Iona College Announces New Dean to Enhance Student Experience
Joel Quintong joins Iona with nearly 20 years in Catholic higher education
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Iona College today announced that Joel Quintong, a distinguished professional with nearly 20 years of Catholic higher education experience, will serve as dean of students. This new position within the College’s newly formed Division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs will help Iona deliver an exceptional student experience, with a focus on creating and executing new strategies that enhance student success, satisfaction, retention and enrollment.
In this new role, Quintong will supervise and coordinate the day-to-day efforts of the departments within Student Affairs, which include Residential Life, Commuter Services, Student Activities and Engagement, Mission & Ministry, Health and Wellness Services and Campus Safety.
His office is located in the Office of Student Development in the LaPenta Student Union. He can be contacted at JQuintong@iona.edu.
“We are excited to welcome Joel to Iona, where his professional experience and educational background are a perfect fit for our student body and campus community,” said Kevin O’Sullivan, senior vice president for Enrollment and Student Affairs. “This new position will continue to enhance the educational, developmental, experiential and overall student experience at Iona, where we are preparing leaders who can Learn Outside the Lines.”
Quintong is a two-time graduate of Boston College, earning his bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration. He also possesses a second master’s degree in Religious Studies with a focus on Ecclesiology and Church Governance from Sacred Heart University.
In addition to his academic credentials, Quintong has nearly two decades of experience in Catholic higher education, having worked at Boston College, Marquette University and Sacred Heart University. Most recently, Quintong served as assistant dean of students and director of Residential Life at Sacred Heart University for the past 13 years. In addition to providing leadership and direction for a residential system comprised of over 3,100 beds and 22 buildings, Quintong has:
- worked with the director for Student Conduct and Community Standards in adjudicating cases and facilitating weekly Incident Review Team meetings;
- supported university-wide efforts as primary residential student retention officer;
- developed in-hall living-learning communities with faculty liaisons;
- co-chaired a search committee to hire the leadership team for the Office of Volunteer Programs and Service Learning; and
- administered the distribution of, as well as analyzed the results for, the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International ( ACUHO-I) Student Satisfaction Benchmarking survey for students.
At Sacred Heart, Quintong also previously served as an assistant director of Student Mentoring, providing personal, social and developmental mentoring to a cohort of first-year students. In addition, he was head coach of the competitive club weightlifting team.
He is a member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA); Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators (JASPA); and the Association for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges & Universities (ASACCU).
In addition to his professional experience, Quintong also has academic experience as a classroom instructor. For the past several years, he has served as an adjunct instructor in Sacred Heart University’s Department of Catholic Studies, teaching the three-credit, 200-level course: Great Books of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition II. Additionally, he has taught as a First Year Experience (FYE) course instructor at Sacred Heart.
Prior to that he participated in the Inclusive Leadership CommUNITY at Marquette University, providing in-hall leadership for new first-year, living-learning communities with an emphasis on diversity, student leadership and academic excellence, organizing program-wide retreats, student activities and special events concurrent to a three-credit Dynamics of Cross-Cultural Engagement course. He also instructed a first-year professional development seminar at Boston College, instructing a required one-credit seminar for Lynch School of Education freshmen.
Quintong lives in Stamford, Conn., with his wife, Jackie, and their two daughters, Elise and Claire. In his free time, Quintong is an avid golfer, and also a skilled disc jockey.
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 also continues to be recognized in prestigious national rankings. Most recently for 2025, Iona has been named one of the nation’s best colleges by The Princeton Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recognized Iona as one of top for social mobility in the country, while Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked an Iona degree in the top 5 percent nationally for long-term return on investment. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business, meanwhile, is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just 6 percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2024.” 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 one of the nation’s top hospitals. Connecting to its Irish heritage, Iona also opened a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland, located on the historic 400-acre Westport House Estate. 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.