Rose Iovino M.S. ’81

Member of Adelphi University’s Profiles in Success program.

Adjunct Professor, Division of Education, Molloy College

Carving a Career in the Classroom

For Rose Iovino M.S. ’81, the road to professional fulfillment revolves around students.  “I love teaching and would not have chosen any other career path,” she says, “and Adelphi helped me along the way.”

Early on in her career as an elementary teacher, she found herself gravitating towards particular segments of the student population.  “I was fascinated by learning disabilities and kids who were gifted,” she says, “but I couldn’t find my place in the general education classroom.”

Dr. Iovino, who wanted to be able to provide students with the special instruction and assistance they needed to reach their full potential, decided working as a resource room teacher would be more in tune with her aspirations as an educator.  In 1979, she enrolled at Adelphi to pursue her master’s degree in special education.

“Adelphi had great classes,” says Dr. Iovino, who found the education she received at the University to be ahead of its time.  “When I enrolled at Adelphi, New York State only required general education certification, but Adelphi offered its students intense experiences in different areas,” she says.  “These focused classes weren’t required by the state, and other schools were not teaching them.”

The opportunity to specialize in an area was pivotal, because it allowed her to hone in on her interest in learning disabilities.  “My Adelphi degree opened up a whole new world of education,” says Dr. Iovino, who spent the next decade working with high school students in resource rooms.

A move in 1988 took Dr. Iovino and her husband to Florida.  Upon their return to New York five years later, she was ready to return to the classroom, but discovered that she wouldn’t be picking up right where she left off.  “With a master’s degree and fifteen years of experience, I was overqualified for most teaching positions,” she says.

“I had taught every age bracket already:  nursery through third grade, fifth grade, special education, and high school,” say Dr. Iovino, who decided it was time to embark on a career in the college classroom – the only setting in which she had not yet taught.

In 1995 she joined the faculty at Molloy College, where she discovered the joys of working with college students, and has been teaching at the college level ever since.  “I love having the opportunity to interact with students who are ‘grownups,’” she says.

Over the course of her last two decades at Molloy, she has witnessed significant changes in technology and continues to see these innovations redefine her role as a teacher and the learning environment in which she educates.  In spring 2010, she spent the semester as a cyber-supervisor for two student teachers placed in London.  She was able to conduct seminars via Skype; software that allows its users to make free international video and voice calls.  “We had a great deal of fun with it,” she says of the experience.

While keeping up with the growing technology is certainly a challenge, she makes sure she keeps current.  “I always take advantage of courses offered at Molloy to stay educated with what technology is being used in the classroom,” she says, citing interactive whiteboards as one of the high-tech tools she has learned to effectively engage her students.

The learning never stops for Dr. Iovino, who received her Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from Argosy University in Florida in 2004.  “My three grandsons attended my doctoral graduation, and presently call me Dr. Nanny,” she says. “Continuing to go back to school is something I’ve always been motivated to do.  The more I went to school, the more I enjoyed it, and the farther I wanted to take it.”

A resident of Garden City, she divides her time between New York and Florida.  She and her husband have three children and four grandchildren.  Today she continues to teach at Molloy College, and in her free time enjoys golfing, reading, and playing bridge.