Institutional Overview

Fordham strives for excellence in research and teaching, and guarantees the freedom of inquiry required by rigorous thinking and the quest for truth.

Fordham affirms the value of a core curriculum rooted in the liberal arts and sciences. The University seeks to foster in all its students life-long habits of careful observation, critical thinking, creativity, moral reflection, and articulate expression.

In order to prepare citizens for an increasingly multicultural and multinational society, Fordham seeks to develop in its students an understanding of and reverence for cultures and ways of life other than their own.

Fordham affirms the complementary roles of faith and reason in the pursuit of wisdom and learning. The University encourages the growth of a life of faith consonant with moral and intellectual development.

Fordham encourages faculty to discuss and promote an understanding of the ethical dimension of what is being studied and what is being taught.

Fordham gives special attention to the study of the living tradition of Catholicism, and it provides a place where religious traditions may interact with each other and with contemporary cultures.

Fordham welcomes students, faculty, and staff of all religious traditions and of no religious tradition as valued members of this community of study and dialogue.

Fordham draws its inspiration from the dual heritage of Christian Humanism and Ignatian Spirituality, and consequently sees all disciplines as potential paths to God.

Fordham recognizes the dignity and uniqueness of each person. A Fordham education at all levels is student-centered, and attentive to the development of the whole person. Such an education is based on close collaboration among students, faculty, and staff.

Fordham is committed to research and education that assist in the alleviation of poverty, the promotion of justice, the protection of human rights, and respect for the environment. Jesuit education is cosmopolitan education. Therefore, education at Fordham is international in its scope and in its aspirations. The world-wide network of Jesuit universities offers Fordham faculty and students distinctive opportunities for exchange and collaboration.

As home to people from all over the globe, as a center of international business, communication, diplomacy, the arts, and the sciences, New York City provides Fordham with a special kind of classroom. Its unparalleled resources shape and enhance Fordham’s professional and undergraduate programs.

Fordham is privileged to share a history and a destiny with New York City. The University recognizes its debt of gratitude to the City and its own responsibility to share its gifts for the enrichment of our City, our nation, and our world.

Fordham University’s academic life and commitments clearly represent the Catholic and Jesuit commitment to the liberal arts and humanistic education for all students. Our students are taught to identify ideational interconnections within and across their programs of study, stretch their minds and hearts to realize eternal truths, and appreciate timeless beauty. Fordham students are encouraged to go about their work as scholars with diligence and humility. In addition, academic programs can be found that are distinctly informed by Fordham’s Jesuit and Catholic character, thus contributing to the diversity of higher education in the United States with an education shaped by the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, wanted those involved in his schools to care for each student personally, attentive to the particular needs and talents of each. This focus on the personal care of the whole person is called cura personalis, a hallmark of Jesuit education. To educate the whole person today means realizing how connected we are to one another and becoming more aware of the needs of people in our cities and around the globe, especially the poor. Our understanding of suffering and hardship cannot be merely an intellectual exercise. Instead, we must be open to people who are different from us. We must be ready to look beyond the comfortable confines of our campus, with transformed hearts and passion for justice incited through direct contact with communities the world over.

At Fordham, we seek to form individuals for and with others. We do this by using our academic and professional resources, and through discernment that helps students to strive for intellectual excellence in their chosen fields. A Fordham education also emphasizes recognition of all students’ worth as individuals and acknowledgment of their responsibilities to others. Students will deepen and broaden their knowledge to reflect critically upon their human experience and address the most pressing problems in the world. Empowered by their imaginations, they put them to work on the side of the marginalized and those seeking justice. In doing so, Fordham students gain a deep sense of personal mission and become open to learning from the communities they serve. They become transformed into people who are bothered by injustice and attentive to the needs of the poor.

Ignatius was a man of passion. He was filled with zeal for whatever captured his imagination: whether as the gallant knight of his youth or as the humble pilgrim of his later life. Stirring deep within him was a restless desire for excellence. Always strive for excellence, he urged, always seek the magis (the Latin word means “more” or “better). For Ignatius, the “more” was always focused on serving the “greater glory of God.” It is in striving for the magis that we develop our talents to their full potential. Mediocrity has no place in a Jesuit university. We must share in Ignatius’ restlessness, never content with easy answers or the existing ways of doing things, always ready to adapt and change if called to do so. Students will graduate from Fordham as discerning citizens who are practically wise and persons of integrity able to be change makers for the common good and who see prosperity and doing good in the world as compatible goals.

Ignatius believed that life was a constant interplay between action and reflection, work and prayer, doing and knowing. Contemplation is a fundamental element of spiritual life. Reflecting on both the world surrounding us and on the deepest movements of our hearts helps us make better decisions about how to live our lives. It also prepares our students to become curators and cultivators of knowledge, applying it toward enriching activities that give them the confidence to make the world a more just and gentle place. Students will develop, integrate, and apply critical and creative skills for effective participation in a global society and responsible leadership in service of social justice.

From The University's Current Strategic Plan: Educating for Justice

As the Jesuit University of New York, Fordham is uniquely called to educate for justice. We bring together the intellectual excellence and care for the whole person that have long distinguished Jesuit education with our passion for promoting the dignity and worth of every person and our commitment to faith that does justice.

Our Goals:

• Educate Students as Global Citizens and Transformative Leaders for Justice in the Innovation Age
• Excel Across the Natural and Applied Sciences and Allied Fields to Promote Social Change and Equity
• Cultivate a Diverse, Equitable, Inclusive, Caring, and Connected Community that Promotes each Member’s Development as a Whole Person

More from the Current Strategic Plan

From the University’s DEI Action Plan:

Fordham University pledges to address racism and educate for justice by:

• developing robust admissions strategies for the effective recruitment of students of color;
• recruiting and retaining a more diverse faculty, administration, and staff;
• developing curricular and co-curricular initiatives that support the imperative of confronting racism and educating for justice;
• creating a more welcoming and affirming campus;
• building lasting relationships with our neighbors; and
• amplifying our voice in educating for justice beyond the campus.

More from the DEI Action Plan

Following its reaccreditation in 2016, Fordham advanced a campus-wide Continuous University Strategic Planning (CUSP) process, which resulted in the development of a Strategic Framework for Fordham’s Future: Bothered Excellence. This framework represented an important step forward for the University and was the outcome of a unified, integrated, and transparent approach to strategic planning. It constituted a comprehensive roadmap designed to generate imaginative thinking, risk- taking, and new forms of internal and external collaboration, including across our New York City home. The framework was based on six interconnected strategic priorities. Five represent identified areas in which the University sought to achieve its mission more effectively. The sixth represented the institutional underpinnings necessary to achieve the other five priorities:

1. Contemporary Teaching and Learning Infused with Ethics and Justice;
2. Strategically Focused Research;
3. A Diverse and Inclusive Community;
4. A Global Perspective;
5. he Inspiration and Challenge of New York City; and
6. A Strategic and Agile Institution.

Each college and graduate/professional school, as well as several administrative units, also established its own strategic plan and vision, and annual reporting across all units was redesigned to reinforce and reflect the University’s CUSP goals. And, as noted above, the CUSP process continues to inform Fordham’s more recent strategic planning, including the launch of its current framework, Educating for Justice (see details and link above).

In the area of establishing the supports needed to advance our mission and goals, in 2019, Fordham completed Faith & Hope | The Campaign for Financial Aid, which raised $175 million in support of scholarships. Fordham’s current Cura Personalis Campaign honors each student’s dignity and centers on four mission-inspired pillars (access and affordability; academic excellence; student wellness and success; and athletics), each of which incorporates the goal of fostering greater diversity, equity, and inclusion at Fordham. This campaign is designed to create and strengthen a coherent student experience that encompasses the entire self and the entire University.

Fordham has also undertaken a number of institutional initiatives designed to innovate how the institution delivers on its mission and goals. These include the Reimagining Higher Education project, which sought to ready faculty, staff, students, and community members to discover and invent how to prepare students for a world in flux; and the Reimagining the function and Structure of Arts and Sciences at Fordham project, which examined how to create more effective alignment within and across the Arts and Sciences to excite and support teaching, learning, professional development, research, and public engagement by faculty and students. Fordham is currently advancing key transformations in teaching, research, and learning: a visioning committee for a proposed Center for Educational Innovation; a Core Curriculum Revision process, which we believe will educate students as global citizens and transformative leaders for justics in the innovation age; and a Task Force on Interdisciplinary Culture and Structures which endeavors to enable faculty to learn about new topics, disciplines, or methods; support interdisciplinary scholarship; encourage creativity; and create opportunities to interact and build connections with faculty members working in disciplines other than their own.

These efforts have been complemented by new growth in academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate/professional levels across all schools and campuses; a redesigned Center for Community Engaged Learning; select graduate/professional school online programs, including some in partnership with 2U; the establishment of an entirely new undergraduate advising model and Fordham Hub; new approaches to undergraduate and graduate admissions that include experimenting with test-optional admissions; a new academic rating system that is positively correlated with retention; and holistic review of applicants. The University’s Retention Task Force has worked to coordinate efforts in how Fordham ensures it cultivates a stronger sense of community and belonging, especially among first-generation, international, and BIPOC student populations.

In the area of strengthening Fordham as a High Research Activity institution, the University completely transformed and expanded its support of faculty research by creating a standalone Office of Research led by a VP-level chief research officer. And, in recognition of the dignity and worth of instructional staff who are critical partners in delivering Fordham’s curriculum, the University entered into collective bargaining agreements with lecturers and adjunct faculty.

The institutional improvements elaborated above would not be possible without visionary leadership. Fordham has experienced a number of key changes in leadership at the highest levels since 2016, foremost among them the appointment in 2022 of its first lay President, Tania Tetlow, and its Provost, Dennis C. Jacobs, who joined the institution in 2019. Among its 10 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, six are under the leadership of new Deans. Following the 2016 reaccreditation, Fordham appointed its first Chief Diversity Officer. It also appointed a new VP of Human Resources, who has transformed and professionalized this area, especially in connection with policy development and institutional equity and compliance. Fordham has a new Chief Information Officer as well, and Fordham’s Provost and undergraduate Deans formed an Undergraduate Studies Council to better ensure that student needs are integrated into the academic planning process.

As noted above, Fordham’s current and immediate past capital campaigns have centered on reimagining and strengthening the student experience in alignment with Fordham’s mission and goals. This includes continuing to provide equitable access to a Fordham education regardless of financial need, and to catalyze each student’s growth and potential. The newly built/expanded Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center provides spaces and services to students in areas such as the Career Center, Campus Ministry, and Student Life. The University has also taken steps designed specifically to strengthen belonging and inclusivity, through initiatives such as the University Task Force on Retention; the appointment of undergraduate Student Success Deans; the establishment of a new advising system for undergraduate colleges, and the establishment of the First-Gen Network, which fosters valuable connection points for students who may arrive at the University less familiar with college life–and college opportunities. Fordham has also sought to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging goals through initiatives such as Teaching Race Across the Curriculum, which supports the adoption of antiracist teaching practices at the disciplinary, department, and programmatic levels. Fordham Law School’s Center on Race, Law and Justice, which engages the legal profession to generate insights and solutions that address systemic racial discrimination, established the Increasing Diversity in Education and the Law (IDEAL) program, which provides support and training in the legal profession for underrepresented students in the New York City area. Fordham is also a UN PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Champion institution, introducing business students to an education that promotes sustainability and purpose.

Fordham has committed significant resources to ensure its physical plant and technology keep pace with the rapidly changing higher education and graduate/professional education landscape. This includes the new/expanded McShane Campus Center at the Rose Hill campus; a Learning Commons partnership between Fordham Libraries and the Office of Information Technology featuring the Learning and Innovation Technology Environment (LITE) space; a Social Innovation Collaboratory space, as well as Fordham Foundry locations, at both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses; refurbished dormitory space and athletic and gym facilities; upgraded campus Wi-Fi and classroom instructional technology; increased digital access to academic resources; and a new psychology clinic serving the greater Bronx community. Fordham successfully completed the building of a new law school, welcome space, and undergraduate dormitory at the Lincoln Center campus, as well as multi-million dollar renovations to science labs and new cybersecurity and data science research and learning facilities. Fordham has also been recognized for its commitment to building “green,” and several buildings on campus have achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, including the installation of electric car charging stations in its Rose Hill campus parking garage. In addition, Fordham opened the new London Center campus in 2018, located in Clerkenwell District, Borough of Camden. This multi-story building features classrooms, a student lounge, and roof terrace, and offers academic courses in business and the liberal arts, as well as a robust internship program.

Finally, Fordham’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic bears noting here, both in terms of the changes it necessitated and the accomplishments it forged across the University. Close monitoring by University leadership of public health developments in early 2020 led Fordham to make the decision to close all of its campuses during the week of March 9. Schools, departments, units, and offices across campus immediately put their respective business continuity plans into action, and the vast majority of operations of the University shifted online almost overnight.

All areas of the University reimagined their operations. The Office of Information Technology immediately launched free Wi-Fi hotspots and laptop distribution for students, faculty, and staff. Support units including Counseling and Psychological Services, Disability Services, Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, Student Life, Campus Ministry, University Libraries, Health Services, Human Resources, and others launched programs designed to meet students and staff where they were at that moment, to support them in as many ways as possible. Emergency funding was made available to students to keep them housed and food secure, including international students–many of whom were prohibited by travel bans from returning to their countries of origin. The University undertook a significant number of policy and practice changes, many based on emergency measures adopted by the NY State Education Department, to allow students to complete their degrees successfully during the pandemic, and innovative adjustments were made for faculty to mitigate challenges to successful reappointment, tenure, and promotion.

Within weeks, the Provost, Deans, and faculty had reached agreement on a flexible-hybrid teaching and learning model, which was then implemented fully through school-based committees through summer of 2020. This model, bolstered by significant online instructional technology investments, was utilized throughout the entire 2020-2021 academic year. As the pandemic began to ease and vaccinations became more readily available, Fordham reopened its campuses to full-time, in- person instruction in fall 2021, taking all New York City, New York State, and federally mandated precautions to keep faculty, students, and staff safe and healthy.

Fordham faces an especially difficult question with regard to cost. Tuition prices sit at historical highs at the same time as students and families are grappling with high inflation, less disposable income, and a spike in rates for borrowing money (including for student loans). The University is highly tuition dependent, rendering it incredibly sensitive budgetarily to fluctuations in enrollment and environmental pressures. Meanwhile, attacks on the value of a college degree, alongside the emergence of no-cost and lower-cost or fully online educational alternatives to both undergraduate and graduate degrees, are threatening traditional program delivery, recruitment, and retention. Platforms such as EdX, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy use their large online advertising budgets and ties to prestigious institutions such as MIT and UC-Berkeley to intensively market alternative credentials (badges, certificates) and enrichment coursework, which are proving to be an attractive alternative to degree programs, resulting in potentially lower demand for traditional learning experiences.

Fordham faces several interconnected challenges common to higher education but heightened by the high cost of operating in New York City. Offering students an outstanding and affordable education lies at the core of Fordham’s mission. While the vibrancy, opportunity, and resources of the city draw students and faculty, the high cost of living and operating here can be an impediment to recruitment and retention. The University addresses this challenge by carefully stewarding resources and providing financial aid to the many students who need it. That need has increased over time, resulting in a discount rate of 49.2% for the incoming undergraduate class of 2022, up from 43.7% in 2012 but consistently 2% to 4% lower than that of other private, nonprofit colleges and universities (NACUBO). In 2021-2022, Fordham met approximately 72% of the demonstrated need of its incoming undergraduates. Students rely on loans to meet their remaining need. In the graduating class of 2021, 54% had some loan debt; the average total debt approached $35,000. Like many universities, Fordham anticipates increasing enrollment pressure in the next decade. Nationally, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds is projected to decline significantly over the next decade,1 increasing competition for students across institutions. Fordham enrolls substantial proportions of its undergraduate (58% in fall 2022) and graduate student (71%) cohorts from the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), part of a region expected to see some of the largest declines in traditional college-aged students. In anticipation, for several years, Fordham has been adapting its admissions strategies. The University has sought to increase the geographic diversity of its student body, especially recruiting students from the South and West, in a strategy that both reduces reliance on the declining number of students in the Northeast and enriches the student population with greater diversity of experience.

The University has also taken steps to reduce real and perceived obstacles that inhibit applications from and enrollment of first-generation college students and students from low-income families. In addition to offering fee waivers to low-income applicants, the University further reduced the cost of applying to Fordham by allowing applicants to self-report standardized test scores during the application process. Students are required to submit official documentation of their test scores only upon matriculation. This policy took effect in tandem with the adoption of test-optional admissions opportunities. Beginning with the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, students have been able to choose whether to submit standardized test results for consideration in the application process. To ensure admission of students with strong academic preparation, discipline, and drive, admissions and enrollment management staff developed new rubrics for assessing the applicant’s high school curriculum and achievement. The University has continued this test-optional policy, at least temporarily, while assessing the academic progress and success of students admitted under it. The University expects that these changes will open a Fordham education to students who may not have considered enrolling in a private, nonprofit institution.

Fordham boasts highly regarded law, business, and doctoral programs that draw students from across the country and internationally. Nonetheless, like the undergraduate colleges, Fordham’s professional and career-oriented graduate programs have typically attracted students from the tri- state area. These programs face increasing competition for students who can pursue their graduate education via a proliferating number of online degree programs which often offer lower tuition costs. To maintain graduate enrollments, some programs have added online or hybrid options in order to reach students who cannot or prefer not to attend courses on our New York City campuses.

1 Grawe, Nathan, Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education, first ed. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018).

Like many graduate and professional schools that have relied on China or India as a source for graduate students, Fordham has seen a marked decrease in the number of Chinese students who seek to pursue a graduate degree in the United States. For example, at the Gabelli School of Business, by 2019, the number of Chinese applicants was 11 percent lower than it had been in 2015. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has also experienced a decline in international student applications to select programs, especially those hailing from China, South Korea, and India. These circumstances represent a threat to enrollment and revenue.

Undergraduate and graduate education are witnessing a proliferation of online degree-granting programs that may have a much lower price tag and less stringent admissions standards than the brick-and-mortar counterparts at the same institution. Some schools are offering degrees with fewer credits than are typically associated with those programs that can be completed in shorter time periods, and even offer credit for existing work or life experience. In addition, some prestigious institutions have not only expanded into the online space, but have also expanded their physical footprint with satellite programs in urban locations across the globe, including in New York City. The competition presented by this mix of factors has put additional pressure on the University’s graduate and professional schools in particular. It also fundamentally shifts what the term “peer and aspirant” institutions means for universities, including Fordham, as what used to be understood as local or regional markets are no longer geographically fixed, given the growing range of learning options students have.

Fordham has made important strides over the past several years in creating and supporting a more diverse faculty, student, and staff environment. University-wide, the percentage of students of color increased by 12 percentage points, from 28% in fall 2013 to 40% in fall 2022, primarily as a result of increases in the racial and ethnic diversity of undergraduate students. At the graduate level, the percentage of students of color increased by 10 percentage points, from 25% to 35% over the same period.

Fordham is committed to the success of all of its students. At the undergraduate level, for first- time, full-time students entering from fall 2014 to fall 2021, overall second-year retention has ranged between 87% and 91%, with an average around 89%. Retention rates have been down slightly in recent years overall; however, Fordham’s retention of students of color generally and students from underrepresented minority (URM) groups more specifically has remained steady over that time period. Nonetheless, students of color and international students have had lower six-year graduation rates (80% and 75%, respectively, for the fall 2014–2016 cohorts) than white/unreported students (86%), with more students of color (7%) and international students (8%) than white/unreported students (3%) graduating in their fifth and sixth years. The enrollment of increasingly diverse students presents an opportunity for the University, and ensuring their success presents a challenge that Fordham is committed to meeting as essential to its mission.

Efforts to recruit a staff that reflects the diversity of the regional population have been somewhat successful. As of fall 2021, the most recent period for which comparison data is available, 40% of Fordham’s administration and staff identified as persons of color in a region in which 43% of adults do so. Fordham has also increased the representation of persons of color in its full-time instructional staff; 27% of both tenure-line and non-tenure line faculty identify as persons of color, although retaining those faculty remains a challenge.

However, we can, and must, do more. As mentioned earlier, Fordham’s DEI Action Plan pledges to address racism and educate for justice by:

• developing robust admissions strategies for the effective recruitment of students of color;
• recruiting and retaining a more diverse faculty, administration, and staff;
• developing curricular and co-curricular initiatives that support the imperative of confronting racism and educating for justice;
• creating a more welcoming and affirming campus;
• building lasting relationships with our neighbors (especially in the Bronx and Lincoln Square communities); and
• amplifying our voice in educating for justice beyond the campus.

Although Fordham has a long history of engaging with unionized employees (for instance, maintenance and clerical workers), in fall 2017, Fordham’s full-time and part-time non-tenure line instructional staff in many of the schools voted to unionize. The first collective bargaining agreement was signed in the summer of 2018. In addition to increasing compensation and providing more job security for long-serving instructors, the agreement also (among other things) established a system for evaluating classroom performance and providing pathways to promotion for excellent teachers. A second contract was agreed upon in January 2023. In spring 2022, graduate student workers in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) voted to unionize, with stipend rates and benefits being among the most significant issues. Negotiations on a first contract began in fall 2022. Undergraduate Resident Assistants also voted to unionize in spring 2023. Fordham employees live and work in a high-cost region of the country; balancing their very real needs with the fiscal constraints faced by the University, with its dependence on tuition revenue for funding its operation, constitutes a significant challenge.

Nationwide, in 2020, 34% of bachelor’s degrees and 33% of master’s degrees were in the natural and applied sciences. At Fordham, those numbers were 13% and 6%, respectively. Fordham faces headwinds in attracting top students who are interested in STEM fields. These are areas in which employment growth is growing most rapidly and where there are the largest opportunities for federal and state research funding. Although Fordham has strong faculty in some areas of STEM, most of its facilities are outdated and its portfolio of programs does not take full advantage of growth opportunities in this area. Educating for Justice recognized the need to prioritize investment in the sciences and the Provost, in 2021, put together a Visioning Committee to guide in this work. Key features of the strategy include: (1) advancing signature academic programs; (2) promoting research and leveraging partnerships; (3) developing a stellar team of science faculty; (4) enhancing facilities and infrastructure; (5) building inclusive and integrated STEM communities; and (6) launching a new science honors program. Developing state-of-the-art facilities is a long-term project–one requiring careful planning and resource mobilization. Ultimately, it will be the quality and distinctiveness of the programs that will matter most, and in this, Fordham can capitalize on its Jesuit mission and New York City location.