Fordham University names first woman president

Fordham University, a private university in Bronx, New York has named Tania Tetlow as its new president.

Contained in a news release by Fordham Board of Trustees, Chairman Robert Daleo said Tetlow was unanimously elected on Thursday as Fordham’s next president and will start July 1, 2022.

Tetlow is the first woman and first layperson to lead the school in its 181-year history.

Also, in her previous job serving since 2018 as president of Loyola University New Orleans, she broke the same barrier.

“This is a historic and exciting moment for Fordham. As a university that seeks to transform its students’ lives, we are preparing to be transformed by bold new leadership,” wrote Daleo in the news release.

Fordham’s outgoing president, Rev. Joseph McShane, is stepping down after about two decades in office.

Tetlow said her main priorities at Fordham would include diversifying the student body “at a moment when 18-year-olds in the Northeast are fading in numbers.”

Fordham, founded in 1841, has about 15,000 students. Just as she was credited at Loyola University with starting new academic programs in growing fields, including neuroscience, nursing, marketing and communications, environmental law, health care administration and cybersecurity, and with strengthening the school’s financial foundation, she hopes to do the same at Fordham University.