Fordham University            The Jesuit University of New York
 


 


History
Fordham University is an independent university in the Jesuit tradition. It was established in 1841 as St. John's College by the Right Rev. John Hughes, Coadjutor-Bishop (later Archbishop) of New York, on old Rose Hill Manor in the village of Fordham, then part of Westchester County. The name Fordham is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words "ford" and "ham," meaning a wading place or ford by a settlement. Rose Hill is the name given to the site in 1787 by Robert Watts, a wealthy New York merchant, in honor of his family's ancestral home of the same name in Scotland. The College, which opened with a student body of six, was originally staffed by diocesan clergy. In 1846, the year the New York State Legislature granted the School a charter, Bishop Hughes recruited five Jesuits from St. Mary's College in Kentucky and other communities, and the Society of Jesus then assumed the administration of the College. The name was officially changed to Fordham University in 1907. In 1969 the board of trustees was reorganized to include a majority of non-clergy members.

  President
The Reverend Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

   Enrollment (Fall 2007)
Fordham's 10 schools enroll 14,448 students. There are 7,652 undergraduates, of whom 3,842 live in University-managed housing either on-campus or in the local community. The entering class includes 1,784 traditional full-time freshmen.

   Campuses 
Fordham has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a commuter campus in Westchester, and the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y.

Rose Hill, the original campus, adjacent to Little Italy, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden, is situated on 85 acres in the Bronx. 6,527 undergraduates and graduates attend, with 3,142 in residence. It is the site of:
School/Established
 Enrollment Fall 2007
Fordham College at Rose Hill (1841)  3,352
College of Business Administration (1920)  1,931
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1916)  746
Fordham College of Liberal Studies (1944)  294
Graduate School of Religion & Religious Education (1969) 204
The Lincoln Center Campus was established in 1961 on seven landscaped acres adjacent to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  7,921 professional and undergraduate students attend, with 938 in residence in apartment-style housing. It is the site of:
School/Established Enrollment
Fall 2007
Fordham College at Lincoln Center (1968)  1,767
School of Law (1905) 1,639
Graduate School of Business Administration (1969) 1,473
Graduate School of Education (1916) 1,282
Graduate School of Social Service (1916) 1,452
Fordham College of Liberal Studies (1954) 308
The Westchester campus houses branches of Fordham's graduate schools of education, social service and business administration, as well as a branch of Fordham College of Liberal Studies, with a Fall 2007 enrollment of 243.

 The Louis J. Calder Center Biological Field Station at Armonk, NY, is a 114-acre field station with a 10-acre lake and laboratories.

   Demographics 
(All Undergraduates, Fall 2007)
Men 43%   Women 57%
Minorities 24.6%: African American, 5.6%; Hispanic, 12.3%; Asian, 6.4%; American Indian/Alaskan, 0.3%
Geographical origins: 48 states, DC, PR, Guam, The Virgin Islands and 58 countries.

   Alumni (Fall 2007)
Fordham University has 113,686 reachable alumni.
   Degrees Conferred
 (2006-2007)
4,238
Doctor of Philosophy
102
Doctor of Education
14
Juris Doctor
495
Master of Arts/Science/Education/Law/Philosophy
875
Master of Business Administration
453
Master of Social Work
558
Graduate Certificate or Professional Diploma
71
Bachelor of Arts/Science
1,670

   Faculty
Full-time Instructors (Fall 2006): 667
Men 60%; Women 40%; Minorities 16%
Tenured Faculty: 376
Men 66%; Women 34%; Minorities 12%


More than 96 percent of faculty hold the Ph.D. or other terminal degree.
Student/faculty ratio
: 11.9:1
Average class size
: 22
Jesuits at Fordham: 35
Jesuits among faculty: 21
Jesuits in University administration: 14


   Libraries  (Fall 2007)
The Fordham University libraries contain more than 2.2 million volumes and have access to 373,807 print and electronic titles online. Fordham's main library is the William D. Walsh Family Library at Rose Hill. Branches are the Gerald R. Quinn Library at Lincoln Center and the Gloria Gaines Memorial Library in Westchester. The Law Library is at Lincoln Center.

   Tuition 2007-2008
Undergraduate: $31,800 (for most programs).

Graduate schools: $625 to $995 per credit.
Law (Full-Time) :  $38,900

   Finances FY 2007, in thousands
Operating revenues: $384,066;
Operating expenses:
$347,775;
Endowment and other investments: $513,303.

   Physical Plant FY 2006
Insured replacement value of building and grounds is roughly $909 million.

   Carnegie Classification
Research University (High Research Activity).  This classification is based on number of doctoral degrees awarded, research expenditures, and numbers of research staff.   Fordham is one of about 277 universities in the US that is classified as a research university.

 

   Mascot
The Ram
.  

   University Colors
Fordham's traditional colors are maroon and white.

   Varsity Sports
With 22 men's and women's varsity sports teams, the Fordham Rams are members of the NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic-10 conference in all sports except football (Patriot League, NCAA I-AA).

Produced by Development and University Relations, Office of Marketing and Communications 10/07       © Fordham University, 2007

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