New Student Play to be Staged at Fringe Festival

AJ Golio and Shannon Morrall in the February
performance at Fordham
Contributed photo

Purgatory, the land of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners atoning before going to heaven, is the setting for a new play written and performed by Fordham students.

My Personal Hell, a comedic murder mystery written and directed by Fordham College at Rose Hill senior Jonathan O'Neill, will be staged in August at FringeNYC, the largest multi-arts festival in North America.

The play, which was first produced by Fordham Experimental Theatre at Collins Auditorium, centers around Tucker Tomkins, a twenty-something photographer (played by Rose Hill junior AJ Golio) who is shot and killed. When he arrives in Purgatory, he is told that in order to get into heaven he must solve his own murder.

From the afterlife he witnesses how his friends, loved ones, and neighbors carry on in his absence, as he and two detectives try to deduce his killer. Suspicious characters include quarreling politicians, Tucker's hot-headed fiancée, his agoraphobic best friend, and pretentious journalist, among others.

O’Neill said he’s been working on the play for the last two years.

The cast of My Personal Hell at Fordham in February
Contributed photo

“It was an effort to combine traditional, large-ensemble mysteries such as Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, and Murder on the Orient Express with a touch of post-war French drama along the lines of No Exit,” he said.

“The play has gone through another draft since our performance at Fordham in February; the characters are the same but the scenes have almost all been rewritten.”

The cast and crew of My Personal Hell features Timothy Rozmus, GSB '13, as the assistant director and includes:

From Fordham College at Rose Hill: AJ Golio, Michael Brown, James Flanagan, Shannon Morrall, Alyssa Marino, Michael Guariglia, Devin Chowske, Joseph Gallagher, Elle Crane, Sarah Hill, Giancarlo Milea, Christopher Pedro, James Murtagh, and MaryClare Demenna.
From the Gabelli School of Business: Pat McCarthy, Vincent Pellizzi, and Collin Wright.

The production takes place at Loretto Auditorium, 18 Bleeker St. in Manhattan.

Sunday, Aug. 10 at 7:45 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 17 at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 21 at 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 23 at 9:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 24 at 4:45 p.m.

Tickets are available at http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.php?ltr=M#MyPers

—Patrick Verel

Outgoing Graduate School of Social Service Dean Honored at Conference

Elaine Congress, Peter Vaughan and Allan Luks

Fordham’s Center for Nonprofit Leaders, a joint venture between the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA) and the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), honored GSS Dean Peter Vaughan for his vision and leadership at a conference on Wednesday, May 1.

The gathering, which was held at the Lincoln Center campus, attracted over 100 attendees.

In a speech, Vaughan  who is retiring at the end of the year, explored the eight skills of nonprofit leaders coined by Dennis Young, Ph.D., the Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Professor of Private Enterprise and Director of the Nonprofit Studies Program at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

They are:

- Developing a Sense of Mission;
- Problem Solving;
- Applying Creativity and Ingenuity;
- Identifying Opportunities and Good Timing;
- Analyzing Risks;
- Consensus and Team Building;
- Mobilization of Resources, Persistence.

Since 2010, over 300 students from the fields of business, social work, law, education, and public administration have graduated from the center’s intensive certificate program, which is overseen by Elaine Congress, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, and Francis Petit, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration.

Allan Luks, executive director emeritus of Big Brothers, Big Sister, and a visiting faculty member at the Graduate School of Social Service, serves as director.

The center’s certificate programs are offered three times a year—two times at the Lincoln Center campus and once a year at the Westchester campus. Its newest initiative is a 30-credit masters degree program in nonprofit leadership.

For more information about the center, visit www.fordham.edu/nonprofitswww.fordham.edu/nonprofits. 

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Undergrads Visit Capitol for Government Tour

Fordham Students meet with Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin

Students from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Fordham College Lincoln Center, and the Gabelli School of Business got to see the nation’s economic levers of power in person during a visit to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 27. 

The trip, which was sponsored by the Fordham President's Council member Ed Blount, FCRH '69, brought 25 students to the Treasury Department, the Office of Management and Budget, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve. 

At the Treasury Department, the group met with Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin, who spoke to them about the economic recovery and the ongoing work by the Administration to strengthen economic growth and stability in our financial systems. Wolin also touched on the ongoing debate in Washington on how to reduce our deficits in a balanced way.

Olivia Chopra, FCRH '13, a dual economics and Middle Eastern Studies major, said the trip not only bolstered her passion for public policy but also gave her a sense of where her passion can take her in the future.

“I particularly enjoyed the Q&A session with Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin, who was able to answer our questions regarding international economic issues, including the current financial policy towards Iran,” she said. 

Veronica Daigle, FCRH '93, program examiner for the Office
of  Management  and Budget, chats with students.

“Equally as engaging, the presentation at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shed light onto the domestic issue of the Federal budgeting process and the current sequester.  I was very impressed by our presenter at the OMB, Fordham alumna Veronica Daigle, whose knowledge of and dedication to her work as a program examiner was inspiring.”

Evangelos Razis, FCLC '13, said the experience was both exciting and humbling.

“We toured the institutions that are fundamental to our nation’s political economy, and it’s quite something to see where those fundamental decisions are being made. It’s too easy think of a government body like 'The Treasury' and the 'SEC' merely in the abstract. In the end, we’re talking about real people, buildings, and things,” he said.

“The people we spoke with were all professionals committed to serving our country. As an aspiring public servant, that shared sense of duty resonated with me.”

—Patrick Verel

Gabelli School of Business Kicks off International Business Week

The Gabelli School of Business will be reaching far and wide next week, as it presents a raft of events geared toward learning more about international business, economics, politics and culture.

The week will feature:

-A global showcase fair of business opportunities staffed by international students

-A speech by Juan Carlos Vignaud, ambassador in residence of Argentina on Monday

-A speech by Alfonso Fanjul, GSB ’59, CEO of Florida Crystals, followed by a desert tasting on Tuesday

-Lunch with Lee Ballin, sustainability manager at Bloomberg LP, on Tuesday

-A speech by Pedro Murilo Ortega Terra, Chefe do SECOM and head of the Brazilian Trade Bureau, on Wednesday

-Lunch with Scott MacDonald, senior managing director of MC Asset Management Holdings, who will cover European politics and markets.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.gabelliconnect.com/ibw-2013

—Patrick Verel

Gabelli Student Honored in Information Technology Panel

Robert Villegas, seated at the far left with the panel.
Contributed Photo

Robert Villegas took home a diploma along with his fellow Gabelli School of Business graduates on Saturday, May 19. 

But Villegas, who majored in management of information and communications systems (MICS), was already well on his way to a promising career, as evidenced by his inclusion in an April 30 panel discussion, “Welcoming the Next IT Generation,” at the CIO Executive Council, held at San Marco Island, Florida.

Villegas was the only college student to participate in the panel, which featured six standout entry-level rising stars in information technology, aged 18-25, and was designed to educate chief information officers on how to increase student interest and attract top talent to the IT industry. 

He was nominated to be on the panel by Frank J. Sirianni, Ph.D., vice president and CIO at Fordham. A Davie, Florida native, he interned with Fordham IT’s Business Intelligence team, the Investment Bank Technology Audit department at JP Morgan Chase, and as an IT desktop analyst with the Crohns & Colitis Foundation.

 Congratulations Robert!

—Patrick Verel

Gabelli Dean Honored by National Italian American Foundation

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., Dean of the Gabelli School of Business and Dean of the Fordham Business Faculty, was honored by the National Italian American Foundation in a ceremony on Thursday, April 12 at Cipriani restaurant in Midtown Manhattan.

Dean Rapaccioli was honored along with Art Certosimo, senior executive vice president, Bank of New York Mellon, Maria Bartiromo, Emmy-Award winning journalist and CNBC anchor, Chazz Palminteri, writer, director, producer and Academy Award-nominated actor, and Frank D’Amelio executive vice president, business operations and chief financial officer of Pfizer.

—Patrick Verel

Gabelli School of Business Launches Undergraduate Research Journal

When the Gabelli School of Business holds its first undergraduate research conference on April 20 and 21st, the centerpiece of the event will be Vol. 1, No. 1 of the Fordham Business Student Research Journal.

The journal is published jointly by the deans of the Gabelli School of Business and the Graduate School of Business.

It features three articles by Gabelli students: “Countering Counterfeits: An Investigation of Message Frame and Message Focus Effects on Persuasion,” by Caroline Dahlgren; “Fund-Management-Gender Composition: The Impact on Risk & Performance of Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds” by Angela Luongo, and “The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Emotional Gratification for Consumers who Purchase Overtly Branded (Overtly Designer) Goods” by Sarah Siracusa.

It also contains lists and abstracts of previously published Gabelli students’ theses, to give a broader sense of the research being done at the college. The best papers submitted to the April conference will be featured in a future issue.

Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., Dean of the Gabelli School of Business and Dean of the Fordham business faculty, said the impetus for the journal came last year, when several students’ research was selected for publication in academic journals that typically carry the work of full-time professors.

“This inspired us to think about how we could further extend the reach of out students’ work and share it with the wider academic community,” she said.

“I hope you find our students work as enlightening and impressive as I have.”

—Patrick Verel

CEO Magazine Gives Business Graduate Programs High Marks

Three times, CEO Magazine has ranked MBA and EMBA programs around the world, and just as it did last year, the editors there put Fordham’s programs in the highest echelon.

In its annual ranking of MBA programs, the magazine, which is published in London by the Callender Media Group, ranked the Graduate School of Business Administration in its tier one category for both its MBA and EMBA.

The big change from last year was that Fordham’s Executive MBA program was included in Tier I in the global category, something that Francis Petit, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Executive MBA Programs said reflected especially well on the school.

The MBA program, which had been unranked previously, was included in the North American regional category, putting it in the company of universities such as Columbia, Duke, Harvard and Stanford.

“This is, of course, positive news for our program and it continues the momentum we are building,” he said. “What is nice to see is that last year Fordhams’ EMBA program was ranked tier one within the North America region, and now we have made it to tier one within the global rankings.”

Both Petit and David Gautschi, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, were interviewed in a Q&A article for the magazine, “Take a Swing at This: The World’s Jazziest Institution, The Fordham MBA.”

In it, Dean Gautschi emphasized four themes the college has embraced as part of its commitment to its Jesuit heritage:

—Advancing understanding of business in the global economy.

—Advancing the understanding of business in a money center such as New York City.

—Advancing understanding of business in a media center; an element with a technological spin.

—An explicit drive to increase the societal understanding of business.

“These elements align together and all are anchored on the fourth and follow certain practice guidelines that in so doing reveal our Jesuit stripes,” Dean Gautschi said.

He also touted the creation of the Fordham Consortium, a gathering of 45 people from different walks of life, who come together to form discernment and to discuss ‘what is the purpose of business’, regardless of one’s global position.

“This organization is neatly reflected in the vision and construction of the MBA program where we are keen to bring different ideas and people together, not to drive unilateral thought but, to cover a range of different contexts. We need to understand these differences and celebrate them,” he said.

Fordham’s EMBA program is designed for business professionals and managers on the fast track toward challenging managerial and global assignments. The program focuses on building each student’s personal portfolio in management development with tools that can be implemented immediately in the workplace.

—Patrick Verel

Kevin Rooney Jr., GSB '07, to Fight, Flack

Boxer Kevin Rooney Jr., GSB ’07, will step into the ring for the first time as a professional on April 22 at the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Conn.

The son of Mike Tyson's former trainer, Kevin Rooney Sr., Rooney posted a 9-2 record as an amateur. Last year, he reached the quarterfinals of the New York Golden Gloves before deciding to turn pro. He is expected to fight at 154 pounds, about 10 pounds less than his amateur fighting weight.

When not in the ring, Rooney is director of media relations for Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing. DeGuardia—a former boxer turned promoter who also served as a Bronx assistant district attorney—is a 1986 alumnus of Fordham College at Rose Hill. He established Star Boxing in 1992.

Fittingly, Star Boxing is promoting the April 22 card, and Rooney will work the media after he’s through working his opponent.

"I'll go in the back to the dressing room after my fight to change," Rooney recently told ESPN. "I'll put my suit back on and be back working as the publicist for the show."

—Miles Doyle, FCRH ’01

Gabelli School of Business Kicks Off International Business Week

New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin will headline Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business’ International Business Week with an appearance at the Rose Hill campus on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.

Sorkin, the author of Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System -- and Themselves (Viking, 2009) will speak at the McGinley Ballroom.

Too Big to Fail, which details the backroom machinations behind the financial crisis of 2008, won the Gerald Loeb best business book of the year award in 2010. It is also the source for a currently in production HBO film starring Paul Giamatti as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

International Business Week also features the following events:

Meet International Students at Fordham: Sunday, February 6 at 4 p.m. McGinley Ballroom

Social Business Fair Trade Market: Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. O’Keefe Commons

Global Etiquette Dinner: Thursday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. Tognino Hall, Duane Library

For more information and registration, visit the Gabelli School of Business blog.

—Patrick Verel