February 15, 2011

A Message from James P. Hynes, Chairman of the Board of Legal Trustees

It is with great pleasure that I announce our search for a new President for Iona College has successfully concluded. The Board of Legal Trustees has unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Joseph E. Nyre, currently the President of the Hope Institute for Children and Families in Springfield, Illinois. Dr. Nyre brings a unique background and a special skill set to the position that the Board and the Search Committee believe can take Iona College to national prominence. He is a man of deep faith dedicated to a life of family and service. He and his wife, Kelli, have three young children.  Dr. Nyre was selected from over sixty candidates, including sitting Presidents, Provosts and Deans.

A first generation college student from Beloit, Wisconsin, Dr. Nyre joined the navy after high school in order to be able to attend college. He earned his BA in psychology in 1991 from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, followed by an MA from the University of Missouri, an EdS and a PhD from the University of Kansas, followed by post doctoral appointments at the Harvard Medical School and the University of Kansas.

Dr. Nyre has held a number of positions, including, school psychologist in the Lawrence, Kansas public school system, Director and Assistant Research Professor at Baylor University, and a Co-Director of Medical Coping at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Nyre is widely published in his field and has held instructional and clinical faculty positions at several major universities.

He joined the Hope Institute for Children and Families as President and CEO in 2003; he concurrently is a clinical Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Brother Novak and I visited the Hope Institute. We saw firsthand its role as an educational institution focused on autistic children and their families. In eight years, Dr. Nyre transformed the Hope Institute, taking it from near bankruptcy to national prominence through teaching and training, research and public policy development, by adding programs, increasing partnerships and networks, raising significant private and grant funds, and by influencing state and federal legislation.

We are very excited to be able to welcome Dr. Nyre as the eighth president and first lay president of Iona College. His full resume is posted on the college website at http://www.iona.edu/about/presidentialsearch/. Dr. Nyre and his wife Kelli will be introduced to the campus community on Tuesday March 1. I want to give special thanks to the Presidential Search Committee for its exemplary work in leading us to this very successful conclusion.

James P. Hynes, '69, '01H
Chairman