Iona University Accounting Professor Wins Outstanding CPA in Education Award
Marie Elaine Gioiosa hailed as ‘an exceptional accounting educator who always has her students’ best interests in mind’
Iona University associate professor of accounting Marie Elaine Gioiosa, Ph.D., CPA recently received the 2023 Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award from the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA).
This award pays tribute to the outstanding contribution by CPAs who have dedicated their life’s work to accounting education, recognizing excellence in teaching and a contribution to and promotion of the accounting profession.
“[Marie] is an exceptional accounting educator who always has her students’ best interests in mind,” wrote Frank J. DeCandido, Staten Island NYSSCPA chapter president, who nominated Gioiosa for the award. “This is illustrated through her work with the NYSSCPA, in her classroom, and through her research.”
Gioiosa’s path in accounting began while attending St. John’s University, where she met associate dean and professor Irene N. McCarthy, the first woman to teach accounting at the university’s Staten Island campus. McCarthy inspired Gioiosa to become a certified public accountant.
Gioiosa launched her career at Peat Marwick, which went on to become KPMG, as a tax specialist and auditor. After a series of professional appointments, she found her way to Iona around 2016. Katherine Kinkela, chair of Iona’s Accounting Department and fellow professor, spoke highly of Gioiosa and her relationship with those on campus.
“You want to create the optimal learning experience for students, and Marie is excellent at that,” Kinkela said. “Marie receives consistently excellent reviews from students. Anecdotally, too, she has made an impact on students’ lives. They request her classes all the time. She is in constant demand.”
Gioiosa teaches a range of courses in the LaPenta School of Business Accounting Department such as Intro to Financial Accounting, Intermediate and Advanced Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Cost Measurement and Analysis, Intro to Business and Auditing Principles and Procedures.
As NYSSCPA campus liaison for Iona and a former member of the Society’s Moynihan Scholarship Fund’s (MSF) Board of Trustees, Gioiosa remains “thrilled” to help her students become aware of the scholarship money. So far, she said, approximately 20 scholarships have been awarded to her students through the MSF.
Gioiosa’s passion for education leaves her students inspired and ready for the real world, much in the same way that McCarthy inspired Gioiosa when she was just a student.
“In my classroom, I do a lot of active learning, which incorporates real-life situations. I am going to make sure that my students get actively involved. It promotes soft skills that students are expected to have when they graduate,” Gioiosa said. “I love what I do.”
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.