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Fordham University and New York Botanical Garden Form Acadmic Deal
Hey, waitaminute!
Was that Fordham University and the New York Botanical Garden holding a love fest this week?
After all those years of bitter feuding over a gangly Erector set-like campus radio station transmission tower looming over the garden, a whole new period of peace and love seems to have sprouted.
In the latest embrace, officials from the two Bronx institutions signed an agreement Wednesday to cross-pollinate academic programs.
A joint graduate program will permit students to receive a master’s degree or doctorate from Fordham, “drawing upon the intellectual and physical resources of both the university and NYBG,” they said in a statement.
Garden President and CEO Gregory Long, who pointed out the two institutions have been “next door neighbors” for 115 years, joined Fordham President, the Rev. Joseph McShane, to officially ink the deal.
“There has never been a moment in American history when education, and research and concern for the biodiversity of the world, have been more important,” said Long.
McShane called it “a momentous occasion that links us, two institutions that reach across Southern Boulevard, to work together for the common good.”
Things were not always so rosy between the two neighbors.
In fact, they turned downright thorny in 1994 when the school, then headed by the Rev. Joseph O’Hare, erected the 260-foot tower, which loomed like a metal mantis over the garden’s historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
It led to years of costly legal squabbling in the courts and with the Federal Communications Commission until Montefiore Medical Center finally stepped in to settle the war of the roses in 2006, offering a tower perched atop one of its Norwood buildings.
Officials said the new academic collaboration will include adjunct faculty positions at Fordham for the garden’s curatorial and scientific staff, who have a broad range of expertise in many areas of plant biology, including molecular systematics, taxonomy, floristic, genomics, economic botany, and tropical botany.
Likewise, Fordham faculty in biological sciences may be appointed as honorary research associates through the garden’s science division.
Fordham undergraduates will also be making field trips and will be involved in course activities at the Garden.
The research laboratories, herbarium, greenhouses and field research sites of both institutions will be available to the faculty and scientific staff of Fordham and the garden, as well as each others substantial library holdings and access to electronic information.
Tags: Bronx News, Federal Communications Commission, Fordham University, Montefiore Medical Center, New York Botanical Garden, NYBG President and CEO Gregory Long, Rev. Joseph McShane, Rev. Joseph O'Hare, Southern BoulevardRelated posts
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Four major Bronx institutions working together to improve their borough have received a pat on the back from the city.
The Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, Montefiore Medical Center and Fordham University were recently cited by Mayor Bloomberg for their work to reduce congestion and increase parkland in the borough.
The chief operating officers of each institution meet regularly to discuss plans for beautification, transportation, economic development, security and other issues in their home bases in the north and central Bronx.
Known as the Four Bronx Institutions Alliance, the coalition is dedicated to opening up more green space in the Bronx. Concrete medians are being replaced with flowers and trees, and streets are getting new curbs and sidewalks.
"We're working toward a major reconstruction and rethinking of all the major roadways in the area, with a special focus on the gateways to the institutions," said Joe Muriana, associate vice president for government and urban affairs for Fordham.
"We want visitors who approach any of the institutions to have the sense that they've entered a parklike green zone."
The group has begun to renovate Mosholu Parkway and Fordham Road, using $11 million in city funding. Another $138 million will be needed to carry out their plans. They also are looking to upgrade area subway lines.
More than 700 guests gathered at Gracie Mansion this month as Bloomberg and Small Business Services Commissioner Robert Walsh presented the 2008 New York City Neighborhood Achievement Awards to the group and 10 other recipients at Gracie Mansion.
The awards honor outstanding organizations, businesses and individuals for strengthening the city's neighborhoods and commercial corridors.
"The Four Bronx Institutions Alliance have combined their talents and resources to turn the Bronx into one of the city's top cultural destinations," Bloomberg said.
One of the efforts underway to make sure the Bronx is a top cultural destination is the ongoing project to improve the Fordham Road area, which serves not only as a major shopping area in the borough but also as a hub for the zoo, the garden and Fordham University.
Working with the city and various agencies, the institutions hope to see some major improvements in vehicle and bus traffic as well as beautification and street furniture improvements.
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