Joseph E. Nyre is getting ready to wrap up his first year as president of Iona College and, in retrospect, it has been an incredibly busy year. The college faced many challenges during the 2011-2012 academic year, but as Nyre points out, the school has a number of accomplishments to show for it. One of the most notable strides the college has made in the past year is the addition of five new academic programs. “We ratified four new graduate programs in the Hagan School of Business and this week in our board meeting we’ll be looking at an undergraduate program in environmental studies,” Nyre said. Nyre also pointed to the high levels of participation in student service and the ongoing commitment of the faculty to students as continuing accomplishments that speak volumes about the Iona community. In addition, he noted that Iona students have succeeded both in the classroom, as was evidenced by the great work presented at Undergraduate Research Day and Honors Thesis Day, and in sports, which can be seen in the achievements of a number of athletic teams. “Our athletic teams have had a pretty good year: softball, water polo, track and field, basketball, rugby- the list is long of significant accomplishments. So those things stand out to me as pretty exciting,” Nyre said. When asked about the biggest obstacles he had to overcome during his first year at Iona, Nyre cited tackling student housing and the changes in leadership at the college as two areas in which Iona is rising to the challenge. “We approved a new residence hall in less than three months, and our documents show that it took seven years for our last residence hall to be approved; so, that’s a pretty significant obstacle to overcome. Our students need to be served better and more housing, and we’re nowhere near done, but it’s a good step forward that we get to approve and build that quickly,” Nyre said. “We have a lot of new leadership: a new senior director for communications, a new senior vice president for advancement… a new provost, an interim dean of Arts and Sciences, a new chief of staff, and we’re hiring a new director for institutional effectiveness. The list is long in terms of finding the right people to help lead the college, and I’m confident we’ve done that.” Nyre has certainly been hard at work during his inaugural year and he shows no signs of slowing down. He will soon be guiding the college in implementing a new strategic plan, which has been in the works for the majority of this year. Along with continuing to seek out and support a high caliber of faculty, Nyre listed building scholarships, maintaining affordability and continuing to elevate the student experience as key goals for the upcoming 2012-2013 academic year. Nyre expressed that the new strategic plan will be vital in assisting Iona to continue to evolve and thrive in the future. “It [the strategic plan] ensures that we have a rigorous focus on academic distinction to ensure that an Iona degree will continually be worth more tomorrow than it is today,” Nyre said. Although his first year as president has been full of moments of distinction for Iona as an academic institution, the memories that have stood out most to Nyre revolve around getting to know the people that comprise the Iona community. “A few things that stand out were how well the students embraced us and welcomed my family, and also my son’s speech at inauguration,” Nyre said. “There’s an old maxim for Iona we used to have for ad campaigns and the tagline was ‘the proof is in the people.’ And it’s something that continues to prove itself over and over again… I’m continually impressed by our students.” Reflecting upon particularly moving moments over the past year, Nyre also cited the programs commemorating the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2001 and the recent speech by Lieutenant Kinard as striking memories. Nyre described the end of this academic year as bittersweet. After saying goodbye to Iona’s dedicated seniors at commencement, Nyre and his administrative team will remain on campus throughout the summer to begin implementation of the new strategic plan. He also pointed to the large amount of work that will be required to get Walsh Hall up and running for the fall. As far as more personal summer plans, Nyre is getting ready to welcome another member into his family, a daughter, who will be born at the beginning of June. He is also looking forward to relaxing with his family on Cape Cod during the weekends and to visiting the Island of Iona with Brother Dunkak in July. Closing out a productive year for the college and anticipating a busy summer and an even busier coming school year, Nyre expressed his excitement for the next few months. “I wish the Iona students a healthy and wonderful summer,” he said. “I really look forward to seeing everyone come back in the fall.”