An update on Fordham’s efforts to carry out the University’s action plan, Addressing Racism, Educating for Justice.

ENROLLMENT
GOAL: Develop Robust Admissions Strategies for Effective Recruitment of Students of Color to Fordham.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission continues to center diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of our admission and recruitment practices. By design, we are projecting to enroll a smaller entering class this fall of between 2400-2500. As of mid-May, we were able to increase the percentage of domestic students of color in the class from 43% to 46%. Additionally, international students increased from 7% to 9%.

Asian-identifying students increased to 16% of this fall’s incoming class from 14% last year.
Black-identifying students stand at 5% for the class of 2026 versus 7% for the class of 2025.
Hispanic/Latinx-identifying students increased to 20% of the incoming class this year compared to 18% last year.
The percentage of students identifying as more than one race increased to 5% this year compared to 4% last year.

To assist in the recruitment of such a talented group of students, the Office of Undergraduate Admission also continued participation in the National Recognition Program Scholarship program. These full tuition scholarships included the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP), the National African American Recognition Program (NAARP), and for the first time, the National Indigenous Recognition Program (NIRP). For fall 2022:

184 NAARP Scholarships were awarded with 38 students enrolling;
281 NHRP Scholarships were awarded with 62 students enrolling;
19 NIRP Scholarships were awarded with 5 of those students enrolling.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission also offered programming specifically for admitted students of color. Sessions involved students, faculty, and administrators from various departments including the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Three events were held virtually on the topics of Finding Your Community, Academic Life, and Student Services. More than 200 students attended these events with 52% of those students enrolling. For the first time, two in-person Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging sessions were also held at Spring Preview. These in-person events featured a panel discussion with audience participation followed by a reception. Approximately 75 students and families attended at the Lincoln Center campus, and approximately 100 did so at the Rose Hill campus.

Fordham News

HIRING
GOAL: Recruit and Retain a More Diverse Faculty, Administration, and Staff.

In support of the chief diversity officer’s equity advisor initiative, Human Resources is sponsoring fellowships for employees to complete the Advanced Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School.

Fordham News

Convocation Celebrates Longtime Faculty and Staff

CURRICULUM
GOAL: Develop Curricular and Co-curricular Initiatives That Support the Imperative of Confronting Racism and Educating for Justice.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer completed a review of twenty-five Teaching Race Across the Curriculum (TRAC) Grant proposals for AY 2022 -2023, ultimately funding eighteen of them, primarily in the School of Arts & Sciences, with grants also awarded to faculty in the Gabelli School of Business, and the Graduate School of Education. Seven of the grants will fund the continuation of current TRAC Grant projects that demonstrate special potential for sustainable impact.

Arts & Sciences DEI Events

An Uneasy Embrace: Africa, India and the Spectre of Race | March 9 | Lincoln Center
Decolonizing Anthropology presents Queer Fractals: Making Histories of Repair in Modern Jamaica | March 9 | Lincoln Center
“I Wonder as I Wander”: AfroFrench Visuality and Black Spatiality in Contemporary France | March 10 | Zoom
Reckoning with Slavery: Gender, Kinship, and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic | March 10 | 12 p.m. | Zoom
Why Health Professions Need Fordham Students with Health Conditions and Disabilities | March 21 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | Zoom
Black Studies and Jewish Studies in Conversation: Bryan Roby, Blackness in Motion: The Centrality of Black Thought for Afro-Asian Jewry in Israel | March 22 | Zoom
Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present | March 24 | Zoom
The Racial Projects of “Latinx”: Lessons from Centring Artivisms and The Economies of Culture | March 28 | Lincoln Center
What Would Ignatius Tweet? Jesuit Education, Political Polarization, and Today’s Controversies | March 28 | Zoom
Shirley Geok-lin Lim Poetry Reading and Book Launch | March 28 | Zoom
Distinguished Lecture on Disability – Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness | April 4| Zoom
Sociology Anthropology Colloquium – Locating Racial Equity in Institutions’ of Higher Education Plans and Partnerships: The Case of the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative (ILEA) | April 6 | Zoom
Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present | April 7 | | Zoom
A Seminar of Digital Intimacies | April 7 | Lincoln Center
The Study of Human Life: An Evening of Poetry and Prose with Professor and Artist Joshua Bennett | April 12 | Lincoln Center
The MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0: “You Can’t Take My Language From Me” Roundtable | April 13 | Zoom
Project FRESH Air Update | April 13 | Zoom
The 3rd Annual Margaret Mead Lecture | April 21 | Zoom
Book Talk: Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire | April 22 | Zoom
Reid Writers of Color Series Presents: Renee Gladman | April 25 | Lincoln Center
MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0 Roundtable: Linguistic Terrorism | April 27 | Zoom
The Decolonizing Anthropology Project presents Diaspora on Trial: Obeah in the Americas | April 27 | Lincoln Center
MLL Vocab Diversity Initiative 2.0 – Workshop on Bilingual Activism in Public Education: Creating an Action Plan & Design a Roadmap | April 28 | Zoom
Melting Pots of Various Sizes: Jewish and Catholic Approaches to Americanization | May 4 | Zoom

Fordham News

CAMPUS LIFE
GOAL: Create a More Welcoming and Affirming Campus.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer hosted a virtual convening of faculty of color and allies on Wednesday, May 18, to plan gatherings and activities for the 2022-2023 academic year.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer continues to partner with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council to build Fordham’s DEI data infrastructure, focusing on student access, retention and success.

Fordham News]

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
GOAL: Build Lasting Partnerships With Our Neighbors
GOAL: Amplify our Voice in Educating for Justice Beyond the Campus

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer co-sponsored the Bronx Summit 2022: All the Way Up, led by FCRH alumnus, Kevin Brooks, on Friday, May 13. The summit was held at the Andrew Freeman Home on the Grand Concourse, and was the culminating event of the borough’s Bronx Week 2022 Celebration.

Fordham News