|
If Matt Nusbaum’s path to Fordham was a roundabout one, he is now making up for lost time. This year Nusbaum, 32, will receive his B.A. in political science from Fordham College of Liberal Studies while completing his first year at Fordham School of Law.
 |
| Matt Nusbaum |
A participant in the University’s 3-3 program, which allows qualified seniors to begin law school while completing their remaining undergraduate requirements, Nusbaum arrived at Fordham after working for seven years as a computer programmer, conducting data analysis for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a corporate law firm in Manhattan. The Kansas native “did a tour of three schools,” he said, before moving to New York with his then-fiancée (now wife, Stacia Decker), who was pursuing an M.F.A. at Columbia.
Working at the firm got him interested in the law, but Nusbaum needed that elusive undergraduate degree first. By the time he signed up for night classes at Fordham College of Liberal Studies, he was ready.
“Fordham’s approach to education, the importance of education, is in line with my worldview,” said Nusbaum, who comes from a family of educators. “It’s the key to everything, the way to have a better life and be a better person.”
For more than two years, he toiled away at evening classes and at the law firm during the day. It didn’t leave room for much besides walking the family pug in their Washington Heights neighborhood. Even his short commute on the A train was (and still is) spent with his nose buried in a textbook. Nusbaum happened upon the 3-3 program almost by accident, while reviewing the Law School literature.
“After two-and-a-half years, the idea of being able to knock a year off classes and tuition was just a blessing,” he said.
Nusbaum’s colleagues were all in favor of it, even though it meant quitting his job.
The 3-3 program is not for everyone, said Susan Abrams Beck, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, and Nusbaum’s pre-law adviser. Only the most exceptional and hard-working students can make the cut, and here, Nusbaum’s age and real-world experience probably helped him.
“He clearly is one of those wonderful people who found their place,” said Beck. “And he (has) really excelled at Fordham.”
Nusbaum credits his wife, especially, for encouraging him.
“I wouldn’t be able to do this without her, that’s for sure,” he said of Stacia, now an associate editor at Harcourt. “She’s doing what she wants to do and she wants me to find that too.”
Right now, Nusbaum said, that might be family law: working with battered spouses, children in custody cases, restraining orders. He hopes to participate in a pro bono law clinic after his second year, which will give him some real-world legal experience.
|
