The Fordham Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE) is set to merge with the Graduate School of Education (GSE) this month. According to Fr. Francis X. McAloon, S.J., acting dean of the GRE, the integration will likely run through the spring and summer of the 2025 semesters with consultation between GRE and GSE faculty to ensure a smooth transition.
Fordham’s GRE was founded at Rose Hill in 1959 by a small group of Jesuit priests, led by Fr. Vincent M. Novak, S.J. Novak was dean of the GRE from 1975 until his retirement in 2004. According to the GRE’s official website, these Jesuits “reframed religious education and pastoral ministry with an innovative approach and an adaptive structure that inspire and inform the work of our faculty to this day.”
While the GRE has been a key department of Fordham University over the last 60 years, its faculty presence and student population has been dwindling. “A year and a half ago, the university decided that GRE was no longer viable as a free standing school within the university,” said McAloon. “Because ministry typically isn’t a high paying profession, the university has been generous in offering much need-based scholarships and the like to our students.” The majority of these students are Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christian ministers.
The COVID-19 pandemic, departure of the GRE’s previous dean and declining enrollment have contributed to the school’s financial challenges. “GRE has long been financially subsidized by the university, because it is a small unit and most of its students are in ministry of one sort or another,” said McAloon.
Regardless of the school’s projected integration this year, McAloon says he, along with the staff at the GRE, are committed to ensuring GRE students have a smooth transition and the resources they need to successfully complete their degrees. Several courses currently offered by the GRE are vital for degrees earned in three primary concentrations in GSE. Additionally, GRE students matriculating this year will still be honored with a GRE-specific graduation diploma ceremony this coming May.
“Currently, discussions are ongoing regarding possible relocations of GRE degrees and faculty,” said McAloon. “Regarding current faculty, as acting dean, I have been working with the provost’s office to facilitate faculty-to-faculty conversations regarding where current GRE degrees may be housed.”
“[A] faculty working group has offered a draft proposal for integrating the two schools, which includes identifying which GRE programs and courses would be strong additions to GSE,” said Bob Howe, associate vice president for media & public relations. The faculty group is made up of both GSE and GRE professors who work to ensure students of the GRE are able to successfully complete their coursework. “Faculty and administrators at GRE began to explore constructive and practical paths forward, in conversation with one another and with faculty and administrators in other academic units at Fordham,” added Howe.
As of this semester, the Office of the Provost has paused admission of new students to the GRE and recommended faculty find a new academic unit within the university or find a new position in education. Furthermore, while the Office of the Provost has declared the GRE unsustainable, they have yet to provide adequate financial details to support the claim, according to meeting minutes from the Faculty Senate’s meeting on Jan. 17.
“[The Office of the Provost] has not complied with the plain requirements of the University Statutes, nor moved to declare financial exigency, as required by Appendix 1 of the Statutes in cases involving termination of continuous employment,” according to the action minutes from the senate meeting.
President Tania Tetlow and University Provost Dennis Jacobs will be invited by the Senate to the next meeting, where they will be questioned.
In the meeting, the Faculty Senate unanimously passed the following resolution requiring additional financial information annually, according to the meeting notes:
“Therefore, be it resolved that the Senate requires assurances from the Office of the Provost and the President of the University that the Office of the Provost, the President of the University and other agents of the University will share budget, admissions and other data annually with the faculty of each unit and school sufficient for each academic unit to consult about and share in meaningful long-term planning.”
This is a developing story. Updates can be found at The Fordham Ram.
