Fordham Celebrates 10 Years of Cosby Certificate Program

Bill Cosby’s daughter Erinn helps Fordham mark the 10-year anniversary of the Young Readers at Risk program at Fordham. Photo by Ken Levinson

When she became a kindergarten teacher two years ago, Julia Stawiski noticed that a few of her students struggled with reading.

“I loved the look on a student’s face when they discovered a book they loved, but I didn’t always know what to expect from five-year-olds developmentally,” she said. “When I couldn’t get through to those who struggled, I felt like I wasn’t being effective.”

Stawiski, a teacher at Public School 48 in New York City, now has the tools to help her young students who struggle with reading and writing, thanks to her participation in the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby certificate program at the Graduate School of Education.

Stawiski and 28 other public school teachers received certificates signifying their completion of the program on Jan. 25 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.

Young Readers at Risk: The Ennis William Cosby Graduate Certificate Program has been a part of Fordham for 10 years. It is a grant-funded initiative of the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation.

The 18-credit full-scholarship program gives kindergarten through third grade teachers new techniques to instruct reading and writing to students with learning differences. Part of the training includes the twice-weekly tutoring of a first grade reader.

“We have learned myriad strategies from each other and expert faculty,” said Claudia Aybar, a teacher at Public School 36M who works with English Language Learner students.

Over the past decade, more than 230 teachers have completed the certificate with little cost to them. Joanna Uhry, Ed.D., professor of literacy education, facilitates the program for Fordham. “The number of teachers trained through this program translates into 30,000 children who have received its benefits,” Uhry said.

The program is dedicated to the memory of comedian Bill Cosby’s son, Ennis. The foundation was established in 1997 to celebrate the life of Ennis Cosby and to help fulfill his educational dreams. Ennis was studying to become the kind of teacher who could reach all children—even those who struggled to learn, Uhry said.

William Cosby, Ph. D., and his wife, Camille Cosby, Ph.D., could not attend the ceremony because they were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Daughters Erinn and Erica Cosby were on hand for the celebration.

“It is important to see all of you are making a difference,” Erica Crosby said. “Sometimes I think, ‘Is it worth it? I’m only one person.’ But then I think, ‘It only takes one teacher to make a difference in a student’s life.’”

Feerick Center Leads Effort to Provide Lawyers for the Poor

In response to growing numbers of people who show up at legal proceedings involving evictions, foreclosures and debt collections without attorneys, New York’s court system has created a new category of lawyer—attorney emeritus—to encourage more lawyers to volunteer their services.

Jonathan Lippman, chief judge of the State of New York and chief judge of the Court of Appeals, said that the change would end the longstanding practice whereby lawyers were required to register with the state as either active or retired.

Lippman credited the idea to Fern Schair, board chair at the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School. Schair noted that because of the economy, even organizations that provide free legal services, such as the Legal Aid Services, are struggling to keep up with the demand.

Lippman told the New York Times that he jumped at the idea when she proposed it last summer.

“I immediately said to her, ‘We’re going to do it,’” he said. “This struck me as a unique opportunity to seize the day.”

Court officials estimate that the number of people who say they cannot afford lawyers has increased from 300,000 in 2005 to 2.1 million annually in 2009. A 2002 statewide survey, meanwhile, found that only about a quarter of all lawyers work more than 20 hours a year on such projects.

Advocate Discusses How Best to House the Homeless

The founder of a housing development group for the city’s homeless called for more government funding of “supportive housing” models to combat homelessness.

“Billions are invested in research and Blue Ribbon commissions,” said Ellen Baxter, director and founder of Broadway Housing Communities (BHC), a not-for-profit housing development group. “And all of the studies confirm the same thing—that emergency shelters are not the solution to homelessness.”

Baxter, who spoke on Jan. 28 at Fordham Law, recounted her exposure in 1979 to homeless women washing in the Grand Central Station bathroom and bedding down there. That inspired Baxter to develop “supportive housing” communities.

For example, BHC’s Dorothy Day apartments serve 70 families who were formerly homeless and facing dire circumstances such as drug addition, mental health issues and extreme poverty. The apartments offer daycare, after school activities, adult education and additional social service support to help give residents a chance at educational and cultural equality.

“The beauty is that now all the children are planning to go to college,” said Baxter. “It has changed the trajectory of their futures.”

Baxter added that BHC’s single housing model cost less in the long run than housing the homeless in the city’s emergency shelters.

Baxter told the audience of law students and faculty that the most comprehensive look at housing the homeless today is the special master panel report in the McCain v. Bloomberg (2005). John Feerick, former dean of Fordham Law, current Sidney C. Norris Chair of Law in Public Service and executive director of the Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution, was a member of that panel.

Yankees’ World Series Trophy Visits Rose Hill

Fans of Fordham Athletics could get up close and personal with the Yankees’ World Series trophy. Photo by Gina Vergel

The Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony contained an added element this year: an appearance by the New York Yankees’ 2009 World Series trophy.

The championship hardware from the Yankees’ 27th title was on display for fans to view and take photographs with at the Hall of Fame proceedings on Jan. 23, which were hosted by Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay (FCRH ’82). Later that day, representatives from the Yankees transferred the trophy to the Rose Hill Gym for the men’s basketball game.

Several Fordham connections helped to bring the trophy from Yankee Stadium up the Major Deegan Expressway, across Fordham Road, and onto campus.

Ryan Ruocco (FCRH ’08) of the Yankees’ video team thought of the idea and brought it to Fordham Executive Director of Athletics Frank McLaughlin (FCRH ’69). The Yankees’ assistant director of corporate/community relations, William “Rocky” Halsey (FCRH ’99), and director of stadium tours, Tony Morante (FCRH ’79), escorted the trophy to their alma mater.

Big Shoes and a Big Breakfast

Sander Flaum speaks to MBA students at the Lincoln Center campus. Photo by Gina Vergel

Twenty-five Fordham MBA students were treated to a breakfast discussion with Sander Flaum, adjunct professor of management systems, on Jan. 21 at the Lincoln Center campus.

Flaum, the author of Big Shoes: How Successful Leaders Grow into New Roles (Leadershape, 2009), discussed the how-to manual for young business leaders and recounted lessons he learned while building his career.

He is the CEO of Flaum Partners, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology consulting firm, and founding chair of the Fordham Leadership Forum, which hosted Goldman Sachs managing director E. Gerald Corrigan, Ph.D., on campus the following week. (Read that story here.)

This Month in Jesuit History

Christoph Clavius, a German Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, was the main architect of the modern Gregorian calendar.

Roman College Created to Be Epicenter of Jesuit Teaching

It was in February 1551 that the Society of Jesus established the Collegio Romano, or Roman College, the most illustrious among the Jesuit schools that were rapidly proliferating around Europe.

St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, gave the college extra attention, seeking to make it the Society’s preeminent educational institution and a training ground for Jesuit scholastics. He and his successors populated the college with the Jesuits’ finest scholars, including Christoph Clavius, eminent mathematician and astronomer, and Francisco de Toledo, who would be one of the most significant Catholic theologians of his day.

The college was financially strapped at first. In 1555, when Ignatius sent about 100 Jesuits out of Rome to other colleges in Europe, part of the reason for doing so was that he couldn’t feed them at the Roman College. The college gained more substantial support during the tenure of Pope Gregory XIII. It would be named in his honor, becoming the Pontifical Gregorian University.