Contact Us
Get in touch with us about your spiritual needs.
Phone
516.877.3113
Main Office Location
Interfaith Center
Ruth S. Harley University Center, Room 302
1 South Avenue
P.O. Box 701
Garden City, NY 11530
Meet Our Staff
Office Staff
Wendy Badala
Director of International Student Services and Interfaith Center
e – wbadala@adelphi.edu
Wendy is the Director of International Student Services and the Interfaith Center. She has been at Adelphi since 2007 and has worked in the field of immigration and international student advisement since 2001. Previously, Wendy has worked at the Julliard School in New York City and Mohawk Valley Community College, the State University of New York in Utica, New York. Wendy studied her undergraduate degree at Plattsburgh State University in New York and the University of Chester in England. She is currently working on her Master of Arts Degree in General Psychology at Adelphi University.
Wendy’s responsibilities are to ensure institutional compliance with governmental immigration regulations, provide and support cultural programs and exchanges, pre-professional opportunities, employment guidance and authorization, social opportunities and co-curricular engagement in order to enhance students’ overall learning and development. She also serves as the adviser to the International Student Society and the South Asian Student Association.
Mujtaba Ali Shah
Graduate Assistant
Mujtaba Ali Shah is currently an MBA student at Adelphi University. He completed his bachelors degree in finance from Comsats Institute of Information and Technology Islamabad, Pakistan. Mujtaba’s career aspiration is to work as an analyst with top notch international investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclay’s Capital. His hobbies include practicing stock trading, meeting new people, traveling and spending time with friends and family.
Faith-Based Staff
The Interfaith Center houses the offices of several chaplains and the Adelphi Christian Fellowship. Serving all students on the Adelphi campus, the chaplains provide programs both on and off campus, are available for counseling during their office hours and conduct services on a weekly basis.
Father Jeff Yildirmaz
Catholic Chaplain
p – 516.877.3116
e – catholic@adelphi.edu
Father Jeffery Yildirmaz, 31, is from a first generation Turkish family and grew up in Massapequa with his brother. He was baptized in Saint Rose of Lima Church, Massapequa. When he was 17, his family moved to the Parish of Saint Edward the Confessor in Syosset. Father Jeff attended Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale in 2004. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA in 2008. Father Jeff entered the seminary in 2011. His diaconate assignment was in the Parish of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Huntington Station. Father Jeff enjoys exercise, reading and travel. He is currently serving as Associate Pastor at St. Aidan’s in Williston Park.
What first inspired Father Jeff to be a priest was being a student at Kellenberg Memorial High School. “It was there I truly learned my faith and I began to have a devout prayer life,” said Father Jeff. “I was truly inspired by the holiness of the Marianists and the teachers who taught there. As a student in Kellenberg, I was introduced to the life of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, who led to me have a stronger call to the priesthood. I was drawn to the priesthood through the deep bond a priest has to Christ and to His Church. I was attracted to how the priest is a symbol of Christ and His Church. Everything a priest does is through his bond and intimacy to Christ.”
“I want to be a priest because I believe that God has called me to be a priest. Although I am unworthy to receive such a great gift, and truly in awe of the great responsibilities that await, it is the greatest joy that the Lord could give me; to be his priest. As Saint John Paul states: ‘to be a steward of his sacred mysteries.’ To put it simply, I want to be a priest because I want to give people the love of Jesus Christ, to give them His Sacred Heart.”
Paul Francisco
Catholic Campus Minister
p – 516.877.3116
e – pfrancisco@adelphi.edu
Paul Francisco is a graduate of Providence College in Rhode Island with a degree in English, American Studies, and Theology. An active member of his Campus Ministry, Paul Francisco looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm and passion with the students at Adelphi. Before coming to Adelphi, Paul was a volunteer with Capuchin Youth and Family Ministries (CYFM) in Garrison, NY, where he mentored young people in their relationships with God, planned and prepared day and overnight retreats and was an active member of their outreach and mission trips.
Rabbi Glenn Jacob
Jewish Chaplain
p – 516.877.3115
e – gjacob@adelphi.edu
Rabbi Glenn Jacob D.D. is one of the interfaith chaplains and Jewish Student Union Director at Adelphi University. He is also the executive director of the New York chapter of Interfaith Power & Light, an organization dedicated to bringing together faith and climate science to safeguard the Earth. He organizes and lobbies in both Albany and Washington D.C.
Before coming to Adelphi University, he served synagogues from the Deep South to Long Island for over 25 years. In the Deep South, Rabbi Jacob was a civil rights advocate on issues of church and state, reproductive rights, hate group monitoring with the Southern Poverty Law Center, and funding for public education. In Philadelphia Rabbi Jacob was the founding chair of the Interfaith Gathering of Lower Bucks (County). He is also an accomplished storyteller and a presenter at national conferences on Jewish Education. He presented “God in the Public Square” at TEDx at Adelphi in 2016.
Rabbi Jacob is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in philosophy. He received a Master’s Degree in Hebrew Letters, Rabbinic Ordination, and later a Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.
Brother Abdin Chande
Muslim Chaplain
p – 516.877.3112
e – chande@adelphi.edu
Dr. Chande received the following degrees: BA in 1978 from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; BA in 1979 from Ottawa University, Canada; MA in 1982 from McGill Univ. Montreal, Canada; 1990 Arabic diploma Saudi Arabia; Ph.D. 1992 African and Islamic Studies, McGill University. He has been teaching in the USA since 1994 and currently holds the position of Associate Professor in the Department of History at Adelphi University.
The Very Reverend Michael Sniffen
Protestant Chaplain
p – 516.877.3114
e – msniffen@adelphi.edu
The Very Reverend Michael T. Sniffen is Dean of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, NY. Dean Sniffen was ordained in 2007 and has served parishes in New Jersey, Locust Valley and Brooklyn. He holds a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from W.V. Wesleyan College as well as M.Phil and M.Div. degrees from Drew University. He is currently writing his doctoral dissertation in the field of Homiletics.
Dean Sniffen has won awards in pulpit oratory and manner, as well as pastoral leadership and innovative ministry. He was a steward of the 2008 Lambeth Palace Conference of Bishops in London. He has been honored with a Luce Fellowship at the Center for Christianity in Global Contexts.
He currently serves as Vice-President of the Board of Camp DeWolfe and as a member of the Racial Justice Advisory Council of the Brooklyn Community Foundation. He is on the faculty of The Mercer School of Theology and has served as Adjunct Professor of Worship and Preaching at Drew Theological School.
Dean Sniffen has received numerous proclamations from the City of New York and Nassau County for the impact of his ministries on the public good. He has had a longstanding passion for ministry with young people, especially those in higher education and first career experiences. While Rector in Brooklyn, he organized a major disaster relief effort following Hurricane Sandy that gathered thousands of college students and neighborhood residents to help neighbors in need. The effort was nationally recognized by the Department of Homeland Security as one of the most effective grass-roots relief efforts in the history of the United States. He and his wife, Joanna, live in Garden City, NY with their two dogs Mille and Odette.
Reverend Michael Delaney
Protestant Chaplain
p – 516.877.3114
e – mdelaney1@adelphi.edu
The Rev Michael F. Delaney is the Canon Pastor at the Cathedral of the Incarnation and the Diocesan Liturgist in Garden City, NY. Previously he served as the Interim Dean of Trinity & St Philip’s Cathedral in Newark, NJ. From 2001 to 2012 Michael was the Rector of the Church of Saint Andrew on Staten Island. He also served in the diocese of Newark, New Jersey as the Director of Pastoral Care at Christ Hospital in Jersey City, as Priest-in-Charge of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Washington, NJ and as a chaplain at Hackensack University Medical Center. Fr. Michael was the first chaplain at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City and continues to be involved in the work of HIV/AIDS. He lives in Garden City, NY with his dog, Fred.
Joanne Lim
Adelphi Christian Fellow
e – joanne.lim@intervarsity.
Joanne Lim is a graduate of University of Delaware with a degree in Human Services with a concentration in Administrative and Family policy. Coming to faith in college through a campus ministry called InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Joanne wants to give back by creating safe spaces for all students to grow in love for God, God’s people, and God’s purposes on campus and in the world. Before coming to Adelphi, Joanne volunteered for various non-profit organizations, such as Urban Promise and churches in ministering to youth in Newark, DE, where she got to lead youth into deep transformation through bible studies and mission trips.