Fordham University President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., announced his retirement from the university in an email to the Fordham community on Sept. 2, 2021. McShane will officially leave his position at Fordham on June 30, 2022. 

“It’s time. It’s just time,” he wrote, echoing the words of his predecessor, Rev. Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., the 31st president of the university. 

McShane served 19 years as the university president and six years as dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1992 to 1998. 

In September 2002, O’Hare announced his retirement at the end of the academic year, and asked for McShane to consider joining the possible candidates to succeed him. Although he didn’t attend Fordham himself, McShane grew up in a Fordham household — his father and three brothers all attended Fordham. 

This connection to the university, in addition to his belief in its mission, made stepping down “the hardest decision” since he left his family’s home in 1967 to enter the Society of Jesus, he said. 

In an August 2003 interview with The Observer, McShane said, “In the area of admission, we’re going to continue to tell Fordham’s story and tell it more and more passionately and more and more effectively, so that we continue to see the increase in application activity that we’ve seen in the past.” The Class of 2025 has met that goal as the largest class in Fordham’s history.

“It has been a blessing to work with so many talented and devoted faculty and staff, and with more than a hundred thousand gifted and community-minded students.” Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

“It has been a blessing to work with so many talented and devoted faculty and staff, and with more than a hundred thousand gifted and community-minded students,” McShane said. 

He recognized that the accomplishments of the university in the past 18 years were the result of “uncommon teamwork,” and feels grateful to have been a small part of this latest chapter in Fordham’s history. 

McShane ended his announcement with his hopes for the future of Fordham, saying that it will be “marked by even greater accomplishments.” He views these accomplishments as coming from the efforts of all members of “the Fordham family.”