“It’s the first anti-racist strategic plan I’ve read,” she said. “Fordham has an underlying aim to increase access and inclusion. And that is very exciting.”

Ronald came to New York from the United Kingdom, where she went to Oxford University as an undergraduate, and earned her master’s at the Imperial College London. Her doctoral studies, completed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, focused on how society shapes science and technology and vice versa. For her dissertation, she examined advertising in the pharmaceutical industry. From there, it was a short leap to examining how knowledge itself is created, and, more importantly, which knowledges are privileged in our society.

Today, she sees her job as one that allows more students— not just a privileged few—to gain access to knowledge.

Getting to Know You

Ronald arrived on campus in July and hit the ground running. She sat in on student presentations at Fordham’s first annual Undergraduate Summer Research Program. As students fielded rapid-fire questions from their professors about their work, she took notes, wrote down names, and introduced herself to students during breaks. In September, she was at Fordham Plaza, showing support at the Back-to-School festival—once again chatting up students, asking them about their work.

“I’m very eager to get first and second-year students interested in [applying for]awards,” she said.

In addition to competitive awards like the Fulbright, Ronald is eager to interest students in other, lesser-known awards. She is particularly keen on scholarships that send students abroad.

“Doing research or service, like the kind they do in Global Outreach, is wonderful early in their undergraduate careers because it’s going to have more of an impact on their studies and their college experience,” she said.

An Exercise in Discernment

At the end of each school year, the annual tally of prestigious awards and fellowships won by students and alumni is published with great fanfare. The timing coincides with commencement and mostly highlights graduating seniors.

While Ronald would be the last one to downplay the act of earning an award, she is emphatic that the process of applying for one holds its own value. The process, which can take as many as 20 drafts, is another part of students’ development, she said. She said that if a student starts applying early in their college career they become familiar with the process of talking about their goals and exactly what it is they want to learn. By the time they reach their senior year, applying for big-name awards, like the Fulbright, is not nearly as intimidating. Indeed they’ve already laid the groundwork. In addition, the content of an application is never wasted. It can be appropriated, tweaked, and honed for other awards and even grad school applications.

“It’s a beautiful opportunity to really think about yourself and your place in the world,” she said. “Some of the applications are great because they delve into a student’s identity, so it’s an opportunity to really think about who they are as a person.”

She added that the process is also very much aligned with the concept of discernment, which is a key tenet of the Society of Jesus.

“We often go through life going from one thing to the next without taking time to fully reflect in this way, and it is my understanding of Jesuit education is that it allows for these moments of reflection—so I see our work as being a really nice fit,” she said.

As she waited for other community members to arrive, she caught up with an old friend, Pat Ryan. Ryan is a long-time resident who has served as president of the Resident Association for Amsterdam Addition. Though she stepped down some time ago, many residents see her as the “mayor” and go to her with a range of issues.

The two were meeting with other community leaders because Massiah-Arthur was unable to attend the 75th-anniversary celebration of the Amsterdam Community Collective this past summer. She wanted to congratulate them and simply touch base. The celebration was a standout among the many efforts the community sponsors and Fordham supports.

As Massiah-Arthur helped Ryan decipher the winnings from her lottery scratch-off tickets, the two reminisced about the time Ryan testified before the City Planning Commission in support of a new law school and residence hall at the Lincoln Center campus. She was one of many in the community that stepped up to help Fordham at that meeting.

“I said a lot that day,” Ryan said, recalling her key testimony before the commission in 2009.

All Politics Are Local

When people think of the Office of Government Relations and Urban Affairs, and Massiah-Arthur’s work in particular, they often conjure an image of her working the halls of the State Capitol or City Hall to secure state funds for the new McShane Student Center arcade or teaming with city agencies to secure funding for the Mentoring Latinas program and the Bronx African-American History Project. But all politics are local, and the locals have a long memory, said Massiah-Arthur.

She added that without the support of Ryan, the development of the Law School building and McKeon Hall would have had a much harder time getting past the City Planning Commission. At the time, Ryan told the community-focused Commissioner Amanda Burden that seeing a university on their block would be a source of inspiration for young people who live there.

This wasn’t the way that Massiah-Arthur was told it would play out. Naysayers warned her that she wouldn’t be able to get community support from the housing projects.

“That was a lie. This has been the easiest relationship I’ve ever had,” said Massiah-Arthur, who credited not only the work of her office, but also that of students volunteers from Fordham Football and the men’s basketball team, the CSTEP Program, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, and the Graduate School of Social Service for fostering and maintaining good will over the years. From handing out back-to-school backpacks to providing funds for turkey giveaways at Thanksgiving and participating in the annual Family Day, Massiah-Arthur said that Fordham students, faculty, and staff have helped whenever they could.

Sometimes requests, like one for a  generator after a storm knocked out the lights, could not be met for insurance reasons. But Massiah-Arthur said the University did accommodate residents’ request for security cameras. They had been promised by elected officials but were never delivered. Fordham had them installed, which in turn prompted legislators to provide funds for additional cameras.

Ryan agreed that the relationship with Fordham has been strong over the years, and credited the University’s continued support, such as donations to a fund that the collective taps into to award scholarships. Massiah-Arthur’s honesty plays a part as well, she said.

“That’s because Lesley is the truth. Okay? Because she’s a lady of her word,” said Ryan. “And when she says something, it happens. If she could do it, she does it. If she can’t, then she can’t.”

An Unexpected Meeting

But the relationship isn’t just about trading favors. Sometimes it’s just about listening, said Massiah-Arthur. In time, Massiah-Arthur came to realize that others in power needed to listen to the residents too.  So she arranged a meeting between the University and the general manager of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and brought the residents with her to discuss all the items on their to-do list.

“They were people who by definition should not have been able to have gotten a meeting, but needed a meeting,” said Massiah-Arthur.

The bait-and-switch meeting got results; residents got extra dumpsters, the generator, and other needs met. The important thing for Massiah-Arthur was that the residents spoke for themselves.

“They could pull it together on their own. For me, it was important to do it because when I saw the men and women who walked into that room, they reminded me of my great aunts, they reminded me of my grandmother,” said Massiah-Arthur. “These are women who didn’t need anybody to speak for them. If you just ask them what they wanted, they’ll tell you.”

“Mm-hmm,” responded Ryan, knowingly nodding in agreement.

The new research room will be a space for future art exhibitions and will serve as a seminar room for small talks and presentations once the proper technology is installed.

Miller, who graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1968 and is a University trustee, said he had a very positive experience with Jesuit education as a Jewish student.

“I was a poor Jewish kid from Liberty, New York, and Fordham provided financial aid that allowed me to attend college,” said Miller, who has been a great supporter of the center since its inception. “I had a lot of Catholic friends and neighbors, so I wasn’t intimidated by the atmosphere of a Jesuit campus.”

He said he got a great education and became a believer in Jesuit education, particularly the “concept of cura personalis and teaching students how to think.” He has always found the Jesuit approach to theology and philosophy to be inclusive and open-minded, he said, though up until recently, there was nothing resembling the Jewish Studies program at Fordham. He tipped his hat to Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president emeritus of Fordham, and “our Jewish provost [the late]Stephen Freedman, a blessed memory” for supporting the inception of the center along with Eugene Shvidler, GABELLI ’92. Shvidler endowed a chair in Judaic studies held by the center’s co-director Magda Teter, Ph.D. Sarit Kattan Gribetz, Ph.D., also co-director of the center, acted as the evening’s host.

“In a very short time—especially by university standards—Magda’s insight and hard work have created a fantastic program that stands out for its bold approach,” Miller said.

He added that antisemitism has become rampant on campuses throughout the world, underscoring the need for a program that “bridges cultures, religions, and even races to help everyone gain understanding.” It’s what made him want to give to the program in the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, often translated as “repair the world,” which he said is perhaps best embodied in a poem by Alberto Ríos.

“We give because someone gave to us. We give because nobody gave to us,” Miller said, quoting the poem, before being overcome with emotion on reading the next line. “We give because giving has changed us. We give because giving could have changed us.”

Miller was followed by Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham, who described herself jokingly as “a wannabe Jew” and told the crowd of her time singing in the choir of a New Orleans synagogue. She said she had not missed the high holy days for 20 years.

“I’ve understood how deeply intertwined Judaism and Catholicism are… and the connections we have of the deep intellectualism of both faiths, of the desire to study text and the interpretation of text going back for thousands of years, of the love of ritual,” she said, before adding to much laughter, “and the central place of food and guilt.”

To mark the occasion, a photo exhibition was hung in the research room; it’s titled “Jewish Remnants in the Bronx: Photographs by Julian Voloj.” At the reception, Voloj’s black and white contemporary photos, a few of which portrayed a layered history of Pentecostal churches housed in old synagogues, were hung above tables displaying a local Jewish family’s photos and records that were culled from the library’s archives and curated by Jewish studies minor Reyna Stovall, a sophomore at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. She said that working on the exhibit helped her appreciate the Bronx and its history.

“History teaches us so much about life and troubles and prosperity,” said Stovall. “History can teach us so much about not only the past, but about ourselves, and the future we want to create.

Following the program, Rabbi Yigal Sklarin of the Yeshiva of Flatbush offered a blessing for the room. Miller hung a mezuzah on the doorframe of the room that now bears his name.

“The mezuzah highlights the ability of the individual to sanctify the private spaces we inhabit: a belief in the capability of the individual to elevate their surroundings and uniquely infuse them with holiness and meaning,” said Rabbi Sklarin. “But the mezuzah also serves as a reminder as we leave the private and emerge into the public sphere. It is our role to take this holiness and meaning and share it with the world at large.”

Valencia, an associate professor of digital history at Texas State University, earned his doctorate in history from Fordham’s Graduate School of Art and Sciences in 2016. An expert on fascism and its effects on popular culture in Franco’s Spain, Valencia said he came to the subject matter of Harry Styles during the pandemic, when his ability to do research in Europe was curtailed.

He said that after years of studying fascism, he wanted to shift the focus to something more enjoyable at a time of isolation. Styles, a superstar known in part for a genderfluid wardrobe that includes boas and pearls, got his start in the boy band One Direction. After striking out on his own, he has become one of the biggest acts in the world. He is currently starring in two films, and this past summer he sold out Madison Square Garden for a record-breaking 15 consecutive shows dubbed “Love on Tour.” Valencia said the tour embodied the title of Styles’ latest album, Harry’s House, by creating a welcoming space that often spilled over onto social media. Several students attending the lecture saw the MSG show, as did Valencia, who has also traveled to Europe to see the performer as part of his research.

He said that while focusing on Styles’ work was far more enjoyable than examining fascism, he grew to see a corollary to his work on anti-fascist artists in Franco’s Spain.

“The more I thought of it, the more I realized that Harry is the epitome of anti-fascism,” said Valencia in his lecture in the McNally Amphitheatre at the Lincoln Center campus. “He’s teaching people to be anti-racist and how to create queer spaces.”

He said that the concept solidified when Styles appeared in a dress for Vogue, and a conservative backlash “exploded” on the internet.

Inspiring Important Conversations

He soon realized that it didn’t matter whether Styles was explicitly trying to be anti-fascist, the reaction from the far right indicated that his actions qualified as anti-fascist. But several paparazzi photos of Styles carrying books by philosophers Susan Sontag and Alain de Botton indicated that it is unlikely that Styles is ignorant of the effect he’s having on conversations surrounding gun violence, queer identities, Black Lives Matter, and bodily autonomy, he said.

Indeed, many of those conversations took place with Valencia’s students on Zoom during the pandemic, when Valencia would play Styles’ music before class convened. It wasn’t much of a stretch for the professor to launch a conversation dealing with a historic subject by referencing the music and its singer.

“We had awesome conversations coming out of Harry Styles’ music, and I was like, this is really good to be able to think about how to talk about these issues today. And I’m a history professor, right? So, I thought okay, I love this new history.’”

He noted that when he was in college, most of the history classes culminated with the fall of the Berlin Wall or 9/11, which made him begin to question what a similar perspective might be for his students today. With history classes ranging from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, why not a history class on what has transpired over the past 12 years, he asked.

“How have things shifted? What are the issues? If you’re an 18-year-old, 12 years ago you were probably not thinking about politics or what’s going on in the world,” he said.

Don’t Dismiss the Teenage Girls

Despite the fact that he was a fan of Styles and could see the academic potential in the subject matter, he still had to “rip off the Band-Aid” of traditional academia to proceed with his research and development of the first college course on Styles.

Several students could relate to the notion of having to defend their love for Styles, particularly because of his association with the boy band One Direction.

“The boy band thing gets distorted by the media to make it seem like it’s an embarrassment to like what teenage girls like, but teenage girls are the future,” said one student.

Valencia concurred.

“If you look at the genre of boy bands—where Harry comes from—it’s always denigrated as bad music, but teenage girls were the first ones to find the Beatles,” he said.

Valencia noted that many things that young girls love tend to get denigrated by the media as something frivolous and silly. “Harry very specifically says that that [denigration is] sexism,” he said.

Another student noted that she “got bullied for liking One Direction” and said she had to “push back and say, ‘No, this music really matters to me.’”

Responding to Naysayers

As the pandemic subsided, the resulting course designed by Valencia, Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity, which he plans to teach next semester, became something of a media sensation, topping the list of Seventeen magazine’s list of “Coolest Classes You Won’t Believe Actually Exist,” as well as being featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

And yet, there’s still pushback. A week after his Fordham presentation, Valencia took to Twitter to respond to naysayers.

“There is a LOT of media attention right now around courses on Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, and Lana del Rey. There are some HUGE misconceptions about university courses being offered about musicians,” he said in the first of a three-part tweet.

He added that while some think it’s a ploy to boost enrollment, and others decry the fall of the university, there have always been courses built around artists and the worlds they inhabit.

“These courses are being derided because these artists have audiences that are mostly women, queer, or people of color,” he tweeted. “They take the taste, influences, and interests of these groups seriously. Don’t like these courses? Then don’t take them.”

As chief experience officer of UntappedCities, Rivers described his work with the popular website, which features the hidden history of New York City buildings, neighborhoods, parks, and subways. In particular, the site offers virtual and in-person tours of sites that aren’t frequently featured on tourist maps, such as the tennis court at Grand Central station, the abandoned hospital at Ellis Island, and the Gilded-Age mansions of Fifth Avenue.

He said that website sprung from a passion for preservation, which is an extension of what he learned here at Fordham.

“I’m very lucky because Fordham trained me to be in service of others,” Rivers said, at the panel event, which capped off a summer course taught by Professor of Psychology Harold Takooshian. The panel also featured Lee Michael Klein, “a noted Gothamist,” Fordham librarian David Vassar, a cycling activist; and TastingNYC impresario Andy Troy, who talked up New York nightlife.

Rivers found his way to the lesser-known New York while writing an off-Broadway play about the old Penn Station that was infamously destroyed to make way for the much-maligned Madison Square Garden building and drab reboot of the former train concourse. The show, “The Eternal Space,” was a critical success and gained traction with the press. In order to drum up even more interest and publicity, Rivers said, he began offering tours at the site of the old station, which, though long gone, still features remnants of the time. In particular, New York’s main Post Office, by architects McKim Mead and White, echoed the old Penn Station and is now the site of the new Moynihan Train Hall, which tries to right the wrongs of the demolition. Though the play closed after four weeks, the tour continues to this day as part of Untapped New York, and has grown to include at least 20 tours given by 21 licensed tour guides. That’s all in addition to the frequently updated website.

“We run daily features on different aspects of New York that don’t normally get written about all the time, like a piece on Economy Candy, which if you haven’t been there you should,” he said of the 85-year-old stuffed-to-the-gills sweets emporium.

The site also explores New York history lesser-known histories, like a recent post on Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Bloomingdale’s in 1976. There’s up-to-date section on film locations, where readers can find out where the latest episode of Russian Doll, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or The Gilded Age, were filmed. Each section unfolds to the next, bringing the past, even recent past, alive.

“A lot of people say that New York pulverized its history with real estate building, but the history is very much alive—if you know where to dig and where to find it,” he said.

“I used to call him the mayor of Forest Hills,” she said. “As we’d walk to the train, he’d wave and smile to strangers along the way.”

Morales joined Fordham IT shortly after a department-wide reorganization that included a renewed focus on customer service. Roslyn Nedd, director of operations/business, said he bonded fast with him.

“He was fun, smart, dedicated. It felt like I knew him for a long time. In the seven years I’ve been here I never bonded with someone like that. He was like a ray of sunshine,” said Nedd.

“He was the first in and the last to leave. I would try to encourage him to take lunch or leave early. Ten weeks was too short, but I saw nothing but greatness.”

Gerard Cariffe, associate vice president of special projects and chief technology officer, concurred. He said that Morales was recruited to improve customer service including the implementation of an entirely new ticketing system in time for the new year.

“He accomplished a lot in a very short period of time, and he did it in a way that was congenial that you liked him almost immediately. He was definitely a people person,” said Cariffe.

In addition to supervising a fairly large group in IT, he also served a variety of constituencies in and outside of the department, including faculty, students, and staff, said Cariffe.

“He touched a lot of lives in a very short period of time,” he said.

His daughter noted that same could be said of his life as well. She said that she was taken aback at her father’s Sept. 16 memorial by the coworkers from his 30-year career in technology that spanned the worlds of finance and academia.

“They said he was always smiling, always offering to help, and always asking about life and family. It was consistent throughout, from Merrill Lynch folks, the Columbia Business School folks, and the Manhattan School of Music. I was just blown away by the community,” she said.

Morales was raised in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, attended Bronx Science High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree at Pace University and a master’s degree in tech management at Columbia University. He was a first-generation Puerto Rican who identified as “American” and was the first in his family to go to university.

Xylina said that while he shined at technology, it was his people skills that brought him into managerial and, later, more senior directorial roles. Those same skills came into play at his co-op where he kept an eye out for the elderly and helped them with tax forms. He was also a mentor to several young men working at the building.

“He was always looking out for the guys they were hiring for the doormen positions. One of the guys told me, ‘I don’t work there anymore, but your dad inspired me to go back to school. And I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’m gonna follow up with you in my dad’s honor, because I know how important education was for him,’” she said.

Xylina said that she and her sister Kiara were blessed to call Morales their father and they both marveled at how much attention he paid the rest of the family, including being a present son to his mother Amy and a doting “pop-pop” to his two-year-old granddaughter Iris.

Morales also leaves behind friends of his daughters whose fathers were no longer around or didn’t live close enough to help take them to the mechanic when the car broke down, to the hardware store to pick out tiles for the bathroom. His duties also extended to painting flower pots for a community garden and playing Santa Claus, depending on what the seasons called for. He spent hours at a time at the gym with buddies to the point that his daughters would have him paged over the loudspeaker when they needed him. Last, but certainly not least, Xylina said, he could cut a carpet with his dance moves.

“He taught me how to rave,” she said with a chuckle.

At the service, she asked the assembled to imagine her father crooning along with song and showing off his dance moves to Bruno Mars’s “It Will Rain.”

“Although it feels like our hearts will never stop crying, my hope for us all is that the Ray of sunshine my dad shared with each and every one of us will brighten our days,” she said at the service. “I do know that somewhere, in the vastness of whatever lies beyond, my dad is smiling down at us and wishing us well.”

In addition to Xylina, Kiara, and Iris, Morales is also survived by three sisters, Ingrid, Nancy, and Lucy, and a brother, Junior. Donations in the name of Ray Morales can be made to the American Heart Association. 

The survey probes visitor observations, not just of the sights, smells, and sounds, but also of their spiritual understanding of the space—including whether they got chills or were moved to tears, said Thomas Beaudoin, Ph.D., professor of religion at the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education and the study’s principal investigator. He received a grant of $200,000 from the Templeton Religion Trust two years ago to fund the survey, which he calls the Pantheon Research Project.

Beaudoin noted that not everyone understands that the Pantheon is now a Catholic church. Many see it as a monument, a museum, a mausoleum, and/or an ancient historical artifact.

“[The Pantheon] is a built environment attracting diverse visitors, from ‘tourists’ to ‘pilgrims,’ but lacking a controlling religious narrative,” he said.

The ancient structure serves as a perfect example of an under-specified spiritually significant space: a place of spirituality for some and utilitarian to others. While many such places exist throughout the world, for the past two decades Beaudoin has focused his research on the Pantheon because it is both a church and a tourist destination.

A little under a year ago, he visited the site of the Oculus at the World Trade Center to film a video. He noted that the transit hub serves as a train station for some and the site of the 9/11 attacks for others. As such, it is also an under-specified spiritually significant space.

“Architecture provokes our bodies, and profound built spaces can have a felt effect that we never forget,” said Beaudoin. “Few people cross the threshold of the Pantheon without a physical or emotional response, from chills to mouths agape.”

Beaudoin explained the purpose of the study and his personal relationship to sacred sites in a paper presented at the Association of Practical Theology Biennial Meeting, which was held on Zoom last April.

“[Pantheon] visitors … seem to have a variety of experiences [regarding]the significance of their visit. Exploring this is part of the study,” he said. “What this suggests is that the Pantheon can be considered to be both a Catholic church and simultaneously more-than-Christian.”

Beaudoin refers to the research as a “practical theological” project, a phrase often employed at the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education as a way to interpret contemporary situations from spiritual perspectives.

He said he hopes that the study will reveal what matters to visitors to the Pantheon and how the art of the Pantheon plays a role.

With the survey coming to a close, Beaudoin recently reflected on how the project began.

“My involvement in this research is personal. My father is a former Jesuit who taught me a sense of the church as an open space, and I’ve also been a practicing musician since I was a teenager, having learned from rock clubs and concert halls that resonant spaces that make room for diverse spiritual seekers can be a place of discovery.”

“When we had our Fordham in Community summit back in May, so many of us talked about that event being the first step and what community solutions could look like,” said Julie Gafney, Ph.D., director of the center. “I think today what we’re seeing is that second step; we’re putting it into action and we’re doing it in a way that I hope feels inclusive and celebratory. We are connecting folks with services, but this feels like a party.”

Indeed the jovial atmosphere carried out to Fordham Road where Fordham President Tania Tetlow joined City Councilmember Oswald Feliz to hand out backpacks alongside Provost Dennis Jacobs, Vice President for Mission Integration and Ministry John Cecero, S.J., Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata, and Campus Ministry Director Jose-Luis Salazar, S.J.

Partners Working in Full Force and in Coordination 

Fordham Plaza reopened in 2016 with a pedestrian-friendly design by world-renowned Grimshaw Architects. But it wasn’t until this past week that Fordham University held a large-scale event in the public space that shares its name.

“There’s a good reason that it took a while to hold a big public event on the plaza,” said Surey I. Miranda, CCEL director of campus and community engagement. While CCEL has a deep bench of talent when it comes to community organizing, obtaining the many city licenses for an event on the plaza was a herculean task made doable because the “partners worked in full force and in coordination,” she said.

While Miranda said that all the participants worked tirelessly, she did want to single out the Fordham Business Improvement District for their help in permitting, insurance, rallying city vendors and coordinating with the NYPD for public safety. She said their help laid out a blueprint for future events.

From ID cards for children provided by the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau, to Fair Fares, a program by the NYC Human Resources Administration that provides reduced-cost metro cards to low-income New Yorkers, organizers set out to equip local students and parents with the basics for start of the academic year. Bronx Library Center provided library cards, pens, and pencils; The Bronx is Reading gave out books; and the piragua ice cart men struggled to keep up with the demand.

In addition, several University-based programs had tables manned by faculty and staff. Professor of Philosophy Stephen Grim beamed from behind his table for Visions of Good in the Bronx, a philosophy and college prep program for high schoolers sponsored by the Teagle Foundation; Institute of American Language and Culture Director James Stabler-Havener explained his office’s ESL program for Latina Leaders; and Fordham Athletics distracted the kids with games and activities.

“We hope that we can continue to grow these collaborations and that elected officials and other organizations join us in the effort to uplift our communities while supporting one another,” Miranda said.

Several local officials were on hand to cheer on the effort, including Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, who gave a shoutout to Fordham and President Tetlow, who, like herself, was the first female president in her role.

“We do not do these events by ourselves, it truly takes a village,” said Gibson. “So can we give it up for the NYPD?! We see you! Fordham Road BID! The Bronx is Reading—give it up! New York Botanical Garden—in the house! Union Community Health Center! VIP Community Services! Street Lab! Wildlife Conservation Society! New York City Department of Health! New York City Commission on Human Rights! Administration for Children’s Services, and so many more!”

“There’s much that I’ve learned about how we really understand our own faiths when we understand the wisdom of other religions as well, and we make each other stronger in doing this together,” said Tetlow at the “Prayer and Picnic with the President” gathering, held on the Plaza at Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus on Aug. 31.

Moments before speaking, Tetlow sang Ben Steinberg’s “Oseh Shalom,” a Hebrew song of peace. She recalled learning it when she was hired as a soprano at a local synagogue in New Orleans. She said that going to the services there helped deepened her Catholic faith.

“There is a reason that the world’s great religions overlap in so many fundamental principles,” she said.

For thousands of years, humans have sought out God, been fueled by faith, and have come to a basic understanding, she said.

“We are designed as human beings to love each other—and that means not just our own families and not just our own communities,” she said. “All of the world’s great religions have in common the exhortation to welcome the stranger, to understand that every human being is our brother and sister, rooted in fundamental dignity, worthy of respect, and more than that, worthy of love.”

Amidst the honk of horns and sirens emanating from Columbus and Tenth avenues, as well as the occasional helicopter, Tetlow acknowledged the diversity of the millions living just a few square miles from campus. A quick glance at the crowd reflected that diversity, not just of race and religion, but of the Fordham community as well. Representatives from the Ailey School joined deans from Fordham College at Rose Hill, the Law School, and Fordham College at Lincoln Center, as well as nurses from Health Services, curators, artists, scientists, facilities staff, and, of course, students.

For many, it was their first encounter with the new president, who brought her daughter, Lucy, to the ceremony. For others, it was also the first time seeing the plaza used in a ceremonial fashion. A temporary stage called attention to the decades-old wisteria arbor at the Plaza’s western edge. Just a few summertime blossoms still clung to the vines. Adirondack chairs formed a semicircle leaving a green space in front of the stage for Ailey students to dance two pieces. And FCLC sophomore Isis Poulose performed a traditional Hindu dance to the Shiva Panchakshara Stotram, a devotional chant to Lord Shiva set to music.

Karina Martin Hogan, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, acknowledged that the land the Fordham community enjoys today was the land of the Lenape people. She shared the Anishinabe Water Rite, which was taught to her by her father who came from the Ojibwe tribe in today’s northern Wisconsin. In addition, there were moments set aside for mediation and gratitude. The ceremony also included music from China, “Mo li Hua,” and a piece for piano with a dissonant riff on the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.”

Before delivering a reflection, Vin DeCola, S.J., assistant dean at Gabelli School of Business, offered a humorous and alliterative homage to welcome the new boss.

“Isn’t it terrific to have this timely transition to a top-tier trailblazer, Tulane-trained, tremendously-talented, totally tuned-in Tania Tetlow toiling as ‘tirty-tird’ topbanana—and she’s talmudically tuneful too. Today a tourist—but tomorrow, toast of the town!”

Father Vin, as he is known to the Gabelli School family, said that he appreciated the moments of gratitude in the afternoon’s ceremony, a time-tested practice of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. He noted that gratitude makes one humble and calls attention to life’s many gifts, including the Fordham community. Yet, Father DeCola also acknowledged that we live in challenging times, including an awakening to the truth of centuries’ worth of unjust social structures around gender inequality and racial discrimination. He added that while some may welcome change, others who have benefited from the oppressive structure will fight to maintain the status quo.

“Some find such times of social change quite threatening and, sadly, sometimes feel threatened to the point of triggering a reaction of violence—real or legislative violence,” he said.

Among the many changes he cited was the shift from the 1970s, when men composed nearly 60% of the student body, a trend that has flipped at Fordham, with this year’s class composed of 63% of students who identify as women and 37% as men. In addition, he noted that the very notion of binary gender categories has evolved, with many who are uncomfortable with binary categories altogether.

“Their discomfort raises important and helpful questions for all of us to face,” he said. “What can I learn from those who call into question such black and white categories? Don’t we all benefit by accepting that life is not so black and white, but rather, thank goodness, is a spectrum of colors which, when embraced, make us all more beautiful?”

He noted that while he remains worried about the world incoming students will encounter upon graduating, he still has faith.

“Yes, we live in complicated times, but you give me hope, great hope,” he said to the students. “You and this community gathered here are reason for hope.”

LITE, which stands for Learning & Innovative Technology Environment, offers an array of cutting-edge educational technologies. It reflects a national trend toward learning commons, said Fleur Eshghi, Ed.D., associate vice president of educational technology research computing. Learning commons are shared collaborative spaces, usually located in libraries, where students, faculty, and staff can meet to brainstorm, socialize, research, and strategize, said Eshghi.

“Learning commons can include the use of traditional materials, like books, but if you need to go somewhere to produce materials or use the latest technology together with your colleagues, this is the place,” said Eshghi.

As a collaboration between The Office of Information Technology and Fordham Libraries, Eshghi said the space is for everyone, but particularly for faculty and students. The center provides both low-tech technologies (a sewing machine) and state-of-the-art computer tech (virtual and augmented reality). Unlike other areas of the library, talking is permitted—even encouraged. There are small lounge areas for breakout sessions. Several tall tables with stools sit beside whiteboards, encouraging small-group brainstorming. There are banks of computer stations where the computers can fold under the table and turn the surface into a conference table.

LITE Features:

And if there is a snag in using the equipment, not to worry. LITE has a full-time IT staffer on hand in case something goes wrong with the tech.

“We believe nothing kills the spirit of creativity and momentum than when you have a technical issue and you don’t know where to go, or you have to put everything away and go to another building to get help,” said Eshghi.

In imagining the center, Eshghi surveyed the Fordham community about their needs.

“I interviewed practically every department at the University to see what is it that they see in the future,” said Eshghi. “We have to go hand in hand with the academic departments; we’re an extension to what is going on in the classes and in their labs.”

Mix and Match Tech

Nicola Terzulli, the lead in learning space design for the center, said that while each piece of technology can be used on its own, much of it could be combined.

Terzulli noted that not only can a professor combine 360-degree camera and the VR, as in the case of Chartres, but artifacts from the site could also be scanned on the 3-D scanner and then printed out on the 3-D printer. Later, a podcast could also be made about a site.

“Everything can be mixed and matched to the medium,” said Terzulli.

For example, he noted that the anthropology department could use a 3-D scanner to scan a delicate fossil, or even a human skull, and the 3-D printer could then print it out so that students can handle the object without fear of damaging it.

For some professors, there will be a bit of a learning curve when using the technology, whereas for students it may be less so. For example, students who are into gaming may find that using the controls to the VR comes naturally. On a recent visit, LITE tech assistant Jackson Saunders, a sophomore at Fordham College at Rose Hill, assisted Curator of University Art Jennifer Udell, Ph.D., in locating an obscure archeological site in Greece. Udell said that she could definitely see assigning students to virtually visit various sites around the ancient world.

“Then they can teach me,” she said.

For questions about the LITE center, to collaborate, or schedule a tour, please contact the LITE director, Nicole Zeidan, Ed.D., or their staff at [email protected]. For a virtual tour, visit fordham.edu/lite.

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

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

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

Succinct, Efficient Presentations

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

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

Mentoring Younger Students Provides Teaching Experience

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

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

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

A Full-Time Focus on Research

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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