Rose Hill Senior Honored by Major League Baseball and
Jackie Robinson Foundation

Rose Hill senior Chanel Cathey Photo by Janet Sassi

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, all eyes were on Fordham senior Chanel Cathey.

The communications and political science major spent much of the day in front of video cameras when Major League Baseball Productions came to Fordham’s Rose Hill campus to feature Cathey in a three-minute documentary.

The short film, which was shot as part of her honors as a Jackie Robinson Foundation scholar, premiered at the foundation’s annual awards dinner on March 3. Cathey was chosen from a field of 256 other foundation scholars nationwide to be featured at the event, which also will fete legendary record executive Clive Davis and Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas, said Allison J. Davis, the foundation’s director of public relations.

“Chanel was selected unanimously by the foundation and our corporate sponsors,” Davis said. “She epitomizes what the Jackie Robinson Foundation is all about in her scholarship, community service and leadership abilities. It’s amazing that someone so young is so accomplished and generous.”

Cathey is the 2007 recipient of a $10,000 Unilever Legacy of Leadership award through the foundation and is an Xavier Scholar through Fordham’s Campion Institute. While in high school, Cathey co-developed a program to help previously imprisoned teenagers, Our Piece of the Pie (OPP), in her home state of Connecticut.

Cathey serves as a Freshman Advisement Student Assistant (FASA) mentor for incoming students at Fordham College at Rose Hill. She is also president of Women in Communications.

“I’m not surprised that the Jackie Robinson Foundation is honoring Chanel as outstanding even among her fellow Robinson scholars,” said Brennan O’Donnell, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. “She’s an excellent ambassador for the foundation—and for Fordham.”

FordhamCircle Brings Alumni Community Online

At FordhamCircle, the University’s new online social network for alumni, Fordham graduates can link up with old college friends, make professional contacts and find new jobs and apartments.

“It’s all about connecting with people,” said Peggy Pospisil, GSE ’02, director of alumni relations. “Whether you are trying to find a friend from the past, information on alumni clubs or even employment opportunities, this is a dynamic resource, one that will play an important role in future alumni interactions and communications.”

FordhamCircle taps into the popularity of online social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. But unlike those public sites, which are designed to attract a broad base of users, FordhamCircle gives alumni a more exclusive forum for making and maintaining their connections.

The network went live in mid-January. Two weeks later, 530 alumni had joined. Some FordhamCirclers posted links to their blogs, while others put up photo albums. There was a posting in the Global Outreach group seeking alumni to volunteer for a community service project this summer in Puebla, Mexico. In the Red Sox group, a fan asked if anyone knew of a Boston-friendly bar in New York to watch his favorite team. There were also job opportunities posted, including one at Fordham and a slew at Google’s headquarters in California.

“FordhamCircle is like a one-stop shop,” said Amanda Hickey, FCLC ’03, assistant director of alumni relations. “It has everything in one place for alumni.”

For more information about FordhamCircle, visit www.fordham.edu/alumni.

—David McKay Wilson

The New York State Department of Education has given Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo the go ahead for a joint master’s of science program in adolescent education. Barring unforseen changes, 25 students will be taking classes at Fordham and the zoo this summer.

Pat Shea-Bischoff, Ph.D., clinical associate professor in the Graduate School of Education, couldn’t be happier. As coordinator of the adolescent teacher education program at GSE, Shea-Bischoff is developing the curriculum that will give students access to the world-class facilities of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In addition to the Bronx Zoo, the society runs zoos in Central Park, Queens and Brooklyn, as well as the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.

Unusual in its focus on conservation science, the program is expected to attract teachers who want to specialize in science as well as employees of institutions dedicated to wildlife conservation.
“Many of these informal educational institutions are introducing professional development, and they’d like to have certified people on their staffs,” Shea-Bischoff said. “Just yesterday, we approved our first person in the cohort.”

The woman, an employee at a Connecticut aquarium, is a perfect example of a representative from an informal science institution teaming up with a degree-granting institution, Shea-Bischoff said. In addition to a master of science degree in teaching with an emphasis on conservation life science, the 36-credit program will lead to initial New York state teacher certification in adolescent biology for grades 7 through 12.

Unlike some collaborations, classes held at WCS sites will last a full day, Shea-Bischoff noted, adding that the Bronx Zoo, which almost single-handedly saved the American Bison from extinction in 1907, is the best possible lab a biology student could have.

“This is sort of the most famous and important zoo in the world, because it truly is a conservation center,” she said. “The fact that students will be able to a walk around the zoo, have their classes right on site and go behind the scenes is just incredible.”

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