Dear Members of the University Community,
Happy new year. I am pleased to tell you that the search process for Fordham’s next president has been moving along quickly over the Christmas and new year’s break. The search committee met last week to recommend the final candidates to the Board of Trustees. We are on track to announce Fordham’s next president during the spring semester. While the identities of the leading candidates will remain confidential, I look forward to sharing with you as much as I can about the selection process and about Fordham’s 33rd president as soon as possible.
The University has been extremely successful in attracting a diverse, talented, and accomplished pool of leadership candidates, not least because of Fordham’s reputation and its standing as a leading Jesuit and Catholic institution located in the most important city in the country. Unfortunately, we were not able to advance a candidate from the Society of Jesus to the finalist phase of the search. Despite extensive outreach and consultation with the Society, Father McShane, Father Regan, rector of the Jesuit community at Fordham, and other Jesuits within and without the University, no Jesuit candidate with the requisite experience emerged from the search. We also worked closely with the Jesuit provincial for the Eastern Province of the Society throughout the entire process, and will continue to do so.
That said, all of the finalists have a deep understanding of, and alignment with, Fordham’s academic mission, reputation, and Jesuit, Catholic character. We were impressed by the strength of the candidate pool and the finalists, and by their alignment with Fordham’s Jesuit and Catholic mission. The search committee (composed of trustee alumni, faculty, administrators, and students), and the Board of Trustees reaffirm a commitment to the Jesuit mission which is central to the identity, character, and heritage of Fordham University.
In this we owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who participated in the listening sessions: your input helped shape the key themes of the leadership profile that was used to recruit candidates, and it helped provide a yardstick by which the search committee could evaluate them.
I hope the start of your spring semester is a rewarding and healthy one. I know you must be more than ready to return to a campus free of COVID-19 precautions, and I hope we will see such a state of affairs by the end of the semester. That said, I admire your grit and willingness to persevere with your teaching and learning, and your work on the University’s behalf, despite the circumstances. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert D. Daleo, Chair
Fordham University Board of Trustees
Gabelli School of Business, Class of 1972
