R is for Research

The powerful quantitative social science research tool known simply as R was the focus of an international conference held on June 18 and 19 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.

A panel of distinguished speakers from around the world discussed the importance of the R software and graphics system for use by researchers, practitioners, educators and students.

The conference, organized by Hrishikesh D. Vinod, Ph.D., professor of economics, and Frank Hsu, Ph.D., professor of computer and information sciences, highlighted the value R holds for educators in particular, due to fact that it is free, open source, and widely available. R also features some 2,000 specialized packages and is becoming the “lingua franca” for quantitative social science researchers across a wide array of disciplines.

The conference, inaugurated by Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D., dean of the arts and sciences faculty (pictured), concluded with a wine and cheese reception, hosted by the Society of Indian Academics in America (SIAA) and the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). More details on the conference are available here.

—Nina Romeo

The Notorious Ph.D. "(When you're from the Bronx) You Got to be Strong"

Mark Naison, Ph.D.—The Notorious Ph.D.—rapped "(When you're from the Bronx) You Got to be Strong," a tribute to Supreme Court Justice Nominee Sonia Sotomayor on behalf of the Bronx African American History Project at Fordham University. Music by DJ Charlie Hustle. (Portions of this video were shot at the PS 140 graduation ceremony on June 24, 2009.)

Excelsior Video

The video for Excelsior | Ever Upward | The Campaign for Fordham is now available on YouTube.

Parts one and two of a 12-minute video on Fordham University's history and mission, and its $500 million capital campaign.

Communications Grad Places in Play-by-Play

Recent communications graduate Justin Shackil (FCRH ’09) has earned second place in a nationwide competition for the inaugural Jim Nantz Award, a contest sponsored by the Sportcasters Talent Agency of America (STAA) to recognize the top college sports broadcasters. Shackil, a student of assistant professor of communications Beth Knobel, Ph.D., receives a complementary membership in the STAA, considered to be the major clearinghouse for talent in the sportscasters job market.

You may remember Shackil as one of the three finalists in February (along with Garry Van Genderen) in an mtvU contest to cover the Academy Awards pre-Oscar red carpet. But Shackil has also worked at WFUV as a play-by-play announcer for Fordham sports, as host of Fordham’s call-in sports show One on One, and as host of The Cathy Andruzzi Show, a weekly show on the Fordham women’s basketball team.

“I owe everything I ever learned in broadcasting to WFUV,” Shackil said. “If you play a tape I recorded in my freshman year next to something I’ve done today, you’ll see the enormous difference.”

We don’t have any audio from Shackil’s freshman year, but here he is today calling a play.

-JS

Anything But Plain

Though modestly described in some literature as “plain wooden doors,” the University Church’s nineteenth century doors can only be called “plain” in the sense that Horace used the term simplex munditiis, or perhaps "simply elegant."

Recently restored, the three outstanding elements no longer fade into the woodwork. The tympanum (the top of the doors) goes back to the 1800s, where Mary, the Mother of God is depicted with a torch and sword on either side. The Latin inscription just below it, illi autem sunt in pace (“they, however, are in peace”) was added in 1948 when Francis Cardinal Spellman, then both Military Vicar and Archbishop of New York, dedicated the new Fordham University war memorial. The memorial can be found just inside the vestibule, where the names of Fordham alumni who gave their lives in service of their country during World War II are carved in oak panels.

What the doors’ recent restoration reveals is the third element, previously obscured by time and weathering: the four military service emblems: Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. The “plain wooden doors” are now truly a jewel of history at the landmark University Church.

–Nicholas D. Lombardi, S.J.

Top to Bottom: The Doors; Marine Corps; Air Force; Navy; Army