Iona Names New President

announced the appointment of its first lay president Tuesday.

Dr. Joseph E. Nyre will become the school's eighth president, succeeding Brother James A. Liguori.

Nyre, 42, is now the president and CEO of the Hope Institute for Children and Families, whose headquarters is in Springfield, IL. Services the institute provides include advancing public policy, conducting research and training.

Nyre is also a clinical associate professor in the Illinois College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

He was chosen from a field of 60 candidates.

Iona's Chairman of the Board of Legal Trustees James P. Hynes said he was excited to welcome Nyre to the college.

"Dr. Nyre brings a unique background and special skill set to the position of president that we believe can take Iona to national prominence," he said in a prepared statement. "He is a man of deep faith dedicated to a life of family and service."

Nyre said he was honored to have been selected as Iona's president and to be able to build on the college's success during Liguori's leadership.

"I look forward to working with the entire Iona community in continuing to expand Iona's reputation," he said in a prepared statement, "to further enhance its academic standing and to embrace its Christian Brothers' tradition."

Liguori said the tremendous response to the presidential search was a reflection of Iona's national recognition.

"The quality of the candidates and the breadth of their experiencewere extremely impressive," he said in a prepared statement. "I am confident that Iona will be in very good hands under Dr. Nyre's leadership and will continue to make strides in academic excellence."

Liguori will have served as president for 17 years. His last day at the school is May 31.

Nyre served in the Navy and the Navy Reserves for six years after completing high school. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He received a master's degree in educational and counseling psychology from the University of Missouri and an educational specialist and doctorate degree in school psychology from the University of Kansas. He also completed pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital and the University of Kansas in clinical child psychology.

He and his wife, Kelli, have three children: Hadley, 9; Henry, 6, and Charlie, 2.