Father Ryan Reports from West Africa (V): "Newsworthiness"

Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. is spending a month in Africa, a continent where he previously lived for 26 years. During his time there, he will be blogging about his experiences. Here is his latest post:

I went by air from Lagos in Nigeria to Accra in Ghana on the night of Dec. 28. The plane, only one-third full, left two and a half hours late but the flight only took 35 minutes. In its flight path we flew over two other countries, the republics of Benin and Togo. The map is rather crowded in this part of coastal West Africa.

I was expecting heightened security at the Lagos airport, but found it efficient but relaxed. My baggage was not opened. At Accra, however, a large plane coming from Amsterdam arrived at the same time and some of its passengers had their luggage inspected on arrival.

Many people greeted me as "Pastor"--my black clerical shirt and collar are still regarded as more Protestant than Catholic here in West Africa.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon visiting old friends, including a 95-year-old man, Dominic Attigah, and his wife Anna, 88 ("Pa Dominic" and "Maame Anna"), whom I have known since 1974. He is fairly deaf now and she is blind.

They were finally married "in Church" (actually, the priest celebrated the wedding for them at home) last August. Togolese by origin, the Attigahs came to Ghana in 1951. Pa Dominic remembers it was the year that Kwame Nkrumah was transformed from independence agitator to leader of government business in the colonial regime.

At night I met and had supper with George Atta-Boateng (FCLS '07, GSAS ‘09), who is now a key figure in the computerization of the Ministry of Education.

-- Pat Ryan, S.J.

Father Ryan Reports from West Africa (IV): "Fordham and Nigeria"

Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. is spending a month in Africa, a continent where he previously lived for 26 years. During his time there, he will be blogging about his experiences. Here is his fourth post:

Over the years, many Nigerians have studied at Fordham, most notably in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, but also in nearly every other School as well. What few people now realize is the connection between Fordham and the original coming of Jesuits to Nigeria.

The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria asked for Jesuit professors to help in the foundation of the state-run University of Lagos at its inception in 1962. UNESCO asked NYU and Fordham for academic staff as well. The first Jesuit to come, who had a Ph.D. from Fordham in biology but was teaching at St Peter's College in Jersey City, was Father Joseph Schuh. A year later two other Jesuits came: Father Joseph Schuyler, who had a Fordham Ph.D. in sociology and was teaching at Fordham's seminary campus in Shrub Oak, N.Y.; and Father Joseph McKenna, who had a Ph.D. From Yale and was the head of the political science department at Fordham.

Schuh returned to St. Peter's in 1965 but Schuyler remained at Unilag, as it is called, until his retirement in 1986. He stayed another nine years beyond that in pastoral work in Lagos until health reasons mandated his return to the U.S. in 1995. McKenna never actually taught at Unilag --many Nigerians have Ph.D.s in political science--but fulfilled many roles for the bishops and the Jesuits in Nigeria until 1984, when he retired back to other Jesuit assignments around Fordham. In 1997, Fordham University Press published a study he did on varieties of Marxism in Africa and the response of the Catholic Church to that phase in recent African history.

All three Joes did Fordham proud over the years. McKenna's 1969 essay in Foreign Affairs on prospects for peace after the Nigerian civil war, published when the war was still ongoing, drew praise from the federal government of Nigeria at the time.

I arrived in Nigeria with three other Jesuits in 1964, just after I had finished an M.A. in English at Fordham; the degree was awarded in February 1965 while I was in Nigeria. I taught English in a Catholic but non-Jesuit high school in Nigeria in 1964-65. On this trip, I found myself sleeping on Christmas Eve in the same house where I slept on Christmas Eve of 1964. On Christmas Day, I had lunch in a Chinese restaurant with the best student I taught back then, Anthony Akingbade, now a 61-year-old medical doctor who eventually did his undergraduate studies at Harvard and his medical formation at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, our Bronx neighbor.

-- Pat Ryan, S.J.

Father McShane Speaks at Jan. 10 Event in D.C.

John Carroll Society
Baptism of the Lord - Mass & Brunch
Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sponsored by the John Carroll Society in conjunction with the Alumni/ae of Georgetown University, Trinity College, The Catholic University of America, College of the Holy Cross, Fairfield University, Fordham University, Providence College, University of Notre Dame, Mount Saint Mary’s University and University of Dayton.

Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick Church
10th & G Streets, NW**
(One block from Metro Center and Gallery Place)

His Excellency, Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
Principal Celebrant
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States

Reverend Monsignor Peter J. Vaghi
Homilist
Pastor of Little Flower Church & Chaplain of the John Carroll Society

Reverend Joseph M. McShane, S.J.
President of Fordham University
Brunch Speaker
“The Past, Present and Future of Catholic Education”

Brunch immediately following at
Grand Hyatt Washington
1000 H Street, NW
(one block from St. Patrick Church)

Reservations for Brunch - $40 per seat | Due January 5, 2010

Online registration available at www.johncarrollsociety.org.
Click “Events” and then click the registration link under “January Mass & Brunch.”

**Complimentary parking in the 10th Street Garage between G and H Streets. Have your garage ticket validated by the machine in the vestibule at St. Patrick after the Mass and before the brunch.

Father Ryan Reports from West Africa (III): "A Wedding"

Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. is spending a month in Africa, a continent where he previously lived for 26 years. During his time there, he will be blogging about his experiences. Here is his third post:

A good friend of mine, Nicholas Ojehomon, was married on Saturday, Dec. 19 to a young woman, Amaka, whom I only knew slightly when I was president of Loyola Jesuit College from 1999 to 2005.

Like all church services in West Africa, the wedding ceremony was long--about two hours. Father Gerald W. Aman, S.J (FCRH '69), the executive assistant to the Jesuit Provincial here, presided and preached.

He made a great deal in his homily about a passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians that doesn't go over very weill in America:: "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22). Then the couple acted it out: she gathered her wedding dress around her and knelt before her seated husband, placing her hands between his and promised due submission.

I was feeling uncomfortable about this (I was concelebrating) when suddenly Fr. Aman dramatically reversed the situation. The Epistle goes on to say, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water and the word" (Eph 5:25-26). Fr. Aman seated Amaka and Nicholas knelt before her, removed one of her shoes, and washed her foot as Christ did at the Last Supper (John 13).

Somehow it transformed my understanding of that scriptural passage. I thought partucularly of a good friend in America who has recently lost his wife to cancer, and how he cared for her so tenderly to the end. Marriage, as the same Epistle says, "is a great mystery."

I would like to send some pictures of this wedding taken by another friend who works at Loyola Jesuit College, but I don't have them to forward just yet.

It is hot and dry in Abuja while it has been snowing in New York.

-- Pat Ryan, S.J.

Monsignor Quinn on Sunday Religion Panel

Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, J.D., J.C.L., vice president for University mission and ministry at Fordham, will be on the NBC show The Debrief with David Ushery. Monsignor Quinn's co-panelists are Imam Shamsi Ali, head of The Islamic Cultural Center of New York, and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights.

The show airs Sunday, Dec. 27 at noon on WNBC Channel 4.

The show's topics include keeping religion relevant in the 21st century, faith's role in coping with a troubled economy, and the spiritual journeys of the three clergymen.

Photo: Behind the scenes (literally), host David Ushery, Rabbi Potasnik, Monsignor Quinn and Imam Ali under the lights at WNBC Studios at Rockefeller Center.

Father Ryan Reports from West Africa (II): "Let There Be Light"

Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. is spending a month in Africa, a continent where he previously lived for 26 years. During his time there, he will be blogging about his experiences. Here is his second post:

When I arrived in Abuja, Emmanuel Dyeltong, a driver for Loyola Jesuit College, remarked that "NEPA is really trying these days." That sentence, not perhaps immediately intelligible to the stranger, means that, in his opinion, the Nigerian Electric Power Authority is delivering the goods more regularly in Abuja lately.

Thursday night, I found this generalization somewhat challenged. During supper with the Jesuit community, NEPA went off three times. Michael, the man in charge of the 500 kV generator for the school compound, can be heard on his motor scooter heading for the generator. The roar of the generator begins. Then NEPA returns, and the roar stops. Five minutes later the same scenario is repeated. And again, ten minutes later.

Cell phones prove very useful at these sudden onsets of darkness. Several of the Jesuits at table use them for illumination as supper continues. Much easier to find the salt and pepper.

"Let there be light." I felt I was back in Nigeria last summer at Rose Hill when part of the campus was without power for a few days. What struck me at the time was how quiet the much larger generators hired in at Fordham were.

-- Pat Ryan, S.J.

Father Ryan Reports from West Africa (I)

Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. is spending a month in Africa, a continent where he previously lived for 26 years. During his time there, he will be blogging about his experiences. Here is his first post:

I arrived in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, at noon today, Dec. 17, after a 12-hour journey on Delta that included a 90-minute stopover in Dakar, Senegal. Many Nigerians and Senegalese on the flight were traveling with young children. I had forgotten how hard it is for the ears of small children to take the process of landing.

I arrived at our Jesuit high school, Loyola Jesuit College, where I was president from 1999 to 2005, an hour or so later, after dropping off Tony Akande (FCRH '07) who is visiting family at Christmas.

The students have gone home for Christmas since last Saturday. The nearby village is now electrified, which means there are competing charismatic churches making a joyful noise to the Lord. I hope they won't go all night.

Karl Marx wrote that religion “is the opium of the people,” but more interestingly, just before that, wrote that religion “is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions." I feel that the people of Gidan Mangoro –“home of mangoes” -- are finding the heart of a heartless world tonight, even if I am jet-lagged and would like to go to bed.

I offered mass this evening for legendary Graduate School of Social Service Dean Mary-Ann Quaranta. May she receive the reward of her labors!

-- Pat Ryan, S.J.

FCLC Dancer Comes ThisClose

FCLC Sophomore Jakob Karr placed second in last night's final competition on So You Think You Can Dance. Karr, from Orlando, Fla., came to the Lincoln Center campus in August 2008, and auditioned for the reality dance series' sixth season in New Orleans in June 2009.

Show judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe called Karr "a truly polished diamond," and fellow judge, choreographer Mary Murphy said "Jakob, you are definitely one of the best dancers in this competition. There isn't anything you can't do." That wasn't enough to take the top slot, however, and Karr fell to Russell Ferguson, a 20-year-old krumper from Boston, who took home the $250,000 prize.

Throughout the competition, Karr was considered one of the most technically accomplished dancers. Lythgoe called him "outstandingly brilliant," and earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal called him "incredible in a contemporary routine," and predicted he would win the competition.

Leader's Edge

Sander A. Flaum, adjunct professor of management systems at Fordham's Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA), talks about leadership in his regular Robin Hood Radio segment, Leader's Edge, on WHDD 91.9FM or 1020 AM, on "The Breakfast Club," which airs daily.

Podcasts of Flaum's segment are available on the website, www.robinhoodradio.com, including the most recent talk, Multi Tasking.

Flaum, founding chair of the Fordham Leadership Forum, also has a new book out, Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles.

Matthew Maguire, Wild Man

Fans of Fordham’s theater productions are no doubt familiar with Matthew Maguire, director. Next month, for three weeks, they’re invited to see Maguire, who heads the university’s theater department at the Lincoln Center campus, in a very different guise.

“Wild Man,” a one man show written and performed by Maguire, debuts on Monday, January 11 at 195 East Third Street in Manhattan and runs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m through January 26. Tickets for the show, which Maguire says “probes ecstasy, runaway horses, the Book of Esdras, smuggling watermelons and cheatin’ death,” are available via phone, at (212) 352-3101. Or visit Creative Productions for more information.

—Patrick Verel

Fordham's Resident Filmmaker Honored

One of Fordham Lincoln Center’s artists-in-residence, filmmaker Ross McLaren, has received the Millennium Achievement Award from EVVY Cultural Interchange for his longstanding contribution to the arts and education.

McLaren has taught film and media production in the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts since 1986. He received the award on Nov. 11 at the 35th annual EVVY awards, held in Times Square. Previous winners include Cuban conga percussionist Candido Camero, Hispanic documentary filmmaker Ivan Acosta, and Greg Sutton, the executive producer of Brooklyn Community Access Television.

EVVY is a non-profit organization that promotes local and international mediums of art, music and fashion between the North American countries. It also provides financial aid to help educate children in the New York City foster care system.

A native of Canada, McLaren is the founder of the Funnel Film Theatre in Toronto, a venue for experimental/artist-based films and for the encouragement of Super 8 films.

His own documentary and art films have been featured at MoMA, Anthology Film Archives, the National Film Theatre in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Biennale du Paris, Documenta VI, Jyväskylä University in Finland, and ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

Filling Big Shoes

When it comes to leadership, Sander A. Flaum has written the book. Literally. Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles is a how-to manual for young business leaders who want stellar careers on their own terms.

Flaum, adjunct professor of management systems at Fordham's Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA), and founding chair of the Fordham Leadership Forum, says he wrote the book especially for business people fresh out of school, and indeed leads the book with "You're Hired. Now What?"

The book's relentless focus is how to get to the top, how to stay at the top, and how to manage your life while you're there:

Our research has shown ... superleaders fit a particular profile. They are younger. They understand the agony of sleepless nights and 24/7 weeks. They realize their performance can slip when they are family-deprived and relatively friendless. They’re quick to sense when their spouses are reaching the boiling point or when their kids need to come first.
(Read an excerpt from the book: Is There Life at the Top? Or Just Work?)

Flaum is the CEO of Flaum Partners, a pharmaceutical and biotech consulting firm. Prior to launching his own firm, Flaum was chairman and CEO of Robert A. Becker, Euro RSCG, where he led a global team of marketing and advertising strategists who managed six $2 billion-plus healthcare brands.

The Fordham Leadership Forum will host its inaugural lecture in January with E. Gerald Corrigan, managing director at Goldman Sachs and co-chair of the firmwide risk management committee. Corrigan, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will lead a discussion with Fordham students and faculty, and the public, on "Leadership: Making the Right Things Happen."

GBA Grad Wins Business Competition

Graduate School of Business alumna Amanda Allen (GBA ’10) has done it again.

Seven months after leading a team to first place victory at the Baruch College and Merrill Lynch Invitational Entrepreneurship Competition, Allen (wearing glasses in the above photo) has led a team to victory in the Pace University Pitch competition.

Allen’s team won two top prizes – The TechSpace Prize of Six Months of Office Space for a New York City Start-Up Pitch, valued at $15,000, and a check for $25,000 from the Lubin School of Business Prize for the Winning New Business Concept Pitch. Both will help Allen's launch of www.newlywish.com, a wedding gift registry “dedicated to uniting New York City’s rich array of independent merchants and service providers with local engaged couples and gift givers.”

Allen and her team were awarded prices on Dec. 3 at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University. In all, ten finalists and two alternates battled for over $50,000 in cash prizes at the sixth annual competition. The finalists and alternates, who hail from a dozen universities, were chosen from over 150 entries representing 40 schools.

The Pace Pitch contest is based on the Elevator Pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. The premise is that a concise description of business or product could be made in a few minutes, should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch their idea during the brief ride.
Last May, Allen’s team took first place in the 2008-2009 Baruch College and Merrill Lynch Competition for Pandora’s Wish, a New York City-based online bridal registry.

Allen conceived the idea for Pandora’s Wish during her own engagement, during which she discovered that stores with which she wished to register lacked online registries. After leaving her job as a federal bank examiner in January 2008, she enrolled at GBA with the express purpose of starting her own business. She continued to refine the idea throughout the course of her studies.

-Gina Vergel

Feast of the Immaculate Conception Services

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
(A Holy Day of Obligation)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Lincoln Center Masses
• 8:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. in the Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., Chapel (Lowenstein 221)

Rose Hill Masses
• 8:30 a.m. in the Keating Blue Chapel
• 12:30 p.m. in the University Church
• 5:15 p.m. in the University Church

Westchester Mass
•12:45 p.m. in the Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., Chapel
• Followed by an Advent Reconciliation Service (see below)

Advent Reconciliation and Vespers Services

Lincoln Center | Wednesday, December 9, 2009
• Advent Reconciliation Service
• 4:00-5:30 p.m. in the Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., Chapel (Lowenstein 221)
• Priests will be available for individual confession

Rose Hill | Thursday, December 10, 2009
• Advent Vespers/Reconciliation Service
• 4:30 p.m. in the University Church
• All are invited to attend Advent Vespers. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered as part of the Vespers service.

Westchester | Tuesday, December 8, 2009
• Advent Reconciliation Service
• 1:15 p.m. in the Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J., Chapel
• Priests will be available for individual confession

RETC Partners with Charter School to 'Kindle' Children’s Interest in Reading

Children today have an affinity for techno-gadgets that adults simply can’t match.

Youngsters surf the Internet faster, send text messages more often and create videos and blogs on just about anything. Now, a partnership between Fordham and a local charter school is set to find out if technology can make students more interested in reading.

The Amazon Kindle—a popular electronic book reader from online media retailer Amazon.com—is at the heart of the program. Amazon recently told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that it is selling 48 Kindles for every 100 physical books.

So why shouldn’t it be used in schools?

That was the question that prompted the partnership between Fordham’s RETC—Center for Professional Development and the Carl C. Icahn Charter School. Using a $670,000 federal Department of Energy grant awarded to Fordham last year, Amazon Kindles were purchased for use by students at the South Bronx school.

“We started thinking about the educational applications of this device and wondering if it would have some noticeable affect on the students’ reading habits, comprehension, or motivation to read,” said Steven D’Agustino, Ph.D., director of the RETC.

“So far, they’ve turned out to be a perfect fit for the Icahn School, which already had a longstanding emphasis on the integration of technology,” D’Agustino said.

The sleek electronic tablets are being used to foster reading among seventh and eighth graders in English language arts (ELA), one of the classes offered during the school’s special-interest period. Other special-interest courses include foreign language, algebra, history, and robotics.

Principal Daniel Garcia admits that robotics and ELA are the popular classes right now because of the technology.

“We’re looking at making the other areas equally exciting,” he said.

Icahn, which opened in 2001, saw 99 percent of its third- through eighth-graders ace this year’s state math exams, and 94 percent do the same in reading. It’s something to be proud of at a school where 90 percent of children come from low-income households.

“There was a successful formula already in place when I came here some years ago. I didn’t need to fix anything,” Garcia said of Icahn’s recipe for success—class sizes that are capped at 18 students and an enriched curriculum known as Core Knowledge.

“To continue the good results, we had to offer students something different. We need to keep pushing the envelope all the time,” he said.

Technology works, Garcia added, because, in most cases, it fosters immediate student engagement.

“If each kid at this school had a Kindle, they would all be engaged,” he said. “I can’t say that would happen if they all had a book in front of them.”

The Kindle uses a display technology called electronic ink, meant to mimic the experience of reading a book. It is easier to read in bright light and uses less electricity than displays on laptop computers and cell phones. It also has a built-in dictionary that defines words on command, as well as a highlighting feature.

“They can even flip back and forth between two books if they are comparing two pieces of literature,” Garcia said. “It’s wonderful.”

Eleven-year-old Isani Castro agrees.

“It’s cool,” said the seventh-grader, who, along with a small group, chose to read a Shakespeare comedy.

Eighth-grader Joshua Irizarry, 13, also reading Shakespeare, initially didn’t know what to make of the Kindle.

“I thought it was a mini-laptop. I didn’t know it was actually something you can read,” he said. “It’s really good and holds a lot of books and is very high-tech.”

ELA teacher Dana Halber said the trick was in the technology.

“They say, ‘I’m so much more interested. It’s so exciting,’” Halber said. “Their level of engagement is up because they are part of a much more technological generation. They go home and play video games and hop on the computer to use the Internet. So this is another piece of technology that fits into their lifestyle.”

The grant that helped fund this project was obtained with the help of Congressman José E. Serrano, D-NY, said Leslie Massiah, assistant vice president for government relations at Fordham.

“The purpose of the grant is to provide science and mathematics expansion not only at the University, but within area middle and high schools,” Massiah said of the grant, which has helped to fund robotics programs at other area schools.

“We wanted to expose students and teachers to new technology and be able to bring students up academically and to help them in terms of developing pedagogy.”

-Gina Vergel

GSE Students Present at NCTE

Kristen H. Turner, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Fordham, attended the National Council of Teachers of English's convention in November, along with several students from the Graduate School of Education.

Graduate student Kathleen Riley participated in a panel in which she spoke on "Theory into Practice: My Journey with Code-Switching." GSE students Jeta Donovan and Eytan Apter presented findings from a research study in their talk "Online and In Step: Community, Convention, and Self-Expression." They have been a part of the study from its inception.

Fordham Interfaith Zen

On Tuesday, December 1, Roshi Robert Kennedy, S.J., will sit, give a dharma talk and take questions at Fordham's Interfaith Zen Group, in the Blessed Rupert Mayer Chapel, Room 221 Lowenstein Center, Lincoln Center campus, from 6:10 to 7:45 p.m.

For this visit, Roshi Kennedy will speak on the question, "What is it when the story ends?" He will bring to this his uniquely seamless experience of both Zen and Catholic practice, a subject very much in the air since Paul Knitter's book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian.

When interviewed by the National Catholic Reporter in 2007, Roshi Kennedy said:

"I was talking with a Chinese Zen master once and he said one of the difficulties of dealing with Catholics is that they love their spiritualities ... as if it was a parallel life," Kennedy tells Tom Fox. Buddhists root us in this moment, he said. "Buddhists would say, 'If God isn't present in this moment, where is he? You meet God in doing the deed of this moment in front of you. Never withdraw from it.' "

The podcast is available at: 'I wanted a faith that was deeper': Jesuit priest and Zen master

Beginner instruction will be given during the first sitting period. Roshi will then speak and take questions from the group as a whole rather than the usual daisan (individual meetings with the teacher).

More information on this branch of interfaith Zen meditation is available at kennedyzen.org.

Sheila Ross, Facilitator, Fordham Interfaith Zen

IPED Scholars Announced

Catholic Relief Services announced the following Spring semester assignments for International Political Economy and Development Program (IPED) International Peace and Development Travel Scholars:

• Patrick Gallic, Sierra Leone
• Peter Gutierrez, Rwanda
• Blain Cerney, Senegal
• Gyanu Sharma, West African Regional Office (Senegal)

Catholic Relief Services uses their International Development Fellows Program to recruit the best and brightest from among the graduates of the leading graduate programs in international development.

This group of students are scheduled to spend six months at their assignments from mid-January until mid-July.

Mission and Ministry Toy Drive

The Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice and Campus Ministry are organizing our annual holiday toy drives and we urge you to consider helping us make this winter more joyful for those in need.

Please Note: The food and coat drives have been extended through December 18 (Lincoln Center Only). Bins are located on the Lowenstein Plaza and in Lowenstein 217 (Campus Ministry).

Toy Drive
November 30 to December 18 (Rose Hill through December 11)

Lincoln Center
A giving tree will be located on the Lowenstein Plaza. Please stop by and pick up an ornament that will have the name of a child and a requested gift. Toys will be donated to HOUR Children, an organization that works with children and their incarcerated mothers.

Other Items needed are: Vacuums, Bed-In-Bag (Twin Set), Blankets & Pillows, Comforters & Small Lamps, Kitchen/Dish Towels, Clocks & Small Rugs, Nightgowns & Slippers (M-XL), Phone Cards & Metro Cards, Gift Certificates: McDonald, Burger King, Movies, Gap, Old Navy, Salon Items and Cosmetics, Household Items, Paper Products. Bins will be located on the Lowenstein Plaza or drop off to Lowenstein 217 (Campus Ministry).

Rose Hill
Unwrapped, non-violent toys or art supplies are needed for children ages infant to twelve. Drop off to McGinley 101 (Dorothy Day Center) or McGinley 102 (Campus Ministry). Toys will benefit community partner organizations in the Bronx.

Westchester
Unwrapped, non-violent toys or art supplies are needed for children ages infant to twelve. Bins located in the Main Lobby and Common Ground Cafe. Toys will be donated to local community organizations.

If you are unable to donate any items but would like to make a monetary contribution, you can write a check payable to “Campus Ministry” and send it to one of the following Campus Ministry offices:

• Lincoln Center: Lowenstein 217, (212) 636-6267
• Rose Hill: McGinley 102, (718) 817-4500
• Westchester: Room 133, (718) 817-3420

Please note to which drive you are contributing.

The Office of University Mission and Ministry thanks you for sharing the grace of the season with those less fortunate.

Yes, Fordham, There is a Virginia

Fordham has its share of famous alumni, but with Thanksgiving tomorrow and the official arrival of Santa Claus in New York (courtesy of the Macy’s parade), our thoughts turn to Virginia O'Hanlon, Ph.D., Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 1930.

In 1897, Virginia, then eight years old, famously wrote the New York Sun from her family home at 115 West 95th Street in Manhattan to ask whether there was a Santa Claus.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Francis Pharcellus Church
The New York Sun
Sept. 21, 1897

(See the full text, original clipping and a picture of the extravagantly mustachioed Church at the Newseum website.)

Virginia, later Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas, went on to attend Hunter College, Columbia University and Fordham. She spent her entire career teaching in the New York City School System, and retired in 1959. She died on May 13, 1971, in Valatie, N.Y.

“What Church did was sustain a child's hope while giving her a statement of ideals that are worthwhile for the adult. He did not simply continue a myth. He gave a reason for believing,” William David Sloan, a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas, told the New York Times on the 100th anniversary of Church’s famous reply.

Sunday, Nov. 29, marks the beginning of Advent—an appropriate time to remember Virginia O’Hanlon’s timeless question, and Francis Church’s generous response. Fordham University wishes our readers a happy and safe Thanksgiving, and a joyous holiday season.

Updated Dec. 3, 2009

Fordham Law’s Dispute Resolution Society Knows how to "Settle"

On November 14, members of Fordham Law School’s Dispute Resolution Society (DRS) (pictured above) claimed the ABA Negotiation Regional Championship. The Society fielded three teams, and all three advanced to the final round of the competition – a feat that has never happened in ABA history, said team chair and third year law student Michael Camarinos, FCRH ‘07. The teams placed first, third and forth out of 20 participant teams.

Fordham Law’s DRS is currently ranked #10 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Directed by Law Professor Jacqueline Nolan-Haley, the program integrates teaching, scholarship and practice in conflict resolution, which is, essentially, the art of finding the middle ground in a negotiation.

A special shout out to the student teams: Allie Berkley & Patrick Featherston, Matt Bress & Patrick Jacobs and Cassie Hamar & Nate Poulsen. The DRS now advances to the final National Negotiation Competition in February, 2010 at Disneyworld.

Nov. 19 is Collegiate Smoke Out Day

On November 19, the Fordham Peer Educators will host the Collegiate Smoke Out, which coincides with the American Cancer Society's Great American Smoke Out. This week peer educators are stationed in the McGinley lobby from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., distributing brochures and educational materials to address tobacco use and encourage peers to quit smoking. Students interested will have the opportunity to discuss quitting strategies with staff from the Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program.

The week will include pledges for students to either quit smoking or to never begin using tobacco products. These pledges will double as raffle tickets for three prizes (gift cards to Ann & Tony’s, Applebees and iTunes). The Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program will also be giving out free cotton candy to any student who correctly answers a question on our “wheel” of alcohol and other drug questions.

Food and Clothing Drives

Members of the Fordham University community can help make winter more joyful for those in need as the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice (CSJ) and Campus Ministry (CM) begin their annual holiday drives.

Here's how you can help:

Canned and Non-Perishable Food Drive - Nov. 9 - Nov. 20

• Lincoln Center: Bins located on the Lowenstein Plaza and in Lowenstein 217 (CM)
• Rose Hill: Drop off to McGinley 101 (CSJ) or McGinley 102 (CM)
• Westchester: Bins located in the Main Lobby and Common Ground Cafe

Coat Drive Nov. 30 - Dec. 11 (Westchester through Dec. 18)

Clean coats, mittens, hats, scarves and boots in good condition are urgently needed.

• Lincoln Center: Bins located on the Lowenstein Plaza and in Lowenstein 217 (CM)
• Rose Hill: Drop off to McGinley 101 (CSJ) or McGinley 102 (CM)
• Westchester: Bins located in the Main Lobby and Common Ground Cafe

Toy Drive Nov. 30 - Dec. 18 (Rose Hill through Dec. 11)

If you are unable to donate any items but would like to make a monetary contribution, you can write a check payable to "Campus Ministry" and send it to the following Campus Ministry Offices:

• Lincoln Center: Lowenstein 217, (212) 636-6267
• Rose Hill: McGinley 102 (CM), (718) 817-4501
• Westchester: Room 133, (718) 817-3420

-Gina Vergel

Passing on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

“There is no area of human endeavor and culture that does not find expression within the Catholic intellectual tradition,” according to Fordham Professor John L. Elias and Lucinda A. Nolan. Their new book, Educators in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (Sacred Heart University Press, 2009), is a collection of studies of ten prominent educators in the United States that outlines the ways Catholic education has progressed over the centuries; how the faith has been handed on from generation to generation; and how Catholics have learned to live their faith in the world.

The book’s introduction begins a survey of Catholic education with Jesus, a rabbi who sent apostles and disciples on teaching missions, and proceeds through centuries of teaching and learning to the present day. The book identifies key contributors to the Catholic intellectual tradition in the United States, as well as the nature and parameters of their influence on Catholic education.

John L. Elias, Ed. D., professor of religious education and social ministry in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE) at Fordham, has published Philosophical Foundations of Adult Education; A History of Christian Education: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Perspectives; and Paulo Freire: Pedagogue of Liberation. Lucinda A. Nolan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University.

Today, in what has become a global church, new questions and previously undreamed-of situations face all who participate in the Christian teaching-learning process. This book offers historical perspective and encouragement to anyone involved in Catholic education.

American Catholic Studies Media: Black Women of Virtue

Monday, October 19, 2009
Black Women of Virtue: The Oblate Sisters of Providence in Antebellum America. Fifth in The Rita Cassella Jones Annual Lecture Series
Speaker: Diane Batts Morrow, Ph.D., associate professor of history and African-American studies at the University of Georgia and author of Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time: The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828-1860 (2002).

CBA Students Awarded "10,000 Women" Scholarships

Two of Fordham University’s College of Business Administration (CBA) juniors are among the first group of students chosen to receive Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Business Leadership Awards. The scholarships are designed to recognize Hispanic females demonstrating a keen interest in entrepreneurship.

Zaily Valloy (left), a CBA junior and first-generation Hispanic of Dominican ancestry, and Geraldine Reyes (right below), a CBA junior from Westchester of Dominican ancestry, will each receive a $10,000 scholarship award, a Goldman Sachs mentor, and a student advisor from Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

In addition, Valloy was chosen to present an award to Goldman Sachs’ Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Lloyd Blankfein, at the annual HSF Dinner held Sept. 30 in New York.

“This was truly a proud moment for Fordham,” said Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of CBA, “And an absolute accomplishment for these young women.”

The scholarships are available annually for female Hispanics who have completed their sophomore year, who quality for FAFSA financial aid and who have maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. The award goes to 10 women each year.

Fordham joined New York University in receiving two each of the inaugural awards. The remaining awards went to University of Texas at Austin (4), Rutgers University (1) and Baruch College (1).

(Photos by Bill Denison)

Business Professor's Book on Surviving Downturns

Hooman Estelami, Ph.D., professor of marketing at Fordham University Schools of Business Administration, has published Marketing Turnarounds: A Guide to Surviving Downturns and Rediscovering Growth. Designed to help business professionals approach new marketing strategies to help promote growth, it provides a framework and tools to help managers combat sales and profitability downturns.

Knowledge of the intricate dynamics of marketing turnarounds is a fundamental requirement for business survival and growth today. The intense desire to survive in a slow market and find new avenues for growth has become a pressing goal for companies. The objective of Estelami's book is to enable the pursuit of this goal by providing a guide for managers on various marketing approaches that can lead to growth and profitability.

The science of marketing turnarounds is based on an accurate understanding of how consumers respond to their changing environment. This book provides such an understanding by developing a framework of the various approaches to successfully executing marketing turnarounds. The framework and tools discussed not only enable managers to combat sales and profitability downturns, but also guide them in their aggressive pursuit of innovative ways to further nurture their businesses in stable and growing markets.

Serving Those Who Have Served

Since 2001, more than 1.6 million American troops have been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though a large number in absolute terms, veterans of those two conflicts comprise just over one half of one percent of the U.S. population. Despite sometimes intense media coverage, many Americans are unfamiliar with the effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on veterans, and of those veterans' needs when they return home.

"Serving Those Who Have Served: Social Work with Active Duty Military, Veterans, and Their Families," is a presentation on the coming home experience of combat veterans, and will offer insight into military culture. The presentation will be held at New York Presbyterian Hospital (Main Building), at 21 Bloomingdale Rd. in White Plains, N.Y., on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It is sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers, New York State/Westchester Division, and is free and open to the public.

• Serving Those Who Have Served
• Wednesday, Nov. 18 | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
• New York Presbyterian Hospital (Main Building) | 21 Bloomingdale Rd. in White Plains, N.Y.
• Free and Open to the Public
• Information: Anne Treantafeles, (914) 367-3108

Presenters

• Mary Ann Forgey, Ph.D, LCSW, associate professor of social service, Fordham University, will speak about issues related to cultural sensitivity and competence based on her experience and research in working with active duty service members and their families.
• Sgt. Arthur Moore, U.S. Army, Vietnam War veteran, and Spc. Fianna Sogomonyan, N.Y. Army National Guard, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veteran, will offer personal insights on issues faced by those returning from war.
• Elizabeth Rahilly, LMSW, and Kristen Tuttle, LCSW, Veterans Administration Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley First Responder Initiative.
• Paul Tobin, president and CEO, VetsFirst, will speak on his work with disabled veterans and their families.

Forgey will offering a course at Fordham's Lincoln Center campus in spring 2010 on Working with Military Families and Veterans; she will offer the course at Fordham Westchester during the summer session. Her talk will tie together the threads offered by the other presenters with her extensive knowledge and experience in working with the military. This talk is informed by her course syllabus.

Fordham Students Challenge the Fed

On Thursday, Nov. 5, Fordham's Fed Challenge team won the first round of the New York Federal Reserve Bank's Fed Challenge. Fordham's team is one of six out of the starting 30 to move on to District semi-final and final rounds on Friday, Nov. 20.

The Fordham team consists of Andrew Vigliotta, Filippo Bianchi, and Robert Pergament, economics majors at Fordham College at Rose Hill; and Anu Joseph and Michael Cropano from the College of Business Administration. The team's faculty advisor is Mary Burke, Ph.D., clinical associate professor and associate chair for undergraduate education at Fordham.

The Fed Challenge is a competition in which teams of five students present an analysis of the overall U.S. economy as if they are part of the Federal Open Market Committee. Based on this economic analysis, they then must recommend specific monetary policy actions. The presentations are 20 minutes long and are followed by 15 minutes of questions from the judges.

The winning team of District’s final round will compete in the national finals at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

Film Viewing and Discussion

Join Dr. Tina Maschi and Dr. Edgar Tyson for a viewing of Journey to a Hate Free Millennium, a 36-minute film that explores the tragic murders of James Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepard, as well as the student shootings at Columbine High School. A discussion will follow.

The program relies on open-ended questions and interactive teaching experiences designed to stimulate thought about the nature and consequences of hatred, prejudice and discrimination.

This event will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and Thursday, Nov. 19, from 12:40 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., in Room 713 at Lowenstein Center, on the Lincoln Center campus. Seating is limited. RSVP by email to collab@fordham.edu.

They Think They Can Cook

Six finalists in Fordham's culinary competition will prepare their entree recipes (with the help of Fordham's culinary experts) in The Marketplace at the Rose Hill campus on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m.

The University wide competition features parents and administrators in the final competition. The event is part of Family Weekend—students, parents, faculty and staff are invited to come and sample the food and meet the contestants.

The grand prize winner will received an assortment of Fordham merchandise, and be photographed with Father McShane and Chef Mike DeMartino.

Fordham Announces Fall 2009 Study Abroad Photo Contest Winners

The Office of International and Study Abroad Programs is pleased to announce the winning photos from its semi-annual Study Abroad Photo Contest.

These three photos were selected from 24 entries submitted by students who studied abroad during the 2008-2009 academic year.

First Place:

Elissa Dauria, FCLC senior, communications and Spanish major, snapped this photo during the April festival, a 150-year old tradition in southern Spain.

"Feria De Sevilla"

Location: Seville, Spain



Second Place:

Carly Levine, FCLC senior, communications and visual arts major, took this photo during her spring break while studying in Rome. She writes, "We all hopped off our bus to revel in the beauty, peace, quiet and relaxation of the sunset. It was a rarity for us to have seen the salt lakes filled with water, since the land usually appears dry and salty, where you can usually walk over it by foot or travel over the grounds by vehicle."

"Sensual Salt Lake Sunset"

Location: Chott el-Jerid, Tunisia



Third Place:

Norah Janson, CBA senior, took this photo during the Summer 2009 Emerging Markets course offered by ISAP and IPED in Pretoria, South Africa.

"The Road"

Location: South Africa



Congratulations to our winners. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the contest!

Fordham's Guide to Decision '09

Fordham University political scientists will be ubiquitous for media coverage of the 2009 elections.

Tonight, Costas Panagopoulos will be in the WNBC-TV studios to discuss New York City’s mayoral election. He will be paired with Richard Lee of Rutgers University, who will follow the exciting race for New Jersey’s governorship.

Also tonight, Christina Greer will be George Bodarky’s guest on WFUV-FM 90.7 to provide commentary on the New York City political landscape after the polls close at 9 PM.

Starting tomorrow, and continuing all week, Bruce Berg will be answering questions about New York City politics on the New York Times’s City Room blog.

Marketing Professor Wins Award

A paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Marketing Lerzan Aksoy won the Best Practitioner Presentation Award at the 2009 Frontiers in Services Conference in Honolulu last weekend.

The paper, “Because Customers Want To, Need To, or Ought To: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Commitment on Share-of-Wallet,” examined the case of AXA Financial, a global financial services company. Applying advanced marketing science theory, the researchers examined the relationship between consumers’ commitment to AXA and their share of AXA’s financial service product offerings.

Aksoy’s co-presenters were Bruce Cooil, professor of management at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management; Timothy Keiningham, the global chief strategy officer and executive vice president of Ipsos Loyalty (and a co-author of Aksoy’s recent book, Why Loyalty Matters); and Bart Larivière, a postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University.

The Hope of the UCA Martyrs

A talk by Mark Ravizza, S.J., on the 20th Anniversary of the slayings in El Salvador. University Church, October 29, 2009. Sponsored by the Office of Campus Ministry.

GBA Professor's Art Becomes Life

Paul Kushel's novel, Lotto Trouble, is attracting attention after a real-life convenience store clerk absconded with a winning lottery ticket, just like the protagonist of Kushel's book.

Ken Herman, a sharp-eyed columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, wrote about life imitating art in his Sunday column:

As you've read in this paper, authorities are looking for a Grand Prairie convenience store clerk indicted for allegedly swiping and cashing in a $1 million-winning lottery ticket from a customer who didn't realize he had hit the jackpot.

I know a guy who wrote a novel about a similar situation. What are the odds against that? Nothing compared to this. The Grand Prairie clerk and the clerk in the book both are college students. OK, so maybe that covers about 20 percent of convenience store clerks.

And both are of foreign origin. OK, so that's, what, about 60 percent of convenience store clerks?

But here comes the really good stuff. The ticket thief in Paul Kushel's novel has the same first name as the Grand Prairie guy.

Long odds, huh? Yes, but still nothing compared to this:

The first name shared by the real-life Grand Prairie clerk and the fictional New Jersey clerk in Kushel's book is, wait for it, Pankaj.

Pankaj Joshi, a native of Nepal, is the real-life clerk that the cops really are looking for. Pankaj Kamath, a native of India, is the clerk in Kushel's "Lotto Trouble."

Kushel, clinical associate professor of accounting and taxation in the Graduate School of Business Administration, penned Lotto Trouble in 2003. He is an award-winning teacher, and is now working on his third novel.

Ecumenical Patriarch Receives Honorary Degree

From: FordhamUniversity | October 30, 2009 | 0 views
Fordham University conferred an honorary degree upon His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, on Oct. 27 on the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx.



The Ecumenical Patriarch, the 270th successor of the 2,000-year-old Christian Church founded by St. Andrew, received a doctorate of laws, honoris causa, at a ceremony attended by more than 1,000 people in the historic University Church.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has occupied the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church since 1991, accepted the honor of being received into the "doctoral college of this esteemed Jesuit school" with sincere gratitude. He then addressed the audience with a speech that touched on "ecumenical consciousness," or the opening of the heart, opening up to others and to all things created by God.

See complete story on the University home page.

GSS Professor Publishes Social Service Text

Tina Maschi, Ph.D, assistant professor of social service at Fordham, has published Forensic Social Work: Psychosocial and Legal Issues in Diverse Practice Settings, a textbook for social workers, with colleagues Carolyn Bradley, Ph.D, LCSW, LCADC; and Kelly Ward, Ph.D, LCSW, LCADC.

Legal issues are rarely integrated in social work education in a meaningful and practical way, according to the publisher (Springer), but regardless of their field of practice, all social workers must understand how legal issues impact the financial, psychological, emotional, and social concerns that their clients face.

The book broadens the traditional definition of forensic social work to include the legal issues encountered in all social work settings—family and social services, education, child welfare, mental health, addiction treatment, juvenile and criminal systems and immigration services. The text includes discussions of the common legal issues all social workers face:

• How to help meet basic client needs such as income, food, and shelter
• Policies and practice with victims of violence
• The relationship between school social work and the law
• Assessment and treatment of child abuse and neglect
• The legal needs of clients with mental health and addiction issues
• Forensic practice in juvenile and criminal justice systems
• Effective practice with immigrants, refugees, and victims of human trafficking

For more information, see: www.springerpub.com/maschi

Winning at Any Cost

The Curran Center hosted "Winning at Any Cost: Vince Lombardi and the Catholic Contribution to America’s 'Must-Win' Obsession," on Monday, October 5, 2009, with Jeffrey Marlett, Ph.D., professor of Religious Studies, College of Saint Rose, Albany, N.Y.



Established in 2001, The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies is an inter-disciplinary center sponsoring a four-fold set of programs: national conferences; public lectures, symposia and readings; faculty seminars; and an undergraduate interdisciplinary certificate program.

Fordham Interfaith Zen Sittings

Here are the Fordham Interfaith Zen Sittings for November:

November 3: Sensei Paul Schubert
November 10: Roshi Robert Kennedy, S.J.
Location: The Blessed Rupert Mayer Chapel, Room 221, Lowenstein Center, Lincoln Center campus

November 17: Brenda Shoshanna
Location: To be announced

Time for all events: 6:10 - 7:45 p.m.

Senseis Michael Holleran and Paul Schubert are both dharma heirs of Roshi Robert Kennedy, S.J. Roshi Kennedy studied with the Japanese Zen masters Yamada Roshi and Maezumi Roshi before returning to the tri-state area to study with Bernie Glassman Roshi of the Zen Peacemakers Order. It was Glassman Roshi who decided that it was not necessary to be a Buddhist to become a Zen master. He has given dharma transmission to men and women of a variety of faiths, including Catholics, Jews and Sufis (www.zenpeacemakers.org/about/vision.htm).

Roshi Kennedy's Jesuit mission and Zen teaching and practice are seamless: both are contemplation leading to compassionate action (www.kennedyzen.org). He recently retired as Chair of Theology at St. Peter's College in Jersey City. He is the author of two books: Zen Gifts to Christians and Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit. People of many faiths and none sit with him, including Catholic religious and priests.

Sensei Paul Schubert was a research chemist until he took early retirement in order to teach chemistry (and Zen) in the high schools. He sits with us the first Tuesday of every month, saying a few words and giving daisan (individual meetings to discuss practice).

Sensei Michael Holleran is a Fordham alumnus who became first a Jesuit and then, for 22 years, a Carthusian monk. The Carthusians are an order of hermits who were recently the subject of a documentary, Into Great Silence. Michael's Zen studies with Roshi Kennedy began when he left the order. He is now working as a parish priest here in Manhattan. He visits Fordham Zen group on the fourth Tuesday of every month, giving a talk and daisan.

Brenda Shoshanna is from a different Zen lineage. Raised an orthodox Jew in Borough Park, Brooklyn, she is a Zen student of the Japanese master Eido Roshi. For her recent book, The Jewish Dharma, Roshi Kennedy wrote: "Dr. Brenda Shoshanna flies on two wings: A deep love of orthodox Jewish faith and her Zen practice of 36 years. Her vision embraces both traditions with fidelity and beauty." (www.jewishdharma.com).

Our sittings are free and open to all, no registration required. Beginner instruction is given whenever necessary.

We are sponsored by Campus Ministry. Inisfada, the interfaith Zen center at St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset, continues to loan us cushions for this practice, for which we again thank director Russ Ball. We also thank Roshi Kennedy for his continuing guidance and teaching.

Fordham's Westchester campus now also has a Zen group, sponsored by Campus Ministry Westchester, under the guidance of Carol Gibney and Russ Michel, a dharma student of Roshi Kennedy. Carol can be contacted at (914) 367-3420.

Sheila Ross, Facilitator, Fordham Interfaith Zen

The Making of "The Rat That Got Away"

IPED Students Tapped for Dominican Conference

Two Fordham IPED students will serve as student journalists at the International Conference of the Americas (Conferencia Internacional de Las Americas -- CILA 2009), sponsored by the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic.

Graduate students Patrick Gallic and Matias Pablo Mangas were chosen by the United Nations Department of Public Information to attend the conference, held in the Dominican Republic from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31. The conference provides a diplomatic forum for youth to debate global issues related to the UN Millennium Development Goals, and will be attended by approximately 1,500 students, primarily from Latin America.

Mangas is a first year student from Argentina who received his bachelor's degree in international studies from American University in 2009. Gallic previously worked for the Catholic Medical Mission Board in Southern Sudan. As part of their trip both students will have the opportunity to meet with the president of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez. Last year at this time, Fernandez was a guest of the IPED Program and drew an overflow crowd to the Keating First Auditorium.

American Catholic Studies Media: Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins and The Fine Delight That Fathers Thought: How to Sign on to a Poet for Life, with speaker: Paul Mariani.



Established in 2001, The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies is an inter-disciplinary center sponsoring a four-fold set of programs: national conferences; public lectures, symposia and readings; faculty seminars; and an undergraduate interdisciplinary certificate program.

Knicks Make The Bronx Home for a Day

The scene outside was cold and rainy on Saturday, Oct. 17, but inside the Rose Hill Gym, there was nothing but heat, as the New York Knicks held a free open practice for fans. The hour-long scrimmage was accompanied by performances by the Knicks City Dancers and the Knicks City Kids, as well as a game featuring the New York Rollin' Knicks. The team then stuck around afterward to greet fans and autograph shirts.

Photos By Bruce Gilbert

—Patrick Verel