Ceremonial Groundbreaking for Business School Building to Take Place
Iona College is pleased to announce a ceremonial groundbreaking for the College’s new business school building that will occur on Thursday, July 26, 2018, at 4 p.m., on its New Rochelle campus.
Iona College’s new LaPenta School of Business will open in early 2020.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Iona College is pleased to announce a ceremonial groundbreaking for the College’s new business school building that will occur on Thursday, July 26, 2018, at 4 p.m., on its New Rochelle campus.
Fueled by the largest gift in the history of the College, the new business school building will dramatically impact the academy of Iona, by more than doubling the current academic space. High-tech learning spaces will include state-of-the-art classrooms and computer labs, a central atrium event space, case study and meeting rooms, faculty offices, a lecture hall, a business career center, an expanded trading floor classroom, and a media suite.
In November 2015, alumnus and board of trustee member Robert V. LaPenta '67, '00H, announced a $15 million gift for transformation of Iona’s business school building. He later added a $2.5 million matching gift challenge to increase his total donation to $17.5 million. Construction on the new building will begin immediately and is expected to be complete in the Spring 2020.
The upcoming ceremonial groundbreaking continues the exciting momentum for Iona's School of Business. In August 2017, William B. Lamb, Ph.D., began his tenure as dean following an international search. Dr. Lamb came to New Rochelle from Babson College where he served as the Murata Dean of the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business and a leading professor of entrepreneurship.
Under Lamb's leadership, the College announced a revamped MBA program with a faster, more flexible, and cost-effective format that requires only 39 credits to attain the degree. Students in the Iona MBA program can also specialize their degree by adding an advanced certificate within their MBA courses.
Receipt of a $5 million grant from New York State’s Higher Education Capital (HECap) Matching Grant Program Board, further bolstered funding for the business school in June 2018. The HECap program awards matching capital grants to New York colleges for the design, acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or equipping of a facility on or near a college campus that would enhance a college’s programmatic offerings or student life, or provide economic development benefits to the area surrounding the campus. Iona was one of five schools in New York State to receive the maximum grant from the board.
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.