REMINDER: Summer 2012 Session II In-Person Registration

If you are interested in enrolling in classes as a non-matriculated student at GSE for Summer 2012 Session II, In-Person Registration will take place at the Lincoln Center and Westchester campuses on June 27th & 28th (from 1-5pm) and on July 2nd (from 9am-5pm).

For more information about registration guidelines, click here. Please be sure to bring proof of your undergrad or master's degree (a copy of your transcript or diploma) with you in order to register if this is your first non-matriculated class with us!

If you would like to register to attend classes as a non-matriculated student at the Lincoln Center campus, read the new procedure instructions for registration at Lincoln Center here. Please note that the Graduate School of Education Office of Admissions has moved to 33 West 60th Street, Suite 207.

If you would like to register at the Westchester campus, you may complete an application and meet with a faculty member about course selection at 400 Westchester Avenue, West Harrison, NY. Read the new procedure instructions for registration at Westchester here.

If you are interested in applying to any of GSE's degree programs as a matriculated degree-earning student, click here to go to our online application.

Please contact Linda Horisk, Assistant Dean for Admissions, at (212) 636-6401 with any questions.

NEW Dr. Bill Baker Book: "Every Leader is an Artist"

Dr. Bill Baker's (Claudio Aquaviva Chair of Education and Journalist in Residence) new book (with Michael O'Malley, Ph.D.), containing a foreword by David Gautschi (Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, Fordham University) is now out in hardcover!

Every Leader Is An Artist: Mastering the 12 Skills of Visionary Leadership makes the compelling case that many of the attributes that make a person a great leader- and are in an entirely different category from personality- are those that make someone a superior artist, as well, among them intention, focus, authenticity, skill, and imagination. 

Like artists, leaders put their work on display every day, in front of judgemental, and discriminating, audiences.  Like artists, leaders strive to be better and perfect over time.  It isn't something you wholly acquire with the receipt of a graduate degree or corporate title.  Nor is leadership a skill that can be honed through osmosis:  passive observation and tenure.  Excellence in any craft requires greater dedication than that. 

Every Leaders Is An Artist doesn't have a universal rating scale that measures leadership from 1 to 100- for the same reasons there isn't a scale for quantifying art; it can't be honed.  However, the authors (working together again after 2008's Leading With Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results) have drawn up a list of twelve criteria that can be used to measure the essential art and great leadership.  Using a dozen accessible and hand-picked art-related vignettes that reflect each of principles in the author's criteria, the illustrations are insightful and educational, and should inspire you, leader, to apply the principle to your business practice. 

For more information, or to order the book, visit Amazon.com.

Alumni News: Dr. Matthew Certo (FCRH '93, GSE '94) and Rashid Ferrod Davis ('03)

The Westwood Regional Board of Education recently approved Ramsey's High School Matthew Certo to take over as new principal of Westwood Regional High School starting this summer.  The boards decision to hire Certo at a special meeting May 31st was unanimous, according to board president Carol Mountain.  Certo, who served as an assistant principal at Ramsey High School for the past nine years, is in his 19th year as an educator, and earned a doctorate from Columbia University in Educational Administration and an MSE in elementary education from Fordham University (he is also a 1993 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill).  To read the full story on NorthJersey.com, click here.

Rashid Ferrod Davis (M.S.Ed. Administration & Supervision '03)  is the founding principal of Pathways in Technology Early College High School, and will be one of the principal honorees at the 2012 Education Update Outstanding Educators of the Year on June 25th in New York City.  He also participated in Change the Equation's STEM Salon on May 23rd in Washington, DC. The STEM Salon provided a forum for participants to demonstrate how business involvement in school creation can infuse innovation into outdated schooling models, as well as to highlight and discuss how business involvement in creating STEM-focused schools can form new pathways and innovative opportunities for students in post-secondary schooling and careers that education cannot do alone.  View a clip from the event below:

GSE Hosts Visitors From University of Pretoria

-->

Left to right: Dean Hennessy, Dr. Ina Joubert,
Dr. Ronel Ferreira, Dr. Gerrit Stols

This week, several members of the Faculty of Education from the University of Pretoria visited the Graduate School of Education, as part of Fordham University’s ongoing partnership with the South African institution.  Drs. Ronel Ferreira (Head of Department of Educational Psychology), Ina Joubert (Senior Lecturer, Department of Early Childhood Education) and Gerrit Stols (Senior Lecturer, Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education) spent the week with GSE administrators, faculty, staff and students, as part of an effort to develop the Fordham partnership and collaboration with Pretoria further at the faculty and program levels.  

Ferreira, Joubert and Stols participated in discussions with Dean James Hennessy, Associate Dean Rita Brause and GSE Division Chairs.  They also observed several classes in session, including a team-taught course in the FordhamTeacher Residency Scholars program in Adolescence Education, and a course entitled “Leading in a Diverse Society” in the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy’s Master’s in Administration and Supervision program.   They toured both the Fordham Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses, and visited several Bronx elementary schools which are members of GSE’s PartnershipSupport Organization/Children First Network (PSO/CFN).   GSE hosted them as guests at receptions celebrating three cohorts of graduates of GSE’s NYSED grant-funded Educational Leadership Program Enhancement Project (ELPEP) and welcoming incoming students to the first cohorts of the AcceleratedMaster’s in Educational Leadership (A.M.P.E.L.) program, and they interacted with faculty from the new doctoral program in ContemporaryLearning and Interdisciplinary Research (CLAIR)-- as well as with faculty from almost every other GSE program. 

Many collaborations resulted from interaction between GSE faculty and the visitors from Pretoria.  These include an agreement for GSE faculty to serve as external reviewers of Pretoria Faculty of Education doctoral candidate dissertations, plans to develop joint courses, and new research alliances amongst faculty.  Future possibilities include GSE providing a means of advanced professional development and leadership preparation opportunities for Pretoria faculty, and the possibility of fieldwork for students in several programs within GSE’s Division of Psychological and Educational Services abroad in South Africa.

We look forward to these and many other mutually beneficial partnership opportunities as GSE’s relationship with the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria continues to grow!

Graduation Reflections

Left to right:
Kirsten Graham and Alyse La Rue
GSE Class of 2012

As they prepared to graduate, we asked our GSE Student Ambassadors and Graduate Assistants to reflect on their experiences at Fordham and at the Graduate School of Education.  Alyse La Rue received an M.S.E. in Mental Health Counseling this May.

My time at Fordham was more than just the achievement of a master's degree- it was a time of personal growth as well. I began the Mental Health Counseling program unsure of what I had just gotten myself into, but I am leaving with a deep knowledge of my field and myself, friends and faculty that will be colleagues in the future, and as a leader. When I first came to Fordham I really didn't know what to expect. I was nervous; did I do the right thing going back to school?  Was this degree going to to get me where I wanted to go? Could I really become a therapist?  I chose Fordham because I knew I wanted a top-notch education, and when I left Admissions events I felt as if I had gotten a big hug.

Once I began the program, I realized that support I felt from the Office of Admissions continued.  When I felt insecure about  whether I would be a good counselor, my professors and classmates were there to support my growth. When my classmate Kirsten Graham and I thought that the counseling program would benefit from a student organization, we were welcomed with open arms and supported through the entire process of developing the Student Association of Mental Health Counselors (SAM).  In addition to support, I gained invaluable knowledge and skills both in the classroom and at my internship that have left me feeling well prepared as I enter the workforce.  Beyond counseling skills, I gained a better understanding of myself; who I was, and why I was going into this field. 

While I am excited to see where my career will take me, a part of me is sad to say goodbye to Fordham.  I look forward to staying connected with classmates and faculty as we all move on to the next phase of our lives.

Fordham and Brooklyn Diocese Form CSAA

Brooklyn Catholic schools have a new way to earn accreditation, thanks to a recent partnership forged between Fordham and the Diocese of Brooklyn.  The Graduate School of Education and the Diocese have jointly created the Catholic School Accreditation Association (CSAA), the establishment of which was marked at a signing ceremony at the diocesan offices on May 25.

“The purpose is to bring the credibility of a major Catholic university into the process of accrediting Catholic schools… We are focusing on the Catholic identity of schools and also focusing on academic excellence,” said James J. Hennessy, Ph.D., dean of GSE. “[It will also] help communicate more broadly about the high academic quality of accredited schools, thus boosting enrollments and perhaps reversing the trend of closing schools.”

Click here to read the full story in Inside Fordham.

From left, Thomas Chadzutko, superintendent of schools for the diocese, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, James J. Hennessy, dean of GSE, and Gerald Cattaro, executive director of GSE's Center for Catholic School Leadership.

In Memorium: Phyllis Pitt

Phyllis Pitt, a doctoral candidate, field supervisor and adjunct instructor in the Graduate School of Education died on May 31 after being struck by a car in Brooklyn. She was a longtime public and private school teacher in Brooklyn yeshivas.

“We grieve with the family and loved ones of Phyllis Pitt,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “With one long and distinguished career behind her, she was struck down just as she prepared to embark on a new adventure. Her death is a loss to her students, her colleagues, and of course her husband and children. I know that the Fordham family joins me in keeping Phyllis and her loved ones in our thoughts and prayers.”

Pitt is survived by her husband, Michael, and two adult children. The family lives in Brooklyn.  The University will publish details about services and memorials as they become available.

Click here to read more in Inside Fordham.