Andrew Ferdinandi ‘73Ed

St. John's Professor Helps Students “Win One Day at a Time”

Andrew Ferdinandi ’73Ed, ’76G, ’91Ed.D., Associate Professor of Human Services and Counseling at St. John’s University, comes to work every day hoping to make a difference in his students' lives. “When I come here, I never tell my family I'm going to work. I tell them I'm going to St. John's. It's a beautiful environment, with nice people and students who want to make something of their lives. Being able to participate in that — even a little bit — makes me a happy man.”

After a long and successful career in the counseling field, Dr. Ferdinandi began his career at St. John's as an Associate Adjunct Professor in The School of Education 15 years ago. “I started out as a middle-school teacher, but in my third year I became involved with counseling,” he said. “As a teacher, I instructed students about particular subjects, but when I started counseling, I realized I was assisting them with life. I started to see the humanity in their struggles.”

Some of the students he counseled were dealing with issues such as poverty, divorce and a sense of hopelessness. Working with them touched him deeply. “I saw a lot of me in them,” Dr. Ferdinandi said, “I was always the underdog, and struggled as a child. I didn't have anyone to reach out to help me. As an adult, when I reached out and gave others that hand, I witnessed the impact, and it moved me.”

Dr. Ferdinandi spent his entire academic career at St. John's — a very conscious decision. "I liked the way I was treated, and how the professors dealt with me. I want to carry on that tradition. Every day, I try to offer my students respect and dignity."

That ethos ties directly into the University's Vincentian mission, observed Dr. Ferdinandi, a longtime member of the Vincentian Mission Institute. “The spirit of St. Vincent is alive and well here — it provides me with a moral compass,” he said. “A lot of schools try to turn out good students. St. John's does that, but we are interested in turning out better people, who don't just excel in the classroom, but contribute to making this a better world.”

Modeling that mission has been of paramount importance to Dr. Ferdinandi. He has participated in several Midnight Runs with his students, distributing food to the homeless, and worked with St. John's Bread and Life on Project Identity, which helps needy local residents obtain the official identifications needed to vote, obtain employment and achieve self-sufficiency. In 2008, he took a group of students on a weeklong service trip to Rome, Italy, where they worked at soup kitchens and senior homes.

"These were all opportunities for me to bring some of St. Vincent's work to life," Dr. Ferdinandi recalled. On the academic side, he has created several programs that embody the mission and give his students the practical tools they need in their careers.

For example, "Win the Day" — an Academic Service-Learning initiative developed by Dr. Ferdinandi — sends St. John's students into schools to work with struggling students, helping them build confidence and self-esteem through varied academic techniques and activities. “[During the program] we want the kids to focus on a single problem that they encounter in their studies. We try to win one day at a time and build on that success for tomorrow."

Dr. Ferdinandi also created the Student and Faculty Engagement (SAFE) program, in which St. John's faculty, administrators and staff members mentor a group of students, helping them successfully transition from high school to college. "If there's a problem, we try to figure out what that barrier to success is and overcome it."

Reflecting on his career at St. John's, Dr. Ferdinandi observed, "From day one, the University community made me feel as if they were happy to have me, and that's made a big difference. Jerrold Ross [Ph.D., Dean of The School of Education] is an outstanding leader, and my colleagues are supportive and helpful. I've been able to make a difference for a lot of kids. That is very meaningful, and it’s something I'd like to be remembered for."