Lisa Gill

Dr. Lisa Gill, FCLC ‘98, was recently appointed Rose Hill’s assistant senior class dean. The Bronx native has extensive experience teaching and working closely with students of all ages, which prepared her for her new position.

Gill grew up in the Bronx where she attended Catholic school from grade school through high school. After graduating, she attended Fordham College at Lincoln Center campus to study history with the intention of becoming a lawyer, a dream of hers since the age of five. After interning at a law office, Gill realized she did not have a passion for the legal profession. She decided to add a second major in African American studies due to a deep personal connection she had with a faculty mentor.

After graduating from Fordham in 1998, Gill took two years off from academia. She then decided to continue her education at the University of Maryland, where she earned her doctorate in African American studies and became inspired by her mentor to pursue a teaching career.

Gill received a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a year in Germany teaching at Universität Regensburg. A friend contacted her during her time there and offered her a teaching position for the upcoming semester at Skidmore University. After returning home in 2011, Gill took the part-time teaching position but simultaneously began a larger-scale job search.

Shortly after, she began her work as a director for the Children’s Village centered in Harlem and the Polo Grounds housing projects. Gill ran a literacy program for middle school students as well as a community center in Highbridge in the South Bronx for several years. “I really enjoyed the projects I was working on,” said Gill. “It felt necessary and helpful to be in that space.”

During this time, Gill said she was dedicated to ensuring that the attendees “enjoy their youth,” even though they were living in neighborhoods where violence was common, and in many households, grandparents were the primary caregivers.

After several years of working in the South Bronx, Gill’s old mentor from Fordham reached out and offered her a job as a Latin American studies lecturer for a single class at the university. Soon thereafter, she put in her resignation at the Children’s Village.

Her mentor requested that she teach the class again, and Gill spent a year as an adjunct professor at Fordham. She then moved to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to continue as an adjunct professor for three years. After her time at NJIT, the chair of the African American studies department at Fordham contacted Gill about a fellowship application, which she subsequently filled out and received.