A rendering of the proposed new STEM facility at Fordham College’s Bronx campus, as seen from Southern Boulevard.
Picture courtesy Fordham College
Join our Bronx Occasions e-mail publication to get information, updates, and native insights delivered straight to your inbox!
On March 6, Fordham College introduced the varsity’s largest-ever philanthropic present of $100 million, which will likely be used to make main investments in STEM (science, expertise, engineering and math) schooling.
The present from Maurice “Mo” Cunniffe and Carolyn Dursi Cunniffe, who each attended undergraduate and graduate faculties on the college and beforehand served on the Board of Trustees, will create a “cutting-edge” STEM facility on the Bronx Rose Hill campus, together with different programming investments.
“This gift opens up extraordinary possibilities for students and faculty and allows us to scale our programs and move into areas in the sciences that haven’t even been developed yet, fields that may appear 10 years from now that we can’t even anticipate,” mentioned Provost Dennis Jacobs within the announcement.
The varsity has already begun planning the brand new 200,000-square-foot facility that can promote interconnectedness between STEM fields and amongst workers and college students.
It should have a big, open inexperienced house in entrance, and instructing labs, analysis house, lecture rooms and pupil lounges inside the constructing. It is going to be situated alongside Southern Boulevard throughout from the New York Botanical Backyard, changing an present parking zone.
The varsity additionally plans to increase pc science packages on the Manhattan Lincoln Heart campus and launch a brand new doctor affiliate research Grasp of Science program on the Westchester campus.
STEM is a serious focus at Fordham, and its disciplines are extremely in demand, in line with the varsity.
Knowledge from the Bureau of Labor Statistics exhibits that STEM occupations are projected to develop 10.4% between 2023 and 2033, whereas non-STEM occupations collectively are projected to develop solely 3.6%.
As well as, BLS information exhibits that STEM careers have a median wage of over $101,000, in comparison with non-STEM median wages of $47,000.
President Tania Tetlow mentioned the present will assist Fordham profit from the varsity’s Jesuit academic traditions.
“For centuries, the Jesuits have been world-class scientists and mathematicians, always connecting those fields to what it means to be fully human,” she mentioned. “Fordham will stand out for integrating science and technology with ethics, humanities, and our other strengths in the professions.”
The Cunniffes’ $100 million donation was not their first main present to the varsity. In 2016, they donated $20 million to determine the Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe Presidential Students Program, which gives full scholarships to top-achieving incoming college students.
Their newest present is a “transformative” funding within the faculty’s STEM imaginative and prescient, mentioned Roger A. Milici Jr., vice chairman for growth and college relations. “This is philanthropy at its best.”
