President Dr. Joseph E. Nyre and his cabinet hosted an open Town Hall for the fall semester on Oct. 23 in Romita Auditorium.

Junior Hannah McGowan, president of the Student Government Association, gave the introductions and Senior Director of Student Success Brother J. Kevin Devlin offered an invocation.

Nyre then gave opening remarks, addressing the importance of events like Town Hall and student involvement at the college.

After Nyre spoke, Anne Marie Schettini-Lynch, senior vice president for finance and administration, gave updates on some of the physical changes coming to campus. Schettini-Lynch said the updated time for the completion of the LaPenta School of Business is around the spring semester of 2020. She added that the Hynes Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation – which will be added to the second floor of Spellman Hall – is set to be completed for the fall semester of 2019. An elevator will also be installed in the building. Schettini-Lynch also mentioned that an elevator for Amend Hall is in the works, but no time frame has been set.

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Darrell P. Wheeler discussed the development of Iona’s five-year strategic plan, which will begin at the end of this year. Wheeler also announced that on Nov. 8 there will be a Town Hall “Mission, Vision and Values” session devoted to discussing those three values with students, faculty and staff.

Paul Sutera, senior vice president for Advancement and External Affairs, gave updates on the Iona Forever campaign. The $150 million campaign began in September 2015 and as of the Town Hall meeting, the campaign had raised $104 million so far. The money raised for the campaign helps create new endowed scholarships for students as well as enhancing the academic programs and faculty at the college. Sutera also said that John G. Hagan will be honored in a meaningful way in the LaPenta School of Business and that discussions with the Hagan family are underway.

Matt Cardin, associate vice provost for Career and Personal Development, went over some of the changes in the Career Development department at Iona. Cardin went into detail about the introduction of the new online platform Handshake, which replaced the former GaelLink platform over the summer. The purpose of Handshake, according to Cardin, is to help students interact with the Career Development Center more by scheduling and signing in for appointments, registering for events, applying for jobs and accessing various guides through the Handshake program.

Associate Provost for Strategic Academic Initiatives Dr. Tricia Mulligan discussed accessibility at Iona and the new Center for Advising. Mulligan announced the new accessibility office located on the bottom floor of Amend Hall with Daneshea Palmer taking on the role as director.

Mulligan also announced the introduction of Clockwork, a new software that will allow students to request any accommodations they may need and maintain communication with the accessibility office. It will also allow faculty to be updated on accommodations their students may have.

After the president’s cabinet spoke, the floor was opened for students to ask questions.

Senior Laura Viruet commended the cabinet on the future addition of elevators in Spellman and Amend Halls, but raised her concerns about Rice Hall still not having an elevator. Nyre responded to the question by saying that elevators in key buildings where student services are located has been in discussion for many years, and if a student is injured and needs a more accessible room than their current one in Rice Hall, accommodations will be made.

Junior Matthew George said he appreciated the renovations to the Mass Communications media lab in the Murphy Center, completed in the fall semester of 2017. George asked what else the School of Arts and Science will be seeing in terms of renovation, now that the School of Business is being updated. Nyre said that the donations Iona receives are delegated to where donors want them to go.

Nyre mentioned that from the Iona Forever campaign, roughly $50 million is allocated for student scholarships, another $50 million to endowed faculty and academic programs and the last $50 million to various buildings. However, he said that he is unaware if the numbers will be balanced out as evenly as planned, due to the fact that he cannot tell alumni where they should put their donation toward. He continued by saying that while he wants to raise funds for the School of Arts and Science, he could not say exactly how funding will come in and what that means for the timing of projects.

Senior Carrie Sapinoso appreciated the elevators being added to Spellman and Amend Halls and resources being added for students with disabilities.

“After my four years serving as an orientation leader, I’ve experienced issues with students who can’t get around campus well [and] they would change schools just because Iona wasn’t built for kids with physical disabilities to get to and from classes,” Sapinoso said.

Some of the other concerns that students asked about were in regards to the recent decrease in meal plan money for students who live at the Apartments at Eastchester, the changes that happened to the College Accessibility Program and possible updates for the Game Room located in the LaPenta Student Union.