C-Span Civics Bus to Visit Law School

Fordham students who are well-versed in all matters of the United States Supreme Court can get an even better look on Wednesday, Sept. 30 when C-Span’s Civics Bus rolls into town.

The bus, which houses the cable station’s mobile production studio, will be parked outside the Law School on West 62nd Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fordham students, faculty and staff and anyone who is interested in the Supreme Court are invited to stop by for a sneak preview of “The Supreme Court: Home to America’s Highest Court,” which will air on the channel on Sunday, Oct. 4.

The original documentary, which kicks off "Supreme Court Week” from Oct. 4 to Oct 11, features ten current and retired Supreme Court justices discussing the role of the court, its traditions and its history.

It also offers a video tour of the building and public spaces like the Great Hall and Supreme Court Chamber, as well as areas accessible only to the nine justices and staff, such as the Robing Room and John Marshall Dining Room.

For more information, visit www.c-span.org/supremecourt

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Alumni Shine on Television

Fans of drama take note: Fordham’s own Taylor Schilling (FCLC '06) made her television debut in Mercy, a hospital drama that premiered on Sept. 23, on NBC.

Schilling, a theater major who has also appeared in the 2007 film Dark Matter, stars as Veronica Callahan, a nurse who returns to Mercy Hospital after a year long tour of service in the Army.

In the first episode, “Can We Get That Drink Now?” viewers were also introduced to Callahan's fellow nurses Sonia, who thinks she finally found the man of her life; and Chloe, a rookie who is learning how to be a nurse the hard way . And Schilling's mother on the show is played by Fordham Department of Theatre faculty member Kate Mulgrew.

Schilling is not alone when it comes to Fordham grads in new TV shows this year. Dylan McDermott (FCLC '83), perhaps best known for his role as lawyer and law firm head on the legal drama The Practice, went deep undercover as Lt. Carter Shaw in Dark Blue, a crime drama on TNT that wrapped up its first season on Sept. 16

Thomas Calabro (FCLC '81), meanwhile, is reprising his role as Dr. Michael Mancini in Melrose Place, which after running for seven seasons on Fox, was given new life on the CW network on September 8. Though he’d found recurring roles on CBS’ Without A Trace and Touched By An Angel, and on F/X's Nip/Tuck, Calabro was a natural to bring back, as he was the only character on the original show to appear in every season, from beginning to end.

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Cheerleaders Rooting for the Walk4Hearing

Everyone knows someone with hearing loss. Fordham’s Cheerleading Team is on board to cheer on hundreds of walkers at the upcoming Walk4Hearing on Oct. 18 in Riverside Park. Organized by the Hearing Loss Association of America’s Manhattan Chapter, the Walk raises funds for programs and services for the 36 million Americans with hearing loss. Fordham students are urged to join the fun. Details at www.walk4Hearing.org.

Fordham Freshman Convocation

Fordham University Press Rolls Out Blog

Fordham University Press debuts its blog today, FORDHAM IMPRESSIONS. The blog features entries by press authors, announcements and features on forthcoming books, among other items.

Fredric W. Nachbaur was appointed the press's new director in January. The press publishes an average of 30 to 40 titles per year, with roughly $1 million in annual sales.

The press publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences, with an emphasis on the fields of anthropology, philosophy, theology, history, classics, communications, economics, sociology, business, political science, and law, as well as literature and the fine arts. Additionally, the press publishes books focusing on the metropolitan New York region and books of interest to the general public.

Fordham Westchester Offers Personal and Professional Development

It’s a trend that usually goes hand in hand: the economy falters, and enrollment at colleges and career-training schools goes up. Education is known as an effective way for people to strengthen their current position, or for displaced workers to prepare for a career switch.

Fordham University’s Westchester campus is offering unique professional and personal development courses this fall for those seeking career advancement or personal growth.

Some of the professional development offerings include:

• Project Management Professional Certification Exam Boot Camp;
• Core Skills for Managing Projects: Practical Skills for Leading;
• LEED AP and Green Associate Exam Preparation.

Among the personal growth courses are a one-day workshop in Creative Art Therapy and a workshop on Centering Prayer/Meditation.

There is also a two-day Adult Reinvention Program, which comes just after New York City’s unemployment rate climbed to 10.3 percent in August—a 16-year high. The course is designed for people looking to retool their professional mindset and personal skill set in a “vastly changing social paradigm.”

Please visit Fordham’s website to register: http://www.fordham.edu/academics/westchester/continuing_education_69409.asp

All courses take place at Fordham’s Westchester campus, which is set on 32 landscaped acres in West Harrison, N.Y. Parking is free and convenient on the campus.

-Gina Vergel

Shakespeare in the Park(ing Space) at Fordham

Fordham University students helped liberate parking spaces across the street from the Lincoln Center campus on Sept. 18 for National Park(ing) Day. Students from environmental, theatre and architectural design classes arrived early in the morning to set the “stage” for Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Space.

National Park(ing) Day is meant to protest the automobile’s monopolization of urban street-space and to draw attention to the need for public parks. In cities all over the world, designers and activists took over parking spots, fed the meters for the day and turned the spaces into tiny public parks.

Fordham College at Lincoln Center freshmen Emily Stout and Chris Stahl (above) performed a scene from Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

-Gina Vergel

Fordham Hosts Dancing Jesuit at Walsh Library

On Tuesday, September 15, members of the Fordham community were treated to a two-hour performance by Father Saju George Moolamthruruthil, S.J., a Calcutta-based Jesuit priest who does professional Bharatanatyam dance and serves the Calcutta community by running community-centered art and social development programs. Father Saju mixes the Indian dance art form with Christian narratives, to create an inspired inter-religious performance of great beauty.

Father Saju was sponsored on his visit to New York by Fordham University's Campus Ministry and hosted by Father George Drance, S.J., of the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts. A photo essay of Father Saju's performance will appear in the October issue of INSIDE FORDHAM.

J.S.

CBA Alumna Wins New York Rose of Tralee Crown

It seems fate is playing a role in Ashling Colton’s post-Fordham life. The 2009 College of Business Administration graduate, who majored on marketing and minored in communications and media studies, says she had life after Fordham all mapped out.

After spending a good amount of her junior and senior years at WFUV-FM (90.7) as the host of the Ceol na nGael program, Colton was determined to pursue more education. She was accepted into Fordham University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, but had to postpone her studies because she could not serve as a graduate assistant until fall 2010.

That’s when fate stepped in. While conducting an interview at WFUV, Colton learned of the International Rose of Tralee Festival, a fête, she describes, that is similar to a beauty pageant. The festival provides a opportunity for young Irish women to showcase their aspirations and promote their Irish heritage and social responsibility.

The contestants vie for the crown of the Rose of Tralee, a title that gives them the opportunity to travel the world promoting and engaging in charitable work.

Colton set out to become the New York State Rose, and after a daylong grueling series of intricate competitions, she was chosen.

This past August, she headed to Ireland for the international festival where she competed against the 49 other “roses” in hopes of becoming the 2009 Rose of Tralee. In the end she didn’t win, but Colton enjoyed the worldly experience and plans to see where fate takes her next.

- Gloria Chin, FCRH ’00

And Now, the Matteson and Clark Expedition

The Lewis and Clark expedition in the 1800's was famous for not only traversing the country from East to West, but of scientifically collecting and describing several new species (e.g., Clark's Nutcracker, Lewis Woodpecker). In a similar vein, on Friday evening, Sept. 11, two faculty members in Fordham’s Department of Biology, assistant professor J. Alan Clark and instructor Kevin Matteson are organizing a small group of student explorers to listen for katydids and crickets starting at 8 p.m. on the Rose Hill campus, moving across the street at the New York Botanical Gardens, and then, hopefully, into the grounds of the Bronx Zoo after hours (with permission of course).

The event is part of a larger area project, the New York City Cricket Crawl, sponsored by Discover Life, a non-profit group created to assemble and share knowledge about nature and to promote education and conservation. Part of the reason for the count is to help determine the status of Common True Katydids in the New York City area—there is some evidence that the katydid has been disappearing from certain boroughs.

Members of the Fordham community are invited, and the group has set up a blog but is still in need of bloggers and/or techies to help submit data as it is collected.

“The program is all about things happening in ‘real time,’” said Matteson.

Details on the project in this link: or you can email Matteson and Clark.
J.S.

Bishops Recognize Labor, Feerick Center

In its Labor Day Statement, "The Value of Work; The Dignity of the Human Person," the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) discussed its ongoing dialogue with Catholic health care workers as an example of the values that the church should pursue in labor issues.

William F. Murphy, bishop of Rockville Centre and chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote that an example of "a positive step forward in respect for workers," was a consensus statement, Respecting the Just Rights of Workers: Guidance and Options for Catholic Health Care and Unions, between the Catholic Health Association, the AFL/CIO, the Service Employees International Union and USCCB, which he said offers guidance on how workers can make a free decision about whether or not they want to be represented by a union.

Bishop Murphy cited the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School, and its dean, John Feerick, in helping to "look at real situations and genuine differences in light of some basic themes in Catholic social teaching."

The consensus statement was informed by the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, published this year, according to Bishop Murphy. He said, "decent work, according to the encyclical, 'means work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for children, without the children themselves being forced into labor; work that permits the workers to organize themselves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for re-discovering one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level; work that guarantees those who have retired a decent standard of living.'”

Fordham Asks: ‘So You Think You Can Cook?’

Do you think your favorite original recipe is creative and delectable enough to win over the taste buds of the Fordham community?

Fordham’s Hospitality Services invites you to prove it by entering its culinary competition this fall.

Open to students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff, the competition continues a tradition begun last year with the search for Fordham’s signature dessert.

This year, the search is on for the best non-dessert recipe, which opens the field to entrees, salads, sandwiches—anything that falls under the category of “family traditional food,” said Brian Poteat, general manager of Food Services.

Similar to last year, six finalists with the best recipes will be selected to work with the Fordham team of culinary experts to prepare 200 tasting portions on Nov. 6 in The Marketplace, when final judging will take place.

As part of Family Weekend, the tasting event will bring together parents and other family members with students, staff, faculty and alumni to sample each dish and choose the winner.

While participants will be asked to provide detailed step-by-step instructions for their recipes, the culinary team also wants to learn the history of the dish and why it’s a special recipe.

The winner of “So You Think You Can Cook?” will receive an assortment of Fordham merchandise. He or she also will be featured in Fordham online and print media, and will be photographed with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and Michael DeMartino, executive chef.

The winning recipe may even be added to the Food Services menu cycle and become part of Fordham’s culinary history, Poteat said.

All recipes (one per person) must be submitted online by Oct. 1, 2009. For more information or to submit an entry, go to Hospitality Service’s website: www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/campus_facilities/hospitality_services/.
- Nina Romeo

Bronx BETAC Employees Praised for Career Achievements

Together, Fordham University Graduate School of Education employees Eva Garcia and Lillian Garcia have nearly 65 years’ service in education. Although they are not related, they share their surname and their Puerto Rican heritage.

But the similarities don’t end there. Both women work for Fordham’s successful BETAC (Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Center), Eva as the director and Lillian as a resource specialist. Both women worked early in their careers as bilingual and ESL teachers and both went on to become successful principals at Bronx schools: Eva at P.S. 75, and Lillian at P.S. 1, the Courtlandt School.

Last month the New York League of Puerto Rican Women, Inc. (NYLPRW) honored the two educators at its annual College Awards Gala Dinner in Marina Del Rey, Bronx for their career achievements and outstanding service to the community.

Fordham’s Bronx BETAC assists Bronx public schools in their efforts to improve language instruction to the borough’s minority students who are English learners. It is one of two centers operating under a five-year contract with the New York State Office of Bilingual Education /Office of Foreign Language Services. The other center is located in the Lower Hudson Valley, and both are administered by the GSE’s Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP), directed by Associate Dean Anita Batisti.

The CEP enjoys a reciprocal relationship with the city schools; it helps thousands of public school students and, in turn, the city helps Fordham’s master’s and doctoral students gain classroom experience and keep abreast of cutting-edge educational practices.

The NYLPRW dinner is held annually to raise scholarship funds for undergraduate Puerto Rican women, selected for their academic excellence and service to the community.

--J.S.

Panetta on the Hudson

Roger G. Panetta, Ph.D., visiting professor of history and curator of the Hudson River Collections for the Fordham University Libraries, is featured in the PBS special "America's First River: Bill Moyers on the Hudson," being rebroadcast on WNET Channel 13 on Thursday, September 3, at 9 p.m.

Panetta recently coordinated "South Street Seaport: From Its Original Conception to Its Present-Day Revival," an Honors Program project at Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

The Hudson River is at the center of this 2002 PBS series. Bill Moyers chronicles the river's history though the environmental movement and the strain between public and private interests.

The show also airs on: Saturday, September 5, at 2:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.; and on Sunday, September 6, at 11 p.m., all on WNET Channel 13.