Although no decisions have been made at this time, a new academic program combining courses from both the undergraduate and graduate schools at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) is being considered as part of the expansion of FCLC in 2014. According to Stephen Freedman, provost of Fordham, the combined undergraduate-graduate program is being considered along with the possibility of expanding the Gabelli School of Business (GSB) to Lincoln Center.

The academic decisions related to the expansion are also holding up the finalization of physical space allocation. What has been decided, among other things, is that Quinn Library will move to occupy the old law library and the new law building will include a dining area for undergraduate students.

Pathways Program

The program proposed by the Lincoln Center Planning Committee (also known as the Lincoln Center task force) is being called both the “pathways” program and the “signature” program. Despite being voted down in the final meeting of the task force before being presented to the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., Fordham’s president, Freedman created a study group composed of many of the original faculty members on the task force to make a detailed set of recommendations for the administration to review.

Frank Boyle, associate professor of English, chair of the Lincoln Center honors program and member of the task force, said that the program had unanimous support from the faculty members of the task force. However, the vote was taken while he was away for a meeting in Ireland and Eve Keller, another professor on the task force, was running late from class.

Freedman explained that although the vote was taken without two of the committee’s members present, the committee itself did not have decision-making powers, and the idea of the pathways program will continue to be explored by the new study group.

According to Boyle, the signature program would draw on the fact that FCLC shares a campus with Fordham’s graduate schools to draw pathways between graduate and undergraduate education relating to problems like global poverty.

“The program would allow you to say, ‘I’ve developed this graduate-undergraduate expertise in this topic,’” Boyle said. “It would get students into advanced study as an undergrad.” Boyle said he wants the Graduate Schools of Business Administration, Social Service, Education and the School of Law to all be represented in the pathways program in some way.

Freedman expressed his enthusiasm toward the possibility of a pathways program, saying that he found exciting the idea of the expanded career opportunities brought about by interdisciplinary program.

“Our Fordham curriculum is a curriculum that we’re really really proud of and is important,” Freedman said. “We have majors that we take very seriously and we need to understand how we can preserve those key components of our educational experience while layering on elements of the pathway program.”

That potential is the reason Freedman cited for creating the study group to continue developing the pathways program.

“I think it is important for faculty who are passionate about this program to be given the support and resources to examine in detail what other institutions have done and what it would take to develop such a curriculum at Fordham,” Freedman said.

The pathway program still has to compete with the program proposed last year and reported in the March 29, 2012 issue of The Observer. According to Freedman, the decision of whether or not GSB will expand to the Lincoln Center campus has yet to be finalized, but will be made sometime next semester.

Going forward, Freedman said that he has asked the Rev. Robert R. Grimes, dean of FCLC, and Donna Rapaccioli, dean of GSB, to work together on developing programs taught by faculty from both schools, including liberal arts courses with business elements or GSB programs that may be incorporated into FCLC in the future.

“If we are to have a Gabelli presence,” Freedman said, “ideally we would want to have a faculty at FCLC engaged with very productive conversations with our business faculty.”

Freedman said he understands the reasons for potentially expanding GSB to the Lincoln Center campus. “If you look at it with a broad base,” Freedman said, “just in New York City, there are job opportunities for careers that we teach in the undergraduate school of business.”

“Our Gabelli School is very unique in terms of undergraduate education,” Freedman said. “It is infused with a very strong liberal arts curriculum, and that is what makes it attractive to students and their families.”

Although Freedman said the deans and committees have until next semester to make any final academic decisions, time is starting to become an issue.

“We need to begin to recruit students for this program as soon as possible,” Freedman said.

“The process is a very carefully crafted one that goes into effect whenever we put new programs in place,” Freedman said. “We are being very careful as to insuring the faculty own the curriculum and the programs and have the time that is necessary to put forward their proposals.”

Space Issues and Hurricane Sandy

The unresolved academic issues have forced physical space decisions to remain open, such as what use will be made of the space in the old law building once the school of law moves into its new building or what will take the place of Quinn Library once that moves into the space currently occupied by the law library.

Freedman said it is important for academic decisions to be made before finalizing space allocation.

“We have to decide what programs are going to be in certain buildings and what sizes those programs might look like and what faculty will be required,” Freedman said. “I think we’re at a point now where we can make careful decisions about academic programs, and at the same time, begin to make decisions about space in the context of the curriculum and programmatic planning.”

According to Brian Byrne, vice president of Lincoln Center, a few things have been decided in terms of space. Byrne said there will be food services on the first floor of the new law building for undergraduate students, including a “very large” kitchen, undergraduate dining space and a public café.

Quinn Library will be moving out of its space below the Lowenstein Plaza and into the old law library space, but the exact plans for the new space have yet to be released, according to Byrne.

Byrne said that some space in the old law school may be used for undergraduate student activities and student services.

“We don’t have a real space for student activities and student services in Lincoln Center,” Byrne said, “so that definitely needs to get done.” There will be no undergraduate student activities space in the new law building though, according to Byrne.

Although exterior construction on the new law building was halted during Hurricane Sandy, workers were able to continue construction on the interior, keeping the building on schedule to finish in 2014.

According to Byrne, Fordham is able to keep to the construction schedule by using a recovery schedule that includes Saturday work and overtime. Fordham has also applied for a waiver to New York City’s embargo on exterior construction from the week before Thanksgiving to the week after Christmas.

Despite the overtime and weekend pay made necessary by the quickened schedule, Byrne said the project is not expected to go over its budget, as the budget originally allowed for unforeseen costs.