Iona Graduates Going Green
Iona’s graduates will prevent more than 20,000 plastic bottles from being sent to landfills when they don robes made of recyclable materials at commencement on Saturday.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - When the Iona College Class of 2019 marches for commencement on May 18, they will be earning their degrees as well as making a significant contribution to the greening of the environment.
According to The Guardian, a million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and that number is increasing. Instead of adding to the alarming statistic, Iona graduates will be doing their part to fight it; the gowns the students will be wearing are made of 100 percent recyclable materials.
Iona is working with Oak Hall Cap and Gown, the company that introduced sustainable caps and gowns to higher education in 2009 with their GreenWeaver wear. According to Oak Hall, it takes an average of 23 recycled bottles to make each gown. One hundred students wearing recycled gowns spare the ocean and landfills 2,300 bottles.
Unlike typical commencement gowns, these gowns are wrinkle resistant, lightweight, softer than traditional polyester and can be recycled after use.
“It is exciting to think that with more than 900 graduates donning these robes at the commencement exercises, Iona will be instrumental in preventing over 20,000 plastic bottles from being sent to landfills!” said Carl Procario-Foley, Ph.D., chair of the Iona College Committee on Environmental Sustainability.
Iona College challenges its community to Move the World — and to many, moving toward a greener world is a top priority. Through academic programs, research initiatives, co-curricular activities, campus greening, committee work, and community partnerships, Iona strives to cultivate a culture of stewardship that embraces environmental consciousness, social justice, and inclusivity.
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.