Iona College (New York)

Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 45 acres (0.18 km2) on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York.

The College offers BA, BS, BPS, and BBA degrees to undergraduate students, and several master's degree programs. The BA, BS, and BPS degrees require a total of 120 credits for completion; for BBA degrees, a total of 126 credits are required. An honors program, with special courses, seminars, mentoring, advising, and off-campus opportunities, is available to top students.

History
Founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Iona College is a private, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of American Catholic higher education. In 1989, Elizabeth Seton College of Yonkers, New York merged with Iona. Iona College completed renovations of their Ryan Library, and the library was fully operational by the beginning of 2009's fall semester.

Iona College opened its doors in 1940, with nine Christian Brothers and six lay faculty greeting the first class. The Christian Brothers named the College after Iona, the island monastery of St. Columba [in Irish: St. Colmcille] located off the west coast of Scotland. Columba founded the monastery in 563 AD. The Congregation of Christian Brothers was itself founded in 1802 by Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice in Waterford, Ireland.

In 1940, the idea of the College's founding community of Brothers was to start a small, affordable college for the sons of New York's working class. At the time, the Christian Brothers taught in seven high schools in the Archdiocese of New York, including Iona Prep, All Hallows, Rice High School, and Power Memorial. They recognized that many of their graduates could not afford the cost of local universities, and so they started Iona.

Iona started small, and shrank further after the U.S. entered World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. For example, the fall of 1943 began with 94 students, but the spring term ended with fewer than 40. Only three members of the entering class went on to receive Bachelor of Arts degrees in August, 1944. Returning veterans, attracted by Iona's practical majors like Accounting (and their tuition underwritten by the G.I. Bill), soon stretched the College to its limits. Seventy-one men graduated in 1948 and 300 in 1950.

Guiding the College through its tenuous start and sudden growth were two gifted Presidents: Br. William Barnabas Cornelia (1885–1955) and Br. Arthur Austin Loftus (1904–1979). One a native of Dublin, the other a native New Yorker, they helped Iona expand and prosper throughout the middle of the 20th century.

In 2011, Iona College admitted that it had reported inflated figures from 2002–2011 about "acceptance rates, SAT scores, graduation rates, and alumni who give annually" in a bid to influence college rankings.

Mission statement
According to its mission statement, "Iona College is a caring academic community, inspired by the legacy of Blessed Edmund Rice and the Christian Brothers, which embodies opportunity, justice, and the liberating power of education. Iona College's purpose is to foster intellectual inquiry, community engagement, and an appreciation for diversity. In the tradition of American Catholic Higher Education, Iona College commits its energies and resources to the development of graduates recognized for their ethics, creativity, and problem solving abilities; their independent and adaptable thinking; their joy in lifelong learning; and their enduring integration of mind, body, and spirit." This statement was adopted in May of 2012.

Academics
The university is divided into two main academic units: a school of arts and sciences, and a business school. The School of Arts & Sciences is one of the two main schools at Iona College. Iona College hired a new dean of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Sibdas Ghosh, PhD to replace former dean, Dr. Jeanne Zaino, PhD. Many students choose to obtain degrees in mass communications, journalism, education, and psychology. Iona boasts excellent scholars and teachers among the faculty in liberal arts and sciences. Some distinguished faculty at Iona's history department include Dr. James T. Carroll, Dr. Michael J. Hughes, Dr. Catherine Stratton, Dr. Daniel E. Thiery, Dr. George Bournoutian and Dr. Eugene Sheehan.

The School offers degree programs leading to the Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, marketing, and management. The school also has a fast track MBA program, which is geared toward people who want to gain an edge in their chosen field. The Fast Track MBA shaves 10 months off the length of traditional MBA programs by offering courses in a sequence that guarantees a speedy graduation. On the school's website its mission is stated as 'The School’s commitment to Catholic Higher Education in the Christian Brothers’ Tradition coupled with our AACSB – International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation assures that the student is at the core of everything we do.'

Accreditations

 * Iona College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
 * The Department of Mass Communication is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (ACEJMC).
 * The Hagan School of Business is accredited for its Business program by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).
 * Iona's Department of Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
 * The Department of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
 * Iona's Department of Marriage and Family Therapy is accredited by The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), the accrediting body of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
 * Iona's Department of School Psychology is accredited by the National Association of School Psychologist (NASP)

Campus


Academic lecture halls at Iona College include Murphy Center, McSpedon Hall, Arrigoni Center, Doorley Hall, Cornelia Hall, Amend Hall, Ryan Library, and Hagan Hall. The most recent additions to the campus include the newly constructed Robert V. LaPenta Student Union and the expanded Hynes Athletic Center.

Hynes Athletic Center hosts training centers for the college's Division 1 teams in addition to the 2,611-seat multi-purpose arena which hosts year round activities.

Ryan Library is the major research and studying center of the campus. It was announced in 2005 that the library would go through an extensive modernization process. The renovation included an expanded print collection and larger spaces for students to study and do research. The project was completed in time for the Fall Semester of 2009. The library is a prominent symbol of Iona College along North Ave.

Iona became the first metro-New York college with a completely wireless Internet campus in September 2001.

In 1998 American Campus Communities was awarded the contract to develop, build, and manage a student housing property at Iona College.



Loftus Hall
Iona offers several different housing options for students. Loftus Hall, designed to house first year students only, is a 10-floor building. Each floor has six suites of two bedrooms (a double and a triple), one handicapped room which houses two people, and the RA (resident assistant) room. Loftus features a small computer lab, a kitchen, a laundry room, a quiet meditation room, a study lounge, and a vending lounge/game room.

Conese and South Hall
Conese, formally North, and South halls are among the newer residence halls and were built in 2005. North and South were originally designed for upperclassmen; since the recent influx of accepted freshmen, Conese hall has become the second, "unofficial" freshman residence hall. North and South are identical buildings, and hold fewer people than Loftus. Both buildings have six floors, with four rooms on each floor: one suite of seven and three suites of 10. Each suite has two bathrooms, a small kitchenette, and a common room/living room type arrangement. North Hall was renamed to Conese Hall at Homecoming 2008, October 4, 2008, to acknowledge a $5 million gift to the college from Anna May and Eugene P. Conese.

Rice Hall
Rice Hall, nestled in the quiet back corner of Iona's campus, is primarily a single occupant dorm, though there are suites of varying sizes on the ground floor and a few rooms on the first floor can house two students. It is the oldest dormitory at Iona, and was originally used to house the Christian Brothers as well as the brothers in training. The building is four floors, with laundry services being provided in the basement. Amenities include a game room, TV lounge, kitchen, computer lab, and gym.

East Hall
East Hall is Iona's newest residence hall, located in the very center of campus on the site of the previous Walsh Hall (an academic building which housed Iona's Psychology department). East Hall, which is three stories and holds an estimated 112 residents, accommodates students in a traditional corridor-style setting. There is an elevator in the center lobby area and lounges on both the second and third floors. It has rooms for groups of three and four students with a common bathroom on each wing. Each floor is separated by gender. The first and third floors are designated for female students and the second for males. Among its amenities are wireless internet, cable television, and telephone lines in each room. The main floor has a kitchen area, a mail room, and laundry facilities. There are three resident assistants (RAs) in the building and one campus minister.

Eastchester Apartments
Iona also holds several apartments in the Eastchester Apartment Complex, which is located down the block from the campus. Each building in Eastchester has an RA.

Clubs and organizations
There are currently 65 active clubs, Greek fraternities and Sororities, and media organizations on Campus.

Greek Life
Iona is home to 4 local sororities and 1 national sorority 1 international fraternity, 1 national fraternity,and 1 local fraternity.

Athletics
The Iona College Gaels are part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and participate in seventeen NCAA Division I programs. Other members of the MAAC include Canisius College, Fairfield University, Loyola University Maryland, Manhattan College, Marist College, Niagara University, Rider University, Saint Peter's College, and Siena College.

Alumni
Iona has approximately 40,000 living alumni worldwide. In the fields of arts & entertainment, Iona College graduates include: Bud Cort, actor starring in "Harold and Maude" and "MASH"; Terry Finn, Broadway and Hollywood actress; Don McLean; singer/songwriter of renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent" attended Iona Prep (but not Iona College); Antonio Broccoli Porto, Italian-Puerto Rican artist, visual artist and sculptor; and Donald Spoto, best-selling celebrity biographer.

In the field of business, Iona College graduates include: Linda Bruno, Commissioner of the Skyline Conference; Thomas E. Hales, former CEO and Chairman of U.S.B. Holding Co., Inc.; Vincent A. Gierer, Jr., former Chairman and CEO of UST Inc.; Andy Dolce, Founder, Chairman & Managing Partner of Dolce Hotels and Resorts; Laurence Boschetto, President & CEO and President of Draftfcb; Ronald DeFeo, Chairman & CEO of Terex; Randy Falco, President and CEO of Univision Communications Inc.; Robert Greifeld current President & CEO of NASDAQ; James P. Hynes, founder of COLT Telecom Group; Alfred Kelly, former President of American Express; Catherine R. Kinney, former President of the New York Stock Exchange; Brian A. Markison, Chairman, President & CEO of King Pharmaceuticals; and Peter R. Scanlon, former Chairman & CEO of Coopers & Lybrand

In the fields of law and government, Iona College graduates include: Robert J. Corcoran, former Arizona Supreme Court Justice; Timothy C. Idoni, Westchester County Clerk, former mayor of New Rochelle, New York; Anthony T. Kane, former New York Supreme Court Justice; Robert J. McGuire, former New York City Police Commissioner & CEO of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency; Kevin Sullivan, former White House Communications Director; and John Sweeney (labor leader), Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

In the field of sports, Iona College graduates include: Richie Guerin, six time NBA All-Star and NBA Coach of the Year; Jason Motte, 2011 MLB World Champion and Game 7 saving pitcher; and Jeff Ruland, NBA All-Star