In a 1987 cover story on life at the University’s Lincoln Center campus, Fordham Magazine wrote, “Typifying the student … becomes an impossibility. … Each embodies the many moods, many visions, many facets, and many possibilities of Fordham University at Lincoln Center. Much like the city it was intended to serve, Fordham on the West Side is itself a microcosm of the world.”
Today, those words still ring true, with the 61-year-old campus playing home to a diverse mix of schools and programs and an eclectic student body. Even as the campus has expanded, literally grown up—most recently with its 140 West 62nd Street building, McKeon Hall, and a new home for the School of Law—it has remained a vibrant hub in the middle of one of the most bustling cities in the world.
On Thursday, June 9, alumni from five of the University’s schools—Fordham College at Lincoln Center, the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Service, and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies—will gather for the Block Party at Lincoln Center, a reunion highlighted by an outdoor, all-school party on the Lowenstein Center plaza.
Prior to the festivities, alumni and guests can join one of several guided tours of campus offered between 3:30 and 5, when Miguel Sutedjo, a rising Fordham senior, will kick things off with a piano performance in Pope Auditorium. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., each of the five schools will then host its own gathering, with food, drinks, and speeches.
Joseph M. McShane, S.J., who is stepping down as president of Fordham on June 30, is expected to make the rounds of these receptions, which will include a brief ceremony honoring Robert R. Grimes, S.J., dean emeritus of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC); the presentation of the Graduate School of Education’s 2022 Distinguished Contributions to Education Award to Aramina Vega Ferrer, Ph.D., GSE ’09, a member of the 12th Judicial District of the New York State Board of Regents; and an opportunity to hear from Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., who is returning to teaching and research next month after 15 remarkable years as dean of the Gabelli School of Business.
The FCLC gathering will also feature a special ceremony honoring the Class of 1972—the college’s first Golden Rams—who will mark 50 years since graduation.
The evening will be capped off by the all-school Block Party celebration on the plaza. From 7:30 to 10 p.m., alumni will have the opportunity to eat, drink, dance, and mingle across schools in the open air.
Alumni can register for Block Party and find more information—including a full schedule and photos from previous years—at Forever Fordham.
