Fordham University () is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Established in 1841 and named after the
Fordham neighborhood of the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
university in the northeastern United States and the third-oldest university in
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
.
Founded as St. John's College by
John Hughes, then a
coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...
of New York, the college was placed in the care of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
shortly thereafter, and has since become a
Jesuit-affiliated independent school under a
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
board of
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
s. The college's first president,
John McCloskey
John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...
, was later the first Catholic
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
in the United States. While governed independently of the church since 1969, every
president of Fordham University between 1846 and 2022 was a Jesuit priest, and the curriculum remains influenced by Jesuit educational principles. Fordham is the only Jesuit
tertiary institution
Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...
in New York City.
Fordham enrolls approximately 15,300 students from more than 65 countries, and is composed of ten constituent colleges, four of which are
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
and six of which are
postgraduate
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree.
The organization and stru ...
, across three campuses in southern
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
: the
Rose Hill campus in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, the
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
campus in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
, and the
Westchester campus in
West Harrison, New York
Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census.
History
Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison a ...
. In addition to these locations, the university maintains a study abroad center in London and field offices in Spain and South Africa. The university offers degrees in over 60 disciplines.
The university's athletic teams, the
Rams
In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
that boasted a win in the
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
, two
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...
rs, two
All-Americans
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
, two
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
All-Stars, and numerous
NFL players; the Rams also participated in
history's first televised college football game in 1939 and history's first televised college basketball game in 1940. Fordham's
baseball team
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...
played the first collegiate baseball game under
modern rules in 1859, has fielded 56
major league players, and holds the record for most
NCAA Division I baseball victories in history.
Fordham's
alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
and
faculty include a
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
,
U.S. Senators
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
and
representatives, four
cardinals
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
of the Catholic Church, several
U.S. governors
The following is a list of current governors (or mayor) of U.S. states, territories, and the federal district. In the United States, a governor is the chief executive officer of a state or a territory. As of November 2022, there are 28&nb ...
and
ambassadors
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
, a number of billionaires, two
directors of the CIA,
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning actors,
royalty
Royalty may refer to:
* Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc.
* Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family
* Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...
, a foreign
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
, a
White House Counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
, a
vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army
The vice chief of staff of the Army (VCSA) is the principal deputy to the chief of staff of the Army, and is the second-highest-ranking officer on active duty in the Department of the Army.
The vice chief of staff generally handles the day-to- ...
,
a
U.S. Postmaster General,
a
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
,
and the first female vice presidential candidate of a major political party in the United States.
History
1841–1900: Establishment and early years
Fordham was founded as St. John's College in 1841 by the Irish-born
coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...
(later
archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
) of the Diocese of New York,
John Hughes. This makes it the third-oldest university in the state of New York, and the first Catholic institution of higher education in the northeastern United States. In 1839, Hughes, then 42 years old, had purchased the 106-acre Rose Hill Manor farm in the village of
Fordham, New York
Fordham is a neighborhood located in the western Bronx, New York City. Fordham is roughly bordered by East 196th Street to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, Burnside Avenue to the south, and Jerome Avenue to the west. The neighborhood's prima ...
for $29,750.
His intent was to establish St. Joseph's Seminary following the model of
Mount Saint Mary's University
Mount St. Mary's University (The Mount) is a private Roman Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It includes the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. The undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, ...
, of which he was an alumnus. "Rose Hill" was the name originally given to the site in 1787 by its owner, Robert Watts, a wealthy New York merchant, in honor of his family's ancestral home in Scotland.
In 1840, St. Joseph's Seminary opened at Rose Hill.
The seminary was paired with St. John's College, which opened at Rose Hill with a student body of six on June 24, 1841, the feast day of
Saint John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
. The Reverend
John McCloskey
John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...
(later archbishop of New York and eventually the first American
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
) was the school's first president, and the
faculty were
secular priests and
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
instructors. The college presidency went through a succession of four
diocesan priest
In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...
s in five years, including the
Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, a distant cousin of
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and a nephew of
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. In 1845, the seminary church, Our Lady of Mercy, was built. The same year, Bishop Hughes convinced several Jesuit priests from the
St. Mary's College in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
to staff St. John's.
The college received its
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
from the
New York State Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...
in 1846, and the first Jesuits began to arrive about three months later. In the same year Bishop Hughes sold St. John's College to the Jesuits for $40,000.
Hughes deeded the college over but retained title to the seminary property, which totaled about nine acres. In 1847, Fordham's first school in Manhattan opened. The school became the independently chartered
College of St. Francis Xavier in 1861. It was also in 1847 that the American poet
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
arrived in the village of Fordham and began a friendship with the college Jesuits that would last throughout his life. In 1849, he published his famed work
''The Bells''. Some traditions credit the college's church bells as the inspiration for this poem. Poe also spent considerable time in the college's library, and even occasionally stayed overnight.
St. John's curriculum consisted of a junior division (i.e. the
preparatory school), requiring four years of study in Latin, Greek, grammar, literature, history, geography, mathematics, and religion; and a senior division (i.e. the college), requiring three years study in "poetry" (
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
), rhetoric, and philosophy. Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a prominent Boston Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist family, he accepted command of the firs ...
, famed commander of the all-
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry American Civil War regiment, attended the junior division. An ''
Artium Baccalaureus'' degree was earned for completion of both curricula, and an additional year of philosophy would earn a ''
Magister Artium
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
'' degree. There was also a "commercial" track similar to a modern
business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...
, offered as an alternative to the
Classical curriculum and resulting in a certificate instead of a degree. In 1855, the first student stage production, ''
Henry IV'', was presented by the St. John's Dramatic Society. The seminary was closed in 1859.
The
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
was a significant time for the college; among its alumni were four generals, six colonels (including
Shaw), and five captains serving in the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
; twelve men from Fordham also served in the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
.
Three Jesuits from St. John's served as army chaplains.
Lincoln's assassination
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was Assassination, assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
S ...
deeply affected the student body, and even southern students attending the college mourned his loss. As Richard S. Treacy of the class of 1869 later recalled, "The morning we received the news of the death of President Lincoln gloom settled over the entire college, even the southern boys, who before had censored him, now felt that they had lost a valuable friend whose great qualities would be missed in the coming
reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
."
Fordham's
baseball team
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...
, which played its first game on September 13, 1859, made several contributions to the history of baseball in the nineteenth century, and played a key role in introducing the game to Cuba and Latin America. On November 3, 1859, Fordham played the first college baseball game with modern nine-man teams against the now-defunct St. Francis Xavier College in Manhattan.
Fordham won the game 33–11.
Steve Bellán, the first Cuban and Latin American to play major league baseball, learned to play the game while a student at Fordham from 1863 to 1868.
After playing for several American major league teams, he returned home and played in the first organized baseball game in Cuba on December 27, 1874.
Charles, Henry, and Frederick Zaldo, brothers from
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. who founded the Almendares Baseball Club, one of the three original Cuban baseball teams, also learned the game while attending Fordham from 1875 to 1878.
![Cadets with Lt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Cadets_with_Lt._Squiers_April_1886_Fordham.jpg)
An
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...
created instruction in military science and tactics at the college level. As a result of the act, St. John's brought a cadet
corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
to campus. From 1885 to 1890, Lt. Herbert C. Squires—a veteran of the
7th U.S. Cavalry
The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air " Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune.
The regiment participated in some of the largest ba ...
—built a cadet battalion to a strength of 200, which would provide the foundation for the modern
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
unit at Fordham. The college built a science building in 1886, lending more legitimacy to science in the curriculum. In addition, a three-year Bachelor of Science degree was created. In 1897,
academic regalia
Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, mainly tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those who have obtained a university degree (or similar), or hold a status that entitles them to assum ...
for students at
commencement was first adopted.
1901–1950: Maturation
On June 21, 1904, the Regents of the University of the State of New York consented to allow the board of trustees to authorize the opening of a law school and a medical school. St. John's College officially became Fordham University on March 7, 1907. The name ''Fordham'' refers to the village of Fordham, in which the original Rose Hill campus is located. The village, in turn, drew its name from its location near a shallow crossing of the
Bronx River
The Bronx River (), approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of . It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. Besides the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River is the only fresh water river i ...
("
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
by the
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
"). When Fordham and several other
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
towns were consolidated into
Bronx County
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...
at the turn of the twentieth century, the village became the borough's
Fordham neighborhood. Still in existence today, it is just to the west of the Rose Hill campus.
In 1908,
Fordham University Press
The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered at the university's Lin ...
was established. In 1912, the university opened the College of Pharmacy, which offered a three-year program in
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
, not requiring its students to obtain bachelor's degrees until the late 1930s. The college had a mainly Jewish student body, and in recognition of that, the students were exempted from Catholic theology instruction. In September 1912, the Swiss
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
and
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
delivered a series of lectures at Fordham; these lectures marked his historic break with the theories of his colleague,
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
.
![Woolworth Building at night, New York City](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Woolworth_Building_at_night%2C_New_York_City.jpg)
The College of St. Francis Xavier was closed in 1913, and various Fordham colleges were opened at the
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is an early skyscraper, early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert located at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the tallest building in ...
in Manhattan to fill the void. Some divisions of the university including the law school were later moved to the City Hall Campus at "the
Vincent Astor
William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family.
Early life
Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. Astor was the eld ...
Building" at 302 Broadway. This commenced an unbroken string of instruction in Manhattan that became what is now Fordham College at Lincoln Center, where all of Fordham's academic operations in Manhattan are centered today.
The university closed its medical school in 1919, citing a lack of endowment and reduced university funds overall due to the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The Gabelli School of Business began in 1920 in Manhattan as the School of Accounting. According to a university catalogue from 1920, the annual cost for tuition, room and board at the college was $600 (). In 1944, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies was established, largely bolstered by returning veterans taking advantage of the
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
.
The 1940s bore witness to two official presidential visits at Fordham, the first by president
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
on October 28, 1940, during his campaign for a third term. The president was cheered by crowds lining the
Grand Concourse as he rode to campus, but received a "more measured welcome" from university president Robert Gannon, who was known for his "anti-Roosevelt views."
However, in his welcoming remarks, Gannon respectfully referred to Roosevelt as "a man whose imprint is forever fixed on our national history."
The second visit was by president
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
on May 11, 1946, on the occasion of the centennial of the granting of Fordham's charter. The president received an honorary degree and delivered a nationally broadcast address on the subject of veterans' education, the dangers of atomic warfare, and the importance of education to civilization. His address concluded with the words, "I am confident that this splendid institution, with its educational system rounded upon Christian principles, will play a full and noble part in the great adventure ahead of us. We can and we must make the atomic age an age of peace for the glory of God and the welfare of mankind." During his visit, Truman also performed the first ringing of the Fordham "victory bell," originally the
ship's bell
A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it.
Strikes Timing of s ...
of the Japanese aircraft carrier ''
Junyo,'' which was presented to the university by Fleet Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz. The bell currently stands outside the Rose Hill Gymnasium and peals after all Ram athletic victories and at the start of Commencement each year.
The football program was first established in 1882 and gained national renown in the early 20th century. Fordham football played on some of the largest stages in sports, including games in front of sellout crowds at the
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...
and
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
, a
Cotton Bowl appearance and a
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
victory. The program produced the famed
Seven Blocks of Granite The Seven Blocks of Granite were the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The individuals identified among the Seven Blocks of Granite were Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze ...
, one of whom was the great
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
. On September 30, 1939, Fordham participated in the world's first televised football game, defeating
Waynesburg College
Waynesburg University is a private university in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1850 and offers undergraduate and graduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. The university enrolls over 2,500 students, including ...
, 34–7.
The university discontinued the program during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, reinstating it in 1946. However, it proved much less successful and too expensive to maintain, and was again discontinued in 1954, though would revive yet again as an NCAA Division III team in 1970 and Division I team in 1989.
1951–2000: Clerical independence
In the late 1950s, the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
was gathering momentum in the U.S. when Fordham students and school officials expressed ambivalence about racial justice. In the late 1960s, Fordham became a center of political activism and
countercultural
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
activity. At the Rose Hill Campus, the Fordham branch of
Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...
organized opposition to the existence of the ROTC and military recruiters. During this period, students routinely organized protests and class boycotts and used
psychoactive drugs
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior.
T ...
on campus open spaces.
On February 15, 1958, then senator John F. Kennedy received an honorary
Doctor of Law
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...
degree from university president Laurence J. McGinley and delivered an address at the annual Fordham Law Alumni Association luncheon.
After humorously stating that he denied any "presidential aspirations—with respect to the Fordham Alumni Association," Kennedy said that, "It is to the eternal credit of Fordham that the teaching of law has here been accompanied by an inculcation of moral values. The graduate of this law school has acquired something more than the tools of his profession—he has learned, both by example and precept, the high obligations of trust which are his as an attorney."
In 1961, the Lincoln Center campus opened as part of the
Lincoln Square Renewal Project. This second campus which placed an institution of higher learning in the realm of a multi-disciplinary performing arts complex came to pass through the collaboration of New York City's infamous urban planner
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
and Fordham's twenty sixth President
Fr. Laurence J. McGinley. The
School of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
was the first to occupy the new campus, but the academic programs at 302 Broadway were moved to the new location in 1969.
![General view of ceremonies at Lincoln Square when President Eisenhower was applauded](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/General_view_of_ceremonies_at_Lincoln_Square_when_President_Eisenhower_was_applauded.jpg)
In addition, on November 18, 1961, then
attorney general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
received an honorary degree and delivered an address at the dedication of the new Fordham Law School building in Lincoln Center, paying tribute to "Fordham ideals, traditions and teachers."
Kennedy said that he was privileged, as attorney general, to be "the largest single employer of Fordham law graduates in North America," and also remarked that, "While the world we know is preoccupied by what may lie before it, when threats could pervade our every thought and fears our every action, it is reassuring to see buildings and programs like these rise each day to greet the future. It is a mark of courage and resolution."
On November 2, 1964, during his campaign for the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
, Robert F. Kennedy made another visit to Fordham and gave an address at the Rose Hill gymnasium that attracted a crowd of 2,800.
The first women to attend Fordham came earlier in the century: the Law School began accepting female students in 1918. Women also had been earning Fordham degrees at the Graduate School of Social Service and the Undergraduate School of Education, at the City Hall Campus. Women in the School of Education had also been commuting to the Rose Hill campus to take their science lab courses alongside male students, where women had also been part of the School of Pharmacy's student body. However, in September 1964, the all-female
Thomas More College at the Rose Hill campus began instruction.
In response to internal demands for a more "liberalized" curriculum, the university created Bensalem College in 1967. An experimental college with no set requirements and no grades, it was studied by a wide array of educators and covered by journalists at such large-circulation publications of the day as ''
Look'', ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' and the ''
Saturday Review''. The school closed in 1974.
"The Liberal Arts College" for undergraduates opened in 1968, later changing its name to "The College at Lincoln Center" and then in 1996 to "Fordham College at Lincoln Center." In 1993, a twenty-story
residence hall
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
for 850 students was added to the Lincoln Center campus.
In 1969, students organized a sit-in on the main road leading to Rose Hill in response to an announcement that
President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
would be speaking on campus. As a result of the sit-in, Nixon was forced to cancel his plans to speak. A year later, students stormed the main administration building, occupying it for several weeks, and set fire to the Rose Hill faculty lounge. It was during this period of activism that the university's African and African American Studies Department, one of the first
black studies departments in the nation, as well as ''the paper'', the leftist student newspaper on campus, were founded.
The board of trustees was reorganized in 1969 to include a majority of nonclerical members, which officially made the university an independent institution. While the Jesuit order thereby lost full control of Fordham, the board of trustees continues to maintain the institution as a "Jesuit, Catholic university."
The College of Pharmacy closed in 1972 due to declining enrollment. Fordham College at Rose Hill became coeducational in 1974 when it merged with Thomas More College.
Fordham Preparatory School
Fordham Preparatory School (also known as Fordham Prep) is an American private, Jesuit, boys' college-preparatory school located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, New York City.
From its founding in 1841 until 1970, the ...
is a four-year,
all-male college preparatory school
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...
that was once integrated with the university, sharing its 1841 founding. "Fordham Prep" became legally independent in 1972 when it moved to its own facilities on the northwest corner of the Rose Hill campus. The school continues to retain many connections with the university.
2001–present: Post-millennium
Marymount College was an independent
women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...
that was founded in 1907 by the
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (known in the United States as the RSHM and in other parts of the world as RSCM) are a global Roman Catholic community of about 900 apostolic religious women. Today the diversity of ministries include educ ...
. The school was consolidated into Fordham in July 2002. Marymount had been steeped in financial hardship since the 1970s. Located north of Manhattan in Tarrytown, New York, the college remained open as a single-sex institution, and its campus received a branch of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies as well as extensions of the graduate schools for education, social service, and business administration.
In 2005, Fordham announced that its Marymount College campus would be phased out; Marymount awarded degrees to its final undergraduate class in May 2007. University administrators indicated the campus would remain open for Fordham graduate programs in several disciplines.
In the autumn of 2007, the university announced its intention to seek buyers for the Marymount campus. Administrators stated the expenses required to support the programs at the campus far exceeded the demand. University officials estimated the revenue gained from the proposed sale would not be greater than the expenses incurred maintaining and improving the campus since the merger with Marymount. President McShane stated the university's decision was nonetheless a "painful" one. Fordham then indicated its intention to move the remaining programs from the Marymount campus to a new location in
Harrison, New York
Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census.
History
Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison a ...
, by the autumn of 2008. On February 17, 2008, the university announced the sale of the campus for $27 million to
EF Schools, a chain of private language-instruction schools.
In 2014, the university successfully completed a five-year, $500 million campaign; the project surpassed expectations by raising more than $540 million. The university went on to renovate and expand its Lincoln Center campus, opening in 2014 its renovated Law School, as well as an additional undergraduate dormitory, McKeon Hall.
[ The former law school building was converted to expand Quinn Library and house the Gabelli School of Business. Long-term plans include a new library building and buildings for the graduate schools of Social Service and of Education.
]
Academics
Fordham University is composed of four undergraduate and six graduate schools, and its academic ethos is heavily drawn from its Jesuit origins. The university promotes the Jesuit principles of ''cura personalis
''Cura personalis'' is a Latin phrase that translates as "care for the entire person." suggests individualized attention to the needs of the other.
The expression is a hallmark of Ignatian spirituality that is commonly used by the Catholic Chur ...
'', which fosters a faculty and administrative respect for the individual student and all of his or her gifts and abilities; ''magis
''Magis'' (pronounced "màh-gis") is a Latin word that means "more" or "greater". It is related to '' ad majorem Dei gloriam'', a Latin phrase meaning "for the greater glory of God", the motto of the Society of Jesus. Magis refers to the philos ...
'', which encourages students to challenge themselves and strive for excellence in their lives; and ''homines pro aliis'', which intends to inspire service, a universal charity, among members of the Fordham community.
Through its International and Study Abroad Programs (ISAP) Office, Fordham provides its students with over 130 diffrent study abroad opportunities. The programs range in duration from six weeks to a full academic year and vary in focus from cultural and language immersion to internship and service learning. Some of the programs are organized by Fordham itself, such as those in London, United Kingdom; Granada, Spain; and Pretoria, South Africa; while others are operated by partner institutions like Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, the University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, and the Council on International Educational Exchange
The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) is a non-profit organization promoting international education and exchange. It was founded in 1947 and is based in the United States. The organization is headquartered in Portland, Maine.
...
(CIEE). In addition to the ISAP programs, the university's constituent schools offer a range of study abroad programs that cater to their specific areas of study. Fordham has produced 168 Fulbright scholars
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
since 2003.
Admissions
According to '' U.S. News & World Report'', Fordham is considered a "more selective" university, while a 2013 ''Barron's Barron's or Barrons may refer to:
*Barron's Educational Series, a publisher of books, as well as college entrance exam preparation classes and materials, now an imprint of Kaplan Test Prep
** B.E.S. Publishing, the former owner of Barron's
* ''Barr ...
'' survey published in the ''New York Times'' classed the university as "highly competitive". In its 2018 edition, admissions selectivity to Fordham's undergraduate schools received a reclassification by ''Barron's'' Profiles of American Colleges to "Most Competitive" after being "Highly Competitive+" in its 2017 edition, and reported 74% of enrolled freshmen as ranking in the top 20% of their high school class.
In 2016, the university accepted approximately 43% of all applicants across both its undergraduate and graduate programs. For the undergraduate class of 2019, Fordham accepted 20,366 of the 42,811 applicants (47.6%) and enrolled 2,211. The middle 50% range of SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
scores for enrolled freshmen was 580–670 for critical reading, 590–680 for math, and 590–680 for writing, while the ACT Composite middle 50% range was 28–33. The average high school GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
of incoming freshmen was 3.64.
Undergraduate curriculum
All undergraduates pursuing bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
s at Fordham are required to complete the Core curriculum, a distribution of 17 courses in nine disciplines: English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, mathematical/computational reasoning, social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
, philosophy and ethics, history, fine arts
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
, religious studies, natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
, and modern or Classical languages. Based on the curriculum established by the Society of Jesus in the sixteenth century, the Core is shared by Jesuit schools all over the world and emphasizes the liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
as a basis of education.
Undergraduate students are expected to have finished most of the core requirements as a sophomore
In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
; a wide variety of courses can be applied to satisfy the requirements. Upon the completion of the Core Curriculum, students choose from approximately 50 major courses of study, in which they will receive their degree. One option is the "personalized interdisciplinary major", which allows students to create their own course of study across various disciplines.
In addition to the bachelor's degrees offered to undergraduates, the university also offers specialized academic programs, including pre-medical and health professions; pre-professional programs in architecture, law, and criminal justice; a 3-2 engineering
3-2 engineering programs, also called combined plans or dual degree programs, provide a unique opportunity for a liberal arts and engineering education. 3-2 students get a BA from their home institution, often a liberal arts college or university, ...
program, in conjunction with Columbia and Case Western Reserve
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...
Universities; a five-year teacher certification program; an Applied Public Accountancy ( CPA certification) program; a BFA program in dance, in conjunction with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate a ...
; as well as cross-registration opportunities with the Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
for advanced music students.
Graduate programs
Master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. and doctoral
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
degrees are offered through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Service, the Gabelli School of Business, and the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. Fordham's graduate programs in business, education, English, history, law, psychology, and social work were all ranked among the top 100 in the nation by the 2016 '' U.S. News & World Report''. Fordham participates in the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium, which allows its doctoral students to take classes at a number of schools in the New York metropolitan area.
Fordham's medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
officially closed in 1919, and its College of Pharmacy followed suit in 1972. Nevertheless, the university continues its tradition of medical education through a collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...
at Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universit ...
. The partnership allows Fordham undergraduate and graduate science students to take classes, conduct research, and pursue early admission to select programs of Einstein. In addition, it involves a physician mentoring program, which permits students to shadow an attending physician at Einstein's Montefiore Medical Center
Montefiore Medical Center is a premier academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is located in the Norwoo ...
.
Research
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...
classifies Fordham as a doctoral university with high research activity R2:(RU/H). The Fordham University Library System contains over 2.5 million volumes and 3.1 million microforms, subscribes to 16,000 periodicals including electronic access, and has 19,300 audiovisual materials. It is a depository for 363,227 United States Government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
documents. In addition, the university's Interlibrary Loan office provides students and faculty with virtually unlimited access to the over 20 million volumes of the New York Public Library System as well as to media from the libraries of Columbia University, New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, the City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
, and other libraries around the world. Fordham's libraries include the William D. Walsh Family Library
The William D. Walsh Family Library is a library located at Fordham University's Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx, New York City. In its 2004 edition of ''The Best 351 Colleges'', the Princeton Review ranked Fordham's William D. Walsh Family Library ...
, ranked in 2004 as the fifth best collegiate library in the country, and the Science Library at the Rose Hill campus; the Gerald M. Quinn Library and the Leo T. Kissam Memorial Law Library at the Lincoln Center campus; and the Media Center at the Westchester campus. In addition to the university's formal libraries, several academic departments, research institutes, and student organizations maintain their own literary collections. The Rose Hill campus's Duane Library
Duane Library is a former library located at Fordham University's Rose Hill campus, originally constructed in 1926. After the construction of the William D. Walsh Family Library in 1997, Duane Library officially closed. Renovated in 2004, it now ...
, despite its name, is no longer a library but offers reading and study space for students.
Fordham maintains several special collections housed in museums and galleries on campus. The Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art is at the Rose Hill campus and contains more than 200 artifacts from Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, including: sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
s, mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s, ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
s and pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
s, and inscriptions, among other items. A gift from alumnus William D. Walsh, it is the largest collection of its kind in the New York metropolitan area. In addition, the university maintains an extensive art collection, which is housed in exhibition spaces at the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses and in galleries around New York City. Finally, the university possesses a sizable collection of rare books, manuscripts, and other print media, which is housed in the O'Hare Special Collections Room at the Walsh Library.
Other research facilities include the Louis Calder Center, a 114-acre biological field station and the middle site along an urban-forest transect known as the Urban-Rural Gradient Experiment; the William Spain Seismic Observatory, a data collection unit for the US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
; and other facilities. It is a member of the Bronx Scientific Research Consortium, which also includes the New York Botanical Garden
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...
, the Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...
, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, and Montefiore Medical Center. Furthermore, Fordham faculty have conducted research with such institutions as the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
, and organizations worldwide.
Fordham University Press
The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered at the university's Lin ...
, the university's publishing house and an affiliate of Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, primarily publishes humanities and social sciences research. The university also hosts an Undergraduate Research Symposium every year during the spring semester and publishes the ''Undergraduate Research Journal'' in conjunction with the symposium. In addition, it facilitates research opportunities for undergraduates with such organizations as the National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, The Cloisters
The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...
, and the American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
.
Honor societies and programs
Fordham's undergraduate schools all offer honors programs for their students.[''Undergraduate Bulletin 2010–2012''. Fordham University, 2009. Print.] The programs' curricula are modified versions of the Core Curriculum. For example, the Fordham College Honors Program, a community of scholars for justice, offers a Great Books
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
curriculum with seminar-style classes and a senior research thesis in each student's major. Most honors students are inducted into the programs upon admission to the university, though some are invited at the end of their first year. Each program has a designated study space for its members, including Alpha House for the Fordham College Honors Program and the honors wing of Hughes Hall for the Global Business Honors Program. Upon graduating from the university, honors students receive the designation of ''in cursu honorum'' on their diploma and transcripts.
In addition to its honors programs, Fordham has chapters of several honor societies
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...
on campus, including but not limited to the following:
The Office of Prestigious Fellowships is the university's office for academic fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
ships and scholarships. Its function is to raise awareness of fellowship opportunities among students, counsel interested students about their eligibility for various programs, and advise fellowship candidates during the application process. With the aid of this office, Fordham was one of the top producers of U.S. Fulbright
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
students of 2012.
The Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
Society is an honor society for Fordham students who are likely candidates for academic fellowships. Students are invited to join based on academic success and other factors. The society assists its members in preparing applications for fellowships, coordinating internships, and obtaining funding for research endeavors. The Rev. William E. Boyle, S.J., Society is a parallel organization for business students.
Military education
The Fordham Military Science program is available to all undergraduate and graduate students, regardless of their chosen course of study. It is also available to students at more than fifty other colleges and universities in the New York metropolitan area. The program consists of membership and training in the Ram Battalion of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
(ROTC) and a sequence of military science classes taught on campus. Participants in the program are also eligible to enroll in the Air Force ROTC
The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) ...
program at Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university in the Bronx, New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) as an academy for day students, it was la ...
and the Navy ROTC
The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.
Origins
A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 192 ...
program at SUNY Maritime College
State University of New York Maritime College (SUNY Maritime College) is a public maritime college in the Bronx, New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Founded in 1874, the SUNY Maritime College was the fir ...
. In 2011, Fordham Military Science began offering a combat nursing program in conjunction with Regis University
Regis University is a private Jesuit university in Denver, Colorado.
Founded in 1877 by the Society of Jesus, the university offers more than 120 degrees through 5 colleges in a variety of subjects, including education, liberal arts, business, nu ...
and the University of Colorado at Denver
The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system.
History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus
The University of Colorado create ...
.
The Military Science program has several notable alumni, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
, four-star General John M. Keane, and at least four recipients of the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
. Furthermore, it has been distinguished as being in the top fifteen percent of military science programs in the country.
In addition to its ROTC program, the university contributes to military education through its Veterans Initiative, which provides full-tuition scholarships and other benefits to post-9/11 veterans of the U.S. military. Because of the initiative, Fordham was named one of the 25 best colleges in the country for veterans in 2013 by ''Military History Monthly
''Military History Matters'' is a bi-monthly military history magazine, published by Current Publishing.
The magazine was established in October 2010 as ''Military Times'' and became ''Military History Monthly'' in November 2011. It obtained its ...
'' Magazine.
Rankings and reputation
Fordham University is ranked by several national organizations. In 2021, the university was ranked No. 66 by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in "Best National Universities," tied at No. 38 in "Best Colleges for Veterans", tied at 44th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", 82nd in "Top Value Schools", and tied for 203d in "Top Performers on Social Mobility". In 2019, ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' ranked the university 141st among "Top Colleges", while ''Kiplinger
Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice which is a subsidiary of Future plc.
Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations ...
'' ranked it 62nd of ''100 Best Values in Private Universities'' in 2018.
For 2021, UniRanking listed Fordham fifth among the top Catholic Universities in the world and fourth among US schools.
In 2014, ''Business Insider'' ranked Fordham 131st on a list of "The 600 Smartest Colleges in America," based on the student body's average SAT scores. Fordham has also been named one of the country's Hidden Ivies
''Hidden Ivies'' is a college educational guide with the most recent edition, ''The Hidden Ivies, 3rd Edition: 63 of America's Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities'', published in 2016, by Howard and Matthew Greene.
Overview
Howard and M ...
, which are classed as "renowned academic institutions" that "rival the Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
."
The AACSB accredited Gabelli School of Business was ranked tied for tenth in "Undergraduate International Business Rankings" by ''U.S. News & World Report'' for 2021,[ and in 2016, '']Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' ranked it the 27th best undergraduate business school in the nation. For 2022, Poets and Quants ranked Gabelli #1 for Corporate, Social and Environmental Responsibility and #10 for Best EMBA programs. Also for 2022, The Economist posted their list of the top 100 MBA programs in the world where only 50 were US programs. Gabelli was listed 94th.
Gabelli Business School's MBA program tied for 80th among "America's Best Business Schools" by ''U.S. News & World Report''. In the years prior, the business program was ranked No. 72 among "Best Full-Time MBA Programs" by ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' (2015), No. 79 among "Best Executive MBA Programs in the World" by the ''Financial Times'' (2015), and No. 39 among "Best Executive MBA Programs" by ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' (2013).
The Fordham Law School in 2020 was ranked 27th in ''U.S. News & World Report''s ranking of "America’s Best Law schools".
Globally, Fordham was ranked 90th among the "World's top 100 universities for producing millionaires", as compiled by THE
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
in 2013. According to data from ''The New York Times'', Fordham ranked at No. 8 out of 71 "highly selective private colleges" yielding the greatest overall social mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
; this data reflects the share of all students who came from lower-income families and ended up in higher-income families after completing their education. École des Mines de Paris
Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...
's listing – which reviews over 3,000 educational institutions around the world, selects some 700 schools and ranks them according to their ability to place their graduates in Fortune 500 CEO and leading positions – ranks Fordham University 16th on their list, making it the highest ranked Catholic institution.
Campuses
Fordham has three main campuses, which are in and around New York City: Rose Hill in the Fordham neighborhood, the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, adjacent to Bronx Park
Bronx Park is a public park along the Bronx River, in the Bronx, New York City. The park is bounded by Southern Boulevard to the southwest, Webster Avenue to the northwest, Gun Hill Road to the north, Bronx Park East to the east, and East 180 ...
on Fordham Road
Fordham Road is a major thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, that runs west-east from the Harlem River to Bronx Park. Fordham Road houses the borough's largest and most diverse shopping district. It geographically separates the North Bron ...
; Lincoln Center in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, one block from Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
; and Westchester in West Harrison, New York
Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census.
History
Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison a ...
. In addition, it maintains and utilizes various academic, extracurricular, and residential facilities throughout New York City and New York State and around the world. In addition to its three main campuses, the university also operates the Louis Calder Center, a biological field station north of New York City in Armonk, New York
Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States.
The corporate headquarters of IBM are located in Armonk.
Geography and climate
As of the 2010 census, Ar ...
. It consists of forested with a lake and 13 buildings. The structures house laboratories and classrooms, offices for faculty and administrators, a library, and residences.
Outside the United States, the university maintains a small campus in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, known as the London Centre. In addition, Fordham operates field offices in Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
, Spain, and Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
, South Africa; these house undergraduate study abroad programs. Finally, the university provides faculty for the Beijing International MBA at Peking University
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
at Peking University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...
in China. The program, established in 1998, has been ranked No. 1 in China by ''Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' and ''Forbes'' Magazines.
Rose Hill
The Rose Hill campus, established in 1841 by Bishop John Hughes, is home to Fordham College at Rose Hill, the Gabelli School of Business
The Gabelli School of Business is the undergraduate and graduate business school of Fordham University, a private Jesuit research university in New York City, New York.
Fordham University's involvement in business started early in the 20th ...
, and a division of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, as well as the Graduate Schools of Arts and Sciences and Religion and Religious Education. Situated on in the central Bronx, it is among the largest privately owned green spaces in New York City. At one time spanning over 100 acres, much of the land for adjacent Bronx Park was acquired from the university with funds authorized by the 1884 New Parks Act
The New Parks Act is a New York state law passed in 1884. It provided for the creation of parks in the New York City borough of the Bronx, which at the time was largely undeveloped. Three parkways and six parks were established as part of the New ...
intended to preserve lands that would soon become part of New York City, on the condition that it be used as a zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
and botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
. Fordham students and staff have free admission to the garden grounds. Rose Hill is on Fordham Road, just north of the Belmont neighborhood, described as the "real Little Italy of New York", and immediately west of the Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...
and the New York Botanical Garden. The campus's Collegiate Gothic
Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
architecture, expansive lawns, ivy-covered buildings, and cobblestone streets were featured by NBC News.
Rose Hill is largely made up of nineteenth-century architecture, with some contemporary buildings. The campus is home to several structures on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, such as the University Church built in 1845 as a seminary chapel and parish church for the surrounding community. It contains the altar from Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, as well as stained glass windows given to the university by King Louis Philippe I of France.[ The windows are particularly notable for their connection to a workshop in Sevres, France, locus of the earliest stages of the ]Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
. Adjacent to the church is a 138-plot cemetery where the university's nineteenth-century Jesuits, diocesan seminarians, students, and workers are interred, relocated in 1890 from its original location at today's New York Botanical Garden.
There are eleven residence halls on campus, including Queen's Court residential college
A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship wi ...
, whose main mission is to "assist in the integration of first-year students into University life," and nine Integrated Learning Communities that each cater to a particular year (freshman, sophomore, etc.) or area of study (science, leadership, etc.). In addition, the campus contains two residences for Jesuits, a retirement home, and the Murray-Weigel infirmary.
Rose Hill is served by the Fordham station
Fordham station, also known as Fordham–East 190th Street station, is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem and New Haven Lines, serving Fordham Plaza in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The platforms ...
of the Metro-North Railroad
Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
, which extends to Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
. Public transit buses stop adjacent to campus exits, and three New York City Subway stations are within walking distance. The university also provides a shuttle service between its three main campuses (the "Ram Van"), which is headquartered at Rose Hill. 6,981 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled at the Rose Hill, of which 2,482 live on campus.
Lincoln Center
In 1954, New York City's Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
wrote to Fordham administrators proposing Fordham might "be interested in an alternative o_renting_space_in_the_New_York_Coliseum.html" ;"title="New_York_Coliseum.html" ;"title="o renting space in the New York Coliseum">o renting space in the New York Coliseum">New_York_Coliseum.html" ;"title="o renting space in the New York Coliseum">o renting space in the New York Coliseuminvolving a new building in a part of the area to the north of Columbus Circle to be redeveloped under Title One of the Federal Housing Law. ... If this idea appeals to you I will ask Mr. Lebwohl to see you and explain it in greater detail." In March 1958, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., Robert Wagner signed the deeds transferring the Lincoln Center campus to Fordham University.
The Lincoln Center campus is home to Fordham College at Lincoln Center and to a division of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, as well as the School of Law, the Graduate Schools of Education and Social Service, and the Gabelli School of Business. The campus occupies the area from West 60th Street to West 62nd Street between Columbus Avenue (Manhattan), Columbus and Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
Avenues, placing it in the cultural heart of Manhattan.
Lincoln Center has two grassy plazas, built one level up from the street. The larger expanse was once a barren cement landscape known as "Robert Moses Plaza;" the smaller is known as "St. Peter's Garden" and contains a memorial to the Fordham students and alumni who perished in the September 11, 2001, attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
. The campus is served by public transit buses; the A, B, C, D, and 1 Subway trains, which are accessed at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station; and the university's Ram Van shuttle. 9,078 undergraduate and postgraduate students are enrolled at Lincoln Center, of which 1,337 reside in University housing. The campus consists of the Leon Lowenstein Building, McMahon Hall, the Gerald M. Quinn Library, and the Doyle Building. In the fall of 2014, the new freshman residence dormitory McKeon Hall opened, along with the new Fordham Law School building.
The ''Toward 2016 Strategic Plan'' prescribed a complete reconfiguration of the Lincoln Center campus, to be completed by 2032. The first phase of the project, including renovations of the Lowenstein Building as well as a new Law School building and residence hall designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architecture, architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates. , were completed in 2014. In 2014, Fordham University purchased a building at 45 Columbus Avenue and incorporated it in its Lincoln Center campus as Joseph A. Martino Hall. The nine-story building is directly across the avenue from the former Law School building.
Westchester
The Westchester campus is home to divisions of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, the Martino Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Education and Social Service graduate schools. It consists of a three-story, building on landscaped with a stream and pond. Fordham signed a 20-year lease for the facility, which includes 26 "smart" classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, a media center, a food service facility, and indoor and outdoor meeting areas. In 2008, the university spent over $8 million renovating the building in order to increase its sustainability.
The campus is served by the White Plains station of the Metro-North Railroad
Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
away and connected by the Westchester County Bus System (" The Bee Line").
London Centre
In October 2018, Fordham expanded its study abroad program in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to its own space, the London Centre. The campus is situated in the Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.
The well after which it was named was redisco ...
area of London, within the London borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
. Fordham's London Centre offers programs in business, theater, and the liberal arts to students from Fordham and other colleges and universities.
Town-gown relationships
Relations between Fordham and its surrounding neighborhoods vary according to campus. At Rose Hill, the university actively recruits Bronx students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program
The Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) is a partnership between the State of New York and its independent colleges that provides scholarships to economically and educationally disadvantaged residents. It is mainly awarded to ...
. In addition, about 80% of students participate in local community service.[''Rose Hill Society Ambassador Handbook''.]
The relationship between the Lincoln Center campus and some of the Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
community residents have been strained, over campus development. In 2010 the New York State Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
dismissed a lawsuit against Fordham brought by The Alfred Condominium. The suit was filed in response to the university's expansion plans at Lincoln Center and their expected visual and auditory impact on the surrounding community. The Lincoln Center campus does, however, have a lively connection to the artistic scene in Manhattan through its dance and theater productions and visual art exhibitions.
Athletics
The university supports 21 men's and women's varsity athletic teams, as well as various club and intramural
Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...
sports. The Fordham colors are maroon and white and its mascot is the ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
. In most varsity sports, the Rams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
and are a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...
. The football team, however, plays in NCAA Division I FCS
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...
and is an associate member of the Patriot League
The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...
, reported to be the most academically selective NCAA conference after the Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
.
The Ram's football team ended the 1929 season as title holders according to college football's fictitious national championship, boasts two bowl game appearances (1941 and 1942), two Patriot League championships (2002 and 2007) and corresponding NCAA Division I Football Championship
The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...
appearances. It is best known, however, for the "Seven Blocks of Granite The Seven Blocks of Granite were the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The individuals identified among the Seven Blocks of Granite were Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze ...
," a name given to the team's 1928 and 1936 offensive lines. The 1936 team was coached by "Sleepy" Jim Crowley
James Harold "Sleepy Jim" Crowley (September 10, 1902 – January 15, 1986) was an American football player and coach. He gained fame as one-fourth of the University of Notre Dame's legendary "Four Horsemen (American football), Four Horsemen" bac ...
, one of the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
's famed "Four Horsemen
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos.
Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand tha ...
," and included Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
, the legendary Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
coach. The team provoked the term "Ivy League" after ''New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' sportswriter Caswell Adams called then powerhouses Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
and Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
"only Ivy League" compared to this Fordham team. Moreover, the Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...
NFL franchise was named in honor of Fordham's football heritage.
The Fordham men's basketball program has made four NCAA Tournament appearances and 16 National Invitational Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
appearances. During the 1971 season, the program enjoyed its best campaign ever, compiling a 26–3 record and earning a No. 9 national ranking. That team was coached by Digger Phelps
Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the n ...
, who accepted an offer to coach Notre Dame after the 1971 season ended. Peter "PJ" Carlesimo was a reserve on Fordham's 1971 team; he later became the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
franchise and was involved in a famous choking incident with Latrell Sprewell
Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Du ...
. Fordham basketball plays in the Rose Hill Gymnasium
Rose Hill Gymnasium is a 3,200-seat multi-purpose arena on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in The Bronx, New York City, New York (state), New York. The arena, which opened in 1925, is the oldest on-campus venue currently used primarily ...
(also known as "The Prairie"), the oldest on-campus venue in use by an NCAA Division I basketball team.
The Rams baseball program is among the oldest in the nation and was the first college baseball team to play the game according to modern rules. The program has launched the careers of 57 Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
players, including National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
inductee Frankie Frisch
Frank Francis Frisch (September 9, 1898—March 12, 1973), nicknamed "The Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was an American Major League Baseball player and manager of the first half of the twentieth century.
Frisch was a switch-hitting secon ...
(also known as the "Fordham Flash"). In April 2010, a Fordham baserunner made national headlines when he somersault
A somersault (also ''flip'', ''heli'', and in gymnastics ''salto'') is an acrobatic exercise in which a person's body rotates 360° around a horizontal axis with the feet passing over the head. A somersault can be performed forwards, backwards ...
ed over an opposing team's catcher to score a run during a game. The incident was dubbed the "Fordham Flip." The Rams baseball team holds the record for most NCAA Division I baseball victories in history.
There are eight women's teams on campus. The women's basketball team won the Atlantic 10 championship in 2014, advancing to the first round of the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...
. This feat came just 6 years after the team set an NCAA record for the worst season, finishing the season 0–29 in 2008.
The university's programs include track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
, which claims world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Tom Courtney
Thomas "Tom" William Courtney (born August 17, 1933) is a retired American athlete, winner of two gold medals in the 1956 Olympic Games
Tom Courtney came into national prominence while a student at Fordham University, winning the 1955 NCAA 88 ...
as an alumnus; sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
, which is headquartered at the Morris Yacht and Beach Club in City Island, Bronx
City Island is a neighborhood in the northeastern Bronx in New York City, located on an island of the same name approximately long by wide. City Island is located at the extreme western end of Long Island Sound, south of Pelham Bay and east o ...
; crew
A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involve ...
, which rows out of the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse on the Harlem River and frequents the Henley Royal Regatta in the United Kingdom; and golf, which is affiliated with the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York.
Student life
Groups and activities
Clubs and organizations for undergraduate and graduate students number over 130 at the Rose Hill campus and 50 at Lincoln Center.
Fordham College at Rose Hill has a long history of college theater, and the entire university maintains a number of theater groups at both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill (e.g. the Mimes and Mummers, Fordham Experimental Theater, the Theatrical Outreach Group, Splinter Group). There are also choirs (University Choir, Schola Cantorum, Gloria Dei Choir) and a cappella groups spanning both campuses (Fordham Ramblers, Satin Dolls, b-Sides, Hot Notes, F-sharps). The Mimes and Mummers, the oldest entirely student-run club at Fordham University and among the oldest college theater groups in the United States, was founded in 1855 as the Saint John's Dramatic Society. The Mimes put on two musicals, a drama, and a comedy each year – all non-student-written shows – as well as workshops designed to help students at Fordham learn about theater. The club receives from the school a budget which allows the hiring of professional directors, music directors, and choreographers but the shows are student produced, with all elements of technical design run by the club's executive board.
In 1905, with the construction of Collins Hall, Fordham University became the first place on the East Coast of the United States to have a theater in the round. The Penthouse Theatre, on the fourth floor of Collins Hall, served both for debuts of professional shows and home for theater groups like the Mimes and Mummers. The Penthouse Theatre was turned into office space in 1966.
In 1990, Alumni House, believed to be constructed in 1842 by William Rodrigue as a personal residence, an architect involved in the building of much of the early campus, was turned into a student-run space. Despite this account being questioned by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in the report of its listing, it came to be known as Rodrigue's Coffee House. Rodrigue's, more commonly referred to as "Rod's" is an entirely student run coffee house and event space. Notable artists such as Frankie Cosmos, Matt and Kim, Japanese Breakfast, and Dreamcrusher have performed at Rod's.
Media
The university has a number of student publications, including ''The Fordham Ram'', the university's official journal of record; ''Fordham Observer, The Observer'', the newspaper for the Lincoln Center campus; the ''Fordham Political Review'', the university's "undergraduate publication dedicated to politics, economics, social sciences, international affairs, and culture"; ''The Rival'', an online-only student-run publication; and ''the paper'', a student-run free-speech alternative journal.
WFUV is Fordham's 50,000-watt radio station, broadcasting on 90.7 FM broadcasting, FM. Founded in 1947, the station serves approximately 350,000 listeners weekly in the New York City metropolitan area. It is a National Public Radio affiliate and has an adult album alternative, adult alternative format on weekdays and a Variety (US radio), variety format on weekends. In 2017 ''The Princeton Review'' ranked WFUV the second best college radio station in the United States.
Campus ministry
The purpose of Campus Ministry at Fordham is to provide "opportunities and resources for spiritual growth to members of [the university] community." It offers programming for more than 15 faith traditions in such areas as worship, music ministry, and social ministry. One of its most popular initiatives is its retreats, which are held at the university's McGrath House of Prayer in Goshen, New York, and other retreat houses in the New York City metropolitan area. In addition to its Jesuit traditions, the university also has organizations devoted to Judaism, Islam, and other religions.
The university has a church and numerous chapels across its campuses. At Rose Hill are the University Church which houses Our Lady's Chapel in the basement; the Blue Chapel (Fordham University), Blue Chapel on the third floor of Keating Hall; the Sacred Heart Chapel in Dealy Hall; the St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel at Spellman Hall; along with chapels at several student residence halls.[ At the Lincoln Center campus is the Bl. Rupert Meyer Chapel in the Leon Lowenstein Building.][
In conjunction with the Office of Mission and Ministry, Global Outreach (GO!) operates as a cultural immersion and service program where students learn about various issues of social, economic, political, and environmental injustice while living a simple lifestyle that fosters communal and spiritual growth.] Teams consist of approximately 10 students, one student leader, and one chaperone to live, work, and learn with partnering organizations. Building on the Jesuit tenets of Men and Women for Others, Magis, and Contemplatives in Action, GO! has grown over the years to include more than 30 projects throughout the United States and countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. GO!'s roots stretch back to the 1950s, when Fordham students were participating in various service and immersion projects. In the 1970s and '80s it became known as the Mexico project, with students coining the term Global Outreach in 1988.
The Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice is responsible for overseeing Fordham's various community service and humanitarian initiatives. Grounded in the Jesuit principle of training "men and women for others", the center organizes projects in such areas as poverty, hunger, education, and disaster relief. As a result of the Dorothy Day Center's efforts, the university performed approximately one million hours of service in 2011, ranking it sixth among universities country-wide in terms of community outreach. A popular volunteer location among students is the Jesuit Health Care Center at the Rose Hill campus where students interested in nursing gain practical experience. The Dorothy Day Center also offers a pre-orientation "Urban Plunge" program, introducing incoming freshmen to social justice issues in New York City.
Sustainability
In order to increase its sustainability, the university has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2017. In addition, it has pledged to employ low-flow faucets and shower heads, use sustainable materials like reprocessed flooring, recycle up to 90% of its debris, and seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED Silver certification in its construction of new facilities on campus. Also, the Department of Grounds Maintenance at Fordham has committed to making half of its vehicle fleet electric by 2016. The university has also proposed numerous environmental initiatives, including using certified green cleaning products, a uniform recycling program, and composting in cooperation with the New York Botanical Garden.[
Fordham's Rose Hill campus is home to one of the largest collections of mature Ulmus americana, American elms in the country, the oldest estimated to be 270 years old.]
Traditions and symbols
Traditions
Since its founding in 1841, the university has developed many traditions. Some of them are described below:
* The President's Ball takes place every autumn on the eve of the Homecoming football game. It is a informal attire, business formal event held in the Vince Lombardi Field House. It is hosted by the Office of the President, from which the name is derived.
* The Winter Ball is a business casual event staged each winter by the United Student Government and the Activities Board of Lincoln Center, at venues in New York City including the Rainbow Room, the Russian Tea Room, and the Mandarin Oriental, New York, Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
* The "Under the Tent" Dance is a smart casual event held the weekend before final exams. Sponsored by the university's Residence Halls Association, it takes place underneath a tent on Martyrs' Lawn, Fordham's second-largest quadrangle, and has a different theme each year. The dance is part of the Spring Weekend Festival, which also includes two concerts, a barbecue, a race around the Rose Hill campus, and a comedy show. The dance was previously held at the Lincoln Center campus as well, but was replaced in 2015 by an end-of-the-year event called "The Bash".
*The Festival of Lessons and Carols: The Fordham University Concert Choir presents a series of Nine Lessons and Carols every year during the Christmas season. An afternoon concert is performed at the University Church on the Rose Hill campus, and an evening concert is performed at the St. Paul the Apostle Church (Manhattan), St. Paul the Apostle Church adjacent to the Lincoln Center campus.
* Each semester, the official beginning of the final exam period is marked by a "midnight breakfast", in which Fordham administration and professors cook students their favorite breakfast items so as to prepare them for the long night of studying ahead of them. The name comes from "burning the midnight oil" with studies, not from the time of the breakfast.
* The Liberty Cup was awarded annually to the winner of the football game between Fordham and Columbia universities. The tradition began in 2002, a year after the Fordham-Columbia game was postponed due to September 11 attacks. , the series was ended by Columbia.
* The Rams-Crusader Trophy in football was first awarded in 1951 to commemorate a great coach of both Fordham and Holy Cross: Frank Cavanaugh (American football), Frank "Iron Major" Cavanaugh.
* Fordham College at Rose Hill hosts an Encaenia each year in early May. Faculty, administrators, and students process in academic regalia
Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, mainly tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those who have obtained a university degree (or similar), or hold a status that entitles them to assum ...
, and candidates for degrees at the current year's Commencement receive various awards and honors. The ceremony includes a sentimental speech by the year's valedictorian, as well as a generally more humorous, yet equally endearing, speech by the honorary Lord or Lady of the Manor.
Symbols
In addition to its traditions, Fordham is associated with a number of symbols, some of which are discussed below:
* The university's official color used to be magenta, one which was shared by Harvard University. Since it was confusing for the two schools to be wearing the same color during athletic competitions, the matter of which school could lay claim to magenta was to be settled through a series of baseball games. Fordham won the games, but Harvard reneged on its promise. Both schools continued to use the color until 1874, when the Fordham student government unanimously agreed to change to maroon. Maroon was chosen because it was not widely used at the time. Sometime later, Harvard stopped using magenta in favor of crimson.
* The ram became the university's mascot as a result of a slightly vulgar cheer Fordham fans sang during an 1893 football game against the United States Military Academy. The fans began cheering, "One-damn, two-damn, three-damn, Fordham!" which was an instant hit. Later, "damn" was sanitized to "ram" so the song would conform to the university's image.
* Presented to Fordham by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz ('44) of the United States Navy, US Navy, the Victory Bell was the ship's bell
A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it.
Strikes Timing of s ...
of the Japanese aircraft carrier '' Junyo''. First rung on campus by President Harry S. Truman on May 11, 1946, it currently stands in front of the Rose Hill Gymnasium and peals following all Ram athletic victories and at the start of Commencement each year.
* The design of the Great Seal of Fordham University acknowledges the Society of Jesus presence on campus, hence elements of the order's coat of arms in the center on a light-purple Escutcheon (heraldry), shield, without the usual sunburst background. The borrowed elements include the IHS monogram used by the Jesuits as an abbreviation for the name of Jesus in Greek: IHSOUS, in this case with the Christian cross, Cross resting on the center of the H, and the three nails of the Crucifixion of Jesus, Crucifixion beneath the epigraphy, epigraph. These elements dressed in gold lay on the purple shield framed in maroon, the color of the university, with silver fleur-de-lis strung together atop the bordering frame at the edge of the shield. The fleur-de-lis symbolize the French origin of the Jesuits who arrived at Fordham in 1846. Immediately above the central shield rests the laurel crown in green on a light blue background, enclosing the university's original pedagogical disciplines in white capital letters listed above each other in the following order: ARTS, SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, MEDICINE, LAW. Below the shield is a light blue scroll with the university's motto in black capital letters, ''SAPENTIA ET DOCTRINA''. Both the shield and the scroll rest on a gold field emblematic of learning (''doctrina''), upon which surrounds them with 14 fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit, evenly distributed, a symbol of wisdom (''sapientia''). Finally, surrounding the entire seal is an heraldic belt, which is employed as a stylistic decoration. It forms a circular maroon loop embroidered with green beads on its inner and outer edge, with a gold buckle and end tip. The belt is emblazoned with Fordham's official Latin title in gold capital letters: ''UNIVERSITAS FORDHAMENSIS''; between the last two punch holes where the buckle is fastened and the end looped inside to wrap around, is in gold the date of the university's founding: ''1841''. The University of Oxford, the only other higher education, tertiary institution in the world that uses a belt in its seal, maintains that without its belt, their seal is not official.
* The Ceremonial mace, mace of Fordham is traditionally carried at Commencement by the president of the Faculty Senate, who serves as the grand marshal of the main academic procession. The device, four feet in length, bears a regal Crown (heraldry), crown at the summit to denote the sole power of the State of New York to grant academic degrees in its territory. Above the crown is a cross composed of four windmill sails, which signify the Catholic faith and the Dutch people, Dutch founders of New York City, respectively. The center of the cross displays a heraldic rose, which symbolizes Rose Hill. Immediately beneath the crown is a support, on which the university's seal is emblazoned. The upper node of the mace's staff is decorated with three heraldic roses, the Fordham seal, a ram's head, and a silhouette of the original Lincoln Center campus skyline. The titles of the university's constituent colleges are engraved above the node, and the names of the school's presidents from 1841 to 1966 are inscribed below it. The mace was a gift to the university from the Fordham University Alumni Federation.
*The Terrace of the presidents: Robert Gannon, president of Fordham from 1936 to 1949, initiated the custom of engraving the granite steps leading up to Keating Hall with the names of heads of state who visit the university. Among the names engraved are George Washington, who visited the Rose Hill Manor before it was succeeded by St. John's College in 1841; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Harry S. Truman; Richard Nixon; and the names of various other heads of state from around the world.
* Fordham's official school song is "Alma Mater Fordham," and its fight song is "Fordham Ram" by J. Ignatius Coveney. In December 2013 the lyrics to "Fordham Ram" were changed from "Hail Men of Fordham, hail" to "Hail Rams of Fordham, hail" to be inclusive of the school's female majority. "The Marching Song" is typically played during parades and after athletic games, especially after a Ram victory.
Alumni and faculty
Fordham has over 183,500 alumni spread throughout the world, with 40 regional alumni chapters in the US and abroad.
Notable alumni
Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate of a major political party in the United States, attended Fordham, as did numerous United States Congresspersons. List of Governors of New York, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is an alumnus as was Martin H. Glynn, the 40th Governor of New York (1913–1914) and first Catholic to hold the office. Among those serving at high levels of the U.S. Executive Branch were Postmaster General John E. Potter; Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Director William J. Casey from 1981 to 1987 and John O. Brennan from 2013 to 2017; John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General, Attorney General from 1969 to 1972; and Bernard M. Shanley, Deputy Chief of Staff and White House Counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Donald Trump attended for two years and studied economics but left in 1966, transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.
Fordham claims a number of distinguished military honorees, including three Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipients and notable general staff, generals including Jack Keane, General John "Jack" Keane, four-star general and United States Army, Army Vice Chief of Staff, and Martin Thomas McMahon, Major General Martin Thomas McMahon, decorated American Civil War officer. Fordham has produced college and university presidents for at least 10 institutions around the United States, including two for Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
and one each for Columbia University and New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, and produced Robert Kibbee, the Chancellor of the City University of New York
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
. Francis Spellman, Cardinal Francis Spellman oversaw the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archdiocese of New York. James B. Donovan defended Rudolph Abel in his spy trial and negotiated the release of Francis Gary Powers. Archduchess Charlotte of Austria, daughter of the last Austrian Emperor, Charles I of Austria, Charles I, studied at the School of Social Sciences.
Business and finance magnates who attended Fordham include Wendy Craigg, former Governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, Central Bank of the Bahamas; Anne M. Mulcahy, chairperson and CEO of Xerox; Rose Marie Bravo, Vice chairman and CEO of Burberry; E. Gerald Corrigan, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Maria Elena Lagomasino, CEO of JP Morgan Private Bank; Joe Moglia, chairman and CEO of TD Ameritrade; Stephen J. Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group; Wellington Mara, New York Giants owner; John D. Finnegan, chairman, President, and CEO of Chubb Corporation; Mario Gabelli, billionaire and founding CEO of GAMCO Investors; Lorenzo Mendoza, billionaire and CEO of Empresas Polar; Eugene Shvidler, billionaire and international oil tycoon; Frank A. Calderoni, Frank Calderoni, CEO of Anaplan.
In the media and communications field, Fordham has produced Charles Osgood, three-time Emmy Award and two-time Peabody Award-winning journalist for CBS and Radio Hall of Fame inductee; Louis Boccardi, President of the Associated Press; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Loretta Tofani; Jim Dwyer (journalist), Jim Dwyer, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author; G. Gordon Liddy, President Richard Nixon associate and leader of the White House Plumbers, political Pundit (expert), pundit, and radio show host; NPR White House Correspondent Scott Detrow; and Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster and Radio Hall of Famer Vin Scully.
Fordham's contributors to arts and entertainment include Denzel Washington, two-time Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and two-time Golden Globe Award-winning actor; Alan Alda, six-time Emmy Award and six-time Golden Globe Award-winning actor; Academy Award-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson; Dylan McDermott; actress Taylor Schilling; actress and comedian Regina Hall; Grammy award, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey; Mary Higgins Clark, best-selling suspense novelist; horror novelist and playwright Robert Marasco; postmodern novelist Don DeLillo, acclaimed novelist and Pulitzer Prize nominee; Robert Sean Leonard, Golden Globe winning television show actor; Bob Keeshan of TV's award-winning "Captain Kangaroo"; and John LaFarge, painter, muralist, and designer of stained-glass windows. John Gilmary Shea, regarded as the "Father of American Catholic History", is also an alumnus. Michael Alig, infamous club promoter of '90s New York City nightlife, also attended Fordham.
People from the world of sports who attended Fordham include Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Frankie Frisch
Frank Francis Frisch (September 9, 1898—March 12, 1973), nicknamed "The Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was an American Major League Baseball player and manager of the first half of the twentieth century.
Frisch was a switch-hitting secon ...
(the "Fordham Flash"); Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
, football coaching legend; Bill Chadwick, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee; Tom Courtney
Thomas "Tom" William Courtney (born August 17, 1933) is a retired American athlete, winner of two gold medals in the 1956 Olympic Games
Tom Courtney came into national prominence while a student at Fordham University, winning the 1955 NCAA 88 ...
, two-time Olympic gold medalist and holder of world record in the 880-yard run; and Steve Bellán, first Latin American to play Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
.
File:Alan Alda MASH 1972.JPG, Alan Alda, Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
and Golden Globe-winning actor
File:Esteban Bellan.jpg, Steve Bellán, first Cuban and first Latin American to play major league baseball
File:John Brennan CIA official portrait.jpg, John O. Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
File:William-Casey.jpg, William J. Casey, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
File:Mary Higgins Clark at the Mazza Museum.jpg, Mary Higgins Clark, novelist
File:Patricia Clarkson Press Conference The Party Berlinale 2017 01 (cropped 2).jpg, Patricia Clarkson, Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated actress
File:Andrew Cuomo by Pat Arnow cropped.jpeg, Andrew Cuomo, 56th Governor of New York
File:Don delillo nyc 02-cropped.jpg, Don DeLillo, Pulitzer Prize-nominated novelist
File:Lana Del Rey Cannes 2012.jpg, Lana Del Rey, singer-songwriter
File:Portrait of John LaFarge.jpg, John La Farge, visual artist
File:GeraldineFerraro.jpg, Geraldine Ferraro, member of the U.S. House of Representatives and vice-presidential candidate
File:Hage Geingob.jpg, Hage Geingob, President of Namibia
File:Governor Martin H. Glynn.jpg, Martin H. Glynn, 40th Governor of New York
File:Michael Kay.jpg, Michael Kay (sports broadcaster), Michael Kay, sports broadcaster for the New York Yankees
File:Jack Keane.jpg, Jack Keane, Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
File:Vince Lombardi.jpg, Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hall of Famer, namesake of Vince Lombardi Trophy, Super Bowl trophy
File:Scully GM.JPG, Vin Scully, sportscaster
File:Robert Gould Shaw.jpg, Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a prominent Boston Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist family, he accepted command of the firs ...
, commander 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in American Civil War
File:Cardinal Francis Spellman.jpg, Francis Spellman, Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal Archbishop of New York
File:Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg, Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, attended for two years before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania
File:Denzel Washington cropped 02.jpg, Denzel Washington, Academy Award-winning actor
Notable current and former faculty
File:Picture of Hilaire Belloc.jpg, Hilaire Belloc, prolific English people, Anglo-French writer and historian, President of the Oxford Union, Member of Parliament, British Member of Parliament
File:Brian Davies.jpg, Brian Davies (philosopher), Brian Davies, Professor of Philosophy at Fordham, and specialist in Thomism
File:Hess.jpg, Victor Francis Hess, Nobel Prize recipient and discoverer of Cosmic Rays
File:Olivia Hooker DVIDS1101558.jpg, Olivia Hooker, first African-American woman to enter the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard
File:CGJung.jpg, Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
, founder of analytical psychology
File:Cardinal McCloskey Napoleon Sarony.jpg, John McCloskey
John McCloskey (March 10, 1810 – October 10, 1885) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first American born Archbishop of New York from 1864 until his death in 1885, having previously served as Bishop of ...
, first US Catholic Cardinal and first president of Fordham
File:Pietro Montana in his studio cropped.jpg, Pietro Montana, sculptor and painter noted for war memorials and religious works
File:Guillermo Owen.jpg, Guillermo Owen, Colombian mathematician, considered one of the founding fathers of game theory
File:Professor Susan Scafidi.jpeg, Susan Scafidi, founder of Fashion Law Institute
File:Zephyr Teachout 2014 Pride March.jpg, Zephyr Teachout, political activist, CEO of Mayday PAC
In popular culture
Fordham's Rose Hill campus was named the second most-filmed campus in North America by ''Noodle Education''. Films shot on the campus include: ''The Adjustment Bureau'' (2011), ''A Beautiful Mind (film), A Beautiful Mind'' (2001), ''Cheerleaders Beach Party'' (1978), ''The Exorcist (film), The Exorcist'' (1973), ''Fair Game (2010 film), Fair Game'' (2010), ''The Gambler (1974 film), The Gambler'' (1974), ''Godspell (film), Godspell'' (1973), ''Kinsey (film), Kinsey'' (2004), ''Love Story (1970 film), Love Story'' (1970), ''Quiz Show (film), Quiz Show'' (1994), ''Solitary Man (film), Solitary Man'' (2009), ''The Verdict'' (1982), and ''Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps'' (2010). The 1993 crime drama ''A Bronx Tale'' is set in the Belmont neighborhood adjacent to the Rose Hill campus. The Lincoln Center campus appeared in ''Awake (2007 film), Awake'' (2007) and ''Center Stage (2000 film), Center Stage'' (2000).[
Television programs filmed at Fordham include ''Shattered Vows'', a 1984 television film starring Valerie Bertinelli, which portrays the true story of a young nun in the 1960s who goes to Fordham for her master's degree and falls in love with a priest; ''White Collar (TV series), White Collar''; ''Naked City (TV series), Naked City''; ''Saturday Night Live''; ''Chappelle's Show''; and the 2009 U2 performance on ''Good Morning America''. The series ''Forever (2014 TV series), Forever'' features the new Gabelli building and McMahon dorm. In the second episode of CBS's ''Madam Secretary (TV series), Madam Secretary'' the Fordham commons are used in two scenes serving in lieu of Georgetown University.
The music video for the single ''What's Luv?'' by Fat Joe and Ashanti (entertainer), Ashanti was filmed in the Rose Hill gymnasium.] The folk rock group The Mamas & the Papas also performed at the university in 1966.
Fordham is referenced in both of Stephen King's novels ''The Regulators (novel), The Regulators'', ''Desperation (novel), Desperation'', and "The Stand (novel), The Stand", as well as in John Grisham's ''The Pelican Brief''.[ The Rose Hill campus also figures in the novel ''While My Pretty One Sleeps'' by Mary Higgins Clark, who is an alumna of Fordham.][
Fictional Fordham alumni include the title character of ''Michael Clayton (film), Michael Clayton'', Ray Brocco of ''The Good Shepherd (film), The Good Shepherd'', Michael Patrick Flaherty of ''Spin City'', Jacob Moore of ''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', Annie Norris of ''Life on Mars (U.S. TV series), Life on Mars'', Vinnie Terranova of ''Wiseguy (TV series), Wiseguy'', Nick Rice of ''Law Abiding Citizen'', Bruno Tattaglia of ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'', the father of Gabe Burton in ''Little Manhattan,'' Brian Connerty of ''Billions (TV series), Billions'' and Dave Norris of ''The Adjustment Bureau''.] Sonek Pran, a character in ''Star Trek: A Singular Destiny, ''is an alumnus of Fordham University in the 24th century.
See also
* List of Jesuit educational institutions
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
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Fordham Athletics website
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