{"id":4962,"date":"2026-01-05T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=4962"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:41:22","slug":"global-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2026\/01\/global-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Educator Tom Arlotto \u201966 brings global conversations to Seton Hall through an endowed gift.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Arlotto has been on six continents, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0always called New Jersey home. A retired educator, he recalls pleasant memories of growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his large family. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0one of nine siblings. It was organized chaos,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cReally, though, our home was a very warm and welcoming environment. My parents were strict, but there was always room for one more at the dinner table,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That familial spirit has influenced Arlotto throughout his life. For over 30 years, he taught math to middle schoolers in Franklin Township, New Jersey. \u201cThey were my kids. I loved it. I felt needed,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of education motivates Arlotto to continue making a difference in the field. In addition to volunteering with the New Jersey Retirees\u2019 Education Association, he provides philanthropic support to higher education institutions in the state, including Seton Hall, where he received a master\u2019s degree in business administration before becoming a teacher.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Arlotto\u2019s endowed gift to the University supports the World Leaders Forum speaker series, a long-running initiative of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations that brings global conversations onto campus. The first program to be funded by the Arlotto Family Diplomacy Speaker Series was the recent World Leaders Forum featuring Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, the Permanent Observer to the Holy See of the United Nations. Arlotto sees the endowment\u00a0as a way to\u00a0bring heads of state, leaders of internationally active organizations, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, public officials, journalists, labor leaders, business executives, philanthropists,\u00a0ambassadors\u00a0and diplomats to Seton Hall to engage in both community and small-group student-focused programming.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope those who attend, especially the University\u2019s students, will gain more understanding about different cultures of the world and can appreciate seeing different people who have different values,\u201d Arlotto says. He also notes that his gift, purposely named for the Arlotto Family, is a way for him to thank his parents and siblings.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTom has frequently told me how amazed he is to have the opportunity to engage with the dignitaries that we host on campus, which is right in line with what I hear from our students and faculty about the World Leaders Forum,\u201d says School of Diplomacy Dean Courtney B. Smith, who has been with the school since 1999, when the speaker series launched.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe one of the kids who attends my lecture series becomes, I don\u2019t know, the secretary of state one day,\u201d Arlotto ponders.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of his own career path, Arlotto did not set out to become a teacher.\u00a0After graduating from college with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics, he worked at Honeywell in the personnel department. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t for me,\u201d he says, noting that firing people was part of his job. He left the corporation and started substitute teaching\u00a0as a way to\u00a0make money \u2014 turns\u00a0out,\u00a0he also found his calling. \u201cTeaching came naturally to me. I loved it. I\u00a0loved\u00a0teaching math. It was\u00a0a very rewarding\u00a0experience,\u201d he says. Arlotto went on to earn a teacher certification and later a master\u2019s degree in education.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1991, he was honored by New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio as Teacher of the Year at Franklin Township\u2019s Hillcrest School. The award certificate hangs on a wall in Arlotto\u2019s home, which is adorned with artifacts and collectibles from his world travels. Among the many\u00a0meaningful items on display is a linguistics textbook. Though its cover is plain compared to the intricate global d\u00e9cor alongside it, the textbook was written by his brother, who was a Harvard professor. Its prominent display in Arlotto\u2019s home reflects the invaluable roles that family and education have played throughout his life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am privileged to know Tom,\u201d says Smith. \u201cI am especially touched when he\u00a0indicates\u00a0that he wishes his parents could see him now and witness the experiences he gets to have through his relationship with our school. I smile right back and remind him that his support is an essential piece in making these moments happen.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lori (Varga) Riley, M.A., \u201906, is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Educator Tom Arlotto \u201966 brings global conversations to Seton Hall through an endowed gift.\u00a0 Tom Arlotto has been on six continents, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0always called New Jersey home. A retired educator, he recalls pleasant memories of growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his large family. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0one of nine siblings. It was organized chaos,\u201d he says…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingGlobal Conversations<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5820,"featured_media":4953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,351,49,317,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-articles-2025-2029","category-arts","category-profile","category-scholarship","category-university-life","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5820"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4963,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions\/4963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}