Longtime Faculty, Administrators and Staff Honored

Faculty, administrators and staff with a combined 1,170 years of service to Fordham University were feted at the annual University Convocation on Sunday, March 4, in Pope Auditorium at the Lincoln Center campus.

In all, 48 faculty members, administrators and staff were recognized for their distinguished service. The awards included the Bene Merenti Medal, the Archbishop Hughes Medal and the Sursum Corda Award. The Bene Merenti Medal honors faculty members who have been with the University for 20 or 40 years. The Archbishop Hughes Medal recognizes members of the administrative staff. The Sursum Corda Award is the University’s newest honor, established in 2005 by Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and is bestowed upon members of the staff who have made outstanding contributions to the life and mission of the University.

Father McShane told the gathering that this year’s convocation was particularly special because it included two firsts. It was the first time in Fordham’s history that it had awarded a Bene Merenti Medal to a faculty member, Bernard Gilligan, Ph.D., with 60 years of service, and the event marked the first time a Jesuit university had bestowed the award on a cardinal, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., for 20 years of service.

“If you look at the list of men and women who we honor this afternoon, you will I am sure be struck by the fact that it reads like a litany of saints,” Father McShane told the gathering. “And so it is. And like many litany of saints, it contains the names of women and men who are remarkably diverse in talent and who have used those talents to enrich the lives of their students and our ministry. … In spite their differences, differences in interests, talents and personalities, they all share a passion for Fordham, to the apostolic mission that it has pursued for over a century and a half: the education of women and men who will use their talents that they have discovered in the course of their time at the University to serve and transform our world.”

Bene Merenti Medal (60-year award)

Bernard Gilligan, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor, College at 60

Bene Merenti Medal (40-year award)

Thomas F. Cloonan, Marymount Professor of Psychology
Richard Giannone, Professor of English
Charles A. Hallett, Professor of English
Martin Hegyi, S.J., Associate Professor Emeritus of Biology
Monica Kevin, O.S.U., Retired Faculty Counselor and Associate Professor Emerita of Biology
George W. Shea, Professor of Classics
Leonard P. Stocker, O.M.I., Associate Professor Emeritus of Education
James D. Weaver, Professor of Political Science

Bene Merenti Medal (20-year award)

Marc M. Arkin, Professor of Law
Susan Berger, Associate Professor of Political Science
Paul A. Cimbala, Professor of History
Mark A. Conrad, Associate Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies and Area Chair of Legal and Ethical Studies
Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé, Associate Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society
John D. Finnerty, Professor of Finance and Director of the Master of Science Degree Program in Quantitative Finance
Nicholas C. Georgantzas, Professor of Management Systems and Director of the System Dynamics Consultancy
Bruce A. Green, Louis Stein Professor of Law
Irene A. Gutheil, Henry C. Ravazzin Professor of Gerontology
Quamrul Haider, Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics
Abigail Marion Harris, Associate Professor of Education
Kathryn Moore Heleniak, Professor of Art History
Barbara Loomis Jackson, Professor of Education
William J. Latzko, Adjunct Professor of Management Systems
Dean Leistikow, Professor of Finance
Mark Stephen Massa, S.J., Karl Rahner Professor of Theology
John J. McMahon, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Ian Morrison, Professor of Mathematics
Harry P. Nasuti, Professor of Theology and Director of the Fordham College at Rose Hill Honors Program
Walter F. O’Connor, Professor of Accounting and Taxation
Joseph G. Ponterotto, Professor of Education
Donna M. Rapaccioli, Dean of the College of Business Administration and Associate Professor of Accounting
Beth G. Schwartz, Associate Clinical Professor of Law
Leon G. Shilton, Professor of Finance
Tadeusz Strzemecki, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Sciences

Archbishop Hughes Medal (20-year award)

Rita O. Arno, Director of Development Operations, Marymount College
Janice E. Greer, Reference Librarian, Fordham Law School
Kira Haimovsky, Head of Serials and Electronic Resources Department, Walsh Family Library
Patrice Marian Kane, Head of Archives and Special Collections, Walsh Family Library
Michael A. Molina, Director of the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) and the Science and Technology Program (STEP)
Steven Najdzionek, Associate Dean, College of Business Administration
Marianne Reilly, Senior Associate Athletic Director
Dorothy Siegel, Office Manager, Office of the Controller
Charles Singleton, Program Director, WFUV
Donna S. Welensky, Administrator of Clinical Education, Fordham Law School

Sursum Corda Award

Heriberto Burgos, Foreman of Grounds and Transportation, Rose Hill Campus
Carol Murabito, Director of Budget Operations
Margaret Noonan, Business Manager, Fordham University Press