Eleven Fordham employees were presented the 1841 Award, which honors 20 or more years of service to the University, at a ceremony in Duane Library on the Rose Hill campus in December. The honorees, accompanied by family, former 1841 Award recipients and coworkers, were given the medals by Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and lauded by their individual department heads.
Father McShane told the audience that as Fordham celebrated the Feast of St. Lucy, the bringer of light, the 1841 medalists brought their own illumination to the University. “You are all bearers of light, and bringers of warmth into the University family,” he said. “These quiet, unassuming women and men who never seek the spotlight for themselves—today is their day and we insist on shining a spotlight on them.”
The 1841 Award was established in 1982 by former president James C. Finlay, S.J., in honor of the year Fordham was founded by Archbishop John Hughes.
By Brian Kluepfel