Twenty-eight dedicated employees were feted on March 4 for their longstanding service to Fordham at the University’s 2012 convocation.
Photo by Bruce Gilbert
Seventeen faculty members received the Bene Merentimedal recognizing 20 or
40 years of service in the classroom. Eight university administrators received the Archbishop Hughes medal for completing 20 years of service in helping advance the mission of Fordham in their various departments.
A special award for outstanding contributions to the University, the Sursum Corda, went to three employees: John Algieri, director of budget development, Susan Santangelo, director of faculty administration at Fordham Law, and John McDonagh, foreman in Facilities Operations at the Lincoln Center campus.
Collectively, the employees have given nearly 650 years of service to Fordham, said Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, vice president for University mission and ministry.
Some awardees have spent most, if not all, of their careers at Fordham. Santangelo began as a clerical worker in the Law School in 1960. Algieri, who began as a grant accounts officer 36 years ago, now directs the University’s budget development, where he has helped to create 30-plus consecutive balanced budgets for the University.
In giving tribute to the employees’ service, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, invoked two favorite texts: a biblical passage from 1 Peter 2, and another text describing the reconstruction of the foundations of York Minster cathedral in England.
St. Peter, he said, exhorted his audience to, “Like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house.”
In the York Minster text, the author reflected on how the foundations of the old cathedral, unseen for centuries, had sturdily supported the work of God.
Those texts, Father McShane said, captured the employees’ contributions almost exactly.
“Many of the men and women that we celebrate today labor quietly day by day to support the University and its students as we labor together in the vocation that we all share,” he said. “Their contributions are largely hidden from view. But like the foundations of a cathedral, they are absolutely essential to our mission.”
Photo by Bruce Gilbert
On a lighter note, Father McShane singled out Archbishop Hughes medalist John Carroll, associate vice president for safety and security, whom he said he has known since his formative years: As a young beat officer patrolling in the 34th Marble Hill precinct some decades back, Carroll had more than once confiscated the young McShane’s stickball bat.
“I’m afraid my mother went to her grave wondering where all those bats went to – they were broom handles, which my mother had to go out and replace . . .”
Archbishop Hughes medalist Eva Patton, administrator of the Theatre Program, and associate clinical professor of theatre, said working at the University had enriched her life. “Watching the theatre program develop over the years into what it is today has been one of my greatest joys,” she said. “Also, as an actor, administrator, director and a teacher, having an employer that has allowed me to wear all of those different hats has been very fulfilling.”
Bene Merenti medalist Joan Roberts, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, said Fordham had allowed her to be “very creative” as a teacher for 40 years.
“I teach not only science majors, but also liberal arts majors. The first question I ask is, ‘how many people have had chemistry?’ and they raise their hands, and then ‘how many people hate it?’ and they raise their hands again. It is my job to convert them.
“When I came to Fordham, I had just gotten my Ph.D., and now my research is internationally known. I’ve grown as both scientist and teacher.”
Mark Chapman, Ph.D., associate professor of African and African American studies, said he’d never considered working elsewhere because of Fordham’s commitment to social justice and its deep moral and religious ethic.
“Fordham has allowed me to combine the two loves of my life—the life of the mind, and the life of the spirit. It has supported my work outside of the University teaching at Sing Sing prison and being a pastor of a Queens church,” he said.
Lizzette Perez-McNab, payroll supervisor, Office of the Controller, spoke of the mentoring she received in her 20-year career. “I was young when I started. In the beginning it was a challenge, moving from sales to a Jesuit school. But people helped me along the way to move up from clerk to supervisor. I have enjoyed every minute of my time here.”
The event was sponsored by the Office of the President.
Complete list of winners
Archbishop Hughes Medal | (20-year Award)
Jason Benedict | Executive Director | Information Technology Security Office
John Carroll | Associate Vice President for Safety and Security
Rosanne Conte | Director of Evening Program | Gabelli School of Business
Jerome Contee | Assistant Vice President | Office of the Provost
Darren DeVivo | Midday Host | WFUV Radio
Eva Patton | Administrator, Theatre Program, and Associate Clinical Professor of Theatre
Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Lizzette Perez-McNab | Payroll Supervisor | Office of the Controller
Kenneth Pokrowski | Assistant Dean, Academic Records and Research | School of Law
Bene Merenti Medal | (40-year Award)
Elaine Norman | Professor | Graduate School of Social Service
Yung Frank Chiang | Professor | School of Law
Michael M. Martin | Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law | School of Law
Donald L. Sharpe | Professor of Law | School of Law
Robert C. Madden | Lecturer in Biology | Department of Natural Sciences
Joan E. Roberts | Professor of Chemistry | Department of Natural Sciences
Bene Merenti Medal | (20-year Award)
Kenneth R. Davis | Professor and Area Chair of Law and Ethics | Fordham Schools of Business
Robert F. Hurley | Professor of Management | Fordham Schools of Business
Steven B. Raymar | Assistant Professor of Finance, Faculty Coordinator for Global Business Honors Program and Assistant Finance Area Chair | Fordham Schools of Business
Barbara Kail | Associate Professor | Graduate School of Social Service
Tracy E. Higgins | Professor of Law | School of Law
Ian Weinstein | Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Programs
School of Law
Mark Chapman | Associate Professor of African and African American Studies
Fordham College at Rose Hill
Robert R. Grimes, S.J. | Associate Professor of Music and Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. | Associate Professor of Philosophy and Master of Queen’s Court Residential College for Freshmen | Fordham College at Rose Hill and Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences
Matthew Maguire | Professor of Theatre, Director of Theatre Program
Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Emily Rosenbaum | Professor of Sociology | Fordham College at Rose Hill
and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Sursum Corda Award
John Algieri | Director of Budget Development
Susan Santangelo | Director of Faculty Administration | School of Law
John McDonagh | Foreman | Facilities Operations at Lincoln Center
