A Brief History of fordham in manhattan

In September of 1968, with its new building not yet ready for occupancy, a new college of Fordham University, called "The Liberal Arts College" at Fordham's new Lincoln Center campus, began classes in the Fordham School of Law building. This is the beginning of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, but it was far from Fordham's first college in Manhattan.

In 1841, John Hughes, the Catholic bishop of New York, opened a college at Rose Hill in the village of Fordham in what was then part of Westchester County (later, The Bronx), N.Y. By 1846 Hughes had convinced a group of Jesuits working in Kentucky to move to New York and staff his new school. But part of the agreement between Hughes and the Jesuits was that they could also open a school in the city proper, and they lost little time in doing so. In September of 1847 the first school of Fordham in Manhattan opened its doors on the lower east side of the city, on Elizabeth and Walker Streets, across the street from the border of the notorious "Five Points" neighborhood. A devastating fire five months later forced the new school to move to the basement of St. James Catholic Church to finish its first year of operation. From 1848 to 1850 the school operated out of rented space on Third Avenue in the East Village, until its first permanent home was constructed on West 15th Street, just off of Sixth Avenue. In 1861 this school, now called the College of St. Francis Xavier, was granted its own charter and became an independent institution, although many ties remained between the Jesuits of Fordham and those of Xavier.

In 1913 the decision was made to close the College of St. Francis Xavier--leaving the Jesuit Xavier High School intact--and Fordham, now a University, began opening schools in Manhattan once again, at the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan, the tallest building in the world at the time. Due to the ornate lobby of this skyscraper, the students soon began referring to it as the "marble campus" of Fordham in contrast to the rural nature of the Rose Hill campus. Various colleges flourished at the Woolworth Building over the years, including Fordham College-Manhattan Division, the College of Business Administration, and the Undergraduate School of Education. In the midst of World War II, Fordham moved its schools to a new location a few blocks north of City Hall at 302 Broadway. In the years following World War II, Fordham in Manhattan flourished, and the University was soon looking for a larger space to house its Manhattan schools.
    
302 Broadway (1943-1969) Lincoln Center Construction Site

Fordham's great opportunity came in the mid-1950s. Fordham was invited to be part of the Lincoln Square Renewal Project which sought to replace substandard housing on the city's west side with a new performing arts complex that would become known as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Fordham was the first of the city's institutions involved in the project to fully sign on to the project, purchasing most of the property from West 60th Street to West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. Part of the opening sequence of the movie West Side Story (the story was set in our neighborhood) was filmed on Fordham's property before construction began, and in 1961 Fordham's Law School was the first building to open in the Lincoln Square Renewal Project. Later the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School would join Fordham in the neighborhood. As work on Fordham's Leon Lowenstein Building progressed, the University decided to phase out the various undergraduate colleges it conducted at 302 Broadway and replace them with a new school, "The Liberal Arts College." In January of 1969, its second semester of operation, the new college moved into its permanent home in the Lowenstein Building at the Lincoln Center campus.

Since its opening in 1968, the school's name has changed from "The Liberal Arts College" to "The College at Lincoln Center" and in 1996 to Fordham College at Lincoln Center. In 1993 a twenty-story 850-bed residence hall was added to the campus, along with other campus improvements. Over the last thirty-five years the college has had a remarkable record of achievement, including alumni who have gone on to outstanding careers as stars of stage and screen, as writers and producers, as financial and business leaders, as practitioners of law and medicine, and as political and civic leaders. And the story of Fordham College at Lincoln Center has only just begun.

 

The GRADUATE SCHOOLS AT LINCOLN CENTER

Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration
Dean: Howard P. Tuckman, Ph.D.

Established in 1969 at Lincoln Center, the Graduate School of Business Administration is dedicated to training future leaders for a business world driven by technological change and global interdependence. In class, full-time students gain an important perspective from their part-time colleagues who are often young professionals employed by some of the world's most dynamic companies.

The School is guided by a portfolio approach to business education. Developed by Dean Sharon P.  Smith, Ph.D., the portfolio approach acknowledges that business education is an investment in human capital that borrows from the business model of learning how to manage a portfolio. Students are encouraged to pursue their business degrees the same way one would approach a financial investment—maximizing returns and minimizing risks. During their academic careers, students invest in asset accumulation, knowledge, risk tolerance, networks and return on investment. And then they learn how to manage their “portfolio” to create enduring value throughout their academic and professional careers.

The School is accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business International and confers the degrees of master of business administration, master of business administration in professional accounting, and master of science in taxation.

Fordham Graduate School of Education
Dean: James J. Hennessy, Ph.D

The Graduate School of Education maintains a dynamic balance between theory and practice, and among research, teaching and community service. Classes are also held in Tarrytown at the Fordham Graduate Center.

The Graduate School of Education offers accredited programs in teacher education, educational administration, student personnel services, educational psychology, TESOL and urban education. The school today is a leader in developing programs for teachers of the handicapped, the learning disabled and in bilingual-bicultural education.

The Graduate School of Education confers the degrees of doctor of philosophy, doctor of education, master of science in education, master of arts in teaching (French, biology and mathematics), master of science in teaching (elementary), master of science in adult education and human resources development, professional diploma and graduate certificate.

Fordham School of Law
Dean: William Michael Treanor, J.D.

Established in 1905, the School of Law includes the study of general jurisprudence, the common and statute law of the U.S. system of equity jurisprudence, and the historic and philosophic origins of law. The School significantly expanded its facilities in 1961 when it became the first Fordham School to move to the Lincoln Center complex. Today, the Ned Doyle Building, completed in 1984, houses the School of Law at Lincoln Center.

Admission standards at the school are among the most competitive in the United States, with roughly 5,000 applications for the 450 seats available each year. A full-time faculty of distinguished scholars and a part-time specialized faculty of prominent law professionals offer instruction. Fordham law students are trained not simply as qualified legal technicians, but as lawyers fully conscious of their responsibility to client and community.

The School of Law confers the degrees of juris doctor and master of laws.

Fordham Graduate School of Social Service
Dean: Peter B. Vaughan, Ph.D.

Established in 1916, the Graduate School of Social Service was designed to develop professional social workers committed to providing quality services, particularly to those sectors of the population whose social and economic opportunities are most limited by poverty and racism. Since its founding, the Graduate School of Social Service has become one of the nation's largest and most prestigious institutions for the education of social service professionals.

With locations at both the Lincoln Center campus and the Tarrytown Graduate Center, the School aims to provide graduates with knowledge of the relationship between person and environment, the skill to assist vulnerable individuals, families, organizations and communities, and the commitment to an evolving society increasingly characterized by justice.

The Graduate School of Social Service has created a baccalaureate program in social work in connection with Fordham College at Lincoln Center and the Fordham College of Liberal Studies, and confers the degrees of master of social work and doctor of philosophy in social work.