Sound Shore

The Westchester Chamber Symphony 14th concert season at Iona College wraps up April 30 with a Haydn-heavy concert featuring Israeli cellist Amit Peled. Peled is a professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University and has performed all over the world.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at the Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium and, in addition to Peled’s performance, will include the symphony’s Composers of the Future showcase, featuring members of the Songcatchers after-school program, in New Rochelle. For tickets or more information, click here.

A fire on the roof of Iona College’s Loftus Hall dormitory, at 715 North Avenue, caused fire department and school officials to evacuate the building for about an hour Wednesday afternoon.

New Rochelle Fire Department Commissioner Raymond Kiernan said a worker using a torch to make repairs to the roof ignited portions of the roofing membrane and insulation. Firefighters cleared the students out of the 11-story building, ran a hose up from the floor below and doused the fire. Kiernan said the fire, which was reported around noon, was contained to the roof and the damage was minimal.

Dawn Insanalli, a college spokeswoman, said there were no injuries and that students were not in harm’s way. She said repairs to the roof, which were underway by mid-afternoon, would likely be complete by the end of the day.

John Sweeney, Iona College ‘55, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor today. Sweeney was head of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009 and, according to a news release from the college, worked his way up through the union and “revitalized the American labor movement.”

Sweeney was one of 15 recipients of the prestigious award. Among the others were Rep. John Lewis, author Maya Angelou, financier Warren Buffett, artist Jasper Johns, musician Yo-Yo Ma, baseball player Stan Musial, Celtic great Bill Russell and former president George H.W. Bush.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said, “These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture and made our country and our world a better place.”

Iona College announced today that Joseph E. Nyre will be the College’s eighth President. Nyre, who will become Iona’s first lay president, succeeds Brother James A. Liguori who is retiring on May 31.

From the official announcement:

“Dr. Nyre is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of The Hope Institute for Children and Families, a statewide university affiliated organization headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. The Hope Institute advances public policy, conducts research, links institutions of higher education, provides training to pre-service and practicing professionals, and offers healthcare and educational services. Dr. Nyre is also a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Illinois College of Medicine, at the University of Illinois at Chicago….

As President and CEO, Dr. Nyre transformed The Hope Institute for Children and Families into a nationally recognized institute serving 29,000 people annually and training more than 30,000 clinicians, physicians and teachers since 2003. Under his leadership over the past eight years, the Institute reversed years of annual losses, reorganized and launched centers of excellence, increased corporate partnerships, and raised significant private and grant funds. Dr. Nyre has also been instrumental in influencing the passage of state and federal legislation which significantly impacted the system of care and higher education.

After graduating high school in Beloit, Wisconsin, Dr. Nyre joined the U.S. Navy in order to attend college. He served in the Navy and Navy Reserves for six years and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse in 1991 with a BA in psychology. He went on to obtain a Masters degree in Educational and Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri, and an Ed.S. and Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Kansas. He has also completed pre and postdoctoral fellowships in Clinical Child Psychology at both Harvard Medical School/Children’s Hospital and the University of Kansas.

Throughout his career, Dr. Nyre has practiced as a psychologist in academic, clinical, and private practice settings. In addition, he has served in a faculty capacity at the University of Kansas, Baylor University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Chicago and Simmons College. He is widely published in his area of expertise and has current international research and training program initiatives.”

Brother John G. Driscoll, a former longtime president of Iona College who oversaw a pivotal period of growth for the college, died last night. He was 77.

He led Iona from 1971 until his retirement as president emeritus in 1995. During that time, he became one of the most visible and popular educators in the region.

He expanded Iona’s campus and enrollment while remaining, as a Christian Brother, involved in numerous community projects. As vice president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and University in New York state, he lobbied for state aid to colleges and students.

He also served as the first chairman of the Westchester Public Utility Agency, as a trustee of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers and as a member of the Board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

In his honor, Iona now hosts the Brother John G. Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies.

Consolidated Edison officials came to Iona College yesterday to tout the college as the first educational institution in Westchester County to take advantage of an energy savings and rebate program offered by the utility. According to ConEd, “by adopting an  energy-saving lighting system for 17 of its buildings and facilities, Iona will save up to $117,000 annually in electric costs and will earn an additional rebate of $130,000.”

Among the buildings they toured at Iona was the Hynes Athletics Center gym, one of the buildings where the upgrading is underway. The new lights in that building will produce the largest savings, $34,000 a year, ConEd said.

Con Edison estimates that when the project is completed, the new lighting will save up to 784,000 kilowatt hours a year of electric use — reducing carbon emissions equal to removing 50 cars from the road.

The ConEd program offers rebates to customers using less than 100 kilowatt hours of peak demand. Con Edison is paying 70 percent of the cost of the work. According to the ConEd press release, “Iona estimates that within a year, it will have gotten back its $55,000 share of the cost with the savings and rebate.”

Iona College in New Rochelle announced today that the school  set a record for applicants for its incoming fall freshman class. The school said it received 8,002 applications a 38% increase from two years ago. In 2000, Iona received 2,907 admission applications, a number that has increased exponentially over the decade. In addition, the college is attracting applicants from a much wider geographic area beyond its traditional NY metro base, extending across the U.S. and overseas, the school said.

It added, “These trends are the result of a long-range strategic plan aimed at elevating Iona’s ranking and appeal as one of the nation’s leading mid-sized colleges…. The transformation was made possible by an $83 million capital campaign, the largest in Iona’s history. These funds financed the construction of impressive new buildings and the major renovation of others that have changed both the face of the campus and enhanced student life. Among them were the Hynes Athletics Center; the Robert V. LaPenta Student Union which houses the campus bookstore, a food court and bistro, lounges and space for clubs and student organizations; five residence halls; and the recently completed, state-of-the-art Ryan Library.”

The release also mentions plans for a new residence hall, which would add on-campus housing for 350 more students. The plan has not been without neighborhood opposition, however, and remains pending.

A group of New Rochelle residents plans to speak out against Iona College’s plans for a 10-story dormitory on Mayflower Avenue at a City Council meeting tonight.

Jonathan Misner, president of the Mt. Joy Neighborhood Association, said the new building would be too tall and put a strain on the residential neighborhood next to the dorm site. He said he has collected hundreds of signatures in protest of Iona’s plan. Misner wants the college to pick a different site for the dorm, one that would have less impact on homeowners.

Iona has five dorms on its campus now, but all are for juniors and sophomores. The new 393-bed dormitory would house juniors and seniors. College officials  said the dorm will accommodate students already at the school and will not increase enrollment. Students who live there will be prohibited from bringing cars to campus, so the measure should decrease traffic, officials said. Iona has built several new buildings built on the North Avenue campus in the past decade, part of the school’s push to enhance residential and student life and help recruitment efforts.

At its next meeting, the City Council will vote on declaring itself lead agency, a necessary step before starting the environmental impact review process.

Mike Overton, an electrician from Iona College’s facilities department, replaced an old light bulb outside Hagan Hall with a fluorescent energy saver bulb that can last over 10,000 hours. I spoke to Overton as he worked Tuesday. He told me the college has been gradually replacing all the bulbs on campus to save energy and money.

New Rochelle resident Bob McCaffrey wrote in The Journal News yesterday that he is against new dorms for Iona College. He complained that students often take up parking spaces on residential streets and leave trash in their wake.

Iona plans to build a 393-bed, 10-story dorm on campus that will house juniors and seniors. College officials  said the dorm will accommodate students already at the school and will not increase enrollment. Students who live there will be prohibited from bringing cars to campus, so the measure should decrease traffic, officials said. Iona has had several new buildings built on the North Avenue campus in the past decade, part of the school’s push to enhance residential and student life and help recruitment efforts.

What do you think? Are Iona’s plans for a new dorm good for New Rochelle?