Fordham University celebrated its 181st commencement on Saturday, May 16, recognizing the Class of 2026 and their achievements under the sunny skies of an early summer day.<\/p>\n
The event took place at the Fordham Rose Hill campus, beginning with a 10 a.m. procession of graduating bachelors, masters and doctoral students across all Fordham schools on Edwards Parade. Fordham conferred approximately 5,682 academic degrees, 446 of which were from Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC). All degrees were officially conferred by University President Tania Tetlow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
American broadcaster and journalist Hoda Kotb delivered this year\u2019s keynote address before receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the university. Kotb addressed the graduating class with warmth and humor, focusing her speech on themes of rejection, resilience and finding purpose long after college.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so happy to be here,\u201d Kotb told the graduating class as cheers erupted across the lawn. Thanking President Tetlow, Kotb opened her speech with a personal recount of life lessons learned for graduates entering an uncertain world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked back, and I was trying to remember who my commencement speaker was. No idea. I mean, maybe I was hot, like all the people sitting on this (sunny) side. Maybe I was a little hungover. I don\u2019t know what it was,\u201d Kotb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cClass of 2026, the world is waiting for you. Go get them. Love you guys\u201d Hoda Kotb, American broadcast journalist<\/p>\n
The veteran broadcaster shared a story about graduating from college unemployed and unsure of what could come next. Kotb recounted driving through the southeastern United States with a resume tape searching for a television news job, where she was rejected from city after city. A news director in Virginia told her, \u201cHoda, my God, you are so not ready for Richmond. I mean, you are green and inexperienced. Good luck, bye-bye.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of it: 27 rejections, 10 days and my mom needed her car back. So I started driving home depressed,\u201d Kotb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lost in Mississippi and preparing to head home, Kotb spotted the local CBS station in Greenville, and after deciding to go in, she met a newly promoted news director named Stan Sandroni. Kotb said that meeting changed her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I like what I see.\u2019 And I exploded in tears and realized this first life lesson, guys: You don\u2019t need everyone to love you, you just need one. Find your Stan, find the one person who believes in you, okay? You\u2019re going to find Stan,\u201d Kotb said.<\/p>\n
Throughout her speech, Kotb repeatedly encouraged graduates to embrace the uncertainty instead of waiting to feel fully prepared. Kotb also preached patience in her speech, citing that all of the blessings she received in life came after she turned 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYour trip\u2019s not someone else\u2019s trip. Don\u2019t worry about who\u2019s next to you. Don\u2019t worry about if they get promoted before you. Don\u2019t worry about if they get a house first. You run your race, ok?\u201d said Kotb. \u201cAll of my blessings happened after 50. I know it sounds weird, all of them. I got the job of my dreams at the Today show. I got the family I\u2019ve dreamt of \u2014 I have two kids now. Your blessings come when they come, and they come right on time.<\/p>\n
Kotb ended her address by asking graduates to look down at their hands and think about the people who helped them reach this moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGraduates, look at your hands. Those are the hands that your parents held when you were learning to walk. Those are the hands that held the handlebars of your first bike. They\u2019re the hands that held the crayons, the pencils, the pens and the backpacks,\u201d Kotb said. \u201cThey\u2019re the hands that moved all your stuff into Fordham, and those are the hands that are going to hold the diploma soon. So do me a favor: Turn around and just blow a kiss to your loved ones back there with that hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour trip\u2019s not someone else\u2019s trip. Don\u2019t worry about who\u2019s next to you. Don\u2019t worry about if they get promoted before you. Don\u2019t worry about if they get a house first. You run your race, ok?\u201d Hoda Kotb, American broadcast journalist <\/p>\n
Moments later, Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York\u201d echoed through the speakers as Kotb sang along with graduates and families.<\/p>\n
\u201cClass of 2026, the world is waiting for you. Go get them. Love you guys,\u201d Kotb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following commencement, graduates from FCLC, alongside their families and friends, gathered at the Walsh Family Library Lawn for the Diploma Ceremony.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, with pride, we recognize you, class of 2026, one by one for your academic accomplishments,\u201d said Fordham Professor James McCartin, who opened the ceremony. \u201cAnd we send you forth with great hope, and also a little bit of sorrow, at your leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean of Arts and Sciences Jessica Lange reflected on her first year at Fordham, which coincides with the students\u2019 senior year, describing the journeys of the seniors and herself as \u201cparallel narratives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching you navigate this place with such confidence and wit has been my own best education,\u201d Lange told graduates. \u201cYou taught me what it means to be a fully formed member of the Fordham community and a true Ram.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the current landscape of hate, misinformation and division, you have always belonged here,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cOur presence in spaces like these is both significant and necessary.\u201d Rebecca Cortez, FCLC \u201926<\/p>\n
Rebecca Cortez, FCLC \u201926, was the featured student speaker for this year\u2019s diploma ceremony, graduating from Fordham as a humanitarian studies major and Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award recipient. Cortez delivered a speech centered on identity, resilience and belonging.<\/p>\n
Cortez opened by recalling the first time she was told she \u201cdidn\u2019t belong\u201d as a child because of her Puerto Rican background. Cortez described her years of navigating assumptions, microaggressions and the pressure to constantly prove herself in academic and professional spaces.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a long time, in every room that I stood in, from a classroom to a job, I felt like I had to be exceptional in order to just be noticed,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cIt felt like there was never room for anything less than perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her true comprehension of belonging changed thanks to her family, particularly her parents and grandmother, whose sacrifices shaped her path to graduation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family, the people many will say take more than they give, are the people that I most wanted to become,\u201d Cortez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to her classmates directly, Cortez acknowledged the challenges many students may have faced while navigating college during a politically and socially divided time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the most special, diverse community that I\u2019ve ever had the privilege to be a part of. Standing in front of me, our future lawyers, doctors, politicians, dancers, artists, journalists and so much more \u2014 a group of people whose spirits are immeasurable,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cBut in this moment of history, in which every day feels like a headline promoting who belongs and who doesn\u2019t, so many of us are torn down and diminished for some of the most beautiful parts of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The speech drew one of the ceremony\u2019s loudest ovations when Cortez spoke directly to fellow Hispanic graduates.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the current landscape of hate, misinformation and division, you have always belonged here,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cOur presence in spaces like these is both significant and necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ceremony then shifted to the formal conferring of degrees, with the graduates called individually to the stage as their names, majors and honors were read.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The event concluded around 3 p.m. with a benediction from George Drance, S.J.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n