Fordham's Stein Center Helps Break Geo-Barriers Through "Law Without Walls"

As an alternative to spending hours in the law library working on a paper, last semester two Fordham Law students earned credit through a collaborative internet-based course offered in a budding global law school community.


Law Without Walls (LWOW), is an experimental program launched in the spring by Miami Law School with five partner universities: Fordham Law School, Harvard Law School, New York Law School, the law school at University College London, and the Peking School of Transnational Law.

The collaboration groups students, faculty, practitioners, and entrepreneurs from around the world into teams to study new developments in the legal profession and to propose innovative professional practices. Last semester, the students' projects included proposing new billing structures for law firms, a plan to make Shari’ah-compliant finance more accessible in the U.S., developing emotional intelligence training for lawyers and developing virtual resources to help pro se clients to better present their cases at trial.

Each student group had the assistance of an academic mentor, a practitioner mentor, an entrepreneur advisory board and a subject expert board to ensure creativity and value in their projects.

Bruce Green (top), Louis Stein Professor of Law and director of the Stein Center for Law and Ethics, acted as academic mentor to students from China and New York Law School. Green’s Fordham students, Mari Byrne (center) (GSAS, LAW ‘ 11) and Marc Sittenreich (LAW ’11), worked on separate projects with students from Harvard and London, while being mentored by faculty from China and London.

The students presented their final projects at Miami Law and received credit at that time.
“The course's concept reflects the globalization of the legal profession,” said Green. “The course provides students with experience working in a way we think lawyers are increasingly going to have to work in a globalized profession – collaborating with professionals from different legal cultures and overcoming the obstacles of borders and time zones and internet conferences.”

Green said that LWOW would be in session again next spring, this time with even more students, more participating universities – and more time zones.

“Somebody is going to be on the phone at 1:30 in the morning,” he said.

—Janet Sassi

Health Services and Residential Life Partnership Makes News in College Health

Ensuring students’ health, safety and well being takes a team approach, according to Kathleen Malara, MSN, FNP-BC, CTTS, director of Student Health Services at Fordham, and Greer Jason, Ph.D., assistant dean of students and director of Residential Life at Rose Hill.

Malara and Jason helped publicize Fordham’s model of holistic student care in an article, “Partnership between Health Services and Residential Life: A Confluence of Efforts, which they published in the spring 2011 issue of College Health in Action, the member newsletter of the American College Health Association.

Malara and Jason outlined the key partnerships that enable Health Services and Residential Life to best meet the diverse needs of students.

These partnerships include:

Fordham University EMS Reporting (FUEMS), an on-campus health care source staffed by volunteer students who are first responders and/or emergency medical technicians. FUEMS provides round-the-clock emergency care and hospital transports, and Health Services follows up to provide status reports on the students to Residential Life.

Counseling Concerns Case Conference (CCCC), a monthly check-in of Health Services and Residential Life staff, as well as other administrators from Counseling and Psychological Services, Substance Abuse Prevention and Student Support, Disability Services, Campus Ministry, and Academic Affairs, among others. The meeting informs University staff about students struggling with a variety of issues, from physical and mental health concerns to academic difficulties.

Housing Accommodation Process, a partnership between Health Services and Residential Life to serve students who request housing accommodations for medical reasons.

University Emergency Management Team (EMT) and Pandemic Response, a coordinated response to an individual or communal health crisis on campus. In 2009-2010, Health Services and Residential Life coordinated with EMT members from across the campus in minimizing the impact of the H1N1 influenza outbreak.

“Regular contact between Health Services and Residential Life often results in the discovery of a community health concern that may need attention, a population in need of education, or an opportunity to improve our work,” Malara and Jason stated.

“Without an open line of communication, effectively addressing community concerns is not possible.”

—Nina Romeo

Fordham Marketing Society Lends A Hand to Hungry

In class, members of Fordham’s Marketing Society might debate the best strategy for selling a sandwich.

But on the morning of July 16, a dozen members of the group joined advisor Sertan Kabadayi, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing in the Graduate School of Business Administration, in making and bagging sandwiches for free.

The group, in partnership with Citymeals, the nation's leading meals-on-wheels organization, spent the morning at the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center in Brooklyn, packing and delivering 150 meals to seniors no longer able to shop or cook for themselves.

“This is one of many community service events to come from Fordham Marketing Society, as it aims to connect Fordham G.B.A with the those in need,” Kabadayi said.

—Patrick Verel

Students from Japan Encounter Social Work and Education, New York Style

Twenty-one undergraduate students from Tokyo University of Social Welfare (TUSW) got a taste of American social work and educational practices last week through a summer study program co-sponsored by Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSS) and Graduate School of Education (GSE).

The annual program includes class lectures and on-site visits to interest-specific agencies and schools in the city. This year’s study tour focused on child welfare, elementary education, and the role of school psychologists, said Martha Bial, Ph.D, faculty research scholar for the Ravazzin Center on Aging and director of the GSS’ Institute for Japanese and American Studies at Fordham Westchester (pictured above, center).

Among those agencies the group visited were Children’s Village, a residential treatment center for abused and neglected children in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and P.S. 175, a Manhattan elementary school. The students were accompanied by American chaperones, an interpreter and TUSW faculty and staff.

On July 25, Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., dean of GSS and Anita Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean and director of GSE’s Center for Educational Partnerships, presented the visiting students with certificates of completion at the Lowenstein Center on the Lincoln Center campus.








This marks the third consecutive year that GSS and GSE have collaborated on the program with TUSW, which is Japan's top-ranked school in job placement for its graduates.

“We learned a lot about American systems of social welfare, education and psychology, especially the programs that are widely accepted in New York City classrooms,” wrote Nori Nakajima, chancellor of TUSW. “It is meaningful to be able to experience this diversity in the heart of Manhattan. We are looking forward to studying next year at Fordham.”

—Janet Sassi

First-Year Essays Featured in New Rose Hill Online Journal

For a bit of satisfying summer reading check out Rose Hill's new online journal, Rhetorikos: Excellence in Student Writing, just published by Fordham.

The journal was the idea of a group of graduate students, led by Allison Adair Alberts and Rose Hill Writing Director Moshe Gold, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, who wanted to give core composition students a crack at the peer-review process and the art of crafting writing for an outside audience.

Alberts said she’d noticed that even her most talented freshmen had few outlets in which to write for an audience beyond the classroom. Last summer, she joined forces with a few English graduate students and Dr. Gold to start the magazine, which publishes entries of first-year undergraduate writing.

The eight non-fiction essays in the premiere issue were chosen by a editorial committee of graduate students, from approximately 40 anonymous entries submitted by Rose Hill faculty. Topics range from the immigrant experience to the problem of rising tuition in U.S. colleges, to a friend’s battle with cancer.

“They’re pretty weighty topics, and they represent the most outstanding examples of student writing from Fordham’s core writing classes,” said Alberts.

Once the selections were made, the student winners worked in tandem with faculty members to revise their prose.

“Not only have we tried to mimic the process of blind submission and reader response,” said Alberts, “but one of the most valuable things about this journal is that it helps the students navigate the revision process.”

Rhetorikos will be published twice annually, said Alberts. The current issue features work by members of the Class of 2014: Garrett Henderson, John McMenamin, Erin Murphy, Gabrielle Nugent, Timotheos Pariotakis, Bianca Pasquel, Venona Vilajeti and Allen Ying.

You can read their work at http://rhetorikos.org/

—Janet Sassi

Alumnus and Broadcaster’s Personal Battle Becomes Public

Fordham University alumnus Chris Carrino, GSB ’92, has had a distinguished sports broadcast career, most notably for the past decade as the radio voice of the New Jersey Nets on WFAN. Yet despite the Yonkers native’s strong, dulcet tones on the airwaves, Carrino has been battling Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD), a debilitating form of muscular dystrophy, for most of his adult life.

The cross country travel and mostly-night-games-life of an NBA basketball broadcaster can take its toll on even a perfectly healthy individual, so the treks have sometimes been that much more grueling for the WFUV Radio product. Not many knew. Yet, Carrino has truly achieved elite status in his chosen profession, making his mark with the likes of Vin Scully, Mike Breen, Michael Kay, Bob Papa, Charlie Slowes, and Spero Dedes for excellence in the play-by-play calling of sporting events.

“I was always reluctant to be treated differently,” says Carrino, who kept his physical plight to a select few on a need-to-know basis, preferring to fight his fight quietly. That was until earlier this year, when with the support and urging of his wife, Laura, whom he calls “the person who inspires me every day…who finally convinced me that it was time.” And so, the Chris Carrino Foundation for FSHD was born.

“I was determined to continue on the path I set forth,” reflects the New Jersey resident. “I had dreams of a career in sports broadcasting and dreams of having a family. I was determined not to let FSHD get in the way of those dreams.” He was not to be denied.

FSHD is difficult to pronounce, a disease you probably might have never heard of before Carrino began to bring attention to the muscular affliction with a media tour that gained national attention in print, radio and television. Fordham alumni scribes, Tom Canavan of the Associated Press and Dave D’Alessandro of the Newark Star Ledger, broadcast partner Tim Capstraw and his radio outlet WFAN, YES Network and the Nets were among those who teamed to assist in getting the word out. Carrino’s efforts have been tireless to fight the disease that effects thousands of adults and children worldwide.

Carrino says that his game plan was always to first “make something of myself” (he sure has) and “then try to help others” (he sure is). Teaming with Jennifer Burgess, “a devoted mother and tireless worker trying to help cure FSHD through her own Long Island foundation,” the Chris Carrino Foundation for FSHD was hatched.

The Chris Carrino Foundation for FSHD is a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to eradicating the life-altering effects of fascioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. The foundation will hold its inaugural dinner dance on Thursday, August 18. You can find the foundation’s website at: www.chriscarrinofoundation.org.

—John Cirillo, FCRH ‘78

Baseball and a Catholic Education

America’s favorite pastime and the teachings of Catholicism made a winning pair for Jimmy Ruvituso Jr., a third-grader at St. Patrick’s School in Bedford Villages, N.Y.

The son of Donna Ruvituso, FCRH ’80, and James Ruvituso, FCRH ’78, Jimmy won the “Home Run for Catholic Schools” promotion, sponsored by the Hudson Valley Renagades minor league baseball team and the Catholic schools of Hudson Valley, for his essay comparing baseball with Catholic education.

Baseball and a Catholic education are alike, Jimmy wrote in the essay, “because they teach me about listening, focusing, taking direction, getting along with others and being a good sport.”

Donna said her son “was totally floored” when he heard the good news about his essay (which can be viewed on the Catholic New York website).

For winning the contest, Jimmy threw out the first pitch at the Hudson Valley Renegades game against the Brooklyn Cyclones at Dutchess Stadium on June 30. Donna said several representatives from the Archdiocese of New York attended, including Timothy J. McNiff, Ed.D., superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York. “I didn’t expect to see all those people, and it was really nice,” she said. “Jimmy was like a celebrity.”

Donna and James met at WFUV while they were students at Fordham. She was a reporter and newscaster at the radio station, and James was the public affairs director and music director. They married at the University Church in 1981.

“[My parents] say that being taught by Jesuits in college was the best education,” Jimmy wrote in his essay. “The priests and brothers at Fordham … taught students morals and subjects about faith in Jesus. So it was no surprise that my parents decided to send me to a Catholic school too.”

Is Fordham University in Jimmy’s college plans? Donna, who has seven siblings, four of whom also attended Fordham, said, “It’s not out of the question!”

—Rachel Buttner

Executive MBA Program Ranks Among Best in North America

The Fordham Executive MBA (EMBA) program has been ranked No. 27 in North America by Poets and Quants, a new website devoted to Executive MBA education.

In Poets and Quants’ ranking of the top 50 EMBAs, Fordham tied with the University of Western Ontario in Canada and is just behind the University of California at Irvine at No. 26.

The Poets and Quants ranking measures the overall reputation of EMBA programs by combining equally weighted ratings from BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.

The new ranking also takes into account an array of additional data to assess the quality of the programs, from surveys of student satisfaction to increases in income attributed to the degree.

“We are, of course, always delighted and thankful to be positively recognized for our Executive MBA program and for our dynamic and spirited EMBA students and faculty,” said Francis Petit, Ed.D., associate dean for Executive MBA programs in the Graduate School of Business Administration.

“We also believe this recognition adds to the continued momentum of our program,” he said.

The Poets and Quants’ ranking maintains the high profile of Fordham’s EMBA program, which last year was ranked 25th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and was among the top 25 global MBA programs as ranked by CEO Magazine.

Launched in 2010 by John Byrne, the former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com, Poets and Quants has received wide coverage by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and BusinessWeek, and has reached 500,000 page views per month.

—Nina Romeo

Theology Professor Wins Catholic Press Award

Charles Camosy, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology, has won second place in the category "Social Concerns" in the Catholic Press Association’s annual publishing awards for his book, Too Expensive To Treat? Finitude, Tragedy and the Neonatal ICU (Eerdmans, 2010).

The Catholic Press Association listed its annual awards in the June issue of The Catholic Journalist, recognizing individuals and publication teams for outstanding work in Catholic publishing. The awards went to recently-published books in 23 different categories and also to magazines, newsletters, newspapers and Spanish language publications.

Camosy’s book, which focuses on neonatal intensive care unit practices in the United States and the larger issue of heath care rationing, outlines a case for equal proportioning of community health care resources among all people. A scholar of Christian ethics, Camosy has published articles in the Journal of the Catholic Health Association, the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and the American Journal of Bioethics.

“This is a clear, honest look at a heartbreaking issue,” notes the Press Association’s citation. “The research is thorough, the analysis is excellent, and the conclusions are courageous and challenging. This work provides a possible framework for use with other issues of bioethics and life.”

Camosy is currently at work on a book about how the diametrically opposed philosophies of Princeton’s Decamp Professor of Bioethics, Dr. Peter Singer, and today’s traditional Christian ethicists can find common ground on many contemporary polarizing issues.

In addition, Camosy is one of the organizers of the Catholic Conversation Project, a coalition of young academic theologians under 40 addressing contemporary Catholic issues through new dialogs and perspectives. The project was featured in the July 2 issue of The Tablet, the International Catholic Weekly.

—Janet Sassi

Pretoria Students Celebrate Successful Studies at Fordham

South African students who have spent the past month studying at Fordham wrapped up their New York adventure on June 30 with a barbecue on the Keating Hall Terrace.

The students were at Fordham as part of an agreement with the University of Pretoria that was completed in 2008-2009. They pursued studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences while experiencing life in New York City.

This is the second consecutive summer in which Pretoria students have taken a five-week course at Rose Hill run by the International Political Economy and Development (IPED) Program. The exchange complements the trips taken by Fordham students to South Africa in 2008 and 2009.











IPED students from Fordham will journey to Pretoria in August for a course on emerging markets. They will collect and analyze economic and financial data on South Africa and compare it with similar data on other emerging markets as well as more established markets.

- Joseph McLaughlin