AJCU President Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. “His energy and enthusiasm have inspired many of us to advocate for the promotion of access and inclusion in private and public education alike.”

By the Numbers: A Legacy of Transformation

Here are 10 key indicators of growth and success at Fordham under Father McShane’s leadership.

• Enrollment and Diversity: Applications for undergraduate admission have more than tripled, from 12,801 in 2003 to 46,171 this year. And the percentage of undergraduate students from underrepresented groups has increased from 23% in 2003 to 33% this year. The undergraduate Class of 2025, drawn from 45 U.S. states and 51 countries, is the most diverse in Fordham’s history, with 44.5% domestic students of color and 6.5% international students.

  

• Social Mobility: The Chronicle of Higher Education placed Fordham at No. 15 on its list of “Colleges with the Highest Student-Mobility Rates,” a ranking that measures whether recent graduates’ income surpasses that of their parents. First-generation college students make up 23% of the undergraduate Class of 2025.
• Fundraising: Fordham has raised more than $1 billion since 2003. That’s more than the University had raised in its entire 162-year history prior to Father McShane’s tenure as president.
• Endowment: The University’s endowment has more than quadrupled, from $241.2 million in 2003 to more than $1 billion today.
• Scholarships and Financial Aid: With support from donors, the University created more than 400 new scholarship funds for students, including 197 as part of Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid, which raised more than $175 million for students between 2014 and 2019.

  

• Access and Affordability: The University increased spending on financial aid from $48 million in 2003 to more than $300 million this year. Today, 90% of first-year undergraduates receive some form of financial aid from Fordham.
• Endowed Chairs and External Grants: To help attract and retain more of the world’s leading scholars and educators, Fordham dramatically increased its number of endowed faculty chairs—from 23 to 71. The University also bolstered its Office of Research, increasing funding from external sources by 85%, from $13 million in 2003 to $24 million in 2021.
• Academic Achievement: Fordham students have earned 2,121 prestigious fellowships and scholarships, including 158 Fulbright awards, since 2003, placing the University among the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars.
• Academic and Residential Facilities: Since 2003, Fordham has invested more than $1 billion in major capital projects, including a current $205 million renovation and expansion of the campus center at Rose Hill.

  

• National Rankings: Fordham has leaped 18 places in U.S. News & World Report’s national college rankings, from No. 84 in 2003 to No. 66. Several of Fordham’s graduate and professional schools also advanced in the rankings: Fordham Law is No. 27; the Graduate School of Social Service is No. 25; the Graduate School of Education is No. 39; and the graduate division of the Gabelli School of Business is No. 58, with three program areas—finance (15), international business (15), and marketing (14)—among the top 20 in the nation.

A ‘Mystical Regard’ for Fordham

In late 2002, when Father McShane was appointed to lead Fordham, he was in his fifth year as president of the University of Scranton, a post he held until June 2003. But he was no stranger to the Fordham community.

A New York City native, he taught theology and served as the dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1992 to 1998. Prior to that, he was a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. And though he completed his studies elsewhere—earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston College, M.Div. and S.T.M. degrees from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago—Fordham was in his DNA.

As a boy, he attended basketball games and alumni reunions at Rose Hill with his father, Owen P. McShane, a graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School who instilled in his four sons a “mystical regard” for Fordham.

“It was my first experience of a college campus, and it was a place that was larger than life,” Father McShane said during a September 2003 media roundtable with alumni and student journalists. “But as time went on, it occurred to me that Fordham was a mystical place for my father because he was the first person in his family to go to college. It was the institution that made his life, changed his life.”

That deep sense of Fordham as a place of personal and communal transformation, particularly for first-generation college students, has been a keynote of Father McShane’s administration.

In his message to the Fordham family announcing his decision to step down as president, he noted that in addition to his father, each of his three brothers earned a degree from Fordham.

“Fordham breathed life into their dreams and formed their lives in powerful ways,” he wrote. “Through their stories and the example of their lives, I came to understand the transformative power of the Jesuit education they received here.”

‘Ever Upward’: An Ambitious Agenda for Fordham

Soon after his inauguration, Father McShane led the University community through a yearlong strategic planning process. The goal was to draw on Fordham’s historic strengths, recent accomplishments, and untapped potential—particularly at the Lincoln Center campus—to lift the University to a position of greater prominence.

In March 2009, he announced that through Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, the University would seek to raise $500 million to renew itself physically, spiritually, and academically.

By 2014, more than 60,000 alumni and friends had contributed $540 million, propelling the University well beyond its fundraising goal. Together they helped the University create more than 220 scholarships, build residence halls for a total of 800-plus students at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, and bolster the faculty with the creation of nearly 50 endowed chairs in business, law, Catholic theology, Judaic studies, STEM, and other fields.

A Historic Investment in Business Education

The single largest contribution during the campaign came in 2010 from the Gabelli Foundation, a gift that has strengthened Fordham’s ability to provide a purpose-driven business education in the financial capital of the world.

Mario J. Gabelli, a 1965 Fordham graduate, and his wife, Regina Pitaro, a 1976 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill, announced their historic $25 million gift to Fordham on September 25, 2010, before the start of the annual Homecoming football game. At the time, it was the largest single gift in Fordham’s history—superseded 10 years later, in December 2020, when Gabelli and Pitaro made a $35 million gift to the University.

Gabelli and Pitaro’s support has allowed the business school to strengthen and expand its faculty, create a Ph.D. program, launch a bachelor’s degree program in global business at the Lincoln Center campus, and fund scholarships and research, among other initiatives. In gratitude, the University renamed its undergraduate business college the Gabelli School of Business—and in 2015, Fordham unified its undergraduate, graduate, and executive business programs under the Gabelli name.

Alumni support also helped the University complete a two-year renovation of Hughes Hall, which reopened in 2012 as the permanent Rose Hill home of the Gabelli School.

Lincoln Center Rising

One of the most visible, dramatic legacies of Father McShane’s tenure as president is the transformation of the Lincoln Center campus.

When the campus was built during the 1960s, it was designed to accommodate 3,500 students. By the early 21st century, it was bursting at the seams, with 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Fordham Law, long regarded as one of the best law schools in the country, was serving 1,500 students in a building designed for 650.

Under Father McShane’s leadership, the University developed and eventually earned New York City approval to enact a master plan for expanding the campus—the first stage of which was the construction of a new law school and undergraduate residence hall.

The new Fordham Law School opened in fall 2014. Designed by world-renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the 22-story building has not only reshaped the campus but also added a touch of elegance to the Manhattan skyline. The law school occupies the first nine floors, and McKeon Hall, a residence for more than 400 undergraduates, rises above it.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor was among the dignitaries at the dedication ceremony for the new building. She spoke warmly of Father McShane’s leadership. “You have given a special spirit to this University, and I’m so pleased to be here,” she said. “Fordham never ceases to amaze me.”

Two years later, Fordham completed a gut renovation of 140 West 62nd Street, former home of the law school, transforming it into a campus center with a three-story library, a student lounge and café, health and counseling centers, career services offices, and abundant space for classrooms and student activities. The renovated building also serves as a home for the Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center.

An Increasingly Global University

Fordham also extended its influence beyond New York City in dramatic fashion during Father McShane’s tenure.

In 2008, Fordham opened its Westchester campus in West Harrison, New York—a home away from home for the School of Professional and Continuing Studies as well as the graduate schools of Business, Education, Religion and Religious Education, and Social Service.

A decade later, Fordham established a home of its own in the United Kingdom’s most cosmopolitan city. Fordham London, a six-story building in the city’s Clerkenwell neighborhood, opened in fall 2018 to more than 300 undergraduates from Fordham and other U.S. universities.

At the London campus, students take courses in business and the liberal arts while interning in marketing, banking, media, health science, and other fields. “A big part of Fordham’s educational approach is applied learning, using the city as our campus, and London provides a whole new way to do that,” Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School of Business, said at the time.

The University also bolstered its longstanding partnership with Peking University in Beijing and established a partnership with the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where students pursue research in emerging markets, among other subjects, and take part in the Ubuntu Service Learning program.

During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham increased its study abroad options to 110 programs in 52 countries. Prior to the pandemic, the University ranked No. 31 in the country for the number of students it sends abroad each year, according to the Institute of International Education.

Academic Growth and Partnerships

During his six years as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill during the 1990s, Father McShane prioritized faculty development and student scholarship.

Soon after returning to Fordham as president, he picked up where he left off, establishing the Office of Prestigious Fellowships to help students compete for and win prestigious postgraduate scholarships to further their intellectual and personal growth. The results have been impressive: Since 2003, Fordham students have earned 2,121 prestigious fellowships and scholarships, including 158 Fulbright awards, placing the University among the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars.

Father McShane also encouraged faculty and administrators to renew and develop innovative academic programs to meet students’ needs. Since 2003, the University has not only launched a host of new degree programs—in public media, health administration, and international humanitarian action, to name a few—but also established academic centers, including the Center on National Security and the Center on Race, Law and Justice, where faculty and students advance research and public discourse to address some of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century.

Fordham has also emerged as a global leader in cybersecurity education in the past decade, thanks in part to a partnership with the FBI.

Since 2009, the University has worked with the FBI to organize and host the International Conference on Cyber Security, or ICCS. Typically held every 18 months, the conference attracts top security and law enforcement officials, university researchers, and executives from companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Google.

Fordham also established a master’s degree program in cybersecurity, which has tripled in enrollment since 2016. The National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security have designated Fordham a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, and last year, the NSA awarded the University a $3 million grant to lead an effort to help historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions develop their own cybersecurity programs.

New York City: Partner in Education

While Fordham has become an increasingly prominent national and global university in the past two decades, it continues reaching out to its local communities through service, academic partnerships, and various other initiatives such as the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) for students from underrepresented groups.

In his inaugural address in 2003, Father McShane described the University’s longstanding ties to New York City, and he challenged the Fordham community to find new ways to learn from its neighbors and contribute to their well-being.

“The city that we are proud to call our home is not merely our address,” he said. “It is and has been our partner in education, our laboratory, and our classroom from the moment that Archbishop Hughes first stepped foot on Rose Hill Manor to launch the great enterprise of Catholic higher education in the Northeast in 1841.”

More than ever before, New York is on the syllabus for Fordham students. During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham established and reinforced partnerships with some of the city’s top civic and educational institutions.

In 2012, for example, Fordham joined four other renowned Bronx institutions—the New York Botanical Garden, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, and Montefiore Medical Center—to create the Bronx Science Consortium. The partnership has increased collaborative research and educational opportunities for students and scientists, and helped elevate the borough’s status as a critical contributor to New York’s “Eds and Meds” sector—the academic, research, and medical institutions that drive innovation and help fuel the city’s economy.

Fordham has also strengthened its internships program, which has grown to include more than 3,500 partner organizations, and given students many more ways to get involved in community-based work.

The Center for Community Engaged Learning, established in 2018, oversees both Urban Plunge, the pre-orientation program that introduces first-year students to New York City through service, and Global Outreach, which connects students with community-based organizations in the U.S. and abroad to help them better understand social justice issues at the ground level.

The center also helps faculty develop courses that connect students with local organizations working to understand societal problems and promote the common good. The number of community engaged learning courses has increased from seven to 52 in just the past few years.

During Father McShane’s tenure, Fordham also established the Social Innovation Collaboratory, a network of students, faculty, administrators, alumni, and community members working together to promote social innovation for the achievement of social justice, social entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability.

In 2014, Fordham became one of 45 colleges and universities to be designated a “Changemaker Campus” by Ashoka, a global organization that honors universities for innovative efforts to foster social good and strengthen society.

Community and Civic Leadership

Through his own civic engagement, Father McShane has set the tone for the University’s deepening involvement with the life of the city.

He has served on the board of the Museum of Civil Rights in Harlem, for example; on mayoral task forces on the future of higher education, the future of media, and workforce development; on an advisory board for the Metropolitan Transit Authority; and on the New York City Charter Revision Commission, appointed by then mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010. In 2017, he was honored by the 100 Year Association for Fordham’s commitment to community service and its contributions to New York City.

On the state level, Father McShane served two terms as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), an Albany-based nonprofit organization that represents the chief executives of New York’s colleges and universities on issues of public policy.

“Father McShane is an indefatigable voice for higher education and its ability to transform lives,” said former CICU president Mary Beth Labate. “As a twice-elected chair of the commission, Father was extraordinarily generous with his time and talents in the quest to insure that students, no matter their socioeconomic background, had access to a high quality education.

“When I accompanied him in the halls of the state capitol, he was greeted like the rock star that he is. The size of his contributions was only outmatched by the size of his heart. Colleges and students across the state owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Most recently, Father McShane served on the New York Forward Advisory Board to help shape the state’s plan for reopening after the pandemic, drawing on his experiences leading the Fordham community through some of the most challenging years in its history.

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In early March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the U.S., Father McShane, like many other university presidents and chief executives, faced a crisis for which there was no playbook.

He made what he called the “difficult but necessary decision” to suspend face-to-face classes on March 9 and transition to remote learning for the rest of the semester. Then he established the Fordham Forward Task Force, which worked to prepare the University for reopening safely on the ground for the 2020–2021 academic year and again this year.

Finally, he identified three priorities that continue to guide the University’s decision-making throughout the crisis: protect the University’s people; preserve the University’s ability to provide students with a world-class Jesuit education; and “emerge from the pandemic with the strength needed to fulfill our mission and to confront the challenges of the future with renewed hope and vigor.”

Father McShane worked closely with the task force, the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate, and the finance office to balance the 2020 and 2021 budgets, which had $38 million and $105 million gaps, respectively, as a result of the fallout from the pandemic.

“Leadership is a risky business, even in the best of circumstances, because it is asking people to change, often to sacrifice,” said Donna M. Carroll, president emerita of Dominican University and a trustee fellow of Fordham University. “Father McShane has been focused and persistent in his service to Fordham, navigating difficult conversations with patience, candor, and encouragement. Fordham’s strength in the aftermath of the pandemic is a tribute to his sustained leadership, though he would be the first to highlight the contributions of others.”

By the conclusion of the 2020–2021 academic year, as pandemic-related restrictions began to ease temporarily across the country, Fordham hosted a series of diploma ceremonies on Edwards Parade. Father McShane saluted the Class of 2021 for its perseverance: “You never surrendered. Rather, you rose to every challenge that the world threw at you,” he said.

He also noted that graduates completed their studies in a year marked not only by a global pandemic but also by an economic downturn, a reckoning with racism, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol and the democratic principles upon which our nation has been built and sustained.

“The toll these cascading plagues has taken on all of us, and on you in a special way, has been enormous,” he said. “With ease and grace, you became one another’s keepers, and in the process, you became ministers of cura personalis to one another,” he said, referring to the Jesuit principle of “care of the whole person” that is at the heart of a Fordham education.

Fighting Racism, Educating for Justice

Father McShane has made a renewed commitment to anti-racism a top priority of his final years in office. In a State of the University address delivered virtually on September 12, 2020, he noted that the preceding academic year had marked not only the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but also the “blossoming of a new civil rights movement aimed at addressing racism in our country.”

In June 2020, after the May 25 killing of George Floyd galvanized global protests against racial injustice—and amid cries from the heart of the Fordham community—Father McShane put forth a plan to address systemic racism and do more to build a diverse, inclusive, and affirming community at Fordham.

“The heartfelt testimony given by members of our community in the course of the summer has made it searingly clear that racism is also present here at Fordham,” Father McShane said, referring to stories of discrimination students and alumni of color shared, largely on social media.

“As painful as that admission may be, we must face up to it. Therefore, let me be clear: anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion are institutional and mission priorities at Fordham, priorities that grow out of our identity as an American, Catholic, and Jesuit institution located in the City of New York.”

He added: “With regard to confronting racism, let us be honest. This is and will be an ongoing challenge, for we will be called upon to confront both the kind of blatant, brutal racism that was behind the deaths of George Floyd and so many others of our sisters and brothers, and the racism of indifference that gives blatant racism its real power: the racism of the blind eye, the racism of silence, and the racism of self-absolution.”

The Board of Trustees approved the plan, which Father McShane crafted in concert with the offices of the provost and the chief diversity officer. The board also charged the newly renamed Mission and Social Justice Committee to oversee the University’s anti-racism strategy, and the trustees mandated annual anti-racism training for all faculty, students, staff, and administrators—including the president’s cabinet and the board itself.

Continuing the Mission: ‘Bothered Excellence’

Throughout his tenure, Father McShane has made an eloquent case for what he calls “the urgent purpose” behind Jesuit education. It’s a purpose that is at the heart of the University’s anti-racism efforts and its latest strategic plan, Educating for Justice.

“We want nothing less than to leave you bothered for the rest of your lives,” he told admitted students in an April 2020 video, “bothered by the realization that you don’t know everything and that there are discoveries and adventures waiting for you just over the horizon, and by the realization that there is injustice in the world, injustice that cries out for a caring response.”

By any measure, Father McShane’s presidency has been transformative. There are the new buildings, new programs, and record-breaking advances in enrollment and fundraising. But beyond the data and tangible evidence of growth, he has embodied the values of the University, trustees say, and placed Fordham in a position to strengthen its mission.

“I cannot imagine a finer leader during his tenure—the personification of the ideal Jesuit, a superb scholar, and a true New Yorker,” said Edward M. Stroz, GABELLI ’79, a Fordham trustee. “Whether measured by student applications and graduations, growth of the endowment, or the cultivation of Fordham’s presence in New York, what Father McShane has done is extraordinary and a source of pride for us all. He will leave Fordham in a very strong position for continuing its mission for our students in the future.”

Another Fordham trustee, Anthony Carter, FCRH ’76, a co-chair of the board’s Mission and Social Justice Committee, spoke about the pastoral quality of Father McShane’s leadership.

“In addition to being a generous servant of God with abundant love for Fordham, he has served us all with a kind heart, purity of spirit, faith-driven humility, and passion for diversity and inclusiveness,” Carter said. “In order to burnish Father McShane’s impressive legacy into the history books and our hearts, we should all strive to imitate his gentle soul and love for humankind.”

For Nora Ahern Grose, GABELLI ’84, who has been a member of the Board of Trustees for 10 years, the year ahead will be an emotional one.

“[Father McShane] has challenged us, in his self-effacing and kind manner, to advance the mission, quality, and portrait of Fordham to distinct and exceptional heights,” she said. “We look forward to another year of his leadership, a year when every laugh and tear, every celebration of accomplishment, every quiet moment of prayer and reflection with our dear Father McShane will have even greater significance than previously.

“We will say thank you many times, and he will always reply that he was the grateful one.”

Tributes to Father McShane

As Father McShane announced his plan to step down in June 2022, current and former Fordham trustees and other leaders in higher education expressed their appreciation and deep gratitude for his service on behalf of the University and its people.

You have been an amazing leader, Joe—for Fordham and for the rest of us in higher education. You’ve also been a friend and I value that a great deal.

—Stephen Ainlay, Former President, Union College

When I learned that this is your last year leading Fordham University, I wanted to thank you on behalf of CICU for your tremendous contributions over the years. Your service on the CICU board has left a lasting impact, as has your leadership in New York state and in our sector. While I and CICU staff are sorry to lose you as an advocate, we look forward to working with you during the remainder of your tenure. Congratulations on your impending retirement. I wish you many healthy, happy, and fulfilling years.

—Lola W. Brabham, President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU)

As chairman of the search committee 18 years ago, it was my privilege to put forward the recommendation of Joseph McShane, S.J., as president of Fordham University. It was a great day for Fordham, as have been the subsequent soon to be 19 years that have followed. The University has flourished under his leadership and caring nature for every individual. It has been a wonderful personal and professional pleasure knowing him, and I wish him continued success as he completes this farewell year as Fordham’s president.

—Robert E. Campbell, GABELLI ’55, Trustee Emeritus and Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Retired Vice Chairman, Johnson & Johnson

Joseph McShane, S.J., is recognized among Catholic university leaders and within his New York colleague group as a stunningly successful, mission-driven president. Intense, passionate, and charismatically articulate, he has transformed Fordham University from a strong regional institution to a national leader—increasing quality, enrollment, and reputation, and resulting in skyrocketing alumni support.

Leadership is a risky business, even in the best of circumstances, because it is asking people to change, often to sacrifice. Father McShane has been focused and persistent in his service to Fordham, navigating difficult conversations with patience, candor, and encouragement. Fordham’s strength in the aftermath of the pandemic is a tribute to his sustained leadership, though he would be the first to highlight the contributions of others.

I have known Joe McShane since we worked together at Fordham in the early ’90s, then as a trustee and through two high-impact presidencies. He is one of the most intelligent, quick witted, generous people that I know. The presidency can wear you down, but Joe is always upbeat, forward-looking, and engaged. He has been a lasting gift to Fordham.

—Donna M. Carroll, President Emerita, Dominican University; Trustee Fellow, Fordham University

As a proud Fordham University trustee, I have been blessed to have worked with Father Joseph McShane, Reverend President as I affectionately call him. I’ve watched with admiration, appreciation, and at times awe as he has fulfilled so many of his dreams, goals, and objectives for our beloved Fordham University. The state of the University is in an enviable position because of his leadership.

There are so many memories about our Reverend President I will cherish forever. In addition to being a generous servant of God with abundant love for Fordham, he has served us all with a kind heart, purity of spirit, faith-driven humility, and passion for diversity and inclusiveness.

In order to burnish Father McShane’s impressive legacy into the history books and our hearts, we should all strive to imitate his gentle soul and love for humankind.

—Anthony Carter, FCRH ’76, Fordham University Trustee; Former Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Johnson & Johnson

Father McShane has been a Casey family friend since his days as president of the University of Scranton. His commitment to the education of our next generation of leaders and Fordham’s academic excellence is unparalleled. Throughout his career, he was driven by the Jesuit mission to prepare graduates whose lives are marked by character, conscience, competence, compassion, and commitment to cause of the human family. The University of Scranton and Fordham are better institutions because of his faith, vision, and leadership. I wish him well in this next chapter of his life.

—U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, PAR ’19

AMDG. It’s hard to imagine Fordham University without Father Joseph M. McShane, S.J., as its chief visionary, leader, promoter, and president. He is a profound and constant example to the Fordham community and the world of how one person can make such a magnificent difference in people’s lives. His record of achievement over his long, successful tenure certainly can be measured by the beautiful enhancements to Fordham’s capital plant, endowment growth, and funds raised, each of which exceeds or will soon exceed $1 billion. Of even greater and inestimable value are Father McShane’s positive impact on students, Fordham’s standing in the world, and his constant adherence to Ignatian principles. His legacy will secure Fordham’s foundations for generations to come, and we are grateful for his leadership, devotion, and service that made it all possible.

—Gerald C. Crotty, FCRH ’73, Trustee Fellow, Fordham University; President, Weichert Enterprise, LLC

We have had the privilege of knowing and working with Father McShane for more than two decades in his roles as president of Fordham and dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. In that time he has transformed Fordham through his wise leadership and prodigious fundraising, raising the University to national prominence. He has also been the soul of the University—its pastor in chief. In times of crisis and grief he has consoled the on-campus community, and thousands of alumni spread across the globe, including us. We will greatly miss his intelligence, deep wisdom, and compassion.

—Maurice J. (Mo) Cunniffe, FCRH ’54, and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71

Take it from me: leadership and administration today is not a blissful task. Father McShane did it with gusto, effectiveness, cheer, and wisdom for 19 years. Thanks, Joe! We’ll miss you!

—Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

My family and I have been beneficiaries of Father McShane’s counsel, his guidance on matters of faith, and his friendship for the 20 or so years we have known him, from his days as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill to his current position as president of the finest Catholic University in the nation. He has often described himself as the Flaherty family priest, an honor greatly appreciated by the 18 of us. He has, after all, baptized one grandson, blessed the wedding of our son Kevin, and buried my wife, mother of four and Nana of 10, all in the last 6 years. A brief disclosure: Kevin was Jane’s favorite child; we all knew that. I hate to break the news to Father McShane, but Father O’Hare was Jane’s favorite Jesuit.

I shall be sorry when he leaves for my selfish reasons, but also because I believe the University will be poorer for his absence in many respects. Firstly, he has been the best fundraiser we’ve had here. I’ve been told that anyone can raise funds; I hope trustees are correct. Secondly, he believes he is a priest first and president second; I think he has his priorities right. And lastly, of course, his Irishness permeates his smile, his interaction with students, and even his relationship with trustees and faculty; no easy task that.

He will be missed by me and I suspect by the University over the coming years.

—James P. Flaherty, FCRH ’69, Fordham University Trustee; Founder and Chairman, International Health Investor

During Father McShane’s presidency, Fordham has undergone a renaissance. The University today boasts strong admission numbers, a record endowment, and many successful capital improvements. In perhaps the greatest tests of his steadfast leadership, he has expertly navigated the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and currently the COVID-19 pandemic.

As his 19-year mark and retirement approach, we extend our deepest gratitude for his exemplary service, along with all good wishes for the future.

—Mario Gabelli, B.S. ’65, Alumnus, Namesake, and Benefactor of the Gabelli School of Business; and Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76

For more than his 25 years at Fordham, Father McShane has been an important voice for Catholic higher education, for Jesuit universities, and, indeed, for the importance of public and private support for education of all citizens, especially the marginalized and those who have been deprived of this critical opportunity. His energy and enthusiasm have inspired many of us to advocate for the promotion of access and inclusion in private and public education alike. I suspect that, while he may be stepping down from the presidency at Fordham, he will find a way to continue his service and advocacy. He is still very much needed and appreciated.

—Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., President, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities

There may be a more riveting speaker, a greater inspirer of youth, a better leader or a sharper wit than Father McShane, but having all of these qualities in his abundance is truly exceptional. He has challenged us, in his self-effacing and kind manner, to advance the mission, quality, and portrait of Fordham to distinct and exceptional heights. We look forward to another year of his leadership, a year when every laugh and tear, every celebration of accomplishment, every quiet moment of prayer and reflection with our dear Father McShane will have even greater significance than previously.

We will say thank you many times, and he will always reply that he was the grateful one.

—Nora Ahern Grose, GABELLI ’84, Fordham University Trustee

Father McShane has led Fordham through a period of continued national uncertainty. During his presidency, Fordham has gained academic strength, broadened our national student population, and led fundraising which resulted in an endowment topping $1 billion. He will be missed, but his legacy foretells a bright future for our University.

—Paul Guenther, FCRH ’62, Trustee Emeritus and Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Retired President, PaineWebber

Father McShane has been an absolutely remarkable leader for Fordham University and, indeed, for all of higher education in the United States during his career. On every significant national issue involving the Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus, or the role of independent colleges and universities over the past 25 years, Father McShane has been a wise, insightful, and vocal leader who has shaped the discussion and pointed the way forward. Along the way, he has become a trusted friend and adviser to so many of us. To say that his considerable contributions in so many circles will be missed is a vast understatement.

—John J. Hurley, President, Canisius College

Father McShane has been an incredible steward of our beloved Fordham over these many years, and his bold vision has propelled us to places we had only once dreamed about. His fearlessness has empowered and positively impacted Fordham in too many ways to capture in a few sentences. However, the place where I believe he has made an indelible mark is in the area of fundraising, when he insisted that Fordham start to dream bolder dreams and fundraise in a way to ensure we attain those dreams.

Because of Father, a new culture of giving at Fordham blossomed and continues to grow and strengthen.

I have been proud to witness firsthand the love, commitment, vision, and passion Father McShane has for the University. By continuing to push and by always keeping his eyes on the horizon, Father McShane has not only secured Fordham’s place but has set the University on the path to greatness. I do not think it is an overstatement to say that other than John Hughes, the founder of Fordham, no other single individual has had such an immense, lasting, and powerful impact on the University.

What Father has done will impact every person who steps foot on the campuses of Fordham University for generations. However, he also has had positive impacts on so many people on very personal levels. He has enriched my life and has been a wonderful friend who provided strength and love when most needed. I know that there are so many in the Fordham community who have had the same experience.

Honestly, all I can say to Father is thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done for every member of the Fordham family.

—Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, Fordham University Trustee; Co-Chair, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham and Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid; Executive Director, The Gerald R. Jordan Foundation

Father, your announcement surprised me, as I instinctively think of you and Fordham as synonymous and everlasting. No person certainly is ever indispensable, but you come as close as anyone in my lifetime because every aspect of Fordham under your leadership has fundamentally improved. Most importantly, the quality of our values-based education in strengthening the moral and spiritual underpinning of our students’
character development. I have had so much feedback from our students through the years during your leadership as they openly expressed their devotion and gratitude to Fordham for changing their lives. Feel good about the tens of thousands of our graduates who are leading productive and quality life experiences propelled and advanced by their transformational Fordham experience.

You touched every aspect of Fordham in improving student selection, staff/faculty hiring, the everyday functioning of the University, the athletic programs, facilities management, and, of course, your extraordinarily successful fundraising campaigns. Father, you established a strong financial foundation securing Fordham’s future. You were also Fordham’s greatest champion and you made us all proud of our Fordham experience enlisting so many of us in your journey to make Fordham even better.

I wish you all the very best that life has to offer as you transition to a new role, but please know how grateful we are for your leadership and your friendship. I truly value how you were there for me during my most difficult life challenge, the loss of Terry after 55 years. Providing comfort to me and my family and offering her funeral Mass and service at Arlington will always be close to our hearts. May God’s blessing be upon you, dear friend. Much love and respect.

—Jack Keane, GABELLI ’66, Trustee Fellow, Fordham University; Former Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; Chairman, Institute for the Study of War

Father McShane is an indefatigable voice for higher education and its ability to transform lives. As a twice-elected chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), Father was extraordinarily generous with his time and talents in the quest to ensure that students, no matter their socioeconomic background, had access to a high-quality education. When I accompanied him in the halls of the state capitol, he was greeted like the rock star that he is. The size of his contributions were only outmatched by the size of his heart. Colleges and students across the state owe him a debt of gratitude.

—Mary Beth Labate, Former President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities

Father McShane is a much respected and appreciated leader, clearly committed to higher education and the intellectual apostolate. He and I have been friends for more than 40 years, and I have always found him to be compassionate, insightful, and dedicated. On many occasions, I and others have enjoyed his gift for enlivening meetings with telling observations and wit, and I know that people greatly enjoy his company.

Thanks to Father McShane’s effort, Fordham is a better, stronger academic institution, more able to meet challenges and opportunities. His impact has been immense, evident to anyone walking on the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses. While I regret that he will be stepping down as Fordham’s president in summer 2022, I know that he will continue making significant contributions as a faithful Jesuit priest and educator wherever he is in the future.

—William P. Leahy, S.J., President, Boston College

Father Joe McShane has led Fordham University with energy, purpose, and grace for nearly two decades. Thanks to his leadership, Fordham is an academically stronger, more vibrant, and more influential university than ever before. At the same time, he has been an important and highly respected voice in discussions nationally about the role and place of colleges and universities in the 21st century. Across the diverse landscape of American higher education, all of us who were lucky to work with him and benefit from his wise counsel are grateful and will miss his insightful and thoughtful help. Thanks, Joe.

—Ted Mitchell, President, American Council on Education

Under Father McShane’s outstanding leadership, Fordham has transformed itself from a well-regarded regional institution into a distinguished, nationally and internationally recognized university.

—Armando Nuñez Jr., GABELLI ’82, Vice Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Advisor and Former CEO, Global Distribution Group, Viacom CBS

As Father McShane approaches retirement from his current position, I am honored to express the admiration and gratitude of his brother Jesuits. I can testify to the deep love for and commitment to Fordham that have marked Father McShane’s 25 years of service to the University, six as dean of Fordham College and 19 as president. In the future, as a loyal son of Saint Ignatius Loyola, he will bring his depth of experience and dedication to new ministerial assignments after a well-deserved break.

—Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J., GSAS ’81, Provincial, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus

I vividly recall driving out to Scranton with fellow board member and Presidential Search Committee member Pat Nazemetz to interview Father McShane. He gave us a tour of the Scranton University campus. Everyone we passed greeted him with a broad smile. It was clear he was deeply admired and that he felt very comfortable chatting with the students.

We had a very pleasant lunch at a local golf club. Father McShane’s deep love and knowledge of Fordham was palpable. Pat and I had a sense that he was clearly the person who could enthusiastically build on what Father Joe O’Hare had accomplished and take Fordham to new heights. When Pat and I reported to the search committee, they were thrilled to hear how enthusiastic Father McShane was about the possibility of being Father O’Hare’s successor. He did not disappoint us.

Father McShane’s many bold initiatives over his long tenure have made Fordham a first-class world university. He leaves behind a legacy that will ensure Fordham will continue to be a world-class Jesuit university.

Thank you, Father McShane.

—Joseph P. Parkes, S.J., JES ’68, Provincial Assistant for Secondary and Pre-Secondary Education, USA East Province of the Society of Jesus; Former Fordham University Trustee; and Former President, Cristo Rey New York High School

When the history of Fordham University in our time is written, the tenure of Father McShane will stand out for its excellence. Fordham’s unprecedented growth as one of the premier universities not just in our region, not just in our nation, but in the entire world was meteoric and no accident, the result of meticulous planning and cultivation. The Fordham community has become a beacon almost unmatched in scholarship, teaching, and culture under Father McShane’s steady hand. So while I am sad to lose Father McShane’s leadership of our Fordham, I am excited for the future of our great institution. That future was paved by the guidance of Father Joseph M. McShane.

—U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., FCRH ’59, GSAS ’61

You have done an amazing job advancing the University and are an enthusiastic and eloquent advocate for all that Fordham does and all for which it stands. It is hard to think of either you or Fordham without the other.

While your list of accomplishments at Fordham is long and worthy of great praise, so too are the many things you have done outside of Fordham itself. In the organizations in which we have overlapped (AJCU, CICU, and A-10, among them), all have benefited from the substantial impact you have on decisions and direction. You always provide wise, values-based insights and compelling arguments, grounded in a passion to make things better. And Jesuit higher education overall has benefited enormously from your advocacy.

Further, I have always admired your ability to connect with so many and do so with such genuine concern and sincerity. You are generous with your time and supportive of fellow travelers.

I can sense your modesty deflecting this and much of the other well-deserved accolades you are receiving. You have made a difference, Joe, a big difference, and done so across many realms. You have done the Lord’s work well and I pray that you have many more years to continue to do so.

—Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., President, Saint Louis University

Father McShane has been an incredible leader and Fordham has become a new and better institution under his leadership. He leaves a legacy of excellence, integrity, and perseverance not just with the Fordham family but with the broader community, all guided by his faith and an unwavering commitment to helping his fellow man and woman achieve their God-given gifts. He is a giant in academia who leaves behind big shoes to fill.

—Valerie Rainford, FCRH ’86, Fordham University Trustee; CEO, Elloree Talent Strategies

As a loyal member of the Fordham family for over 60 years (four degrees), I have had the privilege of observing closely our university’s arc of development. There is no doubt that the McShane years have been transformative, establishing the Jesuit university of New York City as a magnet for talent from around our country and the world, thereby creating a contemporary manifestation of the core values of Jesuit education. And even as Father Joe led our University to this new version of itself, he became a champion of those values to all in higher education and a universally admired role model for those of us who devote our lives to improving education generally. I (we all) will miss his voice in our daily conversations; but, believe me, we will turn to him regularly for advice.

—John Sexton, FCRH ’63, GSAS ’65, ’78, President Emeritus, New York University

Fordham is synonymous with Father Joe, and so is higher education in New York more broadly. You have been such an important presence and voice in this work, and such an inviting and generous colleague to me as I have come into this sector and this state. I am sad for all of us that you are moving on to your next chapter but, of course, happy for you as you embark on whatever it is that is next for you.

—Laura Sparks, President, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Father McShane has an incredible legacy of accomplishments during his years as president at Fordham University. I cannot imagine a finer leader during his tenure—the personification of the ideal Jesuit, a superb scholar, and a true New Yorker. Whether measured by student applications and graduations, growth of the endowment, or the cultivation of Fordham’s presence in New York, what Father McShane has done is extraordinary and a source of pride for us all. He will leave Fordham in a very strong position for continuing its mission for our students in the future.

—Edward M. Stroz, GABELLI ’79, Fordham University Trustee; Co-Founder and Retired Executive Chairman, Stroz Friedberg LLC

“I love Father Joseph McShane. While I am so happy that he will be moving on to this next, happy phase in his life, I know Fordham is losing an exemplary leader who has led us to new heights. Father O’Hare was a hard act to follow, but Father McShane has exceeded our expectations. We thank him for dedicating his life to God and all of us. On behalf of my family, myself, and the wider community, we have all benefited from his wisdom, his humor, his intellect, his work, his love, and his guidance. I wish my friend the very best. Let us all try and emulate our leader Father Joseph McShane, and to truly thank him, let us recommit ourselves Ad majorem Dei gloriam!”

—U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, LAW ’89, PAR ’17

It is difficult to sum up the profound impact that Father McShane’s leadership and character have had on Fordham over the years. Suffice it to say that he has worked tirelessly and effectively to drive Fordham’s rise to ever-greater prominence, and ensure that it remains a special, welcoming place: elite without being elitist, and faithful to its mission of educating students of distinction who will make a difference in the world.

—John N. Tognino, PCS ’75, Former Chair, Fordham University Board of Trustees; Chairman and CEO, Pepper Financial Group

As Father McShane moves on from his longtime post as president of Fordham University, we can reflect on the tremendous contribution he made for students and alumni like myself. He had an innate ability to inspire students, staff, and faculty toward Jesuit principles—to better ourselves, and at the same time, be men and women for others, especially the poor. For this and his unwavering commitment to the Fordham community, we thank him for his work and service. His influence will continue to be felt beyond the university, and wherever God sends him next.

—U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, GSAS ’87

As of May 11, Fordham students and alumni have received 105 prestigious awards this year, including eight Fulbright Scholarships, one Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship, one Goldwater Scholarship, one Boren Fellowship, one Coro Fellowship, and two Department of Defense Cybersecurity Scholarships. In addition to the winners, 41 scholars were named as finalists for prestigious awards, including two finalists for the Truman Scholarship.

(Updated August 24)

Every year, students apply for these competitive awards with the help of Fordham’s St. Edmund Campion Institute for the Advancement of Intellectual Excellence and Office of Prestigious Fellowships. These experiences often shape students’ career paths and strengthen their international perspective. This year, many programs have temporarily postponed participation due to COVID-19; others have developed remote options.

“I feel tremendous pride in the achievements of our students who, with the assistance of the Campion staff and the generosity of the Fordham faculty, have brought great honor to the University during a most difficult and trying period,” said John Ryle Kezel, Ph.D., director of the Campion Institute.

Joshua Somrah, FCLC ’20, an international studies and political science double major and an anthropology and theology double minor, won a Fulbright English teaching assistantship to India. He’ll begin the nine-month program in June 2021—a year later than originally planned, due to the pandemic.

“I wanted to go there because of my family heritage. My dad is Guyanese, and my mom is Trinidadian, but our ancestors are from India. Because of colonization, my ancestors were brought from India to the Caribbean to work as indentured servants, but Indian culture is still a big part of our family today,” said Somrah, who now lives in Long Island with his family. This will be his first trip to India. “I wanted to go to the place where it all started.” 

Someday, Somrah hopes to become a U.S. diplomat for the United Nations or a similar organization. He will begin a master’s program in government and politics at St. John’s University next month, starting with remote classes and hopefully transitioning to in-person classes in the fall.

In the meantime, Somrah is still excited about his 2021 trip to India. He said he loves watching Bollywood movies and has been teaching himself Hindi by watching videos and Googling unfamiliar words. He has traveled to Brazil and Cuba through Fordham’s Global Outreach trips, but he’s ready to experience a new, yet familiar culture. 

The last time his family lived on the subcontinent was nearly two centuries ago, he said. 

“I want to learn from the people there, just as much as I’ll be teaching them,” Somrah said.  

Natalie Migliore, FCRH ’20, a journalism major with a minor in communication and culture, won three awards from the New York State Broadcasters Association for her work with WFUV this year. She is also a finalist for four awards: three from the New York State Associated Press and one from the Society of Professional Journalists. 

Her collaborative project “Bronx Connections: When Gun Violence Becomes Personal,” produced by WFUV in partnership with The Norwood News and BronxNet Television, won for outstanding public affairs program or series in two categories from the New York State Broadcasters Association. The five-part series explores how gun violence has impacted the Bronx community. 

Last fall, Migliore interviewed Bronx residents whose lives were changed by gun violence.  

“I talked to one person who was on the other end of a gun, who pulled the trigger. I spoke to one person whose brother actually died from gun violence in his neighborhood … And I talked to another woman who actually became an activist after her 4-year-old grandson got shot in the elbow and survived,” said Migliore. “What I learned from this series is when something impacts your life, and you’re that passionate about it, you can change the community, and you can change the way people think about it.” 

Migliore said she caught the “news bug” when she joined WFUV in her first semester at Fordham. She steadily moved through the ranks, from reporter to news anchor to newsroom student manager. What she loves most about journalism is connecting with people, she said—especially when communities trust her to tell their stories. 

Like many graduating seniors, Migliore is now searching for a job. She says it’s been difficult in the midst of the pandemic, thanks to the hiring freezes at many news organizations across the country. But she’s reporting for WFUV until the end of the semester and writing stories on how COVID-19 is affecting local businesses, health care workers, and college students like herself. And no matter where her career takes her, she wants to continue being a reporter. 

“That’s what all the stories I’ve covered have given me the privilege of seeing,” said Migliore. “I can see through people’s eyes. And I love that.” 

Aamnah Khan, FCLC ’20, a humanitarian studies major and peace and justice studies minor, won a Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. Starting this October, she will participate in projects across multiple sectors in public affairs in New York City. The nine-month fellowship will culminate in a final independent project. 

“I’m excited to get an overview of what our city’s programming looks like and the politics behind it,” said Khan, a Pakistani-American Muslim from Kensington, Brooklyn. “As we continue to move on to the next phase of this pandemic, [I’m sure we’ll see] the effects it’ll have on our city, including the upcoming local 2021 elections.” 

Khan hopes to become a human rights lawyer for a non-profit organization. She said she especially wants to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and intergenerational trauma. 

What fuels her desire to help other people is her family’s own experience with racial discrimination. In the aftermath of 9/11, her father was targeted for his cultural attire. Her extended family has experienced racism, too. 

“During the 2016 presidential elections, my family—my extended family in Ohio—were victims of hate incidents. They [experienced]vandalism. They had an attempted shooting at their mosque,” Khan said. “Because of that, I vowed to never stop fighting for their rights, to stand in solidarity with the rest of the world, and to question when humanity is no longer being preserved.” 

As of May 11, prestigious awards received this year include: 

• With Joshua Somrah, eight Fulbright awards: Mobeen Ahmed, FCLC ’20, to Indonesia; Jonathan Alegria, FCLC ’20, to Israel; Stephen DeFerrari, FCLC ’22, to Tajikistan; Valerie Márquez Edwards, FCRH ’17, to Mexico; Sally Mo, FCLC ’20, to China; Amanda Racine, GSAS ’24, to France; Thomas Zuber, GSAS ’15, to Senegal and Burkina Faso
• Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship: Gregory Ferraro, GSAS ’20, to Cote d’Ivoire
• Goldwater Scholarship: Morgan McGrath, FCRH ’22
• Boren National Security Fellowship: Megan Madeo, GSAS ’21
• Two U.S. Department of State Overseas Summer Internships: Megan Farr, FCRH ’22, to the U.S. Embassy in the Hague, and Ben Guo, GABELLI ’21, to the U.S. Embassy in London
• DAAD RISE (Research Internships in Science and Engineering) in Germany: Alessandra Marino, FCRH ’21
• NYC Urban Fellows Award: Mahbuba Hossain, FCLC ’20
• Critical Language Scholarship: Wilson Cooper, FCLC ’23, Seana Epley, GSAS ’24, Lea Phillips: GSAS ’24
• Technology and Public Purpose Fellowship: Devin Gladden, FCRH ’09
• Patrick Mayrisch, GABELLI ’20 and Peter Jennings, FCRH ’20, received the Department of Defense Cybersecurity Scholarship program (DoD CySP). Upon graduation from the Fordham MS in Cybersecurity program they will go to work for a DoD agency.

Additional awards are still being announced. 

John Alberto, FCRH ’72, GABELLI ’75, retired in May 2016, but he is still surprised when people ask how he fills his time.

“You know, everybody asks people that and, to be honest with you, the calendar is full and it’s hard to pinpoint one thing that you do,” he says. “Babysitting grandchildren, traveling, taking extra classes here and there. It’s amazing how your calendar fills. There’s not enough time in the day to do everything you want to do.”

Over the years, however, Alberto has always found time for his alma mater. A Bronx native, he was drawn to Fordham by its reputation and its proximity to home. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and returned to get an M.B.A. during the 1970s.

He describes himself as a lifelong basketball fan who was fortunate to be at Fordham for the men’s magical 1970–1971 season, in which 29-year-old coach Digger Phelps led the team to a No. 9 season-ending ranking and a trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Since then, Alberto says, he’s been hooked on Fordham hoops. And while he recently gave up his season tickets upon moving to southern New Jersey, he still plans to attend as many home games as possible—and to continue supporting the Rams in other ways.

In 2008, he established an endowed scholarship to benefit women athletes at Fordham. The Catherine Alberto Scholarship Fund—named in honor of his mother, who died in December 2017 at the age of 105—speaks both to Alberto’s interest in philanthropy and his passion for Fordham sports.

“The female student-athlete tends be left behind a little bit and not as highlighted as much as the male student-athlete,” he says. “I just thought it’d be a really nice thing for the rower and the runner and those [playing]sports besides basketball and softball, to provide some financial assistance for those folks, too. They put in a lot of time.”

In addition to establishing the scholarship, Alberto has been a donor to both the men’s and women’s basketball programs, as well as the softball program. He is a member of the Maroon Club, which recognizes alumni, parents, and friends who support Fordham University’s athletics programs, and is a member of the President’s Council, attending networking events, giving guest lectures, and leading classes on leadership as a mentor to students.

The reason Alberto stays so involved with his alma mater?

“Fordham is more than just an academic institution that teaches you the fundamentals of the particular academic discipline,” he explains. “[It gives you] a value system that allows you to operate within society and strive for excellence in everything that you do, but also to have a deep caring for others and … fight for justice.”

That focus on helping others is what drove Alberto in his career in human resources, most recently at Combe, where he worked for 20 years before retiring as a senior vice president. The family-run business, which is based in White Plains, New York, owns personal care brands like Just for Men, Grecian Formula, and Brylcreem.

“At Combe, the family has the same values that I had learned at Fordham,” he says. “[People] would always ask, ‘Well, what’s the profit goal for the year?’ And our answer was always, ‘That’s not why we’re in business. We’re in business because we want to make you help that person next to you have as good a life as we can possibly provide.’”

And at Fordham, Alberto notes, “You come away with a real sense that success is really not about your title, or how much money you’ve made, or if you have access to the movers and shakers of the world, and so on. It’s really what you’ve actually done with that [access], and helping those people that have the least and need the most help.”

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?
Probably three things. Number one, my grandchildren. Number two, I love Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels. I can’t read enough of them. And then my third passion is Fordham basketball.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best piece of advice I ever received was from a business mentor who used a quote from William James: “Act as if what you do makes a difference.” And that resonated with me. It helps you think through the little acts of kindness and those things.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
Oh, my favorite place in the city is Broadway and the theater district. I am fascinated with not only actors and singers and musicians but artists and people that create, and the process that they go through to actually create things.

My favorite place in the world is Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s a great city. It’s a walking city. It’s an international city. It’s just a wonderful place to be.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I read a book a couple of years ago called Evicted written by a Harvard sociologist named Matthew Desmond. And he basically, over several years, followed the lives of landlords and tenants in some of the poorer neighborhoods in Milwaukee. And he showed how the lack of affordable housing can cause so many struggling Americans to fall deeper into poverty, job loss, the lack of health care. It all just keeps pushing people down and they can’t get out of that cycle. And when you’re paying 60, 70, 80% of your income for rent, you can see how you’re going to lose your home, an apartment, or whatever it is. If you have children, how that all then changes everything. And you can’t be a person that’s been raised in the Fordham values and not have that affect you and influence you in some way.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
Well, there’s a number of them, but I have to say Father McShane is the person I admire the most. He never fails to inspire when he speaks—and reminds us always of the mission of the University and the mission of those new graduates and older alumni.

Gianna Migliorisi has worked in tech for more than a decade, but until last spring, she didn’t realize just how unwelcoming the industry could be for women.

“My entire career I was walking around, oblivious, thinking that I was no different from any of my male colleagues, that every other woman in technology was treated with the same respect and equality that I had been fortunate enough to encounter in the workplace,” she wrote in a post on Medium.

Her epiphany came at the 2018 Women of Silicon Valley conference in San Francisco, where she heard stories of female software engineers who had to work harder than their male counterparts in order to gain approval, or sometimes, even to get in the door. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, only 26% of professional computing jobs in the 2018 U.S. workforce were held by women, and only 20% of Fortune 500 chief information officer (CIO) positions were held by women in 2018.

The conference was such an eye-opener for her, she says, because she has always felt supported in her academic and career choices.

“I didn’t really appreciate how important it is for women in a science field to be recognized, because there are not many of us,” she says.

The Brooklyn native not only grew up with parents who both worked in the sciences—her mother is a scientist who taught anatomy to medical and nursing students, and her father is a pharmacist—but she also received a great deal of encouragement from faculty at Fordham.

During her sophomore year, computer science professor Robert Moniot, Ph.D., nominated her for a Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship for women in the sciences. The award gave her the financial support to enroll in Fordham’s dual-degree program in computer science. She began taking graduate-level courses as an undergraduate, and earned her master’s degree in 2008.

While finishing her master’s, Migliorisi began working at National Grid, the utilities company. She later joined HBO, where she was part of the team that launched the HBO Go app, and worked at a software company before joining Discovery Inc. in August 2015. As a senior director of technical product management, she works with engineers to build features and products for the company’s streaming apps, including those for TLC and Animal Planet.

Her professional success, and the experience she had at the Women in Silicon Valley Conference, has led Migliorisi to try to make sure she creates an environment in which other women can succeed.

“I’ve been making a conscious effort to try to be more supportive of [my women colleagues’]particular struggles,” she says. “I definitely make it more of a priority now to hire more women and make sure I look around to make sure other people are hiring more women.”

Migliorisi knows she was fortunate to find at Fordham an environment where she felt supported and could develop her skills and confidence.

“[My professors] never discouraged me from anything and never made me feel like I wasn’t capable of doing this job or learning,” she says. “They were super helpful, especially when you needed that extra effort, and they had a genuine interest in your success. I had a really, really good experience.”

Beyond academics, Migliorisi was a member of the Commuting Students Association, an orientation leader and orientation coordinator, and a member of the Senior Week Committee.

“As a commuter, I wanted to feel like I had a connection to my school and make sure that other commuters had that connection, too,” she says. “Fordham did a great job of catering to commuting students and making resources and activities available for them to be a part of.”

That positive experience has led Migliorisi to stay involved with Fordham however she can, from donating to attending events.

“Really, I had such a wonderful experience there that I definitely believe in giving back to a place that I feel like shaped me as a person.”

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?

This is hard because I get excited about a lot of things … but I feel like I’m most passionate about making others happy. I bake a lot, which relieves stress for me, but I bake things and bring them to work because it makes everyone so happy. Little things like that. Saying thank you for something small, buying someone some flowers to cheer them up … giving hugs … organizing happy hours. Everyone works really hard, and I like to make sure they know they’re appreciated, so it makes me happy to make others happy.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“No one wants to mess with something that’s working.” My manager always reminds me of that when there is a lot of change going on in the workplace, and when certain changes can lead to uncertainty. Change isn’t easy, and when the future is uncertain, it makes it harder sometimes to concentrate and do your job. Remembering to just do your best and keep focusing on your mission will help you navigate the waters of change, and most of the time, bad change won’t come your way if things are going in the right direction.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?

How do you pick one place in New York City? I think anywhere there’s a spot of green in NYC is my favorite place. There’s nothing like hanging out at Bryant Park on a nice summer afternoon. In the world: Anywhere where there’s a beach with nice warm water is my happy place.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, has had a huge influence on me, particularly as a leader in a work environment. It teaches you to take ownership of everything, including the mistakes of a team. If you’re a leader, and your team is underperforming, it’s not their fault, it’s yours. You as a leader, no matter what situation you are in, have an obligation to the people you lead—to build trust, encourage, and inspire them. If someone on your team fails, it’s because you failed in some way. Never misplace the blame; always own your mistakes.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?

Professor Stuart Sherman in the English department. I absolutely hated English classes, and English professors didn’t like me that much. I was never very good at analyzing things from a creative perspective (I’m a logical thinker) and my writing wasn’t amazing. Professor Sherman took the time to help me be a better writer. He taught his courses with so much passion and love and enthusiasm, it was infectious. He made me love a course I absolutely hated, and in my mind, that is the mark of an amazing teacher. I may not remember everything I learned in his classes, but I remember him for his energy and his kind heart and his love for teaching.

As of May 9, Fordham students have received 81 prestigious awards this year, including seven Fulbright awards, one Coro fellowship, and one Udall scholarship.

Wesley Wilson, PCS ’19, received a full-tuition scholarship to attend the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, home to one of the most prestigious public administration programs in the country. But life wasn’t always so smooth for Wilson. At age 16, he became an orphan. On top of that, he had a high school G.P.A. of 1.6. Then his mother’s longtime friend stepped in.

“‘Your mother always believed that you would be the first one in the family to graduate from college,’” Wilson said, recalling her words to him. “At that point, it just kind of … set something in motion.”

He earned his high school diploma, served as a U.S. Army military police officer in South Korea and at the United States Military Academy at West Point for five years, and graduated with honors from American Military University. In 2017, he began studying organizational leadership at Fordham. In his two years at the University, he has served as president of the Fordham Veterans Association, rallied support for student veterans as a High Ground Veterans Advocacy fellow, and secured a national finalist position for the Student Veteran of the Year award.

When Wilson completes his M.P.A. at Syracuse, he plans on returning to his native South Carolina, where he hopes to someday serve as a senior official in the state government.

Sabrina Jen, FCLC ’19, is a new media and digital design major who won the Humanity in Action Fellowship. The selective one-year program trains students to develop projects that address social justice issues in their own communities. Jen will train in Poland for a month starting this June. When she returns to New York, she plans to use her new skills to create a museum exhibit that will showcase her Fordham senior capstone project.

“My capstone project was about addressing the perception of Chinese food among American people in the United States,” Jen explained. “People look down on it and treat it as cheap junk food. My parents are from Taiwan, and I’m ethnically Chinese, so growing up, my idea of Chinese food was a lot different from that.”

But her project wasn’t just about food. It was a vehicle to talk about the complexities of Chinese-American experiences and the Chinese diaspora across the world, she said.

“My ultimate goal is for New York City public schools to be able to teach more about Chinese-American immigration and history,” said Jen, who will pursue a master’s degree in ethics and society at Fordham this fall while working on her fellowship.

Rosalyn Kutsch, FCRH ’19, won a Fulbright fellowship to teach English and Model United Nations to high school students in Madrid for almost a year.

Kutsch is a double major in international political economy and Latin American and Latino studies and a Spanish minor. As an executive board member in Fordham’s Model U.N. club, she helped the University host its first high school Model U.N. conference at the Lincoln Center campus. Last summer, she interned with the State Department. And two years ago, she earned a Fordham undergraduate research grant that took her to Guatemala, where she investigated the interaction between indigenous artisans and different social enterprises.

“I’ve become more attracted to this idea of sustainable development: the ability to increase economic opportunity and equality in countries through interesting and innovative solutions,” said Kutsch, who plans to become a consultant or researcher in the field.

As of May 9, other prestigious awards won this year include:

• In addition to Rosalyn Kutsch, six Fulbright awards: Matthew Cappetta, FCRH ’19, to Nepal; Kevin Curran, FCRH ’15, to the Czech Republic; Kayla Matteucci, FCLC ’18, to the United Kingdom; Kevin Morales, FCLC ’17, to Russia; Jane Winsett, GSS ’19, to Kosovo; and Shelda Zajmi, FCRH ’19, to Germany
• Two U.S. Department of State Overseas Summer Internships: Hannah Fort, GSAS ’20, to the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, and Natasia Harrison, GSAS ’20, to the U.S. Embassy in the People’s Republic of China
• Two Critical Language Scholarships: Briana Boland, FCLC ’19, and Stephen DeFerrari, FCLC ’20
• One Udall Scholarship: Colleen Cochran, FCRH ’21
• One Coro Fellowship: Anya Patterson, FCRH ’19
• One National Science Foundation Fellowship: Micah Savin, first-year doctoral student at GSAS

Additional awards are still being announced. 

For the students, it was a chance to express gratitude toward the people who helped make their education a reality. Thanks in part to their generosity, Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid is less than $10 million away from reaching its $175 million goal. And for the donors, the evening offered an opportunity to hear from the students whose lives were changed by their gifts.   

“It is through your giving that a difference is made in the lives of our scholars,” John R. Costantino, GABELLI ’67, LAW ’70, said to the donors in the University Club’s Main Dining Room. Then he and his wife thanked the younger guests—the students who had become more than just “scholarship recipients.”

“We have been to [their]  graduations, weddings, christenings, and had the good fortune to watch our scholars grow, mature, and succeed,” said Barbara Costantino. “In many ways, this is an extension of our family.”

A Dream Made Reality

This year’s student speaker was Elena Comas Wood, FCRH ’21, the recipient of the Jane M. Flaherty Scholarship. Today, Wood is a political science major and Arabic minor from San Antonio, Texas, who plans to pursue a career in public policy. But when she was a child, she had a different idea.

“I first declared my intention to be president at only 5 years old,” Wood said, to laughter from the audience. “This dream—the dream to be a catalyst for meaningful change—was born in my pre-K classroom where, between lessons on the alphabet and finger painting, my very first teacher taught us about India’s independence movement, the civil rights movement, and environmental activism.”

As she grew, so did her passion for public service. In high school, she served as under-secretary-general of external affairs at one of the largest student-led Model United Nations conferences in the country. Today, as a second-generation Mexican American, she mentors Latina middle school students through Fordham’s Club Amigas/Mentoring Latinas program. And last summer, as a policy intern for Texas State Representative Diego Bernal, she watched two of her policy memorandums become house bills to help homeless and hearing-impaired students.

“Representative Bernal frequently joked that they only brought me onto the team because he always wanted to go to Fordham,” Wood said. “But in all seriousness, it was Fordham’s widely recognized reputation for social interest, along with its network of professors, administrators, and alumni, that made each of those opportunities possible.”

There was one more “instrumental” factor: the Jane M. Flaherty Scholarship.

“Earlier this year, my parents and I had a frank discussion about whether or not I would be able to finish my undergraduate degree at Fordham,” Wood said. “I am quite literally in front of you today, a Fordham student, thanks to the Flaherty Scholarship. It is because of you that I do not have to choose between affordability and my dreams.”

The Woman Behind the Scholarship

Jane M. Flaherty, who passed away last February at age 71, never attended Fordham. But she had great love for the University.

“She spent a lot of time here with me while we were dating, before we got married,” said her husband James P. (Jim) Flaherty, FCRH ’69, a Fordham trustee. “We got engaged the night of our senior prom.”

Jane Flaherty was a native New Yorker who was devoted to her husband, children, and 10 grandchildren. She was proud of her Catholic education, and the education her husband received at Fordham. There were two University events she really loved, said her husband: the annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at the University Church and this scholarship reception.

“They would give her a table, but they’d have 10 people around it, and she’d be surrounded. And I would just leave, ’cause I wasn’t serving any purpose,” Jim said, smiling as he recalled the memory.

For Jane, it was always a delight to speak with her scholars face-to-face at the annual reception.

“When I meet my students, I’m filled with joy,” Jane Flaherty said at the 2016 event. “It’s like I’m meeting my children.”

Finding Fellowship in STEM and Life

Mary Jane F. McCartney, TMC ’69, has met many student scholars. But Sophie Cote was the first one who Googled her before they met in person.

“I discovered that at Con Ed, she was the first female in like four different high-level positions, and I just think that’s the coolest thing ever,” gushed Cote, a first-year math and economics student at Fordham College at Rose Hill interested in the technology and energy sectors. “And this is really similar to what I want to do with my career.”

Cote isn’t a recipient of any of McCartney’s scholarships. She is a Cunniffe Presidential Scholar who was impressed by McCartney’s resume and met her at the reception.

McCartney also spoke with one of her scholarship recipients, Rodolfo Keesey, FCRH ’20, an integrative neuroscience student whose research includes gene expression and 3D printed prosthetic hands. A few weeks ago, McCartney and Keesey first met at the Rose Hill undergraduate research symposium. Recently, she helped him secure an undergraduate research grant for this summer, he said.

“We’re all STEM people,” Keesey said, turning toward Cote and McCartney. “It’s great!”

A few paces away, Bob and Sue Stone, PAR ’15, were engrossed in conversation with the recipient of their scholarship, Robert Magrino—a Gabelli School of Business junior studying business administration.

“We come to this event every year. Rather than writing a check, which is easy to do in terms of time, coming here is a chance to find out where the money is going and if it’s helping,” Bob Stone said. “And clearly, it is.”

“The way they were talking to me, they made it seem like I could go to J.P. Morgan or Morgan Stanley,” Magrino said in a private conversation. “Hopefully, that will come true.”

A Toast to Fordham

As the evening drew to a close, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, lifted his glass and announced a three-part toast.

“I propose a toast first to the students, whose hopes give us great joy, who point us to the future and make us smile and make us young again,” he said. “To the young saints.”

“Hear, hear,” the audience answered.

Father McShane dedicated his second toast to the “mature saints” who make it possible for the young saints to shine. His final toast, however, was for the 178-year-old institution that had brought them all together.

“That place where talent is tested, character is nurtured, and hope is born in every generation,” Father McShane said, raising his glass to the sculpted ceiling. “To Fordham.”

“To Fordham,” they echoed.  

That was the year that Kawa, GABELLI ’65, moved into Queen’s Court on the Rose Hill campus. There, he met Patrick Rogers, Joseph Furfaro, Frank Ferro, and Quentin Lauer II, all of whom would graduate with him four years later from the Gabelli School of Business.

Fifty-eight years later, Kawa is paving the way for future students to follow in their footsteps. After making a $1.5 million gift in 2014 to support the information and media technology center at Hughes Hall, the Rose Hill home to the Gabelli School, Kawa funded a scholarship for Gabelli School undergraduates with a $150,000 gift. At a 2015 ceremony during Kawa’s 50th anniversary Jubilee in which the center was named for him, he beseeched his classmates to follow his example.

“I said, ‘I want to do one every year, for as long as God lets me live.’ And Father McShane said, I’m going to say a prayer right now that you live a very long life, Jack,’” he recalled, laughing.

Kawa has lived up to his vow; since the initial scholarship he created, he has funded four more for Gabelli School students. He’s added a twist though: These scholarships bear both his name and those of Rogers, Furfaro, Ferro, and Lauer.

In addition, the Kawa/Furfaro scholarship is in memory of Joseph Sutera, the Kawa/Ferro scholarship is in memory of Michael Collins, and the Kawa/Lauer scholarship is in memory of Rich Kelly.

In creating the scholarships, Kawa, a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, who made his career as a stock analyst specializing in transportation companies, said he wanted to celebrate the lifelong friendships he witnessed and inspire others to honor their friends in the same way.

“Although I like to see my name in print, if you see your name five to 10 times in a row for a scholarship, it’s a little much,” he said. “I thought, why not highlight some of the students who made Fordham what it is today?”

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the Gabelli School, said gifts like Kawa’s are at the heart of the school’s drive to be a center for “business with purpose,” particularly as it prepares to celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2020 and as the close of University’s Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid draws near.

“Scholarships provide an essential opportunity to create diversity of thought in our classroom,” she said. “Jack’s generosity is unique in that it honors others, and it’s also significant that he’s targeted it toward scholarships, which are essential for us to attract and retain a talented student body.”

Although he was close to Rogers and they stayed friends after graduation, Kawa said he didn’t have a lot of time for socializing on campus. He worked during his junior year at the library, and in his senior year he manned gas pumps along the Major Deegan Expressway from 8 p.m. to midnight.

“That took me out of a lot of campus activities. If I look back at it again, I wouldn’t have done that. I should have stayed on campus, and participated more. But that’s the past,” he said.

Touched and Honored

Rogers, who roomed with Kawa his first year and a half at Fordham and still talks over the phone with him daily, said it was poignant to be named in a scholarship as he himself benefited from one.

“I don’t really care about the immortalization; I’m not going to be around to see it, and that’s OK. I just think that that this is something other people might have never thought of, and they might think, ‘That’s something I could do,’” he said.

It’s also fitting that Ferro and Collins are named in the scholarships, Rogers said, as he vividly recalls he and Kawa facing off against them in bridge games over the years.

“I still play today. My doctor tells me it’s a way to keep my mind sharp. One of my fondest memories is me and Jack together, playing bridge,” Rogers said.

For Ferro, Kawa’s idea was a surprise. Although he remembers the bridge games and playing with Kawa on a club football team that nearly beat the upper-class team in a game on Edwards Parade their first year, he said Kawa had drifted away from the campus social scene by senior year. He’d heard Kawa was funding scholarships, but didn’t give it much thought.

“Then out of the blue, I get a call from Jack. He led off with, ‘You don’t have to do anything. I’m going to do everything. I’m going to finance this totally myself.’”

When Kawa said he wanted to honor Collins, Ferro said he was extremely touched. Ferro and Collins were roommates for four years, and Collins would have been the best man in his wedding had he not been drafted for service in the Vietnam War. He died recently of brain cancer. “He still appears in my dreams regularly,” Ferro said.

“My senior year, the apartment we shared on 193rd Street and Webster Ave was a social center of the university. We threw parties that started at 6:30 and ended at 6:30. It was just astonishing, and Collins was a big part of that. So, it was a good gesture on Jack’s part,” he said.

‘Connections, Connections, Connections’

Furfaro was closer to Kawa, and had him in his wedding party in 1965. He too was touched when Kawa said he wanted to dedicate a scholarship to Joseph Sutera, who’d been Furfaro’s best man in his wedding. Sutera died suddenly on a business trip when he was just 50.

“I had lunch with Joe’s widow, and she was just so touched that Joe’s classmates would remember him. Jack touched the hearts of the whole Sutera family by making this in memory of Joe,” he said. “Joe’s daughter is my goddaughter. So there all of these connections, connections, connections. I think it just brings more of the Fordham family into the picture.”

Furfaro recalled that at the 2015 Jubilee, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told them that their story is “the Fordham story.” He also made a small contribution to the scholarship, to show his support.

“What Jack is doing is enhancing the Fordham story amongst all of his classmates,” Furfaro said.

Like Ferro, Lauer wasn’t the closest to Kawa. But he noted that back then, commuter students outnumbered residential students, so there was a natural bond between those who lived on campus. Rich Kelly, who he lived with for four years and who is honored on the scholarship with Lauer’s name, was from Jamaica, and when Lauer and his wife honeymooned there, Rich and his family arranged everything for their visit, he said.

Although Kawa, who retired as senior vice president of Dean Witter Reynolds in 1997, said he regrets not spending more time on campus, he said the education he received set him on a path to an extremely successful career.

“I was a bear with numbers. What I learned in accounting was invaluable for what I did on Wall Street,” he said.

Jamie Wang, a junior majoring in accounting, is the first recipient of the first scholarship that Kawa created. In a letter she wrote thanking Kawa, Wang, who transferred from Baruch College in 2017, noted that her mother had pressed her to consider transferring to a public college rather than Fordham.

“This scholarship, as well as my hard work I’ve put in since transferring, has convinced her to allow me to continue my education in my dream school and work towards a degree in my desired career,” she said.

“I want to thank you for your generous contribution. It has made it possible for me to continue my education here at Fordham.”

Stories like Wang’s are what inspire Kawa to give.

“Fordham is number one on my hit parade, and I like the scholarship idea, because you’re giving money to kids who couldn’t theoretically go without any financial help. In addition, the scholarships that can be set up to honor classmates and their friendships will last forever.”

“I can’t think in the face of you telling me who you think I am, with your loud self and your loud eyes and your loud guilt,” she says to Cabell, who is white. “I can’t hear myself think.” She then turns, comes down from the stage, and starts speaking directly to the audience.

It’s a charged moment in the play. And it’s all scripted. What starts out as a sitcom-like family drama becomes an exploration of race and the white gaze. Boateng played Keisha, the youngest member of the Fraser family, who calls out the white audience members for being complicit. “Do I have to keep talking to the white people?” she says, looking to the faces of color in the audience. “Do I have to tell them that I want them to make space for us?”

The monologue was written by Drury, but because Boateng was delivering the lines so frankly every night, she would have to field the audience’s reactions in the moment, from confusion to discomfort to outright anger. She recalls during one performance, when she asked those questions, a white audience member shot back, “Well, why would you want to keep talking to them?” When Boateng didn’t answer him, he said, “Oh, you’re going to keep talking over me. This is a monologue, it’s not a dialogue.” Boateng then went slightly off-script, she says. Without breaking character, she spoke a stern line to the man and continued with her speech.

Her grace under pressure got the attention of artists and critics. In his review for The New York Times, chief theater critic Ben Brantley called the play “dazzling and ruthless,” and wrote, “Ms. Boateng also winds up with the heaviest acting duties, and she executes them with unblinking, confrontational clarity.”

The play’s two-month run ended in August, and since then, Boateng has been keeping busy—shooting a recurring role on a Netflix television show in the city (she can’t say much about it until the show’s premiere in 2019) and finding more stage work.

“I’m the person who always gave myself challenges,” she says over coffee one November afternoon in the lobby cafe at the Signature Theatre, where she was in rehearsal for a revival of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. (The show runs at the Signature from November 19 to January 6.) Even when she was young, Boateng says, “I would throw myself into the things that scared me.”

It was her bold performance in Fairview that got the attention of Fabulation director, the Obie-winning Lileana Blain-Cruz. “It’s been wonderful working with her,” Blain-Cruz wrote in an email. “She has a joyous spirit and she radiates on stage. Fabulation requires the actors to take on several roles, and MaYaa has done that with specificity and nuance.”

“There’s Room for Us”

With her current projects, like with Fairview, she is pushing herself out of her comfort zone. Which is how she got herself into the arts in the first place.

Boateng grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland, where got her first exposure to performance through stepping. “I joined this Christian performance group with the initiative to give inner-city youth something positive to look forward to, to keep them out of trouble,” she explains. That taste of performance led Boateng to audition for a local performing arts middle school. She got in, and then for high school, she attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Boateng credits the arts for giving her direction and purpose. Growing up in an area where “crime and violence were prevalent,” the world of performance was “a safe home for me,” she explains. Even now, when Boateng goes home to Maryland, she is met with excitement and awe from family and friends. Being a working artist, “it’s unheard of where I’m from,” she says. She tries to go home as much as she can, to show those in her hometown who aren’t always represented in entertainment that “they can do that too. There’s room for us.”

“A Reminder That I Am on the Right Path”

At Fordham, besides majoring in theater, Boateng took classes in sociology and philosophy. She credits the school’s well-rounded core curriculum to making her a “multifaceted artist,” she says. “What I learned is that I can pull from all those experiences and use them for the stage. Being a full person makes you a better artist.” At the start of her senior year, Boateng was named the inaugural recipient of an endowed scholarship established by Fordham alumnus Denzel Washington, FCLC ’77, “a reminder,” she says, “that I am on the right path.”

After graduation, Boateng’s first professional gig was in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s July 2013 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was educational because up to that point, she hadn’t done Shakespeare before. Obviously, she had a knack for it. In summer 2017, after earning an M.F.A. in acting at New York University, she played the Soothsayer in Julius Caesar at Shakespeare in the Park, a controversial production in which Caesar was dressed to resemble President Donald Trump.

The show was met by protesters, who occasionally rushed the stage. While it was a scary experience, Boateng says it made her realize she wasn’t going to be satisfied doing work solely within the traditional theatrical paradigm, where the fourth wall can be unyielding and “oppressive,” and audiences have to be quiet. Theatergoers may have been angry at her and her castmates during Julius Caesar and Fairview, but that just meant the work moved them.

“It was exciting to know that this is what theater can do,” she says. “I don’t think people should come to the theater just to watch and go home. If you’re shook a little bit, that’s good.”

“Use Your Experience for Ammunition, and for Empowerment”

The projects that attract Boateng are usually things that are unpredictable. “I want to do work that is exciting,” she says emphatically. “That is bold, that pushes the mold, that doesn’t allow folks to be comfortable, that is about revolution. That gives voice to marginalized folks and says, ‘We exist, we’re here, we’ve been here, and we have stories to tell.’”

And Boateng wants to tell her own story too. She is currently working on a solo show, which recently had a workshop presentation at Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, where she was a resident artist. In the show, she talks about her life in relation to that of singer, actor, and activist Eartha Kitt. She explains that Kitt’s given name was actually Eartha Mae, and the late Kitt considered Mae to be a separate persona.

The notion of masks and different selves fascinates Boateng, whose given name is Yaa, which means “born on Thursday.” As a child in school, she says she felt some shame about her name because her classmates would tease her about it. She wanted to have an American name instead, but her mother, a Ghanaian immigrant, encouraged her to “love the name I was given.”

“She said they can call you Yaa, or MaameYaa, or MaYaa for short, but you are not changing your name,” Boateng recalls. “She taught me the full meaning of my name: MaYaa Amoakowaa Boateng. Amoakowaa can be translated as ‘one who fights,’ and so my mother taught me that I am that little lady born on Thursday who is a fighter.”

Boateng’s solo show, she explains, is about “learning to embrace who I am and where I come from. It’s about coming to a place where you accept the fullness of who you are. And you use your experience for ammunition, and for empowerment.”

So far, part of her experience may have been to make audiences and herself uncomfortable, but through it, Boateng found something valuable: herself.

“When I go into predominantly white spaces, it’s not always that easy to have that voice and to have that command,” she admits. “But I now have courage in my voice as a person of color, saying my voice is important, and I have a lot to offer, I have a lot to say.”

—Diep Tran is the senior editor of American Theatre magazine.

It was the beginning, however, of a legendary career in broadcast journalism—one that includes award-winning coverage of the most pressing events and issues of our time, from civil rights to the Vietnam War to the fall of the Soviet Union to cybersecurity. When he left ABC News after 42 years—including 26 as anchor and managing editor of Nightline—Koppel was the most honored reporter ever to serve the network. He’s garnered 42 Emmys, including one for lifetime achievement.

Koppel’s personal academic association with Fordham may have been brief, but his wife completed her undergraduate degree at Fordham. Grace Anne Dorney Koppel earned a bachelor’s degree from the University’s Undergraduate School of Education in 1960. She later went on to Stanford University and Georgetown Law. “Her memories of Fordham are radiant and sunny,” said Koppel. “She loved it dearly.”

The couple delivered a joint keynote address at the University’s 2003 commencement ceremony, where they were each presented with an honorary doctorate. And earlier this year, they made a gift to establish the Grace Anne Dorney Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fordham. “I’m glad that it is named after my dear wife,” said Koppel, “and I’m glad young people will benefit from it.”

On Nov. 7, WFUV, Fordham’s public media station, will honor Koppel with the Charles Osgood Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, named for one of his first colleagues during his ABC Radio days.

Koppel recently spoke with Fordham News about the upcoming award, college radio stations, and the ever-present need for objective journalism.

You have won so many journalism awards. What does it mean to you to receive an award named for Charles Osgood?

It’s sort of a lovely squaring of the circle. Charlie and I began at ABC Radio I believe on the same day in 1963. I sat behind him.

He and I tried very hard to create a morning show for ABC Television. We thought if we could succeed in starting one, maybe he and I could do the news cut-ins. We went and talked to a fellow by the name of Dave Garroway [founding host of NBC’s Today from 1952 to 1961]. He was incredibly famous in his day. We approached him and asked him if he would like to be the host of our program, and to our great joy and amazement, he said yes.

We got a hearing with the ABC vice president in charge of programming, and he claimed to be quite impressed by the program idea. And then we said, and we’ve got Dave Garroway to host.

He said, “So what, so you got Garroway. If I want John Wayne, I’ll get John Wayne.” The message was clear, that talent was something that you bought.

The long and short of it is that Charlie and I failed in our effort. But somehow here we are, 55 years later, back again.

WFUV does such a wonderful job training young journalists—how important is that hands-on training for reporters? Did you have any hands-on training yourself?

I probably spent more hours working at WAER, which was the Syracuse University FM student-run station, than I did in any of my classes. I’m a huge fan of student radio stations. I’m really thrilled that Charlie is the sponsor of this award and that both he and I got our starts with student radio stations and are both huge fans.

Was there a story you did at your college station that stuck with you?

My biggest deal was I managed to get a student visa to go to the Soviet Union. This was in 1959, at a time when it was very tough for Americans to even get into the Soviet Union. And I came back and put together a radio documentary that ran on WAER that makes me cringe when I hear it today, but I thought it was hot stuff at the time.

Must have been quite an experience traveling there as a young college student.

It really was. There was a very famous event that took place at a U.S. trade fair in Moscow in 1959. The Americans had put up a model U.S. house with a very modern American kitchen. And there was what came to be known as the Kitchen Debate between the then-vice president of the U.S., Richard Nixon, and [the Soviet leader,]Nikita Khrushchev. It took place just a couple of weeks before I got there.

I remember coming out of that house and I was wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows. I started interviewing people, and I was immediately surrounded by a huge crowd of Russians, and one of them turned the tables on me and started interviewing me.

He said, “So, could your father afford this house?” I said, “Well, yeah.” As I recall, the house was about $39,000. He said, “So your father is so rich that he could afford this house?” I said, “Well, yeah, you don’t need to be that rich, but yes.” And he knew he had me. He said, “Well, if your father is so rich, why do you have leather patches on your jacket?”

So much has changed, but in many ways so much of what’s important about being a good journalist has remained the same. What are the traits that good journalists need that go beyond technical training?

It’s hard to talk about that without sounding critical of what’s happened to a lot of journalism today. I think it’s become much too personal. There’s far more opinion being expressed than I was accustomed to 30, 40, 50 years ago. And that ends up creating the kinds of rivalries and nastiness that we have in America today.

Much of that is due to the fact that we live in the age of the internet. These days anyone with a laptop computer has the capacity to reach out to thousands of people or even millions of people, depending on how attractive that work is perceived to be. And the level of attractiveness is not necessarily a function of accuracy but rather a function of what stimulates interest. Unfortunately, the more outrageous a story is, the more interest it tends to stimulate.

Good journalism requires an ability to be dispassionate, and an ability to search after facts, and not necessarily an ability or inclination to express emotions or opinions.

There is, I fear, less and less of that today, because of the internet and the economics of journalism. Sending reporters all around the world to cover international news is very expensive. Having reporters do deep investigative journalism is very expensive. Putting a bunch of people around a desk and having them yell at each other is very cheap, and it can be amusing and entertaining. The cable networks in particular, who have 24 hours a day to fill, do a lot more of that than they do of the reporting.

Lastly, a more personal question. In a recent interview for CBS Sunday Morning, you talked with Ms. Dorney Koppel about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was diagnosed with COPD 17 years ago, and the two of you have been advocates for the 30 million Americans whom it affects. What was it like to interview your wife? 

It was tough on a number of grounds. Number one, I know her so well that I knew what the answers were. Number two, she knows me so well that she knew what all the questions were. And number three, it’s something that both of us care about profoundly. When you’re talking about an incurable disease in someone whom you love very deeply, it’s hard to maintain objectivity there. I didn’t even pretend to maintain objectivity on that story.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Nicole LaRosa.

Koppel will be honored at the WFUV On the Record event on Nov. 7, along with Yankees announcer Michael Kay, FCRH ’82, who will receive the Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting, and two student journalists.

“I knew I wanted to be in the city,” says the New Jersey native. “I grew up Baptist, so the whole Jesuit thing was new to me. But I always felt I should be a man ‘for and with others,’” he says, citing one of the central tenets of Jesuit education. “That helped me connect to it and opened my mind. Now I can view issues from a variety of perspectives.”

Glenn, who majored in communications with a concentration in film, is now using that skill in his role as a business development coordinator at a New York City law firm.

As a member of the Young Alumni Committee, he’s also helping people who graduated in the past 10 years stay connected to the University. “I’m passionate about keeping our young alumni base strong so that, when we get to Golden Ram status, we can look back on this journey and see that Fordham has remained in our lives,” he says. In his role on the group’s philanthropy subcommittee, he focuses on encouraging his fellow graduates to help the next generation of Rams by supporting scholarships and financial aid.

“Had it not been for the 9/11 Scholarship, I would not have received a Fordham education,” says Glenn, whose father, Harry, an assistant vice president at Marsh & McLennan, was killed in the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. “So I know the importance of scholarship—whatever it looks like, in any shape or form,” he told Fordham News in 2016. “That’s why giving back is such a big thing.”

Glenn also represents his fellow recent grads as the youngest member of the Fordham University Alumni Association Advisory Board, where he volunteers with the lifelong learning task force. “Fordham alumni are always trying to learn and enrich their minds,” Glenn says, “so we want to find better ways to engage them as they do that.”

“I think it’s incumbent upon me to give back in any way I can, whether it be time, resources, or enhancing the Fordham experience in some other way,” he says.

Which is why Glenn also joined Fordham’s new multicultural alumni affinity chapter, MOSAIC. “We want to be a resource for alumni and students in any way we can,” Glenn says of the budding group. “We want to build that community.”

On June 7, Glenn attended the Block Party at Lincoln Center, which this year featured a celebration of the first 50 years of Fordham College at Lincoln Center. Glenn particularly enjoys seeing people across generations and classes at the annual event. “Of course I love my class,” he says, “but it it’s always great seeing people who were seniors when I was a freshman, to catch up with lots of people and hear about what has changed.”

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?
Continuing to learn, helping others learn and enhance themselves, striving for more, and never really settling—it’s that Fordham value of magis.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
That’s a tricky one. But I think it’s what Father McShane said in his speech at our graduation. He broke it down into three parts. Never forget where you came from; love them and thank them for supporting you. Never forget where you went to school; never forget the relationships you developed and all you learned. And matter; be somebody in the world who makes a difference and an impact. I’ve especially taken that last one to heart. I think that’s one of the reasons I stay connected to Fordham, because I want to matter to Fordham. I want to make an impact there and hopefully in the greater global community.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
In the city it has to be the Central Park Reservoir. At the end of every semester at Fordham, I would take a walk to the reservoir and use it as an opportunity to reflect on the semester and all my accomplishments, and also to think about what I could improve on. It’s such an interesting place because of the contrast. It’s so quiet in the middle of Manhattan. I find that fascinating and quite calming also.

In the world, this is a little cheesy, but it would have to be Walt Disney World. My bucket list is to visit every Disney park in the world. Some of my favorite memories with my father were going to Disney World, and the last vacation we had was there. That’s also part of the reason I wanted to come to school in the city. He was from New York and obviously worked here, so that was a deeper connection to him.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I have two. The first is a nonfiction book called Racecraft, which is by sisters Barbara and Karen Fields. It’s about racism in America, but the way they talk about it is so fascinating, and I had never really thought about it that way. Their main thesis is that most people believe that race comes first and racism follows, but they invert that and say that racism is an action that produces race. It’s a small change but it has tremendous repercussions. I share the book with anybody who will listen to me talk about it.

The second is The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by Father James Martin. The way he takes Jesuit values and puts them in real-life situations … he has the answers. It really is the guide to almost everything. I still use a lot of the methods in the book in my day-to-day life, like decision-making, finding out what you’re passionate about.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
I have two again. The first is Professor Jennifer Clark, who was my adviser and teaches film. She taught the theoretical underpinnings of film in a way that was easy to understand, and she’s brilliant.

The second is Professor Tom McCourt, another communications professor. His Popular Music as Communication course opened my mind to looking at music in a scholarly way. I can’t even look at music the same way because of that class. He also advised me on a summer research project I received a grant for which compares gangster films from the 1930s to gangster rap from the 1980s. He always asked me to think a little bit harder and deeper about certain issues. And his closing lectures for his courses are so well done. If I could go to a closing lecture for any of his classes every semester, I would.

“I’ve been very lucky in life,” he says, “including who I married.”

The O’Briens met in the mid-1960s at Fordham’s undergraduate business school in Manhattan, then located at 302 Broadway, and each earned a B.S. from the University in June 1968.

This spring, as they prepare to celebrate their Fordham Jubilee, their first as Golden Rams, they have been reflecting not only on their undergraduate days but also on the shared values that brought them together and inspire them to give back to their alma mater.

An Interborough Connection

Annette grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, part of a large extended Italian-American family; Dan was the oldest of seven children in a large Irish-American family based in Manhattan and New Jersey. They both went to Catholic high schools and were encouraged to attend a Catholic college.

At Fordham, they served together on the student council, but they didn’t begin dating until their senior year. A friend of Dan’s was dating one of the few other women in their class and suggested a double date. Dan asked Annette. “It grew from there,” he says.

That December, Dan started a six-week internship that took him away from campus, but he and Annette stayed in touch by letter, a method that may have added a tinge of romance to their blossoming relationship.

“That’s how the seed got planted and maybe kindled the spirit in both of us,” Dan says. By the time he came back to campus, “in the spring, we were steady.”

They found a lot of common ground, especially in the important role family played in their lives. “We just felt we came from the same kind of background and had the same goals and the same ideas,” Annette says of their connection.

In fall 1968, just a few months after graduating from Fordham, they selected an engagement ring together, and Dan proposed on a bench outside of Tavern on the Green, where they had gone for dinner.

Soon after, Dan, on the cusp of being drafted, decided to try to get into the Army Reserve. He was accepted later that year and served for six years, during which time he and Annette were married—at Annette’s family parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Brooklyn, in December 1969.

“We’ve always been on the same page in terms of where things go. We swim in the same direction,” Dan says of their marriage. “Our strengths and weaknesses complement each other. If we get angry, it doesn’t last. It just works, and we are happy about it.”

Reconnecting with Their Roots, Supporting Students

Over the years, their shared focus on family has been a key to their joy. The O’Briens have four daughters, and the couple hosts an annual Christmas Eve dinner that includes more than 50 family members in their Ridgefield, Connecticut, home.

They also have been running together for about 35 years, and typically compete in three or four half-marathons every year across the country, including ones in Georgia, Florida, and California.

The O’Briens admit that it took them 40 years before they re-engaged with their alma mater—at a time in their lives, Dan says, “when making connections to the past feels important.”

About 10 years ago, after meeting Fordham’s president, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., the couple established an endowed scholarship to help future generations of Fordham students.

“I always felt that I should give back to the school,” Annette says. “I liked being there, and I got a good education. I feel happy about giving back and helping kids, too.”

Like Annette, Dan says he’s “very happy to be reconnected.” In addition to providing scholarship support, he serves on the President’s Council, through which he mentors students and discusses his role as an adviser at J.H. Whitney & Co. in New Canaan, Connecticut.

“There is a great Fordham family throughout the country, and by reconnecting, you feel part of that again,” he says. “They extended their hand to me, and I’m happy to be back.”

—Maja Tarateta