2,345 research outputs found
Gemma
No full textGemma graduated from Fordham University and the FCRH honors college in the spring of 1959 with a degree egregia cum laude in history. He was drawn to the honors program initially for its unique study abroad opportunities. While most students who elected to study abroad attended the structured FCRH honors program in Paris, France, Gemma wanted to go to Italy. Being Italian, studying philosophy and theology in Florence and Rome was very important to him, and he even created his own structured program with tutors from the Jesuit Gregorian Institute and lectures at the Università per Stranieri. In addition to Italy, Gemma traveled to over 20 other countries that semester, which served to greatly broaden his horizons, deepen his understanding of Romance languages, and augment his study of history. His mentor at Fordham, Dr. Remini of the history department, met with Gemma in Rome, and the two traveled together for several days.
Back in the U.S., Gemma recalls the interesting speakers and enlightening seminars of the honors program from his sophomore and senior years. He reflects on lots of interesting explorations of Catholic dogma in the years leading up to Vatican II. Additional topics of interest included the honors music history class, the move from Keating 216 to Alpha House, and the commuter-boarder divide at Fordham Rose Hill.
Gemma’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna and Antonella Iannarino, FCRH honors class of 2007
S, George
No full textDr. George S., a Fordham Classics professor and Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center during its crucial years of early formation, was an important and highly respected pioneer of cultural studies in academia. His tenure at Fordham spanned over four decades, and he took an active role in the formation of the Lincoln Center Honors Program in the likeness of his alma mater: FCRH Honors.
Dr. George recalls in his interview the fun, often difficult, but ultimately incredibly formative experience of Fordham Honors. He made lifelong friends with honors students, especially those with whom he traveled to Paris, France, for a year-long study abroad at the Sorbonne. George also recalls the intimate and horizontal culture of the honors program, where students were encouraged to advocate for the program and form important academic relationships with faculty. His thesis advisor, Dr. Francis Connolly, was an important connection for his future in cultural studies. Dr. George completed his thesis on Earnest Hemingway for a degree in English, although his graduate studies at Columbia University were ultimately in Classics.
George’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna and Antonella Iannarino, FCRH Honors class of 2007
W, John
No full textDr. John W., Ph.D., had a career in Fordham’s psychology department spanning nearly 60 years. After graduating from FCRH honors in 1957 with a degree in psychology, he attained his doctorate in the psychology of human learning from Clark University. He returned to Fordham as a faculty member, where he worked as a full professor until his retirement in 2006. Dr. John was widely recognized for his contributions to the field of human behavior and statistics, his lively classroom environments, and his service as chair of the psychology department.
Dr. John reflects in his interview on the academic expectations and structure of the honors seminars. Although his honors cohort began with about 30 students in the probationary sophomore year, only nine continued with the program due to demanding readings, weekly seminars, and strict expectations. Junior year was particularly formative, centered on science and philosophy with readings from pre-Socratics, Aquinas, Descartes, and scientific thinkers like Darwin and Pasteur. Despite the rigor, he found the seminars intellectually rich and the social aspect limited, as most students were commuters.
John’s senior thesis was in experimental psycho-physics under the direction of Father Zegers, who later went on to support his return to Fordham as a professor of psychology. Overall, he believes the FCRH honors program was invaluable in supporting his interdisciplinary intellectual development, formation of lifelong connections, and building critical research skills.
John’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna and Antonella Iannarino, FCRH honors class of 2007
B, Roger
No full textDr. Roger B., M.D., graduated from the FCRH Honors Program in the spring of 1960 with a major in biology. He went on to become a Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery, graduating from the McGill University School of Medicine in Montreal in 1967. Dr. Roger saved many lives as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Marine Corps, and in 1972 established his own practice in Glens Falls North, New York.
Reflecting upon his time at Fordham, Dr. Roger fondly recalls his junior year philosophy seminar with Dr. Quentin Lauer, the “Honors Scholars vs. Fordham Club Socialites” softball game, and his experience being in the first class to have access to Alpha House, the exclusive Fordham Honors building. He believes that the rigorous reading requirements and academic expectations of the honors seminars taught him how to study and think critically, and he attributes his success in medical school to the skills he learned in undergrad. Dr. Roger completed his senior thesis under the guidance of Dr. James Forbes, an entomologist.
Roger’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna and Antonella Iannarino, FCRH honors class of 2007
S, Robert
No full textDr. Robert S., Ph.D., graduated from Fordham honors with his Bachelor’s of Science in 1960 and from Princeton with his Doctorate in 1964. Both degrees were in chemistry, and Dr. Robert went on to have an astounding career in the field of engineering plastics. He initially served as a captain in the U.S. Army and transitioned to work in technical management at Honeywell, ITW, and Engelhard corporations. After retiring, he became increasingly active in consulting and board work at S.C. Johnson Corporation, R&D Council of New Jersey, the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni, and the EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Council.
In the interview, Dr. Robert explores his experience as one of the few STEM majors in the Fordham honors program. He feels that the philosophical, literary, and historical focuses of the program gave him a uniquely holistic education compared to his chemistry degree alone. He identifies Father Quentin Lauer, director of the junior year honors philosophy seminar, and Father Schubert, his thesis mentor, as the two most influential figures in his education. Dr. Robert completed his senior thesis in electron emission microscopy, and Father Schubert subsequently wrote him a strong recommendation letter for Princeton, his doctoral alma mater.
Robert’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna (FCRH 2007), Christine Barcelona (FCRH 2012), and Kevin Crenny (FCRH 2011)
M, Ken
No full textDr. Ken M., a mathematics major from the class of 1962, dedicated his life to the study and teaching of mathematics and its applications in computer and information science. After graduating from the Fordham honors program, he studied on an NSF fellowship, a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and a NATO post-doctoral fellowship after obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught and conducted research at Princeton University, the Rockefeller University, the University of Bruxelles, the University of Paris, and multiple CUNY universities. His work in logic, computational science, and artificial intelligence is highly regarded and has been recognized by the U.S. government on several occasions.
Dr. Ken describes the honors program as a defining intellectual and cultural force in his undergraduate years. Drawn initially by the junior year abroad opportunity and the program’s strong academic reputation at Regis, he found the seminars, professors, and peer community deeply formative. Ken emphasizes how the program’s rigor and culture of mentoring helped students gain entrance to top graduate, law, and medical schools. His junior year in Paris, made possible through Honors, became the centerpiece of his education, broadening his worldview and cementing his academic trajectory.
Ken’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna (FCRH 2007) and Jennifer Kwapiscz (FCRH 2010)
O, John
No full textMr. John O., FCRH class of 1956, was a beloved professor of Romance languages and an administrator in foreign studies at the University of Washington. With his wife Arvella, he later ran Beanstalk Travel Tour Company, leading tours across Europe and drawing on his fluency in several languages as well as his love of art history and anthropology. He was a founding member of the Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences, where he taught English, Latin, and French.
In his interview, John credits the Fordham honors program with his exposure to international travel and language learning. He describes the demanding sophomore reading requirements and an art-history class, which unexpectedly sparked his lifelong passion for the subject. Its greatest influence came from the year abroad: placed at a Jesuit school outside Paris, he spent ten months immersed in French, an experience that shaped his forty-five-year career as a French teacher and helped him learn additional languages. Professors such as Dr. Pastore, Father Lehey, Bob Brown, and Dr. Marti guided his intellectual development and encouraged broad, curious reading.
John’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna, FCRH honors class of 2007
Stolz, Barbara
No full textDr. Barbara Stolz, a political science student from the Fordham honors class of 1969, has taught public management, criminology, and policy analysis at the McCourt School of Public Policy within Georgetown University since 2014. She obtained her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1975, studying political science with a focus on criminal justice. Prior to working at Georgetown, she held positions at Harvard Law School, American University, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, Yaroslavl State University, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She has been recognized for her work in criminal justice by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Government Accountability Office, Fulbright (supporting her lectureship in Russia), Phi Beta Kappa, and many more foundations and institutions.
Dr. Barbara Stolz was a member of the second-ever class of women to graduate from Fordham University. She attended Thomas More College, which was a technically independent co-educational school that overlapped greatly with Fordham University until the schools formally merged in 1974. In her interview, Barbara describes the unique challenges and opportunities that were presented to her and her female classmates. Fordham honors welcomed students from Thomas More, and the expectations of academic rigor were not diluted for female entrants into the program. Barbara credits the challenging seminars for introducing her to sociology, philosophy of science, and major thinkers like Weber, Kuhn, and Heisenberg—works she later taught and drew on in government and academic settings. She emphasizes that the program pushed her into courses she never would have chosen but that ultimately defined her analytical approach. The close relationships with faculty, especially Jesuits who mentored her through academic and personal challenges, reinforced her growth.
Barbara’s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna (FCRH 2007) and Valerie Grant (FCRH 2011)
D, Brian
No full textFather Brian D., S.J., is an American Jesuit priest and the Catherine F. Huiskin Professor of Theology (Emeritus) at the University of Notre Dame. In 2012, he received the illustrious Ratzinger Prize for Theology based on his ecumenical work in Church history and Orthodox studies, which Pope Benedict XVI praised for knowing and loving the one and undivided Church [and] the wealth of her different traditions.
Before working and studying at Notre Dame, Oxford, and the Weston School of Theology, however, Brian D. was a graduate of the Fordham University Rose Hill Honors class of 1961. He majored in Classics, completed his thesis on fourth-century Christian-Latin poetry, and upon graduation became the first Rhodes Scholar from Fordham University.
In his interview, Brian D. reflects on the reading requirements of the honors program, the academic seminars, and his (somewhat unique) experience as a boarding student at Fordham. He expresses the challenging yet rewarding nature of the honors curriculum, and how it prepared him for his Ph.D. from Oxford and his entrance into the Society of Jesus. Brian identifies many of the most influential figures from his time at Fordham, including honors professors, administrators, and his honors peers.
Brian\u27s interview was conducted by Kevin McKenna, FCRH honors class of 2007
D, Richard
No full textDr. Richard D., FCRH class of 1954, was one of the first graduates of the honors program. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts from Fordham, Richard continued his formal education on a Fulbright at the University of Louvain in Belgium, where he studied philosophy, and then at Yale University, where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1959. He went on to have an illustrious post-doctoral career with research fellowships and assistant professorships at Yale, Columbia, Stanford, the Hoover Institution, and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He began at the University of Kansas in 1959 as an assistant professor of philosophy and remained there for over 50 years, when he retired with the title distinguished professor (emeritus). His research primarily concerned Soviet and Eastern European philosophy, and he was a pioneer in the field of business ethics.
In his interview, Dr. Richard recalls the exciting newness and intellectual rigor of the honors program in its infancy. Balancing the seminars and reading list with his own heavy course load—including ten hours of Russian—was demanding, but he valued the challenge and close friendships it fostered. He developed a lasting mentorship with Father Joseph Frese, whose detailed feedback shaped his research capabilities throughout his career. A formative junior year spent studying in Paris broadened his academic and cultural horizons. The program, he says, influenced his later studies, international experiences, and career, and he encourages current students to embrace every opportunity it offers
- …
