For the third straight year, President Tania Tetlow led the Fordham contingent. In a prerecorded message broadcast on NBC during the parade, she noted that Fordham is “Irish to its core,” as it was founded in 1841 by Archbishop John Hughes to “serve the hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants streaming into New York” who needed education and “investment in the talent that they brought with them.”

“We are so proud to continue the joyfulness of our Irish heritage on WFUV’s Irish show every Sunday,” she said, referencing Ceol na nGael, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. “We are proud to revel in the academic intellectual heritage of Ireland. We created the first Irish studies program in the United States, and continue to educate our students in the glory of that tradition.”

Another Ram also had a special role in the festivities: John B. Kelly, GABELLI ’76, LAW ’79, was one of five aides to the grand marshal.

“We were founded in 1841 by beloved Dagger John, Archbishop John Hughes, who knew that he needed to serve the hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants streaming into New York. He knew that they needed not just food and shelter and jobs. They needed education. They needed investment in the talent that they brought with them, even as they came with the clothes on their back. And so he created a college that started with about eight faculty and six students and grew it into this incredible university that we are today.

We are so proud to continue the joyfulness of our Irish heritage on WFUV’s Irish show every Sunday. We are proud to revel in the academic intellectual heritage of Ireland. We created the first Irish studies program in the United States, and continue to educate our students in the glory of that tradition. And we are particularly proud today to march down Fifth Avenue with a thousand Fordham alumni strong as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”

At the pre-parade brunch at the Harvard Club, Fordham’s president, Tania Tetlow, paid homage to the University’s Irish founder, Archbishop John Hughes, and the generations of Irishmen and women who helped build the U.S., brick by brick.

“It is hard to imagine what this country would be without the Irish—every stone that we laid and every canal that we dug. But not just that—because we have brought our adopted home an intellectual brightness, an obsession with poetry and drama, the ability to laugh at what should make you weep. Without us, this country would be missing a certain sense of joyfulness,” President Tetlow said. “And without us, there would be no Fordham University—because it was founded for us.”

“I didn’t expect that many Fordham people along the parade route wearing their maroon on St. Patrick’s Day, but they were out there,” said Robert Sutherland, FCRH ’14, vice chair of the Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA) Advisory Board, who carried the University banner. “I think that’s a credit to where the University’s come: President Tetlow, the basketball teams … it’s a great time to be a Ram.”

Mixed in among the usual shouts of “Go Rams!” were more than a few cheers for Fordham basketball—a nod to the women’s team’s seventh straight postseason appearance and the men’s team’s most successful season in 30 years.

“We energized New York with the basketball team in February and March,” said FUAA board member Steve Centrillo, FCRH ’79, GABELLI ’81, who marched with his wife, Deidre, GABELLI ’81. “I’ve been going to games at [the Rose Hill Gym] for 40-plus years, and I’ve never seen six games in a row where the students were just going crazy, and every seat was filled.”

Extending the Tradition

Some marchers paid tribute to late members of the Fordham community who touched their lives in some way. Paul Stavish, FCRH ’73, for example, adorned his black coat with a shimmering green shamrock pin he received seven years ago, at the funeral of Joseph “Jay” McGowan, dean of student affairs during the 1970s and ’80s.

Other alumni brought members of their family into the Fordham fold. Jeana Somers, LAW ’22, came from New Jersey with her husband, Patrick, and her daughter, brother, and nephew. “It’s a good way to honor my husband,” she said. “It’s his birthday, so it’s a fun day to do a family event. [We’ve also been] to Ireland for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and we sat in the grandstand seats. [This is] very different.”

Celebrating 175 Years of Military Heritage

Cadets and instructors from the Fordham ROTC program also marched in the parade. Lt. Col. Paul Tanghe, Ph.D., professor of military science at Fordham, noted that the program has historical connections with the New York National Guard’s 69th Infantry Regiment, which has strong Irish heritage. He said many Fordham alumni have served with distinction in the regiment, which was also represented in the parade.

“I think it’s wonderful to celebrate our affiliation with the Fighting 69th,” said cadet Diana Kim, the program’s battalion commander and a member of Fordham’s Class of 2024. She noted that cadets are presented with a ceremonial shillelagh, or traditional Irish fighting stick, when they graduate and are commissioned as officers within the ROTC program.

Given that the University is celebrating the 175th anniversary of military instruction at Fordham this year, “it feels really special to be a cadet here at Fordham,” said another cadet, Brian Inguanti, a member of the Fordham Class of 2025.

A Commitment to Raising Families’ Prospects

Earlier in the day, more than 200 members of the Fordham community brought a dose of Ram pride to the Yale Club, where they gathered for brunch before the march up Fifth Avenue.

Karen Sbaschnig, PCS ’15, took a day off work for the occasion. “I wanted to come this year because I haven’t been for a few years because of the pandemic,” she said, and “I haven’t met the new president yet. That’s another reason why I wanted to come: to hear her speak and to see what her vision is.”

Tetlow told attendees how excited she was about the parade and joked about her “suspiciously English last name.”

“Let’s get down to the important thing: I’m the first president [of Fordham] in generations not to have an Irish last name, and I know that’s a concern,” she said. “But rest assured, the grandmother I was closest to was a Mullen—that family came from Cork generations ago.”

She said the Catholic Church and Jesuit institutions of higher education helped raise her family’s prospects: “That is what we stand for as a church: To take a family from coal mining to university president in two generations.”

She paid tribute to Fordham’s founder, Archbishop John Hughes—and mentioned Hughes again during the parade, when she was interviewed by NBC 4. (Tune in to the 7:36 minute mark to see the interview, and the 25:40 mark to see the Fordham contingent march past.) At the brunch, Tetlow described the University as one that helps solve the world’s problems by pushing “on the boundaries of human knowledge”—and by understanding that talent is too often squandered when opportunity is narrowly disbursed. “We know we have assembled the best and the brightest of the world because they look like the world,” she said. “And still, 20% of our students are the first in their family to go to college, as many of you were.”

“For me, it is humbling beyond measure to take up this work—to lead Fordham into a future where education has never mattered more.”

Chris Gosier contributed reporting to this story.

“It was somewhat of a surprise, obviously good and exciting news. I’ve done a lot of [work]over the years in the Irish community, so it was nice to have that recognized and acknowledged,” he told Fordham Magazine in 2020.

Irish and New York blood run deep through his veins. His great-grandfather Daniel Houlihan immigrated to the Bronx from County Kerry, Ireland, in 1874. And his maternal grandmother, Rose Valerie Murray, emigrated in 1913 from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. That’s why Houlihan has been so dedicated to supporting the Irish community. In addition to leading the Great Hunger Memorial project, he has worked with the Irish Arts Center, based in New York City, to curate an exhibit titled “Fighting Irishmen: A Celebration of Celtic Warriors,” which commemorated people who are “heroes to the Irish,” Houlihan said.

Houlihan also has been a longtime supporter of the Fordham community. A former member of the University’s Board of Trustees, he previously served as chair of the Fordham President’s Council and as a member of the WFUV advisory board. In 2011, Fordham honored Houlihan with its Founder’s Award, given to individuals whose personal and professional lives reflect the highest aspirations of the University’s defining traditions, as an institution dedicated to wisdom and learning in the service of others. He and his family have established scholarship funds for students and helped renovate the baseball diamond at Jack Coffey Field, which was named Houlihan Park in honor of him and his family.

For many attendees, it was a chance to see New York City come back to life after two years of social distancing and separation. Meghan McAlary, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business, who serves as the president of Fordham’s Gaelic Society, said she was grateful to participate in the parade after going through the pandemic.

“We’ve definitely had a lot of pent-up energy to get out here, so it’s nice to finally be able to get together,” she said.

Continuing the Tradition

McAlary was marching with her father, John, who said that he was thrilled to see his daughter so involved with both the Fordham community and her Irish roots.

“We got to travel together to Ireland before the pandemic, so just to see her out here as the president of the Gaelic Society—I couldn’t be prouder. I grew up in New York City and I used to come down to the parade every year as a child, and to see her continuing that tradition is just wonderful,” he said.

Eight decades’ worth of Fordham Rams participated in the parade, spanning graduates from the 1950s to current students. All nine of the University’s colleges, as well as Marymount, were represented, according to Michael Griffin, associate vice president for alumni relations.

Two of those generations were represented by the Wiedenhoft family, as Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore Carolyn Wiedenhoft marched in the parade with her dad Robert, FCRH ’86.

“Seeing her love it and being able to share that with her is a great connection,” he said.

Catherine Trapani, a 2013 graduate of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Fordham University Alumni Association advisory board, brought her daughter and best friend to the parade to participate for the first time. Trapani said that she wasn’t sure how the turnout would be with the weather and pandemic-related hesitations.

“It’s nice to see it filled with all different ages and schools,” she said.

Across the region, other traditions returned this year. In White Plains, James J. Houlihan, GABELLI ’74, served as the grand marshal of their St. Patrick’s Day parade to honor him for helping to establish the Great Hunger Memorial, among other volunteer and philanthropic works in and beyond Westchester County.

James T. Callahan, general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, served as the New York City parade’s grand marshal. The parade featured a moment of silence for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in memory of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the war in Ukraine. The Fordham contingent stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on its way up Fifth Avenue and tipped their caps to the church.

Honoring Father McShane: “It’s Why I’m Here”

This year’s parade marks the last time that Joseph M. McShane S.J., president of Fordham, addressed the delegation, as he will be stepping down in June. For many alumni, saying goodbye to him was part of the reason they decided to march.

“It’s why I’m here—this morning I got up and it was raining, but I said ‘I’m going anyway because it’s McShane’s last (one),’” said Stephen Centrillo, GABELLI ’79, ’81.

“He’s the most inspirational human being I know. I’ve known him for 20 years now and I’m just so happy for what he’s done for Fordham. And I wanted him to see as many Rams here, recognizing how we feel about him.”

At ‘Every Moment in Fordham’s History,’ Becoming People for Others

Before the parade, more than 200 participants gathered for brunch at the Yale Club. Father McShane served as the keynote speaker, and was met with a standing ovation from those in attendance. He called on the crowd to remember not only the story of St. Patrick, but also the story of another Irishman, Fordham’s founder Archbishop John Hughes— “a latter-day St. Patrick.”

Father McShane said that Hughes did four vital things for the city: purchasing land where the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral was built on Fifth Avenue; making sure there were Catholic schools for children to attend at their parishes; starting St. John’s College, which would become Fordham University; and helping to start Emigrant Savings Bank, which provided banking services to previously underserved Irish customers when it first opened.

“All of them really were aimed at one thing—taking care of the downcast, the downtrodden, the forgotten, the marginalized—us,” Father McShane said. “And Fordham has kept faithful to that mission.”

Father McShane said that “at every moment in Fordham’s history, Fordham is drawn to helping young men and women who have “great hearts and exceptional intellectual ability” find their way in the world and become people for others.

“This is what we’ve done for generations we’re able to do it now because of you—your kindness, your goodness, your generosity,” he said.

Those in attendance said that they were grateful for Father McShane continuing that mission throughout his tenure, particularly during the last few years.

“I feel like this St. Patrick’s Day, this parade is marking the point of [getting]  back to normal—it’s a brand new day, and it’s also being led by Father McShane,” said Sally Benner, FCRH ’84, chair of the Fordham University Alumni Association’s (FUAA) Advisory Board.

“We didn’t lose him and his leadership during the pandemic—he led us to the finish line and now we’re safe, we’re going to be OK.”

Shannon Quinn, FCRH ’10, GABELLI ’18, associate director of alumni relations for NYC programming, accepted the award on the University’s behalf during a ceremony at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.

More than 500 students, alumni, family, and friends marched up Fifth Avenue and past St. Patrick’s Cathedral on March 16.

Many of the Fordham marchers had gathered for breakfast at the Yale Club earlier that morning, where they heard Cathal Pratt, a Fordham doctoral candidate in English, relate the long history of the University’s Irish studies program. Founded in 1925 by Irish nationalist Joseph Campbell, it may very well be the oldest such program in the world.

Pratt emphasized how Campbell reminded Fordham of its Irish heritage, an immigrant past filled with both challenges and compassion that Fordham celebrates to this day.

Based on reactions, comments, and shares*, here are the Fordham News stories that were most popular on Facebook this year.

10. Fordham Provost Stephen Freedman Dies at 68
To call an obituary a “popular” post may seem incongruous. The word is very fitting, however, for our late provost Stephen Freedman, who was loved and admired on the Fordham campus and beyond. His untimely death in July shocked the University community; we still grieve for him as we strive to carry on his legacy.

9. Management Course on Spinning Bikes Gets Students Up to Speed
Struggling to fit in your spin workout and still make it to class? Students did both in Julita Haber’s management class, the first ever fitness integrated learning (FIL) class to be offered on an American campus.

8. Faces in the Class of 2018
Hailing from all over the world, these 10 members of the Class of 2018 were just a small sample of the many talented graduates who do us proud each year.

7. Spending a Year With the Jesuit Volunteer Corps
For some Fordham grads—including Charlie Shea and Annie David—the Jesuit Volunteer Corps offers a chance to experience a different community and find a sense of purpose.

6. Performing Arts Programs Earn Top Rankings
Our performing arts programs took center stage this year, earning top spots in several prestigious rankings. Bravo!

5. Fordham Opens New London Centre
Fordham officially unveiled its new London Centre, now located in the Clerkenwell neighborhood and offering study abroad opportunities in liberal arts, business, and drama.

4. Fordham Marches in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
As always, the Rams had a great showing on Fifth Avenue for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We took first place among universities for the third year in a row.

3. Remembering Nicholas Booker
Friends and Fordham staff came together to remember first-year student Nicholas Booker, an athlete, a pal to many, and a promising young man whose future was cut short by a severe asthmatic attack.

2. Moving in on Opening Day
There was plenty of Fordham spirit on display as Opening Day welcomed new and returning students to campus.

1. Sistine Chapel Reproduction Installed at Rose Hill
And our most popular post of 2018 was a recent one: A quarter-scale reproduction of the Sistine Chapel fresco—a gift from the Met—now hangs in Duane Library’s Butler Commons. Be sure to check it out in January, when the University will open the room to members of the campus community.

*A note about our methodology: This list is based on total reactions, comments, and shares, including reactions to other people’s shares– which are not reflected in the numbers seen at the bottom of the posts here.

On Oct. 22, members of the St. Patrick Day Foundation presented Fordham with the first-place plaque at the McNally Amphitheatre on the Lincoln Center campus. Accepting the award on the University’s behalf was Shannon Quinn, FCRH ’10, GABELLI ’18, associate director of alumni relations, NYC programming. Other universities were also honored at the ceremony.

More than 500 Rams marched up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan for the parade this March. About half of them gathered for brunch at the Yale Club earlier that day, where Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, spoke with pride about Irish immigrants who risked so much to achieve the American dream.

He said that St. Patrick’s Day is a day for “savoring everything our ancestors did to leave Ireland and come to a place filled with uncertain promise.” Those that left their troubled country, he said, would have never dreamed of the successes their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren would eventually realize.

A Fordham contingent has been marching in the parade since 1937, with a brief hiatus during World War II. No fewer than eight Fordham alumni have served as grand marshals.

This year more than 500 Rams marched up Fifth Avenue past the cathedral bearing the name of the Irish saint, its soaring edifice built by Fordham’s founder, Archbishop John Hughes.

Before the parade, about 250 Fordham marchers gathered at the Yale Club for an annual breakfast. John Harrington, Ph.D., dean of academic affairs for Fordham’s new London Centre, gave a short talk about Irish studies at Fordham and its “lineage of strong scholars,” but he also homed in on Archbishop Hughes’s Irish past.

Harrington noted that that the Hughes family farm, like many Irish farms, wasn’t contiguous. Plots could sometimes be separated by miles. The Hughes family farm had plots set about a mile apart with the border separating Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland running between the two.

“The family was up close to separation and sectarianism,” said Harrington. “I think if he could look back, he’d have strong ideas about Brexit.”

Throughout the sunny day the mood remained cheerful, but suffering from The Troubles and the struggle of 30 million Irish-American immigrants was not far from the minds of marchers, not least Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

“The whole story of the Irish experience in New York City, in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s, is of being outsiders, of being looked down upon and despised,” said Father McShane. “Hughes was the guy at the head, defending his people, but at the same time he was excoriating them to get them to rise, and education was very important to that.”

Father McShane said that St. Patrick’s Day is a day for “savoring everything our ancestors did to leave Ireland and come to a place filled with uncertain promise.” He said the Irish that left their troubled country would have never dreamed of the successes their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren would eventually realize.

“Even here at the Yale Club!” he said. “Who would have thought in the 19^th century we’d be here using their cutlery instead of cleaning and polishing it.”

Patrica McCarthy, an M.S.W. student at the Graduate School of Social Service, said that her grandfather came from Ireland. She said that it’s important to continue to “open people’s minds and to open doors” for immigrants.

Her husband Kevin McCarthy, LAW ’78, agreed. McCarthy teaches at nearby John Jay College.

“It’s important to try to legalize the status of our DACA students, especially for students at Fordham and at John Jay where there’s a very large contingent of DACA students,” he said.

As they waited for the parade to start, Liam Strain, PCS ’03, and Mary Grogan Strain, FCRH ’92, said they represent a mixed marriage: He of Lincoln Center, she of Rose Hill. Liam said he should have graduated in 1984, but returned to get his degree in 2003.

The Strains, like Harrington and others at the parade, also expressed concern about Brexit, saying that any “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland may disrupt newfound peace.

“When I came back to finish my degree at Fordham the Celtic Tiger was in full bloom, the Good Friday agreement was forged,” he said. “As a political science major and it was a great time to see Ireland as a model for change and moving toward the future.”

When the Strains were in school they met at the Gaelic Society, where Liam was then president. Then, as now, the two said it was easy to draw parallels from the Irish experience to today’s immigrant experience.

“Dagger John Hughes was a big defender of the immigrants—they happened to be Irish at the time, but that story resonates today,” said Liam Strain.

His wife agreed.

“I was an Irish history minor, so New York City was a great place to connect to the history of the Irish, but it was also a great place to connect to the history of immigrants from all over the world,” she said. “New York is a really diverse campus so it’s a great place to celebrate any heritage.”

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The parade drew 250 members of the Fordham community, whose marching performance earned Fordham first place in the Universities category.

Accepting the award on the University’s behalf before the foundation’s quarterly meeting at the Lincoln Center campus were Tom Dunne, vice president for administration, and Shannon Hirrel, FCRH ‘10, assistant director of alumni relations, NYC programming.

Fordham’s deep ties to the parade will continue, as Michael J. Dowling, GSS ‘74, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health, will serve as Grand Marshall for the parade in 2017.

A native of Limerick and a former professor of social policy and assistant dean at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Services, Dowling is believed to be the first head of a hospital to lead the 255-year-old parade.