Below are sentiments they have shared as Fordham begins this critical and historic work.

“This first-of-its-kind effort, that I made sure we amply funded in the historic Inflation Reduction Act, to directly invest in grassroots environmental justice groups is critical to fighting the carbon pollution worsening asthma, driving climate change and increasing the likelihood and severity of devastating extreme weather events,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. “This $50 million for Fordham University to fund environmental justice projects is the kind of program that can help our disadvantaged communities effectively fight the pollution that harms them. I am proud of Fordham University and I’m so excited to see how the vibrant network of New York and Puerto Rican grassroots environmental justice organizations access and activate this federal funding. I remain laser-focused on implementing the IRA so that we can ensure it lives up to its transformative potential to clean our air and combat climate change.”

“EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program is a vital new program that will advance environmental justice and help communities disproportionately impacted by climate change, pollution, and other environmental stressors,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “I am thrilled to see that Fordham University has been selected as the Grantmaker for EPA Region 2, which will allow organizations in New York, other communities within the Region, and Puerto Rico to apply for funds to support a range of different environmental project activities that will help the communities most in need. I am proud to have worked with and supported Fordham University to help secure its selection as a grantmaker and look forward to seeing communities that have long faced underinvestment gain access to federal environmental justice funding.”

“Fordham University’s commitment to environmental justice through its Flourishing in Community program and Climate Action Summit 2024 has been exemplary,” said U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (NY-15). “By investing $40 million in grants to community-based organizations with a prioritization on marginalized communities, Fordham is not just talking about change — they’re actively implementing it. Initiatives like these, focusing on participatory governance and community-led solutions, are crucial for a sustainable future for the Bronx and the nation. I commend Fordham for their leadership and hope more institutions follow their example.”

“Fordham University’s resounding call to action comes in the form of their EPA Grant, which will facilitate climate justice initiatives for environmentally disadvantaged communities in the Bronx,” said City Council Member Oswald Feliz. We are constantly working to provide accessibility to communities disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change. With Fordham’s Climate Action Summit, we will witness new insights on sustainability and environmental justice for our Bronx community.”

The designation comes after 11 Fordham students and alumni were selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the 2023-2024 school year. Currently serving in destinations that range from Côte D’Ivoire to South Korea, they have joined the ranks of hundreds of Fordham students chosen for the program since it began nearly 80 years ago. 

“Fulbright scholarships change lives, funding international student research opportunities and creating pathways to careers in academia, industry, and government,” said Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham. “Being a top producer of Fulbrights speaks to Fordham’s investment in scholarship and in our students; we are so gratified by their success.”

This is the sixth time Fordham has been recognized as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. students in the past 15 years. The prestigious awards allow students to pursue a variety of international opportunities, including studying, teaching, and conducting research abroad.

Molly Gleason, a 2021 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill, is an English teaching assistant in Indonesia through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. She applied for the Fulbright after a rewarding summer study abroad program in the country two years earlier.

“I was certain I wanted to return to continue the cultural exchange, and what better way to do that than within a classroom? I teach 10th and 11th graders at a vocational high school in Pekanbaru, a city in Sumatra that rarely has foreigners (I am the only one in the whole city!),” she said. “One highlight of my grant has been the development of an ecology club for my students who have never been exposed to the environmental field. Pekanbaru’s natural areas became immersive classrooms, and together we explored and learned about the ecosystem.”

Fordham students apply for awards like the Fulbright through the Office of Prestigious Fellowships, which offers guidance and support throughout the application process.

“We are overjoyed to be recognized as a top producer,” said Lorna Ronald, Ph.D., director of the fellowships office, adding that the office is eager to “break down the myth that only one type of student can apply for a prestigious award such as a Fulbright.”

“The Fulbright program is an ideal fellowship for any student interested in cultural exchange—and we have many such students at Fordham,” said Ronald. “We work closely with each student as they think through their goals and plans and how a year overseas might benefit them and the community they seek to serve. We can’t wait to work with students again this year, and we encourage all who are curious about this opportunity to come and meet with us.”

Operating since 1946, the Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international academic exchange program. Fulbright alumni include 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government, and 62 Nobel Laureates.

Fordham recibirá los fondos durante tres años, trabajando con organizaciones aliadas para ayudar a realzar a las comunidades desfavorecidas y de difícil acceso, así como a aquellas desproporcionadamente afectadas por el cambio climático, la contaminación y otros estresores ambientales. Fordham es una de solo 11 instituciones en toda la nación,seleccionadas para administrar 550 millones de dólares en fondos federales destinados para el programa.

“Fordham University busca crear un impacto en el mundo y buscar soluciones a los problemas más urgentes”, dijo la presidenta Tania Tetlow. “Fordham combina la investigación de vanguardia con una profunda conexión con la comunidad, construyendo sobre 182 años de compromiso con el Bronx y expandiéndose a lo largo del mundo. Este proyecto encarna la misión de Fordham. Creemos en el poder de las soluciones impulsadas por la comunidad al cambio climático para capturar las perspectivas y el ingenio de las personas más afectadas por el calentamiento global”.

Aproximadamente 10 millones de dólares de la subvención estarán destinados para el componente programático y operacional, así como el componente de investigación  de Fordham. Sirviendo como la entidad gestionadora de subvenciones de la EPA para la Región 2, bajo el nombre Floreciendo en Comunidad, del programa de Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program 2023, Fordham asignará los 40 millones de dólares restantes en subvenciones que van desde 75,000 hasta 350,000 dólares para fomentar diversos projectos e iniciativas de justicia ambiental. El Center for Community Engaged Learning de Fordham está liderando la iniciativa, que será dirigida por Julie Gafney, Ph.D., y Surey Miranda.

Aliados Comunitarios y Académicos

La universidad está colaborando con aliados comunitarios y académicos, incluyendo el New York Immigration Coalition, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, ConPRmetidos en Puerto Rico, Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, Business Initiative Corporation of New York y varias universidades en la región. Este enfoque colaborativo garantizará un impacto más amplio e integrará la investigación y enseñanza de la universidad con esfuerzos reales de justicia ambiental.

Comunidades podrán aplicar aFordham para subvenciones para financiar una variedad de proyectos ambientales, incluyendo limpiezas locales, programas para la preparación de emergencias y resiliencia ante desastres, programas de desarrollo de fuerza laboral en el ámbito ambiental, proyectos relacionados con la calidad del aire y el asma, programas de hogares saludables y proyectos que aborden la disposición ilegal de desperdicios.

La iniciativa de otorgamiento de subvenciones de Fordham, llamada Floreciendo en Comunidad, apoyará cada subvención con un grupo de Comunidad de Práctica que incluye académicos, líderes comunitarios y estudiantes graduados, asegurando un apoyo integral y maximizando su efectividad.

“Esta subvención es el producto directo del compromiso de Fordham de centrar la justicia ambiental y la sostenibilidad en nuestra enseñanza, aprendizaje e investigación de impacto público”, dijo Gafney. “En la iniciativa Floreciendo en Comunidad creamos un enfoque transformador que ofrece una nueva visión de la educación superior: una que valora el impacto comunitario junto con la investigación de vanguardia. Nuestra iniciativa no solo proporciona subvenciones a comunidades desfavorecidas y desproporcionalment impactadas, sino que también se extiende a un soporte integral, asegurando la sostenibilidad e impacto de estos cruciales proyectos liderados por la comunidad”.

Esta subvención de la EPA subraya el compromiso de Fordham con el desarrollo curricular en Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería, y Matemáticas (STEM, por sus siglas en inglés), así como la participación de la universidad con las comunidades mientras responden a los problemas más apremiantes que enfrentan nuestra ciudad y nuestra nación.

Lisa F. Garcia, administradora de la Región 2 de la EPA,  dijo que el trabajo de Fordham con la agencia “será el comienzo de una relación fructífera que se basará tanto en el compromiso de la EPA para abordar la injusticia climática como en la promesa de Fordham como gestionador ambiental”.

“Como otorgante de subvenciones, Fordham University, ayudará a la EPA al avance de la justicia ambiental de una manera directa que ayudará a deshacer los daños pasados de injusticia ambiental”, dijo Garcia.

Una ‘Oportunidad Transformadora’

Rafael Roger, Presidente de Business Initiative Corporation of New York, uno de los aliados de Fordham, dijo que la iniciativa Floreciendo en Comunidad es una oportunidad para “comenzar a abordar problemas ambientales que mejorarán la vida de millones de personas”.

“Esta oportunidad es transformadora para nuestra región y traerá justicia a las comunidades que han sido marginadas”, dijo. “Si bien la creación de empleo y la mejora de edificios es parte de nuestra misión, poder priorizar la conservación del medio ambiente es un nuevo hito”.

Amy Torres, directora ejecutiva de la New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ), dijo que “muy a menudo, Nueva Jersey es el blanco de bromas sobre la contaminación o desechos peligrosos. Pero para los habitantes de Nueva Jersey que soportan la carga del racismo ambiental o que han sido desplazados por la crisis climática, no es motivo de risa”. “Como la coalición de inmigración más grande del estado, NJAIJ se enorgullece de ser parte del esfuerzo colaborativo bajo el proyecto Floreciendo en Comunidad”, dijo. “Juntos, elevaremos las voces de los más afectados en la Región 2 de la EPA, en particular los refugiados climáticos, los trabajadores agrícolas y las personas desplazadas o perjudicadas por el racismo ambiental.”

Dee Baecher-Brown, presidenta de Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, dijo que su organización está “honrada” de ser aliada de Fordham en este trabajo.

“CFVI reconoce la importancia y el potencial impacto de esta subvención en el avance de la justicia ambiental y en abordar las necesidades de las comunidades sobrecargadas, y está preparada para emplear nuestra extensa experiencia e infraestructura para maximizar el valor de ‘Floreciendo en Comunidad’ en las Islas Vírgenes de EE. UU.”, dijo Baecher-Brown.

También en el Caribe, Isabel Rullán, co-fundadora y directora ejecutiva de ConPRmetidos en Puerto Rico, dijo que ella y sus colegas aportarán su propia experiencia en otorgamiento de subvenciones y “priorizarán apoyar a grupos subrepresentados centrados en eliminar barreras que limitan el desarrollo organizacional”.

Murad Awawdeh, PCS ’19, director ejecutivo del New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), dijo que la organización está orgullosa de aliarse junto con Fordham en sus esfuerzos por la justicia ambiental. 

“Este nuevo financiamiento de la EPA es un primer paso importante para asegurar que más grupos de base comunitaria tengan el apoyo que necesitan para llamar la atención y continuar aliviando los impactos del cambio climático, la contaminación y otros estresores ambientales afectando a inmigrantes, las comunidades de bajos ingresos y las personas de color”, dijo.

Aquellos interesados en aprender más sobre el programa, incluyendo cómo solicitar subvenciones, pueden completar este formulario.

Para consultas de medios, contacte a Jane Kidwell Martinez, Directora de Relaciones de Medios de Fordham, a través de [email protected] o al 347-992-1815

In the hand-written note to James Martin, S.J., editor of the Outreach website, the pope mentions Fordham by name and sends his prayers and best wishes for presenters and attendees.

“I send my best regards to the members of the meeting at Fordham University,” reads the translation of the letter, which Pope Francis wrote in Spanish and dated May 6, 2023.  “Thank you for delivering it to them. In my prayers and good wishes are you and all who are working at the Outreach Conference.”

It’s the third letter that Pope Francis has written in support of an Outreach conference.

“I’m grateful for the Holy Father’s warm letter, which is a wonderful blessing for everyone joining us this weekend at the conference,” said Father Martin. “And it’s a special grace for LGBTQ Catholics to know that the pope is praying for them.”

Fordham President Tania Tetlow will be a keynote speaker at this year’s event, which will also feature a representative from the Vatican.

Read more on the Outreach website. 

That was the message of the “Disabled Freedom Portals,” Fordham’s 2022-2023 Distinguished Lecture on Disability delivered online last month by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a disability and transformative justice movement worker and author.

“As a disabled person, you are needed. If you’re not disabled, you are also needed to learn from, support, and lift up disabled leadership and organizing in these times. Imagining disabled futures that are free is always an act of resistance,” she said, noting that in the minds of some, “we are not even supposed to survive to a future. We are not supposed to be free, and we are not supposed to have a right to decide what that freedom consists of.”

She acknowledged the activism she has seen from many in the community.

“I’m here to tell you that I know so many of you are already fighting like hell and we have to keep fighting like hell. Everything’s possible to win.”

For the April 12 talk,  Piepzna-Samarasinha defined disability as “encompassing anyone who is disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, mad, deaf, or more than one. And that’s been 33% of the United States for a while,” she said, noting that some experts say disabled people are now close to being a majority of the population, given how many people now exhibit symptoms of long COVID and PTSD brought on by the pandemic.

She talked about the many ways disabled people have been discriminated against and outright attacked in modern history, from the Nazis demanding that parents surrender their disabled children to be killed, to violence against the trans community, to CDC director Rochelle Walensky calling it “encouraging news” in 2022 that most COVID deaths were attributed to people with co-occurring conditions, to New York City Mayor Eric Adams planning to institutionalize severely mentally ill people against their will.

“It’s so important for us to remember that none of these attacks are separate,” she said. “The connections between fascism, ableism, trans hatred, racism, and all forms of oppression are crystal clear.”

Piepzna-Samarasinha also shared how she came to be involved in disability justice.

“I’ve been autistic since I was born, even though I only figured it out when I was 41,” she said. “I got chronically ill and disabled when I was 21. And as a young neurodivergent survivor of violence, I was so lucky that I found communities of other young disabled survivors who are involved in punk, anti-Giuliani, queer, and anti-police brutality organizing in New York, and later in the psychiatric survivor movement in Toronto.

“None of us were experts, but we all know that we are experts on each other, our own lives, and we have so much to learn from each other.”

The annual Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability is organized by the Disability Studies Program and the Research Consortium on Disability. It is sponsored by the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and co-sponsored by the Center for Community Engaged Learning, English Department, Graduate School of Religion and Religion Studies, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of Disability Services, Peace and Justice Studies, the Graduate School of Social Service, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Watch the entire lecture below:

The University will confer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees upon 3,453 May graduates in fields including biology, English, social work, urban studies, law, and many more.

Including students who graduated in August 2022 and February 2023, the University will confer about 5,453 academic degrees in all.

Below are the numbers of the May 2023 degree recipients from each of Fordham’s schools.

Fordham College at Rose Hill: 701

Fordham at Lincoln Center: 376

Gabelli School of Business (graduate): 380

Gabelli School of Business (undergraduate): 616

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: 153

Graduate School of Education: 182

Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education: 21

Graduate School of Social Service: 441

School of Law: 523

School of Professional and Continuing Studies (undergraduate): 39

School of Professional and Continuing Studies (graduate): 21

Veterans/dependants/active military graduating: 63 

*As of May 2

Known for his theological brilliance, Benedict drew praise from many Catholics for his commitment to church orthodoxy amidst rising secularism. He also drew criticism during his papacy for accusations of corruption in the Vatican Bank, and what many deemed a too-little-too-late response to the clergy sex abuse crisis that rocked the church. When he retired—the first pope to do so in 600 years—he was given the title of pope emeritus.

Before he was elected pope in 2005, Benedict, a German theologian who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—a post he was chosen for by Pope John Paul II in 1981. In that role, he reasserted a classical stance on the Catholic faith in the face of pastoral experimentation and growing religious pluralism.

During his 2008 visit to the U.S., Pope Benedict delivered an address to Catholic educators at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in which he said “Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.”

Fordham faculty, staff, and students took part in a number of activities during that visit, including Masses at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Yankee Stadium, Benedict’s meetings with Catholic youth, and his departure ceremony at John F. Kennedy Airport. Fordham President Emeritus Joseph M. McShane, S.J., served as emissary for the Orthodox Christian hierarchs attending an ecumenical gathering marking Pope Benedict’s first visit to St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church. Benedict also met with Avery Cardinal Dulles, a former Fordham faculty member, who presented the pontiff with a copy of a book of lectures he delivered at Fordham: Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988-2007 (Fordham University Press, 2008).

Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral will be held on Jan. 5 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said, with Pope Francis presiding. His body will be laid in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday so that the faithful can pay their respects.

Below, Fordham faculty share their thoughts on Pope Benedict’s influence and legacy.

David Gibson
Director, Center on Religion and Culture
Author of The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World

Benedict XVI is being remembered, and revered by many, for his role as pope and the progress and controversies that accompanied his eight-year pontificate. But his chief legacy as pope will likely be his decision to resign the papacy, the first pope to do so in 600 years. That decision broke a certain mystique that had built up around the popes, and it freed his successors to step down when they see fit.

But beyond that it should be noted that his real legacy will be the nearly 25 years he spent as the chief doctrinal enforcer to his predecessor John Paul II. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man who would be elected Benedict XVI shaped the conservative form that marks Catholicism today, and will for many years to come. His intellectual and ecclesial patrimony is arguably more influential than that of John Paul himself.

Bryan N. Massingale, S.T.D.
James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics
Professor of Theological and Social Ethics
Senior Fellow, Center for Ethics Education

Pope Benedict was a gifted scholar and brilliant theologian. Yet his thinking at times could be abstract and distant from the everyday lives of many Catholics. He prioritized a Eurocentric understanding of Catholicism over adaptation to local cultures. He saw Western European culture as the norm for Catholic worship and theological expression. For example, on his 2009 journey to Cameroon and Angola, Benedict criticized condoms as aggravating the AIDS epidemic, despite the fact that the continent was an epicenter for the disease’s massive suffering and death. During his 2011 visit to the African country of Benin, organ music was used at the Masses he celebrated [as opposed to drumming and traditional dance]because he believed it to be more consistent with the dignity that was due a papal liturgy. I believe that history will show that Benedict leaves a complicated legacy as a leader who was a brilliant scholar who struggled to appreciate the global and cultural diversity of the Catholic Church.

Bradford Hinze, Ph.D.
Karl Rahner, S.J., Professor of Theology at Fordham

Early in his career Joseph Ratzinger earned a reputation as an accomplished theologian with expertise in early and medieval European Catholic theology. He became a respected contributor to the proceedings of the Second Vatican Council and a proponent of a dialogical approach to revelation, the sacraments, and the church. But in the decades that followed the council, he became increasingly critical of the use of dialogical deliberation and decision-making in the church in practices of collegiality and synodality, and in democratic societies.

As head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, he promoted the investigation, interrogation, and disciplining of many theologians linked with progressive currents in theology in Europe, North America, and in the Global South focused on liberation, inculturation, and religious pluralism.

Since Benedict has retired, the church has, under the leadership of Pope Francis, been returned to the position of the majority of bishops heralded at the Second Vatican council that sought to reform the church by engaging in open and honest dialogue in the church and by promoting receptive dialogue with the modern world, with members of other Christian churches, of other religions, and by ushering a new global vision of the church and a polycentric understanding of Catholicism.

The annual tradition was also celebrated on Dec. 3 at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, adjacent to the Lincoln Center campus, and featured the University choirs and dance performances by students in the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. in Dance program.

Those special items will be available on Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the O’Hare Room, in Special Collections at Walsh Library, where visitors can hold them and learn more about them. They’ll be presented by Jan Graffius, Ph.D., the curator of collections at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, who brought them to New York City as a complement to the exhibit on the Tudors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She arrived at Fordham on Nov. 5 with 10 or so 15th- and 16th-century books and items owned by Stonyhurst, Campion Hall—the Jesuit hall at Oxford University, and the British Province of Jesuits.

Other objects currently in Walsh Library include Katherine Bray’s Book of Hours, St. Campion’s Decem Rationes, and the St. George reliquary of Sir Thomas More. All of the objects that will be shown at Fordham are featured in this short video.

Graffius spoke to a small group of library staff and administrators on the morning of Nov. 7.

“Perhaps the most powerful impact of Dr. Graffius’ visit to Walsh Library was her eagerness not simply to share the precious objects she had brought with her, but to give us an almost intimate connection with them,” said Linda LoSchiavo, director of Fordham Libraries.

“Without a piece of glass or a velvet rope separating us from the prayerbook of a Tudor monarch, or the adolescent scrawls in a text belonging to the young John and Charles Carroll, we were able to stand only inches away from items that, under any other circumstances, we would have to cross an entire ocean to get a glimpse of. Jan Graffius’ encyclopedic knowledge of her collection and the history surrounding it is matched only by her enthusiasm and warmth as a speaker.”

Graffius will be bringing the items to other locations in New York City and the U.S., including the Church of Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan. Though these items will not be on display at the Met, Graffius did contribute to the museum’s exhibit by installing a cope (vestment) belonging to Henry VII, which was contributed but the British Province of Jesuits. The Met exhibit, titled The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England, will be on display until Jan. 8.

The celebrations took place from May 2–6 at the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses, honoring students from the Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Seniors received colored stoles, certificates, and other items that symbolized their identity.

Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion, said the events drew a lot of excitement this year, with students buzzing about the celebrations beforehand and younger classmates leading the planning process.

“I think being able to create a tradition that folks look forward to and a culminating experience that connects back to people’s identity and culture is an important thing for the Fordham community,” he said.

Dorothy Bogen is a Fordham College of Rose Hill sophomore who served as a programming coordinator for the LGBTQ History Month committee of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which ran the Diversity Graduation celebrations.

In her role she also led the planning for other events, including the Lavender graduation celebration ceremony for LGBTQ seniors, which featured an appearance from theology Professor Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D.

“Professor Hornbeck gave an inspiring speech (even with a fire drill interruption!) and it was awesome to feel the joy and the energy in the room as students were called up to receive their stoles,” said Bogen, an American Studies and Film and Television major from Cleveland. “We also got to connect with the Rainbow Rams (the alumni group for Fordham LGBTQ graduates), and their representatives also gave great speeches on both campuses.”

Arianna Chen, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior from Wayne, New Jersey, attended the AAPI ceremony. She said she was grateful that the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted these events and took the time to “acknowledge and celebrate the unique experiences held by students of varying identities.”

“It was important for me to participate in the Diversity Graduation ceremony because my identity has been a key part of my Fordham experience, not only as a DEI student activist, but also just a student of color navigating a predominantly white institution,” she said.

Chen received an AAPI stole and ACE (Asian Cultural Exchange) pin that she said she is “so looking forward to proudly donning at [her]Commencement ceremony.”

Matos said there was a “mix of support, love, and joy” at the events, each of which featured a recorded greeting from Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

“Students being able to celebrate with their peers and be celebrated was a huge deal,” he said.