That thread of connection didn’t stop unspooling after four years, though: When Spiro returned to the D.C. area after graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 2007, she joined the Fordham Alumni Chapter of Washington, D.C., and that ultimately led her to her first job, as manager of information services with the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU).

Today, more than 10 years later, she’s not only the vice president of communications at AJCU, which comprises all 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S., but also president of the Fordham alumni chapter that helped jumpstart her career. And now, as always, her focus is on helping fellow Rams connect with each other.

This month, the D.C. chapter is hosting two events: an outing to a Washington Spirit soccer game on September 17 and a September 21 reception welcoming Fordham’s new president, Tania Tetlow, as part of her tour to meet with alumni throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Finding Fordham—and Herself

Each year, Spiro’s high school welcomed back graduates from the previous year, inviting them to share experiences from their first semester at college with current students. It was during this assembly that she heard from a former theater acquaintance about Fordham and realized that it ticked her college checklist boxes.

“I had applied to, I think, about seven other schools besides Fordham,” Spiro said. “But the first time that I went there in the fall of my senior year with my dad and my brother, it was really just love at first sight.” (Spiro’s brother, John A. Howes Jr., also became a Ram, graduating from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 2009.)

A communications and media studies major, Spiro made the most of her time on campus, having grown up being encouraged by her parents to get involved “not just in extracurriculars or hobbies that were passions … but also through service, too,” she said.

In addition to being a part of the Fordham Club, a combination honor society, advisory group, and fraternity; and a tour guide with the Rose Hill Society, Spiro was able to explore one of her passions: singing. She was a member of the University Choir for four years and vice president of the choir her senior year. She performed with the choir at Carnegie Hall during her first year and went on a singing trip through Spain the following summer.

Amid her classes, extracurriculars, and excursions, though, Spiro said the most important thing Fordham taught her was how to find herself—and her place in the world.

“In those formative years between 18 and 22, when you’re trying to figure out your place in the world and how your talents can really contribute and how you can make a positive contribution—I think that Fordham really helped me figure that out and navigate the next chapter in my life,” she said.

Sweet Symbiosis: The AJCU and the Fordham Alumni Chapter of D.C.

Since accepting that first position at AJCU in 2007, Spiro has served as the organization’s director of communications and, since June 2020, vice president of communications. She joined the Fordham alumni chapter’s board at roughly the same time, serving as president for almost a decade now. While the two roles may not seem intertwined from the outside, to Spiro, her work at each organization informs and benefits the other, with collaboration and teamwork underlining it all.

“The work that I do with the alumni chapter overlaps and has helped strengthen my work when it comes to alumni relations at AJCU,” she said. “We all want to achieve the same goal,” bringing people together for mutual benefits.

On the AJCU side, one way she’s done that is by advocating the sharing of resources and a sense of pride among Jesuit colleges and universities. Spiro was behind the #JesuitEducated campaign when Pope Francis, the first Jesuit priest to be elected pope, came to the United States in 2015. She and her collaborators used a tagline, “Transformational leaders are Jesuit educated,” as the basis for a marketing campaign. They wanted to highlight that more than just preparing students to get a job, Jesuit colleges and universities prepare students for careers of impact by teaching them how to think, dig deep, and seek a greater purpose.

And on the Fordham side, the chapter supports the Alumni Chapter of Washington, D.C., Endowed Scholarship, which helps make it possible for more high-achieving students from the Washington, D.C., area to pursue full-time undergraduate study at Fordham.

A Balancing Act

Heading up communications for a national association is a high-profile, demanding job, but Spiro said one of the things she loves about working at the AJCU is the work-life balance—which for her has meant the ability to pursue graduate study at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a master’s degree in communications in 2012, and to start a family. She married Peter Spiro in 2017, and they now have a 9-month-old daughter, Holly.

“Even before becoming a mom, I was always afforded the opportunity to have a really good work-life balance,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a busy job, but I’ve been able to do other things along the sides,” such as accept gigs as a freelance singer.

She’s performed the national anthem at various Jesuit colleges and universities, including Creighton, Gonzaga, and even Fordham before the Homecoming game in 2015. Lately, however, Spiro’s performances are tailored for an audience of one: She performs The Sound of Music’s “Do Re Mi,” theatrical hand signals and all, for her infant daughter, Holly.

Over the years, she said she’s been able to commit her time to a number of activities and organizations close to her heart, from handling media relations for a major North American Lithuanian folk-dance festival in 2016—her mother’s family is Lithuanian—to singing in a professional choir for a year, requiring her to sing for 10 Masses between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.

“I was able to do that because I had a very supportive boss who understood that this was a passion of mine,” she said. “And I have a piano in my office, and so as long as I practice before work and after work and got my work done, I was able to do that as well.”

The Next Chapter

Though she’ll be stepping down from her role as leader of Fordham’s Washington, D.C., alumni chapter at the end of the academic year, she’s “proud of the way that we’ve been able to continue reaching alumni where they are and producing a variety of events to fit all of the needs in all of the different stages of life”—whether that’s through a baseball game outing, a happy hour, or a service project.

Spiro has had some “really extraordinary moments” as president, from dining at the Supreme Court in 2015 when the chapter gave the Brien McMahon Memorial Award for the Distinguished Public Service to Justice Sonia Sotomayor to simply rallying around one another during the pandemic.

“I just feel so strongly connected to this school,” she said, thinking about the University’s effect on her life to date. “And every time that I return there, it just feels like a home away from home. Fordham really helped me to just figure out who I was and who I was going [to be].”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
My family and friends, music—I play the piano and have a side career as a singer— writing, cooking, reading, spending time outdoors, and traveling.  And, of course, Jesuit higher education!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Now that I’m a mom, I often reflect on two recent pieces of advice from both of my parents. From my dad: “The most important thing you can do for your children is to smile at them.” From my mom: “Always be confident in what you are doing as a parent.” I’m very grateful to have my parents living nearby, and for the many ways they help my husband and me with our daughter!

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
I actually never visited it until after graduating from Fordham, but the Brooklyn Bridge has become my favorite New York landmark in recent years. In a similar vein, the Eiffel Tower in Paris is one of my favorite places in the world; both are such staggering feats of engineering, architecture, and design that never fail to astound me!

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
I was such a bookworm growing up, but kind of lost my love of reading for pleasure in my 20s, due to work, graduate school, etc. So, in my 30s, A Gentleman in Moscow was the book that helped me to get back into reading for pleasure and even start a virtual book club with family and friends that is still thriving, even as we (hopefully!) get out of the pandemic.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire(d) most? 
There are four professors—several of whom I have been fortunate to keep in touch with over the years—who were particularly helpful in teaching me how to become a stronger writer and more engaged student of the world: Christine Firer Hinze, James Kim, James van Oosting, and Andrew Tumminia. I also want to give a special shout-out to Rob Minotti, who conducted the University Choir during my four years at Fordham and helped me to grow as a singer and performer.

What are you optimistic about?
My daughter! Holly was born in November 2021, right between the Delta and Omicron phases of the pandemic. I’m convinced that she (and all other pandemic babies) is going to save the world. If they can make it through this crazy time in our history, they can make it through anything.

Members of the Fordham community came together as one voice at the annual Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols. The festival, held Dec. 1 and 2 at St. Paul the Apostle Church near the Lincoln Center campus and the University Church in the Bronx, featured three performances of music and readings from Holy Scripture.

In addition to musical performances by the Fordham University Choir, the Fordham University Schola Cantorum, the Fordham University Women’s Choir and the Bronx Arts Ensemble, Saturday’s program featured a performance by students from the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. in Dance Program.

Photos by Argenis Apolinario

The choral program, with an instrumental complement by the Bronx Arts Ensemble, inspired solemn interludes of reflection in which the goodness and light of the season brought to mind the miracle of Jesus’ birth.

The Cornucopia Destiny is chartered to float around Manhattan for the Young Alumni Yacht Cruise, a three-hour dinner party for nearly 300 recent graduates. But that can’t happen until everyone is on board, and one grad, who shall remain nameless, is not yet here.

Waiting on the pier, LaCoursiere looks off at the Manhattan skyline. “You can see my office!” he points downtown. “The one with all the lights!”

The Starrett-Lehigh Building looms on the Chelsea waterfront, bigger than any cruise ship, a marvel of Manhattan. In his day job, LaCoursiere is the social and digital director for RXR Realty, one of the biggest commercial landlords in New York City. At 26, he’s already conquering his corner of Manhattan, sharing stories about parties with Derek Jeter and a rooftop spin class with Ralph Lauren designers—but his day job isn’t what brought him to this yacht on a Friday night in September.

This is the Fordham cruise, and he’s the chair of the Young Alumni Committee this year. The group serves as a bridge to Fordham for graduates from the past 10 years, helping to organize social justice activities, coordinate alumni giving, and plan social events. The cruise is the committee’s first big event of the year, and the chair decides he’s not boarding the yacht until the last guest makes it up the gangway—top-deck partying be damned.

But then she appears, the one missing alumna, wearing a brown leather jacket and a sky blue silk scarf tied around her neck, chic enough that the slight delay is forgiven and forgotten.

Later, on the top deck, LaCoursiere shows off his own style, fitting of a Fordham fanatic: maroon slacks.

“I dig them,” he says, “and I try and wear them to Fordham events because I think they’re fun!”

That attire paid off when LaCoursiere was touring London as a member of the University Choir in 2013. His maroon pants caught the eye of Jeffrey Cipriano, FCLC ’14, who was studying at the Fordham London Centre at the time. “He was begging his friend to introduce us,” LaCoursiere recalls, beaming. They hit it off, and, after a date where Cipriano cooked—“he’s a phenomenal baker,” LaCoursiere says—they’re still dating, four years later.

Last fall, they and several other alumni helped found the Rainbow Rams, Fordham’s first affinity group for LGBTQ alumni. In June, approximately 30 of them marched under the Fordham banner in the New York City Pride Parade—a first for the University.

Given the demands of his job and his involvement with Fordham—not to mention training for the New York City Marathon, which he plans to run in November—calling LaCoursiere motivated is an understatement. But tonight, he’s allowing a quick break for nostalgia. Talking on the upper deck of the yacht, he stops mid-sentence when the DJ puts on the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” LaCoursiere grabs a friend by the shoulders with a huge smile. “I sang this song in high school!”

Behind him, dozens of alumni sing along. Some swing dance. Others jump. But most stand still, drink in one hand, other hand stretched out toward the sky. In the distance, the Statue of Liberty strikes the same pose.

—Jeff Coltin, FCRH ’15

View a gallery of images from the 2017 Young Alumni Yacht Cruise. (Photos by Dana Maxson)

The annual concert, with its carols and biblical readings, has been a Fordham tradition for more than a quarter-century. But another tradition has been taking shape in connection with the concert—and it could be seen in the front pews, filled with 20 retired Jesuit priests along with the Fordham students who have been regularly visiting and assisting them.

The priests—who reside at Murray-Weigel Hall on the Rose Hill campus—have been making group visits to the concert for the past few years, accompanied by student volunteers who visit with them weekly and help them with daily tasks like getting around in wheelchairs or checking emails.

The students benefit as well. “We’re able to serve them and also learn from them,” said one of the student volunteers, Bernadette Haig.

The concert is inspired by the beloved British Christmas tradition that began in Cambridge, England, in 1918. Christmas favorites, including “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Ave Maria,” were performed by the Fordham University Choir, the Fordham University Schola Cantorum and the Fordham University Women’s Choir with the Bronx Arts Ensemble. The women’s choir not only sang “Silent Night” but also performed it in sign language during the last verse.

Jeanne Moccia, FCRH ’76, GSAS ’78, who arranged the Jesuit priests’ excursion, has been volunteering at the retirement home for 11 years. A former banker, she became involved after visiting two family friends who retired and moved into Murray-Weigel Hall.

“A couple of years into it, I started doing some things for the men,” she said, “like taking them on walks and accompanying them to events.”

Moccia also helped expand the student volunteer program, now 40 strong, and find new ways to integrate the older and younger generations who live on the Rose Hill campus. Murray-Weigel Hall, perched near Fordham Road on the southern edge of campus, houses an average of 60 Jesuits from widely different backgrounds. Some are retired educators and administrators from Catholic colleges throughout the Northeast; others worked as missionaries around the world.

“One of the perks is that the students can meet individuals who have led very interesting and service-oriented lives,” Moccia said.

Haig, a Fordham College at Rose Hill junior, couldn’t agree more. She accompanied Richard Hoar, S.J., to the Festival of Lessons and Carols this year and has been visiting him weekly at Murray-Weigel since she was a sophomore.

A Long Island native, Haig is double majoring in engineering physics and classical civilization, and especially enjoys discussing her theology and philosophy classes with Father Hoar. She said she writes letters for and reads to the 90-year-old priest, who holds a degree in physics and served as a missionary in Micronesia for 23 years.

Juliette Dixon, a Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore, pays weekly visits to George Restrepo, S.J., who just moved to Murray-Weigel from Canisius College in Buffalo. He holds a master’s degree in film from New York University, and worked in Baltimore and Puerto Rico earlier in his career.

“Jeanne does such a great job of matching people,” Dixon said. “Father Restrepo is very interested in music, film, and dance, and I am as well. So we always have something to talk about.”

Dixon, a ballet dancer who studies communications at Fordham, also helped organize a talent show for the priests last spring. Another group of students plays music for a small group of the priests each week.

The Festival of Lessons and Carols was a perfect outing for the priest-student pairs, who seem to share an appreciation of the arts.

In his remarks after the concert, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told the audience that among them was a very special member of the Fordham community. Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., GSAS ’68, president of Fordham from 1984 to 2003, was seated in the front row with Jacqueline Tobin, a Fordham College at Rose Hill freshman who’s been visiting Father O’Hare at his Murray-Weigel residence since the fall.

“The concert gives us a chance to put a framework around these times of transition,” Father O’Hare said after returning to Murray-Weigel. “As we end one year and begin another, this is an opportunity for all of us, young and old, to reflect. It’s a nice tradition.”

—Claire Curry

AUDIO: WFUV, Fordham’s listener-supported public media service, will broadcast a recording of the December 4 concert at 10:30 p.m. EST on Christmas Eve. And you can listen to it anytime here on WFUV’s website.

Following the celebration, Joseph M. McShane, SJ, recognized Minotti for 25 years of musical service to Fordham, where he has garnered international recognition for the choir and and created the Schola Cantorum chorus that sings weekly at the University Church Mass.

“He took a struggling program and turned it into the hottest Christmas ticket in town,” said Father McShane.

(Above: Photos by Chris Taggart. Click to enlarge photo)

A crowd of more than 700 gathered at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 1 to once again ring in the Christmas season at Fordham University.

With the Fordham choir singing and lights twinkling from every corner of the Koch Theater Promenade, the annual President’s Club Christmas Reception appeared to be joining the city in gearing up for a “megawatt” Christmas, said Fordham President Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

And yet, Father McShane said, a far smaller display captures the true sentiment of the season.

“Our eye more than anywhere else is drawn to the most unassuming, most understated of Christmas lights—the candle in the window,” he told alumni, parents, staff, and other members of the Fordham community.

However, there is more to the seemingly innocent Christmas candle than meets the eye, Father McShane said. During the time of British persecution against the Catholic Church in Ireland, Irish Catholics would place candles in their windows as a secret welcome to priests, to whom they would offer hospitality in exchange for a celebration of the Eucharist.

With this subversive-yet-sacred history in mind, the image of Christmas candle was chosen to adorn the 2014 Fordham Christmas ornament, Father McShane said, because “it is a symbol that speaks volumes about who we are, what we believe in, and what we do.”

“Fordham has been about the sacred work of being ‘subversive’ for nearly 175 years, providing a different kind of education,” he said. “At the heart of Fordham is a passionate conviction that the core of a transformative and liberating education must be the encounter between the human heart and God.”

Father McShane thanked those gathered for the generosity that has helped sustain this mission.

“Your generosity is making a Fordham education affordable and accessible,” he said. “You have made it possible for Fordham to keep the candle in the window.”

Saturday, December 7
8:00 p.m.
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
West 60th Steet at Columbus Avenue, N.Y., N.Y.

Sunday, December 8
3:00 p.m.
Fordham University Church
Rose Hill Campus, Bronx, N.Y.

No ticket required. Early seating is advised.

Photos by Michael Dames

Photos by Michael Dames

The sounds of the Christmas season reverberated on the Rose Hill campus on Dec. 4, as the Bronx Arts Ensemble joined the University Choir for the Festival of Lessons and Carols at the University Church.

The Fordham University Women’s Choir conducted by Stephen Fox and the Fordham University Choir conducted by Robert Minotti performed Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mark Jennings’ O Crux and Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Requiem. The Bronx Arts Ensemble provided the music.

Gregory Waldrop, S.J., assistant professor of art history, discussed the mural The Crucifixion on April 9 at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. The mural, which was painted by William Laurel Harris from 1906 to 1908, hangs above the door of the church.


The story depicted in the artwork is very familiar and has a “classic cast,” as Father Waldrop called it, featuring Jesus surrounded by golden ether, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and St. John.

The crucifix in the mural is in axis with the cross over the altar at the front of the church.

“The conjunction of images of Christ’s saving body defines a space, and gathers up in that space all those present in the church—the flock, who gather to praise God on the cross, who gather to hear the word proclaimed from the pulpit, who gather to receive Eucharist at the altar,” Father Waldrop said.

Father Waldrop discussed details that only can be seen by looking closely at the mural from the balcony. He described the gold shimmer that coats the pink sky and purple city in the artwork. He said that the city scene and sunset are based on the actual Jerusalem, at least in mood and lighting, and show a definite moment in time.

The city painted in the mural above the entrance of church is contrasted with New York, the “very real, very alive, very specific city where hope is made concrete in our living out the love that God has shown us,” he said.

Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, vice president for University mission and ministry, spoke on April 10 about the Stations of the Cross at the Fordham University Church.

Photos by Michael Dames.