Iona College Education Professor Highlights Importance of Relationships in Time of Crisis
Malissa A. Scheuring Leipold, Ed.D., chair and associate professor in Iona College’s Education Department.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Malissa A. Scheuring Leipold, Ed.D., chair and associate professor in Iona’s Education Department, recently published an article in The Teacher Advocate, a periodical of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, highlighting the importance of relationships – especially through the pandemic. The article also included a video clip from one of Iona’s former student teachers.
“Relationships bind us as humans. They motivate us to be our best selves and often allow us to see even greater possibilities. Alone we may accomplish what we set out to do, but together we can accomplish even more,” Scheuring Leipold wrote. “But educators are usually alone, teaching in a classroom with very few support systems in place. Becoming a teacher of children is a calling. It is all too often a job entailing intense daily work, from preparing lesson plans to instituting effective classroom management, while accounting for a community of diverse learners and staying informed about the latest in the field to inform one’s practice. These efforts often go unnoticed, and shows of gratitude may be rare. But if you are committed to answering this call, with the right supports and relationships in place, teachers can forge ahead with renewed energy. How do relationships ease the burden and make impossible-seeming tasks possible?”
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.