In addition, Fordham leaped to No. 57 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best colleges for veterans, released earlier this fall.

The two rankings reflect Fordham’s many efforts to meet all student veterans’ needs—from career development to health and wellness to help with the transition to college life, said Matthew Butler, PCS ’16, senior director of the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services at Fordham.

“We’re engaged on multiple fronts,” he said. “We’re not just offering an education but supporting the full student veteran life cycle.”

The recognition coincides with rising enrollment numbers for veterans: The number of new student veterans who enrolled at Fordham this fall is up 131% over fall 2023, and the 470 student veterans and veterans’ dependents now enrolled marks the highest total in at least five years, noted Andrea Marais, Fordham’s director of military and veteran higher education, engagement, and transition.

Free Tuition for Student Vets: No Cap

Likely important for the rankings, Butler said, was Fordham’s decision last year to eliminate its cap on tuition benefits under the federal government’s Yellow Ribbon Program/Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The University covers 100% of tuition and fees for eligible student veterans or their dependents

He said the Military Times ranking was particularly welcome because of the publication’s presence on military bases and stations around the world. In its ranking, Military Times cited other things like Fordham’s Veterans Promise program, which guarantees undergraduate admission to the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) for students who graduated from New York high schools with a 3.0 and meet other standards.

Butler also noted Fordham’s career-focused events for student veterans such as the Veterans on Wall Street symposium that Fordham will host on Nov. 7. “Veterans make great hires,” said Butler. “They can make good decisions under pressure, they know how to build a team, and they are not afraid of hard work.”

Commander’s Cup

The Military Times ranking closely follows an event that highlighted the University’s tightly knit military-connected community. On Saturday, Oct. 26, Fordham hosted nearly 700 students in Junior ROTC programs from 17 area high schools for the annual Commander’s Cup competition.

The event included drill competitions, physical fitness tests, and tours of Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, as well as opportunities to learn about the ROTC program at Fordham and its scholarship opportunities, said Lt. Col. Rob Parsons, professor of military science at Fordham.

Students at the event were able to see that there’s “an affordable way to go to school and continue to serve,” he said.

“I don’t think it can be overstated how robust and integrated the veterans community in New York is, and how many ties exist to Fordham and Fordham grads,” he said.

Student Veterans of America Build Community

Members of Fordham’s Student Veterans of America chapter volunteered at the event, fielding questions from JROTC members, said Rico Lucenti, a student in PCS and chapter member.

“A lot of kids came up to the booth asking about the veteran presence and military-connected families on Fordham’s campus and what Fordham is doing for those families and students,” he said.

Jorge Ferrara, a PCS student and SVA chapter president, said the chapter arranges service and social events that help student veterans transition to college.

“What we’re doing is trying to establish a sense of community and bring everybody together so everybody knows we’re all going through the same thing,” he said.

A Veterans Day Mass will be celebrated at the Rose Hill campus on Sunday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. Other upcoming events for Fordham’s student-veteran community include the RamVets Fall Social on Friday, Nov. 8.

I am pleased to share some good news with you regarding our U.S. News rankings, which were embargoed until today.

As you know, in the course of the past several years, we have seen our U.S. News ranking among national research universities fall from a high of #53 to a disappointing #74 last year. Thanks to the hard work of many members of the University community, this year we saw a significant turnaround: we rose from #74 to #66, a rise of 8 spots in one year.

Looking more closely at the numbers, this year we are #41 among private research universities in the country; #7 among research universities in New York state; #6 among Catholic research universities; and #4 among Jesuit research universities.

Our overall ranking is #66, and we fared well in the sub-rankings that make up the total score:

• Peer Assessment: 3.3 (up from 3.1)
• Undergraduate Teaching: #44 (down from 34 last year)
• Student Excellence/Selectivity: #69 (up from 70 last year)
• Pell Graduation: 80%
• Faculty Resources: #56 (down slightly from 54 last year)
• Financial Resources: #108 (up slightly from 110 last year)
• Graduation and Retention: #73 (up from 78 last year)
• Veterans’ Ranking: #38 (up from 45 last year)
• Alumni Giving: #45 (up from 52 last year)
• Best Value Ranking: #82 (up from 87 last year)
• Social Mobility: #203 (which puts us at #23 among the top 70, and #34 among the top 100; as well as #6 among private schools in the top 70 and #8 among all schools in the top 100)

In addition, I remind you that the Chronicle of Higher Education has ranked us #15 among private colleges and universities for improving the upward social mobility of students who come from families of very modest means.

The Gabelli School of Business:

• Undergraduate Program: #67 (down slightly from 66 last year)
• Entrepreneurship: #15
• Finance: #14
• International Business: #10
• Marketing: #20

Graduate Program:

• Full-time MBA: #80
• Part-time MBA: #58

The School of Law:

• Overall: #27 (up from 39 last year)
• Part-time program: #2 (up from 3 last year)
• Trial Advocacy: #9
• Dispute Resolution: #13
• Clinical Training: #17
• Intellectual Property Law: #21
• Business-Corporate: #17
• Contracts-Commercial Law: #23
• Criminal Law: #17
• Constitutional Law: #25

Separately, in the recently released National Law Journal’s “Go-To Law Schools” ranking, Fordham Law ranked 21 overall and 11 in alumni promoted from associates to partner. This ranking is based on law schools that sent the highest percentage of the J.D. class of 2019 to the largest 100 law firms.

The Graduate School of Social Service is ranked at #25, and the Graduate School of Education at #39.

As I have said before, it is near impossible to capture the quality of a University in one number, and indeed the U.S. News rankings, covering so many disparate institutions as they do, correlate more strongly with endowment than any other factor. Nonetheless, it is good to see our rankings more closely approach what we know to be the high value of a Fordham education. I share them with you in this spirit.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

“Being ranked as a 2019 Best Online Program is a testament to the caliber of teaching at Fordham, and underscores the enthusiasm of our professors to deliver top educational leadership and teaching courses through alternative pathways,” stated Virginia Roach, Ed.D., dean of the Graduate School of Education.

Read the full story on GSE News.

Fordham Law’s DRS is currently ranked #10 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Directed by Law Professor Jacqueline Nolan-Haley, the program integrates teaching, scholarship and practice in conflict resolution, which is, essentially, the art of finding the middle ground in a negotiation.

A special shout out to the student teams: Allie Berkley & Patrick Featherston, Matt Bress & Patrick Jacobs and Cassie Hamar & Nate Poulsen. The DRS now advances to the final National Negotiation Competition in February, 2010 at Disneyworld.

The rankings are based on surveys of almost 100,000 business majors, 2,000 recruiters and the business programs themselves, and a study of which schools send the most students to top MBA programs. The complete rankings are available in the May 8, 2006 issue of BusinessWeek, and on BusinessWeek Online.

Fordham’s College of Business Administration, founded in 1920, has been rated a “best buy” in undergraduate education by U.S. News & World Report.

“In trying to mix the ways of business in the West and the ways of business in China, and then finding a mix in developing management systems that are uniquely Chinese, [Fordham] is way ahead of the game,” said McGregor during an Oct. 27 lecture in the McNally Amphitheatre on the Lincoln Center campus.

McGregor, who has lived in China for more than 15 years, said the problem with most new businesses there is that the leaders do not take time to manage them. The average lifespan of a Chinese company is five years, he said, because once entrepreneurs find success in a business, they move on to the next opportunity.  This tendency to constantly move forward and strive for more, however, is a trademark of the Chinese culture, and a staple of their economic success, according to McGregor.

“The Chinese people are very hardworking, very talented and very coded by their own society and history to work hard and get things done,” said McGregor, author of One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China (Free Press/A Wall Street Journal Book, 2005). “They are very focused on getting ahead. Economic development is a sense of national purpose.”

McGregor encouraged the business students in the audience interested in working internationally to move to China because of its recent economic boom and the potential the country offers for future business opportunities.

“It is the country of my lifetime, and I’m old,” said McGregor. “It’s going to be the country of your lifetime even more so.”

McGregor’s presentation was part of the Hazen Polsky Foundation Business Lecture Series. The biannual event brings prominent figures in business and economics to Fordham every year to address students, faculty and alumni. Last February, New York Times OpEd columnist and award-winning economist, Paul Krugman discussed President Bush’s private-account social security proposal.

Fordham is the degree-granting institution for the BiMBA program, which was created in 1998, by Peking University and a consortium of 26 American Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States that provide the program’s faculty. The curriculum, taught mostly in English, includes courses in cross-cultural negotiation, business ethics and entrepreneurship. BiMBA is the first foreign MBA degree in Beijing to be approved by the Chinese government.

Fordham’s Graduate School of Business Administration was established in 1969 and has been recognized nationally for the quality, innovation and comprehensiveness of its programs, which prepare graduates for global competition. The school’s part-time MBA program is ranked 19th by U.S. News & World Report.

“This is one of the most exciting academic positions in the country and I’m not just limiting that to schools of social work,” Vaughan said about his new post at Fordham. “What I like about Fordham is its goal is to make New York City more livable for everyone. It doesn’t just use the city as its lab – it works with the community to make improvements that benefit everyone.” Vaughan said he will continue to move the school forward in this area and others. “My goals are to make Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service what it wants to be,” he said. “Where it’s not broken we’re not going to fix it – and there are very few things here that are broken.”

There are, however, areas that can be even further explored, he said. For example, he was drawn to the school because of its commitment to working for change in the community, an area in which he can see further development. “I was attracted to Fordham because of its mission, its faculty and their research,” said Vaughan. “I really like the notion that Fordham is actively involved in doing good its community and helping to change the kinds of things that oppress and marginalize people. It’s what I see as the future of social work.”

Vaughan has been at the University of Pennslyvania since 1977. Prior to that (1976-1981) he was an associate professor and director of the Life Stress Center at Wayne State University School of Social Work in Detroit, Mich. Vaughan received his master of social work from Wayne State University in 1966 and a master of arts in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1974. He received a doctorate in social work and psychology from the University of Michigan in 1977. Vaughan was chosen from a long list of applicants.

John D. Feerick, who is dean of Fordham’s Law School headed the search for a new dean for GSS, said Vaughan was a committee favorite from the beginning. “The whole committee reacted to the quality of basic goodness and committment to serve others he expressed in every meeting,” Feerick said of Vaughan. “We believe he will embrace, with the greatest of furvor, the traditions and values of Fordham.”

Quaranta will help Vaughan adjust to the new post, as will her predecessor James Dumpson. “My relationship with [Vaughan] is going to be like my relationship with Jim [Dumpson],” Quaranta said. “I will be there to help but not to interfere. I will not criticize, but will be helpful and respectful of his decisions.” Quaranta, who has resigned as dean but has not retired, will work at the Tarrytown campus