Dear Members of the Fordham Community,
This strategic framework represents a huge step forward for our University. It is the product of a unified, integrated, and transparent approach to strategic planning—reflecting a true partnership among all members of the Fordham community. While the years ahead will be challenging for all institutions of higher learning, this is the roadmap Fordham needs to generate imaginative thinking, risk-taking, and new forms of internal and external collaboration—particularly in the ways we contribute to and learn from our home of New York City. I applaud the members of the Continuous University Strategic Planning Committee for their efforts.
I am personally heartened that this framework embodies the questioning and questing heart that distinguishes Jesuit, Catholic higher education. Indeed, the fact that “Continuous” is the first word in the name of the authoring committee is very much in keeping with that distinctly Jesuit habit of mind: forever hungry; always pursuing inquiry of a transcendent nature; continually seeking knowledge, wisdom, service, and God.
I call this exuberant restlessness of mind and soul “bothered excellence,” and I believe it can be both Fordham’s distinctive advantage and our gift to the world. Deeply rooted in the Jesuit tradition, and in constant dialogue with the world’s greatest city, this strategic framework challenges Fordham to be “the essential University” in advancing the human cause: a world in which dignity is enhanced and protected, and we are all pointed toward the merciful love of the God who wills that all have life—and have it to the full.
Joseph M. McShane, SJ
