Funding Initiative: The Diversity Fund

Established by Fordham Trustee Valerie Rainford, the Diversity Fund is a current-use fund that fosters greater diversity among the student body at Fordham by providing financial support to students of color and those from first-generation or lower-income backgrounds. It was created in early 2021 to ease the burdens of student loans and part-time work that disproportionately affect Black and Latinx students. The fund provides “last-dollar” aid that closes the final financial gap for students, helping them not only enroll but also take advantage of on-campus housing and other opportunities.

Uses of the Diversity Fund include the following:

Financial aid
Housing funds
Study abroad

Give Now to Support Diversity at Fordham

Interested in endowing funds, naming opportunities, or have other questions? Please contact Michael Boyd, senior associate vice president of development and university relations, at 212-636-6525 or mboyd7@fordham.edu.

Supporting Diversity at Fordham

Tribute: Dr. Susan Love, Trailblazing Surgeon and Author of the ‘Breast Book’

As a young surgeon in the 1980s, Dr. Susan Love bucked tradition when it came to treating patients with breast cancer. Instead of automatically settling on the typical “slash, burn, and poison” approach of mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy, she favored methods that preserved as much breast tissue as possible. “It became very clear to me, …

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From India to NYC: Business Student Om Bhosale Is ‘Living His Dream’

Om Bhosale had never been to New York City—or anywhere in the United States—until he started at Fordham last year. “I was very nervous when I was coming here—halfway through the flight, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m really going,’” said Bhosale, an international student from India who is now a sophomore in the …

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Fordham Celebrates its Diverse Community at Interfaith Prayer Ceremony

The University community celebrated each other’s cultures and religions at an interfaith prayer ceremony and picnic held at the Lincoln Center campus on Sept. 14. “Today we celebrate the glorious variety of religious traditions in this world and the variety within each of those traditions—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity, which only begin to scratch …

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Fordham to Offer New Islamic Studies Minor This Fall

Beginning this fall, students will have the opportunity to minor in Islamic studies, allowing them to explore the religion, culture, and history of one of the world’s largest religions. The minor will be available at both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill. “We would like to bring students into the Islamic world and introduce them to …

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One Year in, an International Student Reflects on Life at Fordham

One year ago, Preeti Lamba moved from her hometown in New Delhi, India, to Fordham College at Lincoln Center, with the help of Global Transition, a program that helps international students adjust to life in the U.S. Lamba, now a sophomore, has returned to Global Transition—this time, as a mentor who helps new international students …

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From Across the Globe to the Big Apple: First-Year International Students Arrive at Fordham

Fordham welcomed its first-year international students through Global Transition, a program that helps new international students adjust to life in their new home. They arrived on campus on Aug. 23, and spent four days learning the ropes of Fordham and New York City through icebreakers, tours, scavenger hunts, and excursions, including trips to the Top …

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NFL Network Anchor Mike Yam Embraces a New Medium with Children’s Book

Football fans already recognize Mike Yam’s skill as a storyteller, but this season he’ll have a whole new audience: young readers. The NFL Network and SiriusXM sportscaster, a 2003 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill and an alumnus of WFUV, Fordham’s public media station, has released a picture book celebrating intercultural identity and cuisine. …

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Asian American Studies Minor Launches at Fordham

Fordham students will be able to minor in Asian American studies beginning this fall. The new minor will provide an interdisciplinary understanding of Asian American people and other members of the Asian diaspora, as well as a focus on Asian culture and history. The minor is part of Fordham’s new Asian American studies program, which …

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Fordham LGBTQ+ Student Wellness Fund Attracts Strong Support

In April, when Fordham hosted the Ignatian Q conference, attended by students from Fordham and 13 other Jesuit colleges and universities, it was a joyous occasion for the University’s LGBTQ+ community. With its focus on activism, spirituality, and justice, it “breathed life into the conversation around LGBT life on campus,” said one student organizer, Ben …

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First-Gen Graduate Earns Critical Language Scholarship to Study Arabic in Morocco

Naimal Chisti, FCLC ’23, a graduate of Fordham’s humanitarian studies and political science programs and a member of the Higher Education Opportunity Program, will study intermediate Arabic in Meknes, Morocco, this summer as a recipient of the selective Critical Language Scholarship. The Critical Language Scholarship Program, run by the U.S. Department of State, provides intensive …

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Students Immerse Themselves in ‘Religion in NYC’

From joining an LGBTQ Ramadan celebration to helping migrants at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church, Fordham students in the Religion in NYC course got a hands-on education in the work of New York’s faith communities. Karina Hogan, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, said her goal for the course was to help students …

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