Ten years and an unprecedented $540 million later, the Fordham community rang the closing bell on Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham at the Thirteenth Annual Founder’s Award Dinner.

For the announcement, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel’s Grand Ballroom was turned into a theater-in-the-round. At the close of the evening, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, surrounded by members of the champion football and women’s basketball teams, led a thousand voices through a rousing rendition of “The Ram,” the University’s fight song.

— Photos by Chris Taggart, Tom Stoelker, and Jerry Millevo

]]> 4657 https://now.fordham.edu/inside-fordham/programs-and-departments-thrive-from-campaign-bounty/ Mon, 14 Apr 2014 21:05:43 +0000 http://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=4614 Excelsior | Ever Upward: A Transformative Moment in Fordham’s History

The success of Ever Upward | Excelsior | The Campaign for Fordham has made an impact on many facets of the University, but its effects on academic programming has been both subtle and, at times, grand. Here’s a look at how the funding has supported select programs.

Fordham received its largest-ever award in the humanities when the John Templeton Foundation gave $3.5 million to support the research of philosophy professor Stephen Grimm, Ph.D. The grant, titled “Varieties of Understanding: New Perspectives from Psychology, Philosophy, and Theology,” will fund a three-year interdisciplinary study of human understanding.

Through the generosity of Solon and Marianna Patterson, the Orthodox Christian Studies Centerhas been able to hold an academic conference every three years, bringing the world’s most important Christian thinkers to the Rose Hill campus. Titled the Patterson Triennial Conference on Orthodox/Roman Catholic Dialogue, lecture topics have ranged from Democracy under Constantine to Orthodox Constructions of the West. The couple’s $300,000 challenge grant brought in an additional $200,000, making for a $500,000 initial endowment. The pan-Christian conversation has so far produced two books that are on the required reading list for the College of Cardinals.

The Graduate School of Social Service’s (GSS) Children and Families Institute for Research Support and Training (Children FIRST) scholarship program received initial and sustained support from Ira Leventhal and his business partner at OTA LLC., Kevin Heneghan, PAR. The scholarships have allowed Westchester-campus master’s candidates to explore topics that ranged from bullying and suicide prevention to fatherhood engagement and intergenerational care.

The re-christening of the Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) Center Gallery as the Ildiko Butler Gallery was made possible with a $500,000 gift to FCLC’s Theatre and Visual Arts Department from Ildiko Butler, FCLC ’85, and her husband Gilbert Butler. While half of the gift is intended to sustain the gallery, half is set aside as scholarships for students to travel abroad, gain exposure to a different culture, and develop their artwork.

Since 2008, the Reid Family Writers of Color Reading Series has brought celebrated writers of color to both Fordham campuses. Events have included readings, master classes, and panel discussions. The series was made possible through a gift from Kenneth and Frances K. Reid, whose son, Keith, is a senior. The next reading will be on April 24 and will feature poets Tracy K. Smith and Vievee Francis.

For the past two years the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) has received over $2 million from the NASDAQ OMX Educational Foundation, which helped support the growth of GBA’sMaster of Science in Global Finance (MSGF) program and a Master of Science in Investor Relations. The expansion of the MSGF builds on the program’s early success, particularly in Beijing.

Few bricks-and-mortar projects directly affect academic programs more inherently than the Veronica Lally Kehoe Theatre. Whether students major in scenic design or acting, theater requires malleable space for them to hone their craft. Jack Kehoe, FCRH ’60, FCLC ’85, gave $2 million to the Theatre Program to create a state-of-the-art black box studio named in honor of his late wife, Veronica Lally Kehoe, FCLC ’02.

Another project that carved out student space came from a $500,000 gift from PricewaterhouseCooper to create the PwC Student Lounge and Study Area at Gabelli. Newly appointed Fordham trustee Don Almeida was instrumental in securing the gift.

After a four-decade career as an educator, Valerie Rowe, Ph.D., GSE ’96, came to Fordham to get her doctorate. She eventually went on to teach at Fordham’s Westchester campus, where she was instrumental in coordinating its Masters in Science of Teaching (MST) program. From her time at Fordham, Rowe understood that many students going into the program came from other careers, something she admired. Together with her husband, Jack Rowe, the couple made a $200,000 gift to help MST students make the life-changing transition to teaching.

AT&T’s $200,000 gift has allowed the University to continue to reach out to its neighbors through theMentoring Latinas Program. The company’s gift helps Latina students from Rose Hill mentor teenage girls from the neighborhood. With nearly 41 percent of Latina students not graduating on time, having an amiga to look up to can make a huge difference.

At the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, a $300,000 gift from Sovereign Bank/Santander Universities helped establish the Santander/Fordham Ethics and Society Scholarship and theInternational Internship initiatives.

John Walton’s, FCRH ’72, gift to the engineering physics department will help open a new lab in Freeman Hall. The new equipment will allow students to perform experiments in material testing, column buckling, electrical engineering, circuit analysis, mechatronics, and fluid dynamics. From the new lab sprung a new course, Engineering Experimentation—which is now required for all physics majors.

At WFUV, a $241,000 grant from the Agnes Varis Trust covered expenses of live broadcasts at the station for two years.

While the specific donations went to specific causes throughout the campaign, $100 here and $25 there, much of it funneled through the Fordham Fund, found its way to a variety of academic programs. At the Gabelli School of Business, such funds went to support the Global Business Honors Program, where Gabelli students experience international business on location in the world’s finance capitals. The funds also fed the programmatic development of the Student Management Investment Fund, where each semester, 24 students invest $1 million dollars of the University’s endowment, making donors money grow.

Excelsior | Ever Upward |The Campaign for Fordham, which closed on March 31 at $540 millon, will go a long way in support of the Fordham community’s drive for excellence in American higher education.

The campaign supports scholarships, endowed chairs, new and renovated campus buildings, and expansions of academic programs and unrestricted funding across the University. The campaign goal of $500 million made it the most ambitious Fordham had ever set; the University had raised $155.6 million through its prior campaign, which ended in 1997.

“When we announced the end of the campaign at our annual Founder’s Award Dinner, I said it was an evening of gratitude,” Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said. “And grateful I am: grateful for the ability to offer more students a transformative education; grateful for the support of our highly accomplished alumni, parents, and friends; and grateful for the hard work and diligence of the many Fordham staff who made this milestone possible.”

Begun in 2004, the campaign resulted in $266 million in gifts before it was publicly announced in 2009. Among the gifts in the so-called “quiet” phase were $10 million from Robert Campbell, GSB ’55, and his wife, Joan Campbell, and $7 million from Thomas Salice, GSB ’82, and his wife, Susan Conley Salice, FCRH ’82, for the construction of three residence halls at the Rose Hill campus.

Housing 450 students, the new buildings were critically needed to support the rising population of Fordham students coming from beyond the New York region.

Campaign gifts contributed to other major construction projects: The transformation of Hughes Hall into a central home for the Gabelli School of Business, and the redevelopment of the Lincoln Center campus. The 22-story tower, opening in the fall, includes a residence hall housing 430 students and a state-of-the-art facility for Fordham Law School occupying the first nine floors.

Apart from the University’s physical transformation, campaign gifts vastly expanded the university’s academic resources. (See also articles on endowed chairs and academic programs).

Donors gave $108.1 million in scholarships, far beyond the campaign’s $70 million goal, and gave $116.1 million in support of academic programs, surpassing the $100 million goal in this area.

Donors gave $133 million in annual funding, which can be used flexibly to support students’ and faculties’ academic pursuits as needed. That total is a full two-thirds greater than the $80 million sought in this area.

The campaign fueled many academic achievements. Last fall, for the fourth time in Fordham history, the University was named a top producer of Fulbright scholars by the U.S. State Department, which administers the Fulbright program. Also, since 2003, Fordham has ascended 27 places—to No. 57—in the annual U.S. News & World Report ranking of the nation’s top research universities.

In athletics, campaign gifts created new men’s basketball offices and a new football locker room, as well as numerous supports for student-athletes—including a media room primarily used by men’s and women’s basketball. Athletic achievements during the campaign period included Atlantic 10 championships in softball, women’s basketball, and women’s swimming and diving, and a Patriot League title for the football team.

The campaign drew support from a wide cross-section of Fordham alumni and friends, and from foundations, corporations and estates. There were 60,000 donors to the campaign, including 92 who made gifts of $1 million or more.

“I cannot say enough how incredibly thankful we are to our donors who have invested in Fordham’s future so generously over the course of the campaign, including our Board of Trustees, whose leadership by example inspired us all,” said Roger A. Milici, Jr., vice president for development and University relations. “The success of the campaign is a testament to our alumni and friends’ belief in the value of a Fordham education, and the trust and respect of its leaders.”

The single largest gift came from Mario Gabelli, GSB ’65, who gave $25 million in support of business education, a gift that was honored by the renaming of the undergraduate business college as the Gabelli School of Business. His gift supported scholarships, academic programs, and a giving challenge that led to the creation of five endowed faculty chairs in business.

Other notable gifts include $3.5 million each from trustee emeritus John Tognino, PCS ’75, and from William Loschert, GSB ’61, both in the area of facilities. T.J. Maloney, LAW ’79, gave $5 million to endow the T.J. and Nancy Maloney Library at Fordham Law School.

The Administration Building, located in the heart of Fordham’s 85-acre Rose Hill campus, will be officially renamed Cunniffe House during a ceremony on Dec. 4. The building, which houses the office of Joseph M. McShane, S.J., Fordham’s president, among other offices, will be named for alumnus and trustee emeritus Maurice J. Cunniffe, FCRH ’54.

“I have had the great pleasure of knowing Mo Cunniffe for more than two decades,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “He is a man of both great accomplishments and great humility. In naming the administration building Cunniffe House, we not only acknowledge Mo’s and Carolyn’s great generosity and service to Fordham, but their integrity and steadfastness. It is very much Fordham’s honor to be associated with their name in this public way.”

In addition, the newly built fountain nestled between the Administration Building and Hughes and Dealy Halls will be christened the Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe Fountain, after Cunniffe’s wife Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, Ph.D., GSAS ’71.

“If there is one couple that typifies the warmth, decency, and generosity of the Fordham Family, it is Mo and Carolyn,” said Roger A. Milici, Jr., vice president for development and University relations. “I have been the beneficiary of their wisdom and friendship from my first day here. They helped make Fordham a welcoming place for me, and by bestowing their name on Cunniffe House, they make the University a more welcoming place for all.”

Cunniffe was a 2010 recipient of the Fordham Founder’s Award, which recognizes members of the University community whose support has been extraordinary. Cunniffe, the chairman and chief executive officer at Vista Capital Corporation, served as a trustee for both the University and Fordham Preparatory School, of which he is a 1950 graduate. During his eight-year tenure as a trustee, the University saw such transformative events as the launch of its Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham, a $500 million capital campaign designed to bring Fordham into new era of preeminence.

Cunniffe said that his gift to Fordham not only pays tribute to his family’s legacy (his nephew is a 1993 graduate of Fordham Prep, and his grandson is a senior in the Gabelli School of Business), but also recognizes and supports the place that has been like a home for nearly his entire life.

“It’s in my bones,” Cunniffe said. “I had lived within walking distance of Fordham, and then I started the Prep in 1946. But I’d played on the campus even before that. So in some ways, I’ve been hanging around Fordham my whole life.”

Much about the campus has changed since his days of studying Latin, Greek, and physics at the University, Cunniffe said. For one thing, the bricks and mortar on campus today were largely nothing more than trees and turf.

“There were no buildings between the front gate and Duane Library. Residence halls such as Campbell, Salice, and Conley, and even the library weren’t there. It was just green,” he said.

Nevertheless, the building that will bear Cunniffe’s name was a centerpiece even on the campus Cunniffe knew, as it is one of the oldest buildings at Rose Hill. Built between 1836 and 1838, the building has stood throughout Fordham’s evolution into the institution that it is today. The Greek revival manor house sprang up right before Rose Hill transitioned from Fordham manor—the property granted to John Archer in 1671 by the British royal governor of New York—to St. John’s College. New York’s Archbishop John Hughes purchased the property in 1841 to establish what would become today’s Fordham University.

Now, Cunniffe hopes that the newly dubbed Cunniffe House will continue to see transformations for the better.

“Fordham is aspiring to not just do a competent job, but to become a first-class institution,” Cunniffe said. “Fordham will continue to get better, but that doesn’t change overnight—it changes over time.”

The College of Business Administration (CBA) officially joined the University’s capital campaign on Sept. 25 with the announcement of the largest gift in Fordham history.

A $25 million gift from alumnus Mario J. Gabelli was celebrated at a lavish brunch next to Hughes Hall, the 50,000-square-foot dormitory that will be transformed into a cutting-edge home for CBA, now named the Gabelli School of Business (GSB).
Gabelli, CBA ’65, who appeared via video for the Homecoming ceremony, called education a key driver of job creation, which is the main priority for the United States.

“What underscores our country is meritocracy, the rule of law and the free market system, and one of the underpinnings of meritocracy is education. One of the things I want to do is continue this process of meritocracy,” he said.

“Education is the great leveler, and for us to have Fordham at the forefront of this requires faculty, facilities, financing, fabulous students and an intense competitive environment.”

His gift brings to $43 million the amount that the Gabelli School has raised as part of Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham. The school’s $60 million campaign includes:

• $30 million for the renovation of Hughes Hall;

• $15 million to create endowed faculty chairs in accounting and taxation, communications and media management, entrepreneurship, ethics, global financial markets, information systems, management systems and marketing;

• $7.5 million for endowed scholarships; and

• $7.5 million for academic initiatives.

Donna Rapaccioli, GSB ’83, dean of the Gabelli School and the Fordham business faculty, noted that in its 90-year existence, the school has been a nomad, shuttling between 10 different locations. A state-of-the-art, centralized home will enable it to build on its success and create a place for it at the global table of business.

“By using a unique approach that couples liberal arts education and business education—an approach that provides distinctively global views and emphasizes students’ personal and professional development—the Gabelli School represents the future of business education,” she said.

Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University, noted that the physical transformation of Hughes Hall—built in 1890 and named for Fordham’s founder Archbishop John Hughes—is being paired with transformational academic initiatives.

“The goal is to propel the school to a premier position as an institution known for educating ethical business leaders who succeed in a range of leadership roles and thrive in a global economy,” he said.

“Encouraging our students to challenge their intellect and deepen their knowledge and skills is a foremost priority at Fordham,” Freedman continued. “We strive to achieve this goal through a diverse faculty of scholars and practitioners and curricula designed to inspire creativity, curiosity and lifelong learning.

“Steeped in the Jesuit principle of cura personalis, a Fordham education challenges students to achieve even greater personal growth in all aspects of their lives—intellectual, moral, social and physical.”

Continuing the theme of transformation, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said that Gabelli’s gift forever altered how the public views Fordham, and that it will help transform the way Fordham teaches students.

“Mario traces the formation of his character to the education that he received here at Rose Hill. A very grateful son of the Bronx now wishes to give back to the institution that formed him for life and formed him for success,” he said.

“It will transform the way our faculty educate our students—students who will emerge as business leaders with a difference; business leaders whose lives are marked by confidence, conscience, compassion and deep commitment to the cause of the human family.”

As of June 30, Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham had met $337.6 million of its $500 million goal.

“The continued support for Fordham, even in this struggling economy, is very telling,” said Roger Milici, interim vice president for development and University relations.

“Our trustees, alumni, parents and other members of the University community are speaking with their wallets—and from their hearts,” Milici continued. “What they’re saying is that Fordham is important; its mission is important; and now especially it is crucial to support the University.

“I must also say that in this campaign, we are blessed with peerless trustee volunteers and professional staff, without whom we would not have reached $337.6 million.”

The campaign, which is now entering the second year of its public phase, exceeded expectations in several key areas:

• Fordham raised $41.2 million in cash (gifts and pledge payments)—a 26.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2009.
• University trustees surpassed their giving goal of $100 million, contributing $101.8 million.
• Undergraduate alumni participation grew from 24 to 27 percent, surpassing a 25 percent benchmark.
• Combined participation by undergraduate and graduate alumni increased from 18 to 21 percent.
• Participation in the senior class gift grew from 64 percent in fiscal year 2009 to 86 percent this past year.

In addition, three of the five campaign priorities are well on their way to reaching their goals.

• $69.9 million has been raised for endowed scholarships, fulfilling 99 percent of its goal.
• $67 million has been raised for annual support—fully 84 percent of its goal.
• $77.6 million has been raised for academic support, a sum equal to 78 percent of its goal.

In the fiscal year 2011, the University is pursuing a goal of $60 million. To aid in this effort, school- and college-based campaign efforts will publically kick off at: the College of Business Administration, Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.