URI QuadAngles Spring 2017

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Objects of Our Affection

From swords to milk cans, dance cards to basketball jerseys, they tell the stories of URI’s past | 12

The Warmup Guy

Comedian Bob Perlow ’67, M.S. ’70, reports back from 40 years on some of Hollywood’s biggest sets | 22

Star Dust

Osiris Rex launched last fall with a mission: return to Earth with samples from an asteroid.

Jim Harris ’77 designed the device that will make that possible | 16

The Evolution Revolution Why are we the way we are?

Evolution may hold the answers, and a URI researcher is finding they’re not always the ones we expect. | 26

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017 | VOLUME 24, NO. 3 FEATURES

12 The Things We Kept As we celebrate URI’s 125th birthday, we take a look at some of our shared cultural touchstones, the artifacts that remind us of our past.

16 Star Dust

When NASA launched a space probe in September, on a seven-year mission to catch the asteroid Bennu and examine the primitive materials from which our solar system is made, it faced a puzzle: how to take samples in microgravity. Jim Harris ’77 found the answer.

20 The Gift of Life One pint of blood can save three lives. Meet alumni and students who are part of that exponentiality.

22 The Hardest Job in Comedy

Ever wondered what it takes to keep a live studio audience happy? Or how long it takes to film a 30-minute sitcom? Answers: blood, sweat and tears; sometimes six hours. This and more from Bob Perlow ’67, M.S. ’70.

26 The Evolution Revolution

An anthropologist offers surprising new insights into this most personal of scientific studies, from why primates live longer to why human babies are so helpless.

MORE ONLINE

uri.edu/quadangles

Raising a glass to Whaler’s Brewery

Snowboarders who do more with less

Student arts magazine Ether(bound) launches

DEPARTMENTS 2 FEEDBACK 4 PRESIDENT'SVIEW 5 ALUMNIWRITE An adult coloring book breaks scientific ground 6 NEWS&VIEWS 10 PRESSBOX

Chemistry Class An art installation by internationally renowned sculptor Erwin Redl shows the known elements of the periodic table interspersed with fingerprints. The concept riffs on the work done at URI's Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences, where it lights up the lobby in an everchanging LED display. The design won a competition held by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for the 135,000-square-foot building, which officially opened in September 2016, making it the newest on the Kingston Campus. About 40 percent of URI's degree programs require at least one chemistry class.

30 CLASSACTS News from your classmates 33 CLOSEUP Bekah Berger ’07 37 CLOSEUP Timothy Mendonça ’13 40 BACKPAGE Round 2 of our photo caption contest.

COVER: BEAU JONES FOR MOMENTUM, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION; CONTENTS: NORA LEWIS

FEEDBACK Write to us: pjack@uri.edu Read more online: uri.edu/quadangles Update your email address to get the magazine electronically: pjack@uri.edu Dear Readers, Sometimes it’s our mistakes that lead to inspiration—thanks to you, our readers, who wrote to tell us that we’d made an error in our Winter 2016 In Memoriam listings. In doing so, we had missed the incredible story of Captain Elwood Joseph Euart ’39.

Euart, an Army field artillery captain, was aboard the troop ship SS President Coolidge—carrying more than 5,000 soldiers—when she struck mines off the Republic of Vanuatu in 1942.

The vessel grounded on a reef, and nearly all the soldiers and crew were able to escape—including Captain Euart. But when he realized some soldiers remained trapped below decks, he led a rescue party. He saved every last one, only to perish when the Coolidge slipped off the reef and sank.

Back home, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor, as well as the Purple Heart and the Rhode Island Cross, and was made a member of the URI ROTC Hall of Fame. But his body remained entombed undersea for more than 70 years.

One of his nephews, namesake Elwood J. “Woody” Euart ’73 of Texas, says that when he was a child, tales of Captain Euart’s heroism were family lore; later, as a URI student, he would notice his uncle’s name every time he passed the memorial on Upper College Road for fallen veterans. The captain’s obituary describes a true son of Rhode Island: an Eagle Scout, Rhode Island National Guardsman, and graduate of Rhode Island State College (now URI), where Euart was a member of the track team and Scabbard and Blade, vice president of Rho Iota Kappa fraternity, president of Alpha Zeta, and treasurer of his senior class.

Woody remembers how disconsolate his grandfather, Pawtucket schoolteacher Elwood Francis Aloysius Euart, was that his son’s remains didn’t come home. He and his wife erected a gravestone for their lost child, and when they passed, they were laid next to it.

Then, in 2014, a professional diver exploring the palatial wreck of the Coolidge—it was a luxury cruise liner, Woody says, before the Army retrofitted it—saw what he thought were human remains.

It took two years for word to pass from the remote island to Australia, and then to the U.S. Army, which deployed a dive team

C

aptain Euart was returned to Pawtucket for burial with full military honors on August 31, 2016, an event that I had the honor to attend. With over 5,000 men aboard his ship, only two lost their lives: a Captain Elwood Joseph Euart ’39 member of the ship’s crew who was killed instantly when the ship struck a mine; and Captain Euart.

As a fellow URI alumnus, I thought it appropriate to set the record straight. Our heroes deserve accolades, especially when they are from Rhode Island!

Charlie Ake, M.M.A. ’74, Commander, U. S. Navy (Ret) Altamonte Springs, Fla.

2 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

I

from Hawaii and conducted DNA testing in 2015. Last summer, Captain Euart came home.

The family chose to forego burial at Arlington National Cemetery in favor of laying him to rest next to his parents at St. Francis Cemetery in Pawtucket. The Army flew Euart’s remains to Atlanta, where family members greeted the plane, then on to T.F. Green, where there was a planeside ceremony. Woody came to Rhode Island to pay his respects to the uncle he’d never met, and found the wake and burial were a whirlwind of pomp and circumstance and attendant dignitaries. “It was hard to believe,” Woody remembers, “and very emotional. All those people coming to the visitation and the funeral, honoring his name and heroic actions—it really brought so much more meaning to his sacrifice, and that of everyone who has lost their lives serving this great country.”

Woody now has Captain Euart’s dog tags. “The Army says no one gets left behind,” he reflects. “They delivered.”

Thanks to the ever-astute Arline Fleming ’74 and Navy Commander Charlie Ake, M.M.A. ’74, for leading us to this inspiring story, and especially to Woody for sharing his memories.

More inspiration arrived in our inbox from Lois Spirlet, M.S. ’87, whose 16-year-old grandson was struck by a short story in the Winter issue about pageant-winning student Kelsey B. Swanson (“The Road to Miss Rhode Island”). Spirlet’s grandson was recently diagnosed—like Swanson, purely by chance—with a noncancerous but dangerous brain tumor; like her, he underwent surgery to remove the growth. He asked to talk to Swanson, and Swanson was happy to oblige. We’re glad that they found each other and that both came through their ordeals safely.

We hope you find more inspiration in this issue, from the big questions evolutionary biologists are grappling with, to a man who chanced upon a unique career in comedy; and from a space probe winging its way across the solar system, to a mom inspired by her daughter’s battle with cancer to spearhead a remarkable decade of blood drives.

Wishing you all a warm spring. Thanks for reading.

Pippa Jack Editor in Chief

was moved to write this letter to thank you, and to donate to the University of Rhode Island for the first time, after reading your Winter 2016 issue cover to cover. I must be honest, I pick and choose what I read in QuadAngles and rarely read everything. But not this time.

With all that is going on in the country and worldwide, I was immediately drawn to the cover line, “Life in Black and White.” All the pieces inside, including “The Joy of Song,” “Brave New (Gender) World” and “Once Upon a Shop Floor,” as well as the smaller articles, captivated me. Seeing the University addressing such meaningful and important issues in this widely distributed magazine gave me great insight on the

values of URI, and gave me pride and hope.

I am neither a person of color nor LGBT, but the issues of racism and inequality are still evident in the recent wave of expressions of hate and fear in our country and others. It is totally unacceptable and we need change. You are doing this. I feel that I need to do my part to further this work, and education plays a key role in changing our society’s actions and overall environment.

I was lucky enough to be included in the December 2014 issue of QuadAngles, which focused on alumni giving back worldwide, and continue to be impressed with your coverage of philanthropic activities on campus and beyond. While

my full-time work is in environmental engineering, I also run the Guatemala Aid Fund, which supports health and education for abandoned children in Guatemala.

I am currently out of work on unpaid medical leave, but was deeply compelled to donate to URI and therefore gave $250 online to the general fund.

Keep up the great work.

Bethany Eisenberg, M.S. ’87 Arlington, Mass.

I

enjoyed the article on Ward Abusamra’s 100th birthday. I remember him from my days at Kingston Congregational Church in the late 1950s. He was the choir director and Barbara played the organ. My parents thought quite highly of his work.

I am very interested in the history of URI because my grandfather, Harry Page Wilson, graduated in 1898. He majored in mechanic arts and was one of about 20 graduates that year. He was also captain of both the baseball and football teams.

I grew up in Wickford, R.I., only about 10 miles from URI, and I remember my grandfather showing me around the campus back in the early and mid 1940s. We also went down to the Kingston Railroad Station to see the New Haven steam engines, which being a little kid, I found very impressive.

Alden “Denny” Wilson ’65 Boothbay, Maine

H

ow wonderful that you chose to celebrate the 100th birthday of Professor Ward Abusamra. I was one of those many students who were fortunate enough to study voice with Ward and to sing with his choral groups. I first met Ward through my high school choral director, Michael Kroian ’61, who also studied with Ward. Ward became more than my professor; he is a mentor and friend.

First of all, no one called him Professor Abusamra; he was Ward to one and all. But the use of his first name was a term of endearment and never a sign of disrespect.

It was not unusual for students to seek out Ward’s advice. Sometimes, this advice was dispensed over a wonderful home-cooked meal at his home with his delightful wife, Barbara. No matter the location, this advice and caring was dispensed with a dose of fatherly love.

As I started my own career as a music teacher and singer, Ward was there checking in on my progress with a note in the

mail or a phone call of congratulations.

Twenty-five years ago, at the age of 75, Ward decided to drive all by himself over an hour to hear a concert I was giving in Massachusetts. It was a thrill to look up and see him in the audience listening, and an even bigger thrill to be able to introduce this wonderful man to the audience. His presence was also with me every time I taught someone else to sing; as I quoted some aphorism or life lesson; or used a method of teaching that was coming directly from my time spent with Ward.

May I ask all of those alums who worked with Ward to remember his 100th birthday by making a donation to the Ward Abusamra Scholarship in Music & Voice? I can’t think of a better way to honor this most honorable man. Thank you, Ward.

Here’s to another 100 years!

Dr. Carl Swanson ’78 Wareham, Mass.

L

et me say how much I enjoyed the article featuring Ward Abusamra. I was a member of the URI Choir and University Chorus. As a sociology major graduating in January 1973, my music time at URI was absolutely my favorite. I returned to URI from Virginia to participate in Ward’s retirement concert.

Jeanie Moyer Odenthal ’73 Fairfax, Va.

Q

uadAngles is a great way of connecting URI graduates together. I joined URI in the fall of 1986 to study food science and nutrition as a graduate student, and got my masters in January 1990. It was a good experience for me, I had fun and remember many memorable events, and many friendships with URI students, faculty members and neighbors whom I miss. I also miss the lovely Rhode Island weather in summer time, especially at Narragansett Beach and Bonnet Shores.

I work as the head of the Technical Advisory Team for Standards and Laboratories at a governmental agency, Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization, in Saudi Arabia. I returned and visited the Kingston Campus in July 2012, and noted many new buildings—in fact I couldn’t identify the old buildings and got lost!

Abdullah M. Alyabis M.S. ’90 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

QuadAngles is a quarterly publication of the University of Rhode Island Alumni Association.

The URI Alumni Association informs and engages current and future alumni as committed partners of the University, its mission and traditions.

E xecutive Editor Michele A. Nota ’87, M.S. ’06, Executive Director, URI Alumni Relations; Secretary, Alumni Association Executive Board Editor in Chief Pippa Jack, pjack@uri.edu

Art Director Kim Robertson

Contributing

Editors

Barbara Caron Dina M. Dionizio ’91 Shane Donaldson ’99 Dave Lavallee ’79, M.P.A. ’87 Kate O’Malley Elizabeth Rau

Contributing Susan Froberg

Designers Johnson Ma Bo Pickard Photographer Nora Lewis Digital Media Tina Walker Editorial Board Kelly Mahoney ’03, Executive Director, External Relations and Communications Linda A. Acciardo ’77, Director, Communications and Marketing Tracey A. Manni, Director, Communications, URI Foundation

URI Alumni Alexis Giordano, Specialist Relations Staff Christina Haas ’05, Assistant Director Karen LaPointe ’77, M.B.A. ’84, Associate Director Kate Maccarone ’08, Assistant Director Nicole Maranhas, Associate Editor Mary Ann Mazzone, Office Assistant Meredith Morrow, Program Assistant Esther Reynoso ’15, Executive Assistant Samantha Rodrigues ’11, Specialist Amy Simonini, Assistant Director Samantha Stevens, M.S. '15, Specialist McKayla Stubbs ’16, Program Assistant Alumni Assoc. Susan R. Johnson ’82, President Executive Board Daniel G. Lowney ’75, President-elect

Louise H. Thorson, M.B.A. ’85,

Past President Kathleen P. O’Donnell-White ’90,

Vice President Patrick J. Cronin ’91, Vice President Steven R. Frazier ’07, Treasurer Alumni Assoc.

Councilors-

at-Large

Laurel L. Bowerman ’77, M.B.A. ’84 Matthew T. Finan ’11 Colleen Gouveia Moulton, M.B.A. ’98 Mackenzie Hofman ’12 Sulina M. Mohanly ’07 John J. Palumbo ’76 Joseph F. Penza, Jr. ’69 Perry A. Raso ’02, M.S. ’06 Karen E. Regine ’81 Thomas F. Shevlin ’68

Alumni Assoc. Representatives: Arts and Sciences, Nancy J. S. Ferrara ’88, M.B.A. ’97 Business Administration, Jordan D. Kanter ’99, M.S. ’00 Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies, Bianca S. Rodriguez-Slater ’10 Engineering, Anthony J. Rafanelli ’78, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’95 Environment and Life Sciences, Catherine Weaver ’82, B.L.A. ’96 Human Sciences, Christine S. Pelton ’84 Nursing, Silifat “Laitan” Mustapha ’97 Graduate School of Oceanography, Veronica M. Berounsky Ph.D. ’90 Pharmacy, Henrique “Henry” Pedro ’76 URI Foundation, Thomas M. Ryan ’75 Faculty Senate, Diane E. Kern ’84, M.A. ’93, Ph.D. ’03 Student Senate, Cody Anderson ’17 Student Alumni Association, Anthony Kennedy ’17

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 3

PRESIDENT’SVIEW “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.”–Nelson Mandela Celebrating milestones, looking ahead President Mandela’s words were echoing in my head as I sat down to write my message to you for this issue of QuadAngles.

As the University prepares for the road ahead we are carefully reviewing changes to federal policies and programs that affect the research, education and outreach that we conduct. The University will remain a strong advocate for investing in research and innovation since that is at the core of the Land Grant mission. URI will continue to increase its global impact and its international partnerships because its global mission is more important than ever. There are many exciting advancements to highlight that will support our research, education, and innovation goals.

A quarter of the way into 2017, I am happy to report that we are on track to construct our new, state-of-the-art College of Engineering building.

As you know, we are funding construction through a $125 million bond that Rhode Island voters approved in 2014. Voters also approved a bond referendum in November 2016 that includes $25.5 million for Phase II of the project, which will allow us to completely renovate Bliss Hall.

Built in 1928, Bliss Hall has served the University well for nine decades. And so it’s fitting that when we open our new College of Engineering in 2019, Bliss Hall—after undergoing a metamorphosis— will still be at the heart of the College.

And that brings me to the celebration of two important milestones related to the engineering project. First, at the start of the spring semester, several of our engineering programs relocated off campus. While nearly all of our eight engineering programs will temporarily relocate during construction, most will be accommodated on campus in Pastore and Morrill Halls. However, electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, including laboratories, offices, and classrooms, moved into 30,000 square feet on the first and second floors of Schneider Electric’s West Kingston facility, which is located only about two miles from our campus. Additionally, our capstone design program, a year-long experience for seniors that partners them with local companies seeking solutions to specific engineering problems, also relocated to Schneider. This is the first time capstone design teams will work in a dedicated space. We look forward to seeing how they will interact with each other, as well as with faculty and participating industry representatives.

4

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

A wonderful partner to URI for many years, Schneider embraced the opportunity to host our faculty and students and to explore even deeper student /industry collaborations. We marked this milestone with a festive ribbon cutting in early February.

The second milestone on our road to a new College of Engineering is demolition of the existing engineering buildings, which should be complete when you open this issue of QuadAngles. It is time for Crawford Hall, Gilbreth Hall, Kelly Hall, Kelly Hall Annex, and Wales Hall, all of which opened in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to give way to 21st century technology, classroom space, and laboratories.

The third milestone I am delighted to report to you involves yet another big dream for URI. The Rhode Island Nursing Education Center (NEC), part of Providence’s $220 million South Street Landing Project, is set to open in April and to welcome its first students in the fall of 2017. The 133,000-squarefoot facility, which will combine leading technology with a rigorous experiential learning curriculum, will give our students a tremendous advantage in a dynamic, constantly evolving field. And the NEC’s proximity to the state’s leading hospitals and healthcare providers, as well as Brown University’s Alpert Medical School, will lead to strengthened collaborations with these institutions.

I’m excited about the NEC, which represents another example of how URI is fulfilling its public mission to catalyze economic development in Rhode Island. When the NEC opens, we will be taking an important step toward creating a true healthcare hub not only for our state, but for the region. From enhanced nursing education to new jobs in a range of sectors from commercial start-ups to retail and service sectors, we expect the NEC’s impact to be felt far beyond the new building.

And finally, of course, there is the milestone we are celebrating all year: our 125th anniversary!

If you were with us on January 25 at the kickoff on the Quad, you know we’re thinking big about the quasquicentennial. I hope you are able to join us for our April 25 Founders Day event or one of the many other activities we have planned to showcase this remarkable institution, as we prepare for the road ahead.

David M. Dooley President, University of Rhode Island PHOTOS: JOE GIBLIN

ALUMNIWRITE

Color Me Science A new entry in the booming adult coloring book category: Super Cool Scientists

BY PIPPA JACK

This illustration by Yvonne Page is of marine scientist and artist Courtney Mattison.

PHOTO: COURTESY SARA MACSORLEY

Sara MacSorley ’08, M.B.A. ’13, was on a junior year marine biology study abroad in Bermuda working on her first research project, when an unpleasant realization dawned: this wasn’t what she wanted to do.

“It was a turning point,” she recalls.

“I had to figure out, what do I do now?”

Mentor Professor Jacqueline Webb suggested she try science outreach, and MacSorley found her calling. Next came night classes to get an M.B.A. focused on science communications. Now she is at the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center at Wesleyan University, which provides math, science and art enrichment to kids and grade school teachers.

But as director at Green Street, MacSorley wasn’t doing as much direct science outreach as she would have liked. Meanwhile she found herself struggling with anxiety, and amongst the tools she explored to control it, developed a love for adult coloring books. But when she looked for ones about scientists, she couldn’t find much. “That’s when it hit me that this is a good idea in a space people would enjoy,” she says. “And I wanted to focus on a diverse group of women to help support a more inclusive science environment.”

A little less than a year and lots of unfamiliar steps later—from finding an illustrator to successfully seeking funding on Kickstarter— Super Cool Scientists is on sale at amazon.com.

In both words and pictures, it’s an inviting window into the lives and careers of 22 women, from mathematicians to engineers, and from doctors to, naturally, marine biologists.

“Representation matters. I wanted something that young people could relate to,” she says, “so they could see themselves in these professions.” • UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 5

NEWS&VIEWS

The 125th Celebration Continues Join us on the Quad on Tuesday, April 25, for our Founders’ Day Festival, when we celebrate the group of people who came together in 1892 to make the University of Rhode Island possible.

The celebration, from 2 to 4 p.m., will include a speaking program, time capsule collection, a concert and live broadcast from WRIU. There'll be plenty of refreshments, a T-shirt giveway, tours of the historic Watson House and people in late 1800s costumes wandering through the crowd. The winner of a student poetry contest will be announced, and of course Rhody will be there for high fives and photos with your families.

Rain Date: Thursday, April 27.

Cats Everywhere

A PAWS IN THE ACTION: Officer Figaro “is such a sweet dog, the loviest dog ever. But he becomes serious when he goes to work,” says his trainer, URI Police Sgt. Erica Vieira.

Bomb Detection Expert

Cat reporters around their water cooler.

Look for three intrepid feline reporters in your Sunday paper later this month. Elvis, Lupin and Puck, cartoon characters based on the real-life kitties of Georgia Dunn ’04, and subjects of our eponymous 2015 story “Breaking Cat News,” are the stars of a syndicated comic strip premiering in late March. At press time, some 40 newspapers around the country had picked it up.

Dunn released a book in 2016, Breaking Cat News: Cats Reporting on The News that Matters to Cats (check out the 153 reviews on amazon.com to get a sense of the kind of affection her fans feel for the characters). This year, it’s the funny pages; next year, Dunn is planning a calendar.

For more information, check out Breaking Cat News on gocomics.com.

6

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

The newest member of the University of Rhode Island Police Department is not only unusually cuddly, but is helping make campus, and the surrounding community, a safer place.

Black Lab Figaro has been trained to detect bombs and bomb residue. He started work in the fall, making URI one of only three colleges in New England to have an explosives-trained canine on the force.

Figaro’s presence is a natural evolution in campus safety, says URI Police Major Michael Jagoda.

“I felt this was one step that was consistent with one of President Dooley’s Transformational Goals, which is to make URI a global leader,” Jagoda said. “I can see that the University is gaining more attention and respect around the world, and that means we are going to be bringing many more national and international dignitaries to campus. Our sporting and entertainment events are getting bigger as well.”

Jagoda also knew that resources for bomb detection were thin in South County, Rhode Island.

“We have many big events, including Commencement, that require the skills of a trained officer and canine to conduct building and facility sweeps to ensure the safety of our community,” Jagoda adds. “Plus it’s an efficiency issue. If someone finds a suspicious package in the Memorial Union, Sgt. Vieira and Figaro are able to respond immediately.”

ILLUSTRATIONS: GEORGIA DUNN; PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; NORA LEWIS

Lyme Disease: It’s the Heat AND the Humidity It’s an accident of weather that makes Lyme disease such a scourge in northern states, but rare in southern ones, according to a study by URI and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The ticks that transmit Lyme disease to people die of dehydration when exposed to a combination of high temperature and lowered humidity, the study found. In an earlier related study, researchers found that southern black-legged ticks, unlike northern ones, usually stay hidden under a layer of leaves, where they are less likely to encounter people.

The research group, whose findings were published January 11 in the journal PLOS ONE, hypothesizes that southern ticks typically shelter under leaves to retain moisture, and that this behavior is a key reason why Lyme disease is uncommon in the South.

Lyme disease sickens an estimated 300,000 Americans each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it more common in this country than West Nile virus or any other illness transmitted by insects or arachnids. Black-legged ticks pick up the disease-causing bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, by biting infected animals, and can then transmit Lyme disease to people. The disease causes fever, headache, fatigue, and sometimes a rash. If not treated promptly, Lyme disease can damage the heart, joints and nervous system.

Just 14 states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and northern Midwest typically account for 95 percent of all reported Lyme disease cases.

USGS research ecologist Howard Ginsberg and URI professor Roger Lebrun collected tick larvae from different parts of the eastern U.S. and found that no matter where they came from, the larvae all live longer in relatively cool temperatures. Longer life spans increase the odds that the ticks will live long enough to transmit Lyme.

In a related 2015 study, Michigan State University researchers found that northern ticks often climb plant stems, where a passerby may brush against them, but southern ticks usually stay hidden under a layer of leaves.

“In the North, when you walk through the woods you’re walking right through tick habitat,” said Ginsberg, leader of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center’s field station at URI. “In the South, you’re walking on top of the habitat. We think that is a crucial difference.”

PHOTOS: COURTESY JOY SPANABEL EMERY; FLIKR USER GLITTERANDFRILLS, CREATIVE COMMONS 2.0

Sew Unique It started decades ago with an old pattern for a skirt worn by an actress in the University of Rhode Island production Anne of Green Gables.

Joy Spanabel Emery was starstruck.

One pattern led to two, and now Emery, a professor emerita of theatre and former adjunct professor of textiles, fashion merchandising and design at URI, has the largest collection of sewing patterns in the world—50,000 on paper and 61,000 in an electronic database.

Joy Spanabel Over the years, she’s received many honors Emery for her devotion to clothing patterns, and now a national organization that promotes theatre design is recognizing her. Emery, of West Kingston, R.I., won the 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award in Costume Design and Technology from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

“I was stunned,’’ says Emery. “The award has been given to so many people I respect enormously. I was very pleased to have my work recognized.’’

The collection dates back to 1847 and represents nearly 100 different companies. Besides dressmaking patterns, the collection includes men’s tailoring journals, fashion periodicals, pattern catalogs and historical sewing manuals from the 16th century to the present.

A costume designer, Emery says her collection is a labor of love—and a wonderful way for costume designers to research what clothing actors should wear during performances. The collection includes everything from 1870s smoking jackets for men and 1950s cocktail party aprons to bodices and Zoot suits—oversized jackets and baggy pants worn in the 1940s.

Details about the patterns can be found in Emery’s book, The History of the Paper Pattern Industry: the Home Dressmaking Fashion Revolution.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 7

NEWS&VIEWS

Finding the El Faro Data Recorder

Dwight F. Coleman at the Inner Space Center.

“This was an exciting opportunity that allowed us to showcase our marketing and presentation skills to real corporate executives,” says Alison Plunkett ’17 of North Kingstown, to left. Next to her are Tara Larson of North Smithfield, Samantha Valenza of Plainview, N.Y, Taylor Burns of Cranston, and Kristina Cheamitru of North Smithfield.

Students Win National Marketing Challenge A URI “Social Media for Marketing” class was one of 20 nationwide to compete in the 2016 Acura ILX Marketing Challenge to design a campaign to reach the millennial marketplace. The 34-student class won first place with a series of ads, across different platforms, christened “Fast Forward with Acura.”

This was the first time URI had participated in the contest, yet Assistant Professor Christy Ashley says “the class performed together seamlessly, like old pros.”

The students formed an agency, Vital Innovative Promotions (V.I.P.), and executed a multi-level marketing campaign in just over nine weeks. Five of the V.I.P. leaders flew to California this winter to deliver a 20-minute marketing presentation to the management team at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. A few hours later, the judges announced V.I.P. as the winner.

Acura awarded the University a $5,000 scholarship in recognition of the team’s achievement.

8 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

The University of Rhode Island’s Inner Space Center won high praise from federal investigators in December for its role in locating the data recorder of the doomed El Faro cargo ship.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a transcript of audio recordings from the data recorder, which the Center helped locate in 15,000 feet of water off the Bahamas in 2016.

The Center—the only one of its kind in the country—installed cutting-edge telepresence technology on the research vessel Atlantis, the Office of Naval Research ship that conducted the search.

That technology provided “secure, high-speed, high-volume video and data transmission from the seafloor to the Atlantis and then via satellite to NTSB headquarters for analysis while the mission was in progress,’’ says Christopher Hart, chairman of the NTSB, calling it “invaluable assistance.’’

Dwight F. Coleman, Center director, says he was honored to work on such an important investigation to assist in “bringing closure to the families who lost loved ones.’’

It likely won’t be the last. “We hope to work closely with the NTSB during future investigations that involve any kind of maritime loss, including plane accidents,’’ said Coleman. “Our expertise can be crucial to these types of probes, especially when you’re fighting against time.’’

The 790-foot El Faro, loaded with shipping containers and cars, sank during Hurricane Joaquin, a Category 4 storm, on its way from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico. All 33 crew members—28 Americans and five Polish nationals—died.

Beagle Garden Dedicated Former URI Vice President of University Advancement Robert (Bob) Beagle and his wife Gerri recently celebrated the garden that’s an offshoot of the scholarship fund they created.

The Robert M. Beagle Family Endowment, established in 2012, chiefly assists students at URI’s Harrington School of Communication and Media looking to participate in off-campus experiential learning. Beagle, a fixture at URI from 1991 until his retirement in 2012, knew many students would love to participate in hands-on, real-world opportunities beyond Kingston. But while internships earn college credits, they generally don’t pay. Many students “can’t afford to do internships,” says Beagle. “And many of the students getting good jobs out of college were the ones who’d had a good internship experience, because it was an added dimension to their undergraduate degree.”

In addition to its internship mission, the endowment provides operating funds for the enhancement and support of the URI Alumni Center and its grounds. The Beagle Garden showcases native perennials and is the setting for many alumni events.

PHOTOS: COURTESY EDVENTURE PARTNERS; NORA LEWIS; MICHAEL SALERNO

Death in Medieval Europe Back in the Middle Ages, popes were embalmed with spices and rubbed with a good white wine, wealthy people were often buried in more than one place, and cemeteries turned into brothels at night.

These tidbits come effortlessly from Joëlle Rollo-Koster, a University of Rhode Island history professor whose collection of essays, Death in Medieval Europe: Death Scripted and Death Choreographed, was published by Routledge this winter.

The essays by Rollo-Koster and other scholars explore the cultural effects of death and how it influenced everyday life, from mourning practices to commemorations.

URI chatted with her recently about her research: In the movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman has two caskets.

What practice are we seeing?

People who saw the movie may not realize that they witnessed somewhat of a traditional medieval funeral, a reflection of what happened when princes and rulers were buried.

Late medieval institutions feared political transitions—they were dangerous and people tried to change the status quo—so when a leader died, institutions created the illusion of continuity. It’s summed up by “The king is dead, long live the king.”

The person was buried in one casket, but a second, empty coffin was paraded as a symbol to show that you could mourn the dead man, but the institution continued regardless.

Tell us more about the use of spices in embalming.

I have studied how popes were embalmed.

Chamberlains filled the mouth, ears and nose with cotton, oakum, myrrh, incense and aloe, if available. They rubbed the body with a “good white wine” heated with smelling herbs, or with a good Garnache wine. They stuffed the throat with herbs, spices and cotton and rubbed the body vigorously with balsam. And the famous medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac gives us a list of embalming techniques that includes putting quicksilver (mercury) in the nostrils, ears and mouth to prevent the brain from liquefying.

A good medieval embalming allowed a corpse to be preserved (and thus viewed) for up to eight days. That was a feat!

Where were cemeteries in the Middle Ages?

Cemeteries were not hidden from view or enclosed within walls—they were social places, part of the town, even the setting for markets.

People were known to drink and gamble there (medieval people loved playing dice), and most of all prostitutes plied their trades. Burial must not have been really deep, because there is also evidence that in Avignon when the Rhône flooded, bodies were unearthed and seen floating.

The church preached that resurrection was spiritual, but most folks assumed that resurrection would be physical. When the plague arrived and there was no space for bodies in cemeteries, ossuaries were built with at least a couple of leg bones and the skull, so everyone would have a chance at a full reconstitution for resurrection.

Why do we hide death in modern times?

There is tremendous discomfort with having serious discussion about death now. Look, for example, at the debate surrounding euthanasia. We see death in all the media, but even so we cannot conceptualize it as something real. It’s like a video game.

Medieval death was public, and people heard day and night that life afterward would be better, so why fear it? I do think that our modern aseptic and isolated deaths lack the comfort that death, at home, surrounded by friends and family, provided.

Medieval people actually had the concept

“Images of death abounded in the later Middle Ages, especially in the period after the Black Death in the mid-14th century,’’ says Joëlle Rollo-Koster of South Kingstown, a renowned medieval scholar. “It was part of life, ritualized and choreographed—unlike today, where it is hidden and closeted.” Top, a detail from the cover of the book, published by Routledge.

of a “perfect death.” It was a long, slow decay. The agony was prolonged so people would do their acts of contrition, pray, confess, be absolved and, finally, pass knowing that all would be well afterward.

Sudden and quick death meant that God was punishing you, so you had no time to prepare for a safe passage.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 9

PRESSBOX

Rhody Golf Coach Featured in ESPN Film Thirty years ago, long before his winning reign as URI men’s golf coach, Gregg Burke thought he had an interesting story to pitch about the last true two-way college football player: Gordie Lockbaum.

In truth, Lockbaum was more than that. The Holy Cross star was a tremendous athlete doing something that hadn’t been done for decades as a starter on both sides of the ball, all the while performing as a top student at a top 50 academic school. His multi-dimensional prowess (Lockbaum played safety, linebacker, running back, wide receiver and kick returner) caught the attention of the national media and ultimately resulted in two runs for college football’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy.

For Burke—at the time the nation’s youngest sports information director working at his alma mater— Lockbaum honored the original purpose of the Heisman Trophy. He represented what was right in collegiate football, without the bells, whistles and contrived hype of other stars.

And now, Burke’s conviction—and Lockbaum’s prowess—are getting URI golf coach Gregg Burke is on the right, Gordie national recognition. Both Lockbaum on the left. men are featured in the ESPN 30 for 30 short film The Throwback, produced and directed by Erin Leyden.

Part of an Emmy-winning series of sports documentary films, the movie was released in December.

“The goal was to bring attention to Gordie as a Heisman candidate, and to a football program that did not interrupt or interfere with his college experience,” says Burke, who is now in his sixth season as head coach of Rhode Island’s men’s golf team, which is ranked No. 1 in New England for the first time in 10 years.

Burke’s program is one of only two at URI with a perfect academic progress rate in the past four years.

Lockbaum remains the only non-Bowl Championship Series player ever to finish in the top five of Heisman voting, taking fifth in 1986 and third in 1987.

Burke spread Lockbaum’s story, getting feature stories with outlets such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, The Today Show, CBS News, ABC News, and People Magazine. Burke also worked the phones to reach out to every single Heisman voter, back in a time when the award voters were much more of a closed society.

The two reunited in the fall for a series of events promoting The Throwback, a film that also features Holy Cross head coach Mark Duffner and nationallyrenowned sportswriter Rick Reilly.

For more information, search espn.com for The Throwback 10 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Representing Rhode Island with Words, Not Action Senior baseball player Ben Wessel participated in the Learfield Intercollegiate Athletics Forum at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York. Here is an excerpt from his GoRhody.com blog, Wessel’s Words: The forum that I participated in was hosted by Jack Ford, a legal analyst and correspondent for 60 Minutes Sports. I was one of four Division I athletes to speak on this panel, the others being DeVon Edwards (Duke University football), Brooks Ellis (University of Arkansas football) and Trey Lowe (Temple University basketball).

Going into this thing I really had no idea what to expect. I was given a list of sample questions in advance, so I familiarized myself with those, but none were on the list of questions Mr. Ford asked us.

Mostly he just asked for our thoughts and opinions on different things, so we were required to think quickly and just respond off the top of our heads.

So at 9 a.m., Mr. Ford, the other athletes, and myself were sent out on stage. At first, I was shocked at what I saw: cameras were everywhere in the first couple of rows, the seats in the audience kept going further and further back to the exit doors. Mr. Ford had us sit in alphabetical order, which gave me an advantage because I was the last one to answer, allowing me to think about the question for a little bit longer.

Ben Wessel is seated at the far left.

When the lights turned on and the cameras started rolling, we had 30 minutes on stage. The first couple of questions were about expectations, and if our expectations coming in as a freshman to our respective universities matched with the experiences we have gained, both athletically and academically. The next question we were asked was whether, as athletes, we felt as though we fit in with non-athletes in the classroom. We finished up with the age-old question: should Division I student-athletes be paid? To avoid a whole separate discussion about these questions, I will not share my answers, but of course, this topic was a heated debate at the forum.

My story at URI hasn’t been the smoothest or the easiest. I’ve had to deal with recovering from Tommy John (elbow ligament) surgery as a freshman and managing Type 1 Diabetes every day of my life, to having significant challenges in the classroom my first three years—to the point where I almost failed out of school. So there was definitely plenty for me to talk about. And as odd as it may sound, I think that going down to Columbia, S.C. for regionals last year, and playing in that incredibly charged environment, helped prepare me for this experience.

I met many people in my time in NYC who have a big role in today’s NCAA, so that was pretty cool. Overall, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on myself and think about the example I can set for the younger guys who may be going through the same situations I’ve experienced. If you were to go back in time and ask Ben Wessel from freshman or sophomore year to travel (solo!) down to New York City to speak at an Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, in front of hundreds of people, to represent the Division 1 athletic population, I promise you I would have laughed and assumed you were joking. So, it was kind of nice to take a moment to think back on all the support I have been given, from my family back home, to the coaching staff here after Coach Cerrato took over, to teammates and others along the way. These people are the reason that now, as a fifth-year senior, I was able to take advantage of this awesome opportunity, and leave feeling as though I represented the University of Rhode Island, as well as myself, very well.

PHOTOS: COURTESY HOLY CROSS ATHLETICS; SARAH FETTERS/DUKE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

Cameron Finishes Third In U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year Voting Former Rhode Island soccer player Geoff Cameron finished third in voting for the 2016 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year. Cameron was one of five players from the U.S. Men’s National Team in the running for the honor, which was given to striker Jozy Altidore on Dec. 9.

A standout in the 2016 Copa America Centenario, Cameron started a career-high 12 matches and led all USMNT defenders in total appearances in 2016. He was one of only two players to appear in every minute of Copa America Centenario play and was the only U.S. player to start all six matches of Semifinal Round World Cup Qualifying.

The U.S. earned seven of its nine clean sheets with Cameron on the field, while the team’s goals against average per 90 minutes was an impressive 0.83. In the World Cup Qualifying matches that Cameron played in, the USMNT was 3-1 with a trio of shutout victories over Trinidad and Tobago (4-0), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (6-0) and Guatemala (4-0).

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 11

LOOKINGBACK

1939

We Kept Ball A baseball, decorated and later donated by the late Helen Leon Matthaei ’41, from a 1939 game in which URI beat New Hampshire 2-1.

As we celebrate our quasquicentennial, we take a look at an assortment of objects, on campus and beyond, that serve as reminders of our past. Some are deeply personal; others speak to institutional and national change. Unless noted, all artifacts are part of URI’s Special Collections in the Carothers Library.

BY PIPPA JACK

Milk Can

1910

From the early 1910s, just after the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts became simply Rhode Island State College, comes this reminder of URI’s roots. Students likely used this jug to hold milk from campus cows.

12

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Dance Card

1937

This ornate program for the 1937 Freshman Banquet belonged to Marguerite “Peggy” Regina (McEnneny) Masterson ’37, who had no problem finding dance partners. Thanks to her daughter, Carole (Masterson) Lamendola ’77, for loaning it to us.

1920

Lecture Exhibit The Powerpoint of its time, this early 1920s three-foot-high presentation case contained photographs of experiments performed at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Rhode Island State College, along with detailed explanations of their results. Professors would have taken it on the road when presenting to farmers and other institutions.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 13

Men’s Basketball Jersey This 1940s jersey belonged to Stanley John Stutz ’42, a star member of Coach Frank Keaney’s basketball team. At the time, he went by the name Modzelewski, but was known by the catchy monicker Stan Stutz during his successful pro career. Above, Stutz (front row) and teammates get a pep talk from Coach Frank Keaney on the steps of Rodman Hall—the armory-turned-gymnasium where Keaney invented the fast break, forever changing the game. The jersey is part of a textiles exhibit at Quinn Hall this year.

1940 Japanese Ceremonial Sword At the close of World War II, this sword was presented to Brigadier General Elliott R. Thorpe ’19, Hon. ’51, then chief of counterintelligence on General MacArthur’s staff and stationed aboard the USS Missouri. It was 1945 and the sword, presented by Thorpe’s opposite number on the Imperial staff, marked the formal surrender of Japan. Thorpe later gifted it to URI.

14

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

1945

Student Pin

1979

Robin Winter ’83 has kept this pin since her freshman year. “Food fights in the dining halls were a Halloween tradition, and of course the school was trying to put an end to them. That year, the administration gave out these pins, closed the dining halls for that one night, and gave us bag dinners. We were supposed to dislike the bag dinners so intensely that we would never have food fights again.”

1970

Branding Iron Once used to brand animals, this iron was in storage when an enterprising facilities staffer dug it out in the 1970s. Rewired, it was used to “brand” the computers that had started to become ubiquitous around campus, guarding against theft.

Time Capsule This box, buried in 1890 under a cornerstone of Davis Hall, was retrieved for URI’s centennial in 1992. It contained documents related to the college’s founding, and an Indian head penny.

1890

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 15

The asteroid Bennu is not only an accessible window into the origins of the universe, but also a potential hazard to Earth. Jim Harris ’77 helped design a key part of the space probe that is chasing it across the solar system, on a mission to bring its secrets back home.

BY NICOLE MARANHAS

16

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

awn mower, eighth grade. It’s one of

the first machines Lockheed Martin

engineer Jim Harris ’77 remembers

tearing apart, trying to figure out how the motor worked. “I would do that occasionally—take things apart and never get them put back together,” he says with a laugh. His father, a naval officer who had moved the family to Rhode Island in 1968, took notice when it was time for his son to apply to colleges, encouraging him to study engineering.

“He thought it would be a good path for me,” says Harris.

Simple story, as Harris tells it. He wasn’t a kid dreaming of spacecraft and asteroids, comet samples, dives through the rings of Saturn. He didn’t have grand ambitions to help unlock the keys to the solar system. But all those things were in the stars.

At left, an artist’s rendering of the space probe OSIRIS-REx approaching the asteroid Bennu. Top right, Jim Harris holds the invention that is a critical part of the probe, enabling it to collect a sample in the harsh conditions of space.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 17

In a clean room at Lockheed Martin, engineers assemble OSIRIS-REx.

Bennu is a pristine relic, one expected to reveal groundbreaking clues about the existence of water on our planet and the beginnings of life on Earth.

18 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Bennu has come almost as close to earth as the moon. It is an unusual asteroid, notable for the fact that it is both carbon-rich and relatively accessible, with a large-enough diameter (500 meters) and near-Earth orbit that make it the chosen target of a NASA sample collection mission launched in September 2016. The mission will be the firstever U.S. sampling of an asteroid and scientists’ first look at some of the most primitive organic compounds in our solar system. Unlike meteorites, which become compromised when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, the Bennu sample will provide a pristine relic, one expected to reveal groundbreaking clues about the existence of water on our planet and the beginnings of life on Earth.

Now journeying to Bennu, NASA space probe OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) will reach the asteroid in 2018 to begin tracking its orbit, outfitted with a camera suite, mapping and measurement systems, and the device at the heart of the mission: a touch-and-go sample acquisition mechanism (TAGSAM) designed by Harris. The device will be used to collect a sample of regolith, the loose layer of 4.5 billion-year-old rubble and dust covering the asteroid’s surface.

The mission will also help pave the way for future spacecraft and extraterrestrial mining expeditions. “Space is a very harsh, very challenging environment,” says Harris. The launch of the OSIRIS-REx mission and the development of TAGSAM, a design feat more than 10 years in the

making, have redefined the boundaries of what is possible in outer space—and in a dirt driveway, as Harris found out years ago.

After graduating from URI with a degree in mechanical engineering, Harris narrowed it down to two job offers: one at Boeing, headquartered in Seattle; the other at a Denver, Colorado-based aeronautics equipment manufacturer then known as Martin Marietta, which would merge with Lockheed Corporation in 1995 to become Lockheed Martin, where he has spent his career. At the time, he didn’t realize he was making a lifetime decision. “I picked Denver,” says Harris. “I liked to ski.”

He started at the drafting boards, assigned in his first year to make drawings for one of the external fuel tanks on the NASA Space Shuttle.

He remembers traveling to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, standing on the factory floor, watching the construction of the 154-foot structure in awe. “I think that was the moment I caught the space bug,” he says. “It was daunting, very inspiring.”

More spacecraft followed. Harris was an engineer on Lockheed Martin and NASA’s Stardust sample return capsule, which launched in February 1999 to collect interstellar dust particles from the comet Wild-2. He also designed components for the thruster clusters, main engine assembly plate, and external helium tank of Cassini, a robotic space probe currently completing a series of 20 orbits around Saturn. At the end of April

2017, Cassini will embark on its “Grand Finale” with a flyby of the moon Titan before making a sequence of historic passes into the still-unexplored gap between rings and planet. Throughout its mission, Cassini has captured otherworldly images of Saturn: cloud-speckled moons and sleek, glowing rings; a north-polar hurricane blooming like a rose; and hovering in the black beyond, the intense light of a pinprick Earth.

But back to 2011 and a new design challenge: how to collect a sample from an asteroid traveling at 63,000 mph. Traditional methods would not work in microgravity, where fluffy regolith merely floats and scatters upon contact. Taking inspiration from previous research on the use of compressed nitrogen as a surface stimulator, Harris took to his dusty driveway to experiment, jerryrigging a shop vacuum and a Solo cup to send a shot of air to the ground and blast a sample of driveway dirt into the cup, his 13-year-old son standing by with a camera to capture the results. (“I believe my son’s response was something along the lines of, ‘They pay you for this?’” recalls Harris.) It worked. A co-worker nicknamed his creation “muucav,” a reverse vacuum.

The early prototype may have been simple, but TAGSAM’s final design concept remains essentially the same, conceived as an 11-foot positioning arm and sample head, a camera, and storage canister. Once OSIRIS-REx has maneuvered into formation, the sample head will touch down briefly onto the asteroid, just long enough to inject a blast of nitrogen onto the surface and force the regolith sample into a collection chamber— capturing a camera image of the sample in order to gauge the amount collected—before sealing the regolith in the canister for safekeeping until its return to Earth in 2023. Should the procedure prove unsuccessful the first time, TAGSAM has enough nitrogen supply to make two more attempts.

It is a long time to wait to see his invention at work—the touch-and-go sampling is currently scheduled to take place in mid-July of 2020—but the suspense is offset by the success of rigorous pre-launch testing, using everything from popcorn to Styrofoam to lava rock as dummy samples to help prepare for the types of materials that may be found on Bennu’s surface. TAGSAM’s performance was also tested in a variety of extreme temperatures and low- or zero-gravity environments. In each of these, it was able to capture samples much greater than the two ounces, or 60 grams, needed.

Sterility was another key design and construction challenge. Engineers had to avoid working with the adhesives and nylons that could leave PHOTOS: COURTESY LOCKHEED MARTIN

traces of contaminants inside the device; all human and organic materials in contact with OSIRIS-REx and TAGSAM during assembly were logged so that any potentially false organic material can be detected in the future sample.

Harris plans to have retired by the time the OSIRIS-REx mission is complete, but he hopes to be watching when it returns to Earth, as he was when the Stardust capsule landed in the Utah desert in 2006. He remembers standing in the predawn cold, watching a star grow brighter on the horizon—the capsule traveling at 28,000 miles per hour with its cargo that would change our understanding of comets. “Seeing that was pretty special,” says Harris. “It’s a great sense of accomplishment to work on something and see it launch—and then see it come back.”

There is something else about Bennu.

Every six years, the asteroid passes within 100,000 miles of Earth, on a course that some predict could potentially see Bennu collide with our planet in the next century, sometime after 2,135.

Scientists have calculated the odds at 1 in 2,700, enough to pique the interest of both researchers and doomsday theorists, the latter of whom would argue that the OSIRIS-REx mission is a key step in protecting the future of life as we know it.

Harris isn’t a doomsday theorist. By credible accounts, “it’s a low probability,” he says. Still, OSIRIS-REx will remain on track with the asteroid for another two years after the sample collection is complete, observing and performing measurements to better predict the asteroid’s future path. Even as scientists downplay the likelihood of impact, Bennu remains a PHA— potentially hazardous asteroid, a classification that has generated increased media and end-of-world chatter among those who can’t resist a Hollywood spin.

Perhaps it was that early morning in the Utah desert, watching a space probe parachute to the ground with its haul of comet dust at the end of the Stardust project, that leaves Harris with little need for Hollywood. “I appreciate that not everyone gets to experience this,” says Harris.

Again, as far as he’s concerned, it’s a simple story.

“It’s my job, and I try to do it well. It’s a privilege.” •

Above, the assembly team had to be careful not to contaminate the space probe, which contains a small capsule designed to return to earth with a pristine sample of Bennu inside. Below, TAGSAM’s final design.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 19

G ift of L D

onna Sweet ’96 relaxes on the portable exam table, as phlebotomist Yendi Polanco swabs an iodine patch on her right arm. On this sunny Friday morning, the North Kingstown High School gymnasium is transformed into a Rhode Island Blood Center donation facility. As soon as the doors open at 7:30 a.m., a steady stream of students and faculty begin moving through the stations for check-in, giving blood, and recovery.

“Okay, a quick pinch,” Polanco apprises her, “and then gentle squeezes from here on out.”

After 52 donations, Sweet knows the drill—the whole school does. Eleven years ago, North Kingstown High School was lucky to break 40 pints in a blood drive. But in 2005, a family trauma changed Donna Sweet, and two years later, Donna Sweet changed the school.

Sweet had just applied to join the faculty as a guidance counselor when she brought her oldest daughter Sarah to Hasbro Children’s Hospital for a suspected bladder infection.

The Sweets left with a diagnosis of cancer. The 4-year-old girl had a ganglioneuroblastoma on her abdomen, a rare type of early childhood tumor with benign and malignant cells.

Sarah would need surgery and numerous blood transfusions.

Her family managed with the help of Hasbro’s Tomorrow

Fund, which eases the emotional and financial stress on families coping with a pediatric cancer, and Sarah made a full recovery. Two years later, the Rhode Island Blood Center, which had learned about the Sweets’ ordeal through the Tomorrow Fund, tapped Donna Sweet to tell her story at the high school’s annual blood drive assembly.

“It was a little nervewracking,” recalls Sweet, now an assistant principal. “But I told them about the importance of blood donations. One simple act—a pint of blood—can save three lives.”

The greater URI community has been a key factor in that equation. The Rhode Island Blood Center needs to collect 200 units a day to keep a sufficient supply, and every day that goal is challenged by unexpected demands, like the Orlando nightclub shooting, and threats to the supply, like the emergence of the Zika virus. Overall donations have dropped, but since 1979, the University of Rhode Island community has increased its share of giving. To date, it has donated 55,122 units of blood in drives sponsored annually by individual colleges and campus organizations. Last September, for example, URI’s Greek Life attracted 350 students, faculty and staff to a drive in the Memorial Union. With the fraternities and sororities working together, it was the most suc-

Life Sarah Sweet (left) and Donna Sweet ’96 on a recent vacation to the Grand Canyon.

cessful blood drive in five years, says senior Alexia Williams, the Panhellenic Executive Council’s vice president of philanthropy and service.

“That was very exciting—to help people overcome their fears about donating, rather than feeling pressure to do something,” says Williams, who conquered her own reluctance, and began donating last year. “It felt very empowering and I’ve been a faithful donor ever since.”

But URI’s connections to the Rhode Island Blood Center go deeper. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Asadorian ’89, M.B.A. ’91, has put his two business degrees to work helping steer the Blood Center to stability. It is now the only full-service testing laboratory in New England, not only screening donated blood, but performing highly specialized

blood tests for hospitals. The Blood Center also provides patient care such as stem cell collection and platelet removal.

“This is a community asset, and we’re trying to be as cost effective as we can while still delivering world-class products and services. When you think about it, there’s not a lot of difference between a for-profit and a nonprofit. We use all the same analytics and tools that any business would use,” Asadorian says. “And it’s always great to hire URI alums—to give an opportunity locally to those who want to stay in Rhode Island.”

Donor Resources Account Manager Sarah Perez ’04 is a good example. Perez, a Talent Development program alum, was sure she was going to turn her marketing degree into a full-time job at the Walt Disney

PHOTOS: COURTESY DONNA SWEET; SCOTT ASADORIAN. ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Only five percent of Rhode Islanders donate blood, and the volume of donations is dropping. Meet some of the URI alumni working to change that.

BY ELLEN LIBERMAN

Company. But she learned of an opening in the Blood Center’s marketing department through a friend, found her niche, and has thrived.

“I am able to be creative and have fun with the job,” Perez says.

“I get to do public speaking, plan fun events and save lives while doing it. I have flexibility and there are so many different facets to the job. It’s not the same old, same old every day.”

One thing doesn’t change: the need to cultivate repeat donors. More than a third of Rhode Islanders are eligible to donate blood, but only 5 percent give. The center works especially hard to teach young adults about the importance of participating in blood drives, because donations from high schools and colleges make up 15 percent of the supply.

“The University has been amazing to work with. Without the support of URI, it would definitely be more difficult to ensure that the need is met,” says the center’s Director of Donor Resources Nicole Pineault ’03. More importantly,

North Kingstown High School students at a blood drive in the gymnasium.

she says, “high schools and universities give us the opportunity to create lifelong donors. Every year, there are people who can no longer give. That’s why we constantly have to be replacing our regular donors.”

Sweet’s personal story turned North Kingstown High School into one of the state’s most prolific community of givers. Donations jumped from 40 units in 2007 to 108 in 2008.

In 2012, the school doubled its drives from two to four each year. Since 2008, the school has provided 2,206 units to the Blood Center.

Back at the school’s gym that Friday, every slot is booked. In less than 15 minutes, one pint of Donna Sweet’s lifesaving blood is in the bag. Two tables over, North Kingstown High School senior Rachel Bedard is donating for the first time. The school is one of the state’s largest feeder schools to URI, and Bedard, a senior, has applied. She may well enter that circle of giving that runs from the high school to the University to the Blood Center. But, for now, she’s in the moment, and glad of it: “I did something good today,” she says. •

Scott Asadorian ’89, MBA ’91.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 21

The Hardest Job in Comedy

BY MELANIE COON

Imagine getting up in front of a huge studio audience and trying to make them laugh.

Cold sweats yet? Now imagine they didn’t come to see you, have no idea who you are, and that you’re keeping them jolly in between takes, and retakes, and more retakes, of a sitcom…for three hours, and sometimes six. If you can pull that off, you’re a warmup guy. One man perfected the form.

T

he old saw dictates that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life, and for once it’s not overstating the case to say those words apply to Bob Perlow ’67, M.S ’70, who for more than four decades was surely one of the hardest working comedians in L.A.—and has a trove of insider stories about the likes of Robin Williams, Ted Danson, and Jason Alexander to prove it.

Growing up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, during the 1950s, Perlow spent Sunday nights watching The Ed Sullivan Show. It was the first golden age of television, as he fondly recalls, and like most kids of that era, he watched his share of TV. But his path to becoming The 22 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Warmup Guy, a career conjured out of happenstance and tenacity that he lays out in his book of the same name, was far from preordained.

Perlow’s family was known in Pawtucket for their shoe store. To this day, people he encounters in Rhode Island, upon hearing his last name, say, “Oh, the shoe people!”

Perlow describes his affable father as being “like the mayor of Pawtucket,” a man who knew everyone in town. After graduating from Pawtucket West High School (now Shea High School), Perlow headed to URI in 1963, and stayed on to study for a master’s in business. He’s honest about having pretty modest ambitions at that point. Avoiding the draft was among his topmost priorities.

Other than a few colorful temporary jobs, including ballroom dance instructor, Perlow followed a fairly conventional route next. He taught retailing and marketing

Bob Perlow, on the set of the sitcom Taxi, while Danny DeVito looks on. “It was one of the few times in my career that I was genuinely nervous,” Perlow writes in his book, “because I was going to have a chance to witness the inner workings of one of the best shows on TV at the time (and probably ever).”

at Johnson & Wales before becoming a professor at Chamberlayne Junior College in Boston.

So how does a business professor morph into a warmup guy?

At a recent informal URI reunion, an old friend reminisced about how funny Perlow had been during lunch at the Union. “I was never a joke teller,” Perlow muses. “But I guess I could present stories in a way that made other people laugh. It never occurred to me that I would end up in show business.”

And yet the young professor answered an ad in the Boston Phoenix that asked, simply, “Are you funny?” Looking back, Perlow says, “That took a lot of nerve.

There must have been a part of me that thought, ‘Yeah, I’m funny.’ ” An aspiring young comic named Jay Leno also answered the ad, and the two joined an improvisational troupe called Fresh Fruit Cocktail, playing bars, colleges, and even the Playboy Club. They became fast friends, and that friendship would deepen as their paths diverged and came together in the course of the next four decades.

But first, Perlow took a surprising detour, leaving the professorial life, the improv troupe, and the cold winters of the Northeast to seize a unique opportunity to become a cruise ship director in the Caribbean.

Appreciating Perlow’s success at keeping the passengers engaged and happy, the cruise ship company offered him the chance to move to California, where, on his 30th birthday, he started a gig as a tour bus guide—in a state he’d never even visited.

He recalls making things up as he went along. “Folks, there’s Millard Fillmore Rock,” he would say, inventing a story about how a particular rock, when viewed in a particular light, looked exactly like the 13th president. Or, “Here’s Doris Day’s house,” when passing by a house whose occupants were completely unknown to him.

...with Robin Thicke...

“What kept me going during those two years was not the job,” Perlow notes. “But I had reconnected with Jay. We were roommates. We even bought a motorcycle together.

While he was perfecting his standup act, performing for $25 a night, I was leading bus tours and taking an improv comedy class.”

His classmates in that improv session? Robin Williams and Paul Reubens. “We were having a great time,” Perlow recalls. But Leno “was far more serious than I was about breaking into television.”

24

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Still, leading bus tours for impatient New York tourists was tedious, and Perlow was tempted by another Caribbean opportunity, this time to buy a share in a buddy’s bar in St. Martin. But another improv classmate, Marc Sotkin, was a writer on the most popuPerlow lar show on television at the time, Laverne with Robin & Shirley. He told Perlow to hold off on the Williams... flight south. Soon after, Sotkin brought Perlow on board as part of the Laverne & Shirley writing team. At the time, sitcom writers would often take turns trying to warm up the audience—it wasn’t a specialized job, and it didn’t get much respect. So when Gary Marshall—the series’ creator and producer, and brother of Penny Marshall, one of the show’s stars—approached him, Perlow wasn’t even nervous. “He came to me and said, in his unforgettable Brooklyn accent, ‘Hey Bob, we have a dead audience tonight, go out there . . . and be funny!’ ” The moment defined the next 35 years of Perlow’s life.

He became the full-time warmup guy for Laverne & Shirley, and along the way saw real possibilities for legitimizing the job. So Perlow audaciously asked the producers of the next show he worked on, Angie, for $300 a night—even though $50 was the going rate. When the producers balked, Perlow offered to warm up the audience for free.

In that taping, he delivered laughs and a standing ovation not only for the cast but also for the writers—and the producers were suddenly happy to pay him his asking price. “It wasn’t just their egos,” he explains.

“The actors, when they heard the love from the audience—they really stepped up their game, which in turn made the show that much more entertaining. The producers decided it was worth the ungodly sum of $300.” So Perlow’s bet on himself paid off, and his career in warmup was born.

The way he describes it, being a warmup ...and guy is not about telling jokes. And it is with Jay Leno. definitely not an easy job. When Perlow started, most warmup guys (there were no warmup gals) weren’t all that good at it. After all, writers, even if they are comedy writers, are not necessarily good at schmoozing and performing. Some were aspiring comics themselves and wanted to run through their jokes—but Perlow points out that in most cases, that’s only about an hour of material. Meanwhile, tapings for 30-minute shows can run several hours (see his book’s chapter on Friends).

PHOTOS (PAGES 22–24): FROM THE WARMUP GUY BY ROBERT PERLOW AND RICHARD JOHN CUMMINS, © ROBERT PERLOW AND RICHARD JOHN CUMMINS, USED BY PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER, PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

“I made an effort to never go the ‘Hey, where ya from?’ route. I saw my job as keeping the audience engaged and bringing them back to the show,” Perlow says.

“Even if they had heard a joke told multiple times as takes went on and on, it was my job to deliver laughs for the cast and the writers each time.” Meanwhile, the writers were often rewriting the script as the taping progressed—and needed the audience to stay fresh so they could gauge the success of their changes. Perlow drew on his background in improv, his imagination, and especially his cruise director and tour guide experience, which served him well when facing audiences who had no idea what they were getting themselves into by reserving tickets for a taping. “Between takes, when it was just me and the audience, I had them dancing, playing games, I gave out hats, shirts. I kept them engaged with the storyline,” Perlow says. “Most of all, I kept them there. And believe me, after six hours, there were plenty of people who wanted to leave—or kill me. There were some nights I would have welcomed it.”

In his foreword to Perlow’s book, actor Alan Thicke—the Growing Pains star passed away in December, distressing Perlow, who was a groomsman at one of his weddings—confirmed Perlow’s talents. “He was never a ‘set-up-and-joke’ type, but rather a comedic performance artist,” wrote Thicke, “a walking reality show who engaged with the audience, improvising seamlessly with them until everyone is laughing—which never takes long with Bob.” From Taxi to Cheers to Who’s the Boss? to Newhart, which was one of his absolute favorites, Perlow worked on more than 100 shows in his career. Some days he would warm up three audiences, racing between studios. As Perlow recounts the highs and occasional lows of working with the casts and crews of the most popular shows of a generation, his joy in doing the work shines through. His book offers the perspective of both witness to and historian of an era in which television was continually reinventing itself as a medium. Here’s just one example: “On Mork & Mindy,” Perlow recalls, “it was the stuff that wasn’t filmed that was so priceless. I would implore the audience, ‘Folks, please remember this—it’s going in the comedy time capsule and it will never be seen again.’ ” Reuniting with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show is what Perlow considers the crowning achievement of his career. He was with the show from 1994 to 2010. As he puts it, “Fifteen years, five days a week, I never missed a show and I never got nervous.”

Leno joined Perlow at a book signing in October, where the two had a great time reminiscing for the crowd—warming them up for their reading experience.

Citing “brutal ageism” in Hollywood, Perlow made the decision to leave when he was still in top form. He returned to Rhode Island, a state he says he has always loved. Planning to retire as a “gentleman fisherman,” Perlow got bitten by the showbiz bug PHOTO: NORA LEWIS

“Most of all, I kept them there. And believe me, after six hours, there were plenty of people who wanted to leave—or kill me.

There were some nights I would have welcomed it.” again and simultaneously wrote The Warmup Guy while creating his show, Tales from Hollywood, as a kind of live complement to the text. It’s a nostalgic experience for baby boomers, who come to hear about their old favorite shows and what happened behind the curtain. The show is audience-driven. Perlow’s extensive photograph collection—he took photographs with just about every celebrity he ever worked with—flashes up on a screen, and a program listing all the shows he worked on serves as a prompt.

Audience members can ask about any of the stars and shows listed and Perlow shares his memories. “It’s very different than the shows I did in Hollywood,” Perlow says, “and in many respects more rewarding. I actually get to speak to individual people. When I was warming up for crowds of hundreds or thousands, there was no chance to answer questions or connect on a personal level.”

Reflecting on sitcoms today, Perlow notes that many shows bear little resemblance to the comedies he warmed up. “With one camera and no studio audience, you have to rely solely on the material. There’s such a leap of faith there—it’s a huge difference.”

Still, Perlow is proud of elevating warmup to an art form.

He quips, “What Edison was to electricity, I was to the warmup.” Then, turning more thoughtful, he adds, “I was very lucky to have spent my adult life doing a job that I loved, looked forward to, and was good at. When people ask me if I know how lucky I am, I always tell them: You bet I do.

I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” • Upcoming Performance Perlow will be offering his signature personal, behind-the-scenes look at some of television’s most famous shows and actors at the Kingston Free Library on Wednesday, March 22, at 6:30 p.m.

Register for the free event by calling 401-783-8254 or email nnadeau@skpl.org. Kingston Free Library, 2605 Kingston Road, South Kingstown, R.I. UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 25

Revolution

26

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Why are we the way we are?

Evolution may hold the answers, and they’re not always the ones we expect.

BY TODD MCLEISH

At left, the skeleton of a common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus. The arboreal monkeys are endemic to Brazil and are just 7 inches long. They eat fruit, insects, and tree sap and resin. Above, Holly Dunsworth, chair of the department of Sociology and Anthropology, holds a chimpanzee pelvis.

olly Dunsworth finds herself in the news far more often than most anthropology professors.

She has been featured on National Public Radio talking about why babies cry, in The Guardian of London about why childbirth is so difficult, in the Washington Post about why chimps can’t throw well, in Smithsonian magazine about why human pregnancies last nine months, and in dozens of other prominent media outlets around the world, from the BBC to the New York Times.

Reporters call her about a wide range of topics related to human evolution because she is highly quotable, has fascinating insights, and her research often debunks long-held beliefs about how and why primates evolved as they did.

The chair of the URI Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Dunsworth says that despite the controversies surrounding it, human evolution is a very personal subject. She has a great curiosity about where humans came from, in part because it provides insight about where she came from.

“I find so much meaning in learning about our natural history, much like I imagine history enthusiasts feel about history—just deeper in time,” she says. “It’s also exciting because it involves so many different fields of science. It’s a never-ending opportunity to learn about so many fascinating things.”

Dunsworth often asks students in her classes how evolutionary thinking could make a positive impact on culture and society. “They come up with great answers about how knowing where you come from solidifies the idea that we’re all one species and we all share an origin story,” she said.

“For many students, it intensifies the need to cooperate and do better.”

PHOTOS: BEAU JONES FOR MOMENTUM, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION; ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 27

Evolution is a complicated topic to understand, however, and because many people first learn about it through pop culture references, they often don’t have an accurate grasp of the subject.

“We’re learning all the time how complicated evolution is,” says Dunsworth. “It’s not something you can just pick up and get a nuanced understanding of, not even in a semester of study. There are a lot of misconceptions. There is a lot of unlearning that has to go on in my classes.”

It’s not just her students who have to unlearn some of what they thought they knew about evolution. Many professional anthropologists have some unlearning to do too, thanks to some of Dunsworth’s research that is shedding new light on topics that many anthropologists thought were resolved long ago.

Take the Obstetric Dilemma, for Instance

Two traits that set humans apart from other primates—big brains and the ability to walk upright—could be at odds when it comes to childbirth. Big brains and the big heads that encase them are hard to push through the human birth canal. Yet a wider pelvis, which would allow for easier passage, might compromise bipedal walking. Scientists have long posited that nature’s solution to this problem, which is known as the obstetric dilemma, was to shorten the duration of gestation so that babies are born before their heads get too big. As a result, human babies are relatively helpless and seemingly underdeveloped in terms of motor and cognitive ability compared to other primates.

“All these fascinating phenomena in human evolution—bipedalism, difficult childbirth, wide female hips, big brains, relatively helpless babies— have traditionally been tied together with the obstetric dilemma,” said Dunsworth. “It’s been taught in anthropology courses for decades. But when I looked for hard evidence that it’s actually true, I struck out.”

Based on her research, there is no evidence that hips wide enough to deliver a more developed baby would be a detriment to walking. Nor is there proof that human pregnancy is shortened compared to other primates. In fact, controlling for the mother’s body size, human gestation is a bit longer than expected compared to other primates, not shorter. And babies are a bit larger than expected, not smaller.

Instead, she believes that metabolism might offer a better explanation for the timing of human birth than the size of the pelvis. Every woman who’s carried a child knows that pregnancy is tiring. Using metabolic data on pregnant women, she found that women give birth just as they are 28

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

about to cross into a metabolic danger zone.

“Mothers can only gestate for so long until they break through this maximum sustainable metabolic rate,” explained Dunsworth. “During pregnancy, women approach that energetic ceiling and give birth right before they reach it. That suggests there is an energetic limit to human gestation length, and it’s likely this is what’s happening in other pregnant primates, too.”

To find out, she has just launched a new metabolic study of pregnant marmoset monkeys living in a captive colony in Texas.

Why We Live Longer, and Other Puzzles

Dunsworth is working to overturn other misconceptions about primate evolution, as well. For instance, she disagrees with the long-held assumption that primates mature slowly and have long life spans because they must allocate more of their energy resources to the development of their large brains. She has an alternative explanation: primates expend much less energy every day.

Dunsworth was part of a team that calculated the total daily energy expenditure of gorillas, chimpanzees, humans, orangutans, lemurs and other primates. They found that primates in zoos, sanctuaries and in the wild burn 50 percent fewer calories than other mammals of similar size. This dramatically reduced metabolic rate accounts for primates’ slow pace of life.

“Primates must be using energy differently than other mammals do,” she said. “We can’t explain it yet, but the way we process energy is different. Maybe we have a different biological clock that slows down our energy use.”

This research may have implications for understanding the health and longevity of humans.

Linking daily energy expenditure to the rate of growth, reproduction and aging may shed light on the processes by which humans develop and age.

And unraveling the complex relationship between physical activity and energy expenditure may improve our understanding of metabolic diseases.

Dunsworth’s latest battle to resolve questions of human evolution took her into the controversial field of evolutionary psychology, the study of how evolution shapes human behavior. It’s a discipline that often focuses on the evolutionary differences between the genders as an explanation for certain behaviors. Some scientists, for example, say that male primates evolved to be larger and stronger than females because they must compete for females, and larger body size is advantageous in that competition.

A blog posting on the subject by a well-known scientist pulled Dunsworth into a very public online debate that was later recounted in New York

Two traits that set humans apart from other primates—big brains and the ability to walk upright—could be at odds when it comes to childbirth.

magazine. Because this classic take tends to leave the evolution of females out of the equation, she felt it was important to jump into the fray to raise issues of bias and sexism and to advocate for scientific accuracy.

“I couldn’t stay silent any longer,” she said. “So many people who speak about evolution to the public try to tell it with fun, simple story lines that aren’t necessarily the way it is. And often, if you try to critique them, they claim that you’re antiscience or a liberal ideologue. But they just aren’t admitting—or seeing—how complicated evolution is.”

For instance, she has pointed out on Twitter that rather than differences in male and female body size being due entirely to something men do—male competition over women—things that women do might also be a factor. In particular, she posits that the energy demands of reproduction may mean that women simply stop growing sooner. It’s one theory of many; more research is needed.

One of the big misconceptions that Dunsworth must correct in her classes is that evolution means survival of the fittest, and that it only occurs through natural selection.

“And that’s absolutely not true; it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “But to understand it, you have to understand how change happens. Change is happening every generation, natural selection or not.”

In other words, change happens whether or not it’s advantageous. “Genetic mutation is constant,” she explained. “Most of it is not harmful, which just means that most mutations do not prevent themselves from being passed on. Some mutations cause themselves to be passed on…Chance inheri-

tance of one copy of each gene and part of the genome contributes to genetic drift at the population level, which, depending on the circumstances, can shape evolution to the same end result as natural selection can.”

Science’s Social Media Evolution

Much of the recent debate around gender and evolution took place on Twitter, which Dunsworth has adopted as a useful and valuable means of communicating with colleagues, students and the general public about her research and related issues.

“I’m really comfortable talking in the moment on Twitter,” she said. “I’ve found so many colleagues there, and I’ve learned so much about evolution through what people share there. There are so many issues that cause me to speak up, and I have all these ideas that I can post about.

“Twitter is also where I can find my audience of people who don’t know much about evolution or who think it’s unsavory,” Dunsworth added.

“Science has come a long way since Darwin’s day.

There’s so much I want to share.” •

“Primates must be using energy differently than other mammals do.We can’t explain it yet, but the way we process energy is different.”

A human pelvis, looking down and out through the birth canal.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 29

CLASSACTS Class of ’86: Julie (Bruno) Benson, Anna (Pavlotsky) Bowden, Pamela (Crook) Drew, Kathy (Ferrau) Giguere, Jennifer (Costa) Hughes, Cheryl (Marsella) Lauzier, Terri (Charette) Menning, Anne (Singer) Miller, Kathy (Hall) Nover, Carmie (Wright) Pennington, Karen (Rebello) Raposa, and Karla (Masiello) Van Dale.

STAYED CONNECTED

URI Alumni Association @URIAlumniAssoc | #URIAlum flickr.com/urialumni URI Alumni Association alumni.uri.edu

Alexandra Dempsey ’09 and Corey Bruneault

Turning back time: The 20th reunion of Bruce Zimmerman ’51, Austin Dwyer ’51 and Francis Wilcox ’51

Mandeville wedding fun: Dan St Laurent ’98, Shawn Gallagher ’98, Karleen (Bowen) Sprague ’94, Mark Cabral ’97, Jen (Durand) Stalb ’97, Rhody, Pete Mandeville ’98, Jason Emmons ’09, and Shotgun.

A work by Tanya Trinkaus Glass, M.L.S. ’82

30

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

KEEP US UP TO DATE ON YOUR NEWS! Submit your class note at alumni.uri.edu/note

’48

William “Bill” F. Cowen of Arizona, a formal Naval commanding officer and lifelong forester, first in Rhode Island and later as a professor (now emeritus) at Ohio State University, has won numerous awards and written too many publications to list.

He writes: “My record at OSU is a result of the education I received at URI and Yale, and I am proud of it. I originally attended URI for one year and joined Phi Mu Delta fraternity. I also had the honor of holding the ram at URI football games—some honor!—and had to wear a beanie cap.” Cowen served in the Pacific Theater in WWII before returning to URI to get a botany degree, then a masters at Yale. “My years at URI were magical,” he adds. “Now I just wonder how many of us are still living.”

’51

Bruce G. Zimmerman of Tampa, Fla., writes: “I know QuadAngles is always looking for antique pictures.

This picture is from 1971, at our 20th Reunion when we all served on the Foundation Board and Fran was chairman” (see photo opposite).

’58

Doris Jensen Daubney sent a photo taken in the fall of 2015 that features Alpha Delta Pi class of 1958 friends gathered at a Rhode Island summer home for lunch (see page 36).

’66

Dr. Kenneth A. Sorensen, M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’70, of Raleigh, N.C., received the Entomological Society of America Distinguished Achievement Award in Horticultural Entomology for 2015. He also received the 2015 Retiree Service Award from N.C. State University, Epsilon Sigma Phi, XI Chapter. “It is a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together,” he says.

GIVE THE GIFT OF A LIFETIME To order a brick or for more information: alumni.uri.edu/centurywalk or 401.874.2242.

Century Walk bricks are placed on the Quad—the heart of campus—as permanent tributes to graduates and friends of URI. Personalize your gift to include name, class year, sorority, fraternity, club, athletic affiliation, or anything meaningful to you.

his wife, Claire (a BMC trustee) have pledged $10 million to the BMC capital campaign.”

’70

Marc Seifer of Saunderstown, R.I., writes: “I will be interviewed on American Experience for an upcoming show on Nikola Tesla by filmmaker David Grubin, appearing on PBS. I live in Narragansett and have written what many see as the definitive biography on Tesla, the man who invented much of the modern age: WIZARD: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius. For more information, visit http://www.marcseifer.com.”

’74

Douglas Ritter of Keller, Tex., writes: “I was a guest speaker at a communications class of Professor Roth. The speech was on advising students on how to get a job after graduation. First trip back to URI in 22 years. The students are younger and I am older.”

’77

Wayne Kaplan of New York, N.Y., writes: “40 years later, we are four URI alums who are still good friends.

I sent in a photo taken at my wife Kathy ’78’s and my country house in Bridgehampton, N.Y., in July. When

we all moved down the line after the first year or two of URI, I moved to Harbour Island and Kathy, Roni and Laurie moved to Narragansett. We’ve all been friends since. Raised our kids together and now we’re on to grandchildren” (see photo page 36).

Laurie (Kikoen) Schwartz of Great Neck, N.Y., see Wayne Kaplan ’77 entry.

Tanya Trinkaus Glass, M.L.S. ’82, of Naples, Fla., writes: “I have a new artist’s website: www. tanyatrinkausglass.com. My mixed media and collage works were part of an exhibit at the Center for the Performing Arts of Bonita Springs,

’69

Marc Perlman and Claire Perlman ’73 of North Kingstown, R.I., wrote: “On October 20, a group of Ocean State Job Lot employees helped sort food that was recently donated to the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Preventive Food Pantry by local Jewish synagogues. Ocean State Job Lot has a longstanding partnership with BMC that supports the pantry, and Job Lot CEO Marc Perlman and

A day to remember: Danielle Sanda ’13 weds Bryan Poston ’14.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 31

Florida, from October to December in an invitational show of four artists.

In December I was the coordinator for the Southwest Florida Pastel Society’s “Small Works 2016” pastel show at the Norris Community Center Gallery in Naples. In January and February, I exhibited themed transportation pastels in the Southwest Florida Pastel Society’s Member’s Show at The Depot Museum in Naples (see photo page 30).

ge a g En ct e n Con t c a Imp Join our community of dues-paying alumni and reap the benefits of Rhody pride.

Alumni Association members receive: • Invitations to exclusive members-only events • Discounts on select Alumni Association programs like Big Chill Weekend and the annual Alumni Golf Tournament • 20% off at the URI Campus store • Great event discounts at the Ryan Center and Boss Ice Arena • Savings on hotels, car rentals, entertainment, and sporting events—also, discounts at merchants including Brooks Brothers, Mews Tavern, Alpine Ski and Snowboard, and more!

Special discounts for three-year and recent-grad memberships! Your dues help fund more than 65 programs and services for alumni and students.

Join now! |

32

alumni.uri.edu

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

’78

Kathy (Marx) Kaplan of New York, N.Y., see Wayne Kaplan ’77 entry Roni (Arons) Schloss of Great Neck, N.Y., see Wayne Kaplan ’77 entry

’82

Harold M. Horvat of Cranston, R.I., was promoted to executive vice president of Centreville Bank.

Harold was previously senior vice president, chief lending officer at Centreville. In his new capacity he will add oversight of Retail Banking and Facilities Management to his responsibilities, in addition to Commercial and Consumer Lending, and Commercial Services and Government Banking. Horvat has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. Prior to joining Centreville in 2014, he served as executive vice president/chief operating officer for Mansfield Bank, headquartered in Mansfield, Mass.

Horvat earned a M.B.A. from Bryant University.

’86

Michael and Anna (Pavlotsky) Bowden of Warwick, R.I., write: “On Saturday, September 24, the Dental Hygiene Program’s Class of 1986 returned to URI for their 30th Reunion, traveling from as far as North Carolina and Ohio, and as close as South Kingstown. We enjoyed a tailgate party, attended a football game, and had a reunion dinner in Newport. ‘All of us young ladies still have a lot of spring in our step!’ said Anna (Pavlotsky) Bowden” (see photo, page 30).

Madeline Parmenter of Coventry, R.I., is the new director of media relations for Providence College. She was previously a member of the media staffs for former Governors Lincoln Almond and Donald Carcieri, and former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee. She most recently worked in higher education at Johnson & Wales University. She has

been a member of the Board of Directors for the RI Chapter of the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Association for 20 years. She recently joined the public relations committee for the San Miguel School in Providence, and is a volunteer for the Crompton (West Warwick, RI) Veterans Organization’s Christmas in August fundraising efforts.

’89

Daniel J. Mitchell of Scarborough, Maine, an attorney at Bernstein Shur in Portland, Maine, was recently named a Cyber Security Trailblazer by the National Law Journal for his groundbreaking work in cyber security law. Mitchell is widely recognized as a confident and compelling attorney in the data security space, having been featured in numerous high-profile publications on the subject, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Wired. As the seeming inevitability of data security incidents continues to be a priority for companies in Maine and abroad, the need for experts like Mitchell will continue to grow.

’91

Claire Gadrow, M.B.A. ’98, of Wakefield, R.I., demolished the Ghost Train 100 Mile Trail Race Course Record in October 2016. The Ghost Train Rail Trail Race is New Hampshire’s one and only 100-mile race and is a part of the Trail Animals Running Club race series. Gadrow took on the challenge with a goal of taking a step towards qualifying for the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. As a result of her performance, she obtained an elite entry to the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run, a 2018 Western States Qualifier.

’94

Julie Deardorff, M.L.S, was selected as the 2016 recipient of the Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award by the Academic Library Association of Ohio. She was recognized for her service to the organization and for her development of a unique library careers program for undergraduate students. She has served as director of collection services/associate professor of library science at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, since 1996 (see photo page 36).

Jim Gallagher, M.B.A. ’03, of Mattapoisett, Mass., has been appointed vice president of

PHOTO COURTESY HOT 106

CLOSEUP

She’s In Radio Bekah Berger ’07

Friday mornings on Rhode Island’s All New Hot Morning Show with Bekah & Mike D, it’s time for Weekend Vows. The co-hosts tell Hot 106 listeners what they’re promising themselves they’ll do—or not do—that weekend. The phones light up in response: one caller might be steeling herself not to text an ex after drinks with friends, for instance.

Three days later, it’s time for Monday Morning Confessions. The same listeners often call back with updates, hilarious, sad, and everything in between.

It feels like a club, and it’s savvy marketing from Bekah Berger ’07, a journalism major who did three internships in radio to land a job at what’s now Cumulus Media in East Providence after graduation. She’s worked her way up, including a turn as Buddy Cianci’s call screener, refining a brand built on friendly banter and encyclopedic knowledge of all things entertainment.

“My professors told me to prepare myself to do a lot of work for free, to work on holidays— and they were right,” she says. Her day starts at 4:15 a.m., and after the morning show ends at 10 a.m., there’s marketing and event planning and midday hosting on Q105 FM in New London, not to mention staying on top of pop culture.

“Luckily that’s easier now than it ever has been,” she says, “thanks to social media.” As for her listeners: “I love how we are so filled with optimism going into a weekend,” says Berger.

“And then, sometimes, regret coming out of it.”

BY PIPPA JACK

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 33

ort Supp URI ts! n e d u St

URI Alumni Association

Scholarship Golf Tournament Monday, June 12, 2017

Quidnessett Country Club, North Kingstown, RI SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: 125th Anniversary Sponsor: $10,000 Sponsor recognition in player golf carts Recognition at registration Sponsor listing in program, annual donor report and QuadAngles (2) Premier tee signs (2) Complimentary foursomes (2) Customized pin flags Signage at lunch and dinner Recognition in program Recognition on URI Alumni golf website 125th Anniversary Co-Sponsor: $5,000 Recognition at registration (premier co-sponsor) Sponsor listing in program, annual donor report and QuadAngles Premier tee sign Complimentary foursome Customized pin flag Signage at lunch and dinner Recognition in program Recognition on URI Alumni golf website Gold Sponsor: $2,500 Sponsor listing in program, annual donor report and QuadAngles Premier tee sign Complimentary foursome Customized pin flag Signage at lunch and dinner Full page recognition in program Logo on URI Alumni golf website

Silver Sponsor: $1,250 Sponsor listing in program, annual donor report and QuadAngles Tee sign Complimentary foursome Customized pin flag Signage at lunch and dinner Recognition in program Logo on URI Alumni golf website Exclusive Lunch Sponsor: $1,750 Recognition at registration Sponsor listing in program, annual donor report and QuadAngles Premier tee sign Signage at lunch and dinner Recognition in program Logo on URI alumni golf website Drink ticket sponsor: $1,000 Tee sign Signage at lunch and dinner Recognition in program Logo on URI Alumni golf website Recognition during reception Drink tickets with logo

Food on Course Sponsor: $750 Signage at lunch One tee sign Recognition in program Logo on URI alumni golf website Beverage Sponsor: $350 Tee signage at either the sixth or 14th hole – a premier location on the course Signage at lunch Recognition in program Logo or name listing on URI Alumni golf website Tee Sign Sponsor: $250 Listing in program Signage at lunch and dinner Tee sign 125th Anniversary Supporter: $125 Listing in program Signage at lunch and dinner Program Sponsor: $50/ $100/ $125 Quarter/half/ full page recognition in program

GREAT COURSE. GREAT CAUSE. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Amy Simonini at 401.874.5808 or asimonini@uri.edu.

Learn more I alumni.uri.edu/golftournament 34

QUADANGLES SPRING 2016

marketing and product strategy for commercial plans at Tufts Health Plan. In his new position, he is responsible for the marketing and product strategy, tactics, and programs to create recognition, interest and demand for Tufts Health Plan’s Commercial Plans products and services. He will oversee all commercial brand management, advertising, promotion, sponsorship and awareness across all media that support the division’s go-to-market strategies. In addition, he will drive product development and product effectiveness, understanding customer needs and the changing consumer-focused market.

’96

Greg Silva, C.F.A., vice president of investments at Webster Bank in Cranston, R.I., has been named a Five Star Professional Wealth Manager for the fourth consecutive year. This honor was awarded to less than 5 percent of all investment professionals in the state. Greg was also recently recognized as one of the Top 100 Bank Financial Advisors in the entire country by Bank Investment Consultant Magazine.

’01

Michael Castellano of Ames, Iowa, seeks greater understanding of nutrient cycling to increase productivity in agricultural systems.

He has served as a member of Iowa State University’s Science Assessment Team, which laid the scientific foundation of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, the collaborative effort of the university and state agencies to set statewide goals for water quality. Castellano has proven to be a key communicator to the public and decision-makers on how to better understand the science required to make progress on water quality and nutrient management goals. As the inaugural holder of the William T. Frankenberger Professorship in Soil Science since 2015, Castellano is using the professorship’s resources to sustain long-term studies to answer questions about nutrient cycling that cannot be answered in a single growing season.

ALUMNISCENE November 12, 2016 Radio City Rockettes Excursion: A Member-Exclusive Event “The trip to New York City and the Radio City Rockettes was visually stunning and enjoyable.

I especially liked the behind-the-scenes tour of the Music Hall. The old costumes made the history of the hall come alive. This was time well spent, thanks to URI!” —Marie C. DiBiasio ’61

December 3, 2016 URI vs PC Pregame Reception “I had a wonderful time at the pregame event. It was great to relax with family members and old friends, and to reminisce about the good old days spent in Kingston.

I truly cherish my years at the University.”

—Tony A’Vant ’87

December 10, 2016 Ugly Sweater “My friends and I had a great time: learning about Rhode Island breweries, eating good food, and of course, the tastings!”

—Kelly Hemberger ’14

’08

Janella Gaeta of Manahawkin, N.J., is currently working at Nely, Inc, in New York City and recently closed the largest deal in company history.

She continues to thrive in the technology sales business and has again exceeded her quota for 2016, helping to take the company to the next level.

If you attended a URI alumni event and would like to share a photo and a reminiscence, we’d love to hear from you!

Please write to us at alumni@uri.edu.

Learn more I alumni.uri.edu UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 35

’09

LEGACY

Maria Carroccia, M.A. ’12, of Cranston, R.I., has been selected to join the Dassault Systemes Women’s Initiative Network steering committee for North America. The committee is tasked with helping Dassault Systemes become a leader among software and technology companies in terms of gender equity and the number of women in leadership positions. She will serve as a member of the Recruitment and Retention sub-committees. She has worked as a member of the SIMULIA Global Field Operations team for two years.

Weddings Pete Mandeville ’98 to Tarra Mandeville on September 23, 2016 (photo page 30) Lisa Marie Carroll ’08 to Ian Thomas Lyckland ’08 on November 5, 2016 (photo below) Alexandra Dempsey ’09 to Corey Bruneault on September 17, 2016 (photo page 30) Erin Mullen ’11, M.A. ’14, to Daniel Parker ’11 on October 9, 2016 Keith J. Murray ’11 to Amanda G. Beaudoin on July 16, 2016 Danielle Sanda ’13 to Bryan Poston ’14 on July 30, 2016 (photo page 31)

Down the aisle: Lisa Marie Carroll ’08 and Ian Thomas Lyckland ’08

Alpha Delta Pi Class of ’58

36

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Births Amanda (Pasquazzi) Gentile ’03 and David Gentile ’01, M.S. ’08, a son, Nolan Benjamin Gentile, on October 20, 2016

In Memoriam Helen M. (Beaven) Puleo ’41 of Lincoln, R.I., on November 16, 2016 Marcia J. Trull ’47 of Saint Petersburg, Fla., on March 29, 2016 Genevieve S. Kerins ’48 of Endwell, N.Y., on November 5, 2016 Justin E. Abrams ’49 of Block Island, R.I., on March 9, 2016 Ilma Bichun ’49 of Warwick, R.I., on October 26, 2016 Robert B. Almeida ’50 of Barrington, R.I., on May 26, 2016 Richard C. Anthony ’50 of South Kingstown, R.I., on October 29, 2016 Albert Alcide Barber ’50, M.S. ’52, of Middleburg, Va., on July 30, 2016 Lillian C. (Turco) Cappuccio ’50 of Westerly, R.I., on November 26, 2010 Archibald Belmont Kenyon Jr. ’50 of Wakefield, R.I., on December 9, 2016 Richard Johnson ’51 of Lincoln, R.I., on October 30, 2016

Julie Deardorff, M.L.S. ’94, wins a distinguished service award.

L to R - Wayne Kaplan ’77, Kathy (Marx) Kaplan ’78, Roni (Arons) Schloss ’78, and Laurie (Kikoen) Schwartz ’77

PHOTO COURTESY TIMOTHY MENDONÇA

CLOSEUP

He’s In Film Timothy Mendonça ’13

Right now, Timothy Mendonça is wrapping up a production coordinator job for what he calls a “small” film: First Reformed.

It stars Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, and is written and directed by Paul Schrader, the screenwriter who gave us Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

It’s small compared to, say, the Amazon original series Sneaky Pete, which premiered in January and was created by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. Needless to say, that was a big production, and so was the M. Night Shyamalan film Split, another 2016 production gig for Mendonça. He’s moved up the ladder quickly since, as a film/media major, he juggled

jobs at newportFILM and on any movie set in R.I. he could talk his way on to, including Moonrise Kingdom.

The Newport native lives in New York City now, where his job means he serves as “nervous system” to each production, aware of every detail on set and off. He’s incubating more filmmaking dreams—he has written a screenplay and worked oncamera—but he’s biding his time. Life is good. “It’s such a rewarding experience to be able to move out of a small town, and start a life and career that you can really be happy with.”

BY PIPPA JACK

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 37

Lateral Career Moves For a moment, consider a lattice fence, full of greenery growing in all directions— upward, sideways, and diagonally.

Though each plant may be growing toward a different destination, the overall effect is one of abundance, often forming a breathtaking picture.

Similarly, the most successful career journeys are not necessarily defined by strict vertical moves as we advance up a ladder. “Lattice” type career moves—a combination of sideways, upward and diagonal moves—can bring a wealth of abundance to individual careers, while a focus strictly on vertical movements could surprisingly derail us at some point.

Candidates who have broad business views, multiple functional proficiencies, or a variety of regional or global experiences will bring attractive knowledge and skills to open positions.

Individual career aspirations may evolve and change over time, based on our unique experiences. As we consider our career goals, it is important to continuously consider the various paths to get there. We might envision a goal in the upper corner of a lattice, but we should not consider only a straight line of hierarchical promotions to get there. We should consider how competencies like broader business acumen, organizational agility, innovation, problem-solving, strategic agility, and technological knowhow are highly attractive and transferable to positions. These types of competencies are developed by a combination of lateral and vertical moves.

Yes, a pinch of career patience is needed to fulfill our aspirations as we grow across our lattice. But without a doubt, the outcome could be breathtaking.

Alumni may call Alumni Career Services at 401.874.9404 or email our Alumni Career Advisors: Audra Lavoie: audraryane@uri.edu Karen Rubano: krubano@uri.edu

Read More | alumni.uri.edu/careerservices

James Joseph Roy ’60 of San Diego, Calif., on July 24, 2016 Jay William Hartford ’61, M.S. ’62 of Trappe, Md., on November 6, 2016 Nathaniel Mawby ’61 of Berryville, Va., on February 13, 2015 Lois Countway-Taudvin ’61 of Nashua, N.H., on May 25, 2016 Carol Sornberger ’63 of Boylston, Mass., on November 24, 2016 Peter Chamberlain ’64 of Wilton, Maine, on October 31, 2016 Anthony F. DiRuzzo ’64 of North Providence, R.I., on November 13, 2016 Richard George Pincus ’65 of Manasquan, N.J., on October 8, 2016 Carl Jacobson ’66 of Indianapolis, Ind., on November 1, 2016 Dale B. Reed ’66 of Woonsocket, R.I., on August 10, 2016 George B. Brown ’67 of Santa Cruz, Calif., on July 25, 2016 Domenic Francis Capalbo ’67 of Wakefield, R.I., on October 20, 2016 Captain James H. Smith ’67 of East Greenwich, R.I., on September 30, 2016 Fay Kicia ’68 of Sebastian, Fla., on April 3, 2016 Elizabeth (Wittig) Hart ’70 of Saco, Maine, on April 18, 2016 Solomon Solomon, M.S. ’70 of North Kingstown, R.I., on October 21, 2016 Robert L. Davis ’71 of Rochester, Vt., on June 22, 2016 John Gilman ’71 Providence, R.I., on October 18, 2016 Terrance J. Daly ’72 of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on September 24, 2016 Robert Gregg Keary ’72 of Bedford, N.H., on December 13, 1943 Arthur G. Lavallee, M.S. ’72 of Danielsville, Ga., on December 8, 2016 Sandra J. Panzeri ’72 of Narragansett, R.I., on August 9, 2016

Kenneth M. Morrison ’51 of Needham, Mass., on November 9, 2016 Anna Rotondo ’51 of North Kingstown, R.I., on September 29, 2016 Royal D. Sibley Jr. of Griswold, Conn., on March 9, 2016

Robert V. Conde ’55 of Fort Myers, Fla., on May 12, 2016 Jane (Parker) Carlson ’56 of Fairfield, Maine, on October 29, 2016 E. Lyman D’Andrea ’56 of Providence, R.I., on October 12, 2016

Avis S. Randall ’54 of Spring Lake, Mich., on September 27, 2016

Joseph T. Laffey ’56 of South Kingstown, R.I., on September 22, 2016

Donald Andrew Wilson ’54 of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on May 27, 2016

Shirley Pinder McKee ’56 of Houston, Tex., on February 3, 2015

38

QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

Douglas Josiah Richardson Jr. ’56 of Bluffton, S.C., on November 26, 2016

Linda Bolduc Reichler ’72 of Avon, Conn., on August 26, 2016

Janet Fradin ’57 of Providence, R.I., on October 29, 2016

Carolyn E. (Couto) Wood ’72 of Jefferson, Mass., on November 25, 2016

John Frederick Brown ’58 of Barton, Vt., on November 2, 2016

Judith A. Desfosses, M.A. ’73 of Rochester, N.Y., on December 7, 2016

Hugh C. Neville ’58 of Barrington, R.I., on July 23, 2016

Raymond LaFazia ’73 of Chepachet, R.I., on September 23, 2016

Andrew S. Petrides ’59 of Raleigh, N.C., on December 6, 2016

Miriam S. McEwen ’73 of Lexington, Ky., on June 18, 2015

Peter G. Pantelis ’73 of Waterford, Conn., on October 14, 2016 Edward W. Poyer ’73 of Providence, R.I., on November 9, 2015 Michael William Titzler ’73 of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on September 4, 2016

COME BACK TO KINGSTON!

Stanley N. Wallach ’74 of Dunellen, N.J., on November 4, 2016 Patricia “Patti” Fay ’75 of Portsmouth, R.I. on June 4, 2016 Grace M. (Champlin) Dowdell ’76, M.A. ’83, of Peace Dale, R.I., on September 2, 2016 James M. Conti ’76 of Wahiawa, Hawaii, on November 11, 2016 Sandra J. O’Leary ’76 of East Greenwich, R.I., on November 23, 2016 Rose M. Jannarelli ’77 of Cumberland, R.I., on August 14, 2015 Kathleen Sanford ’77 of Coventry, R.I., on November 4, 2015 Gregory G. Troy ’77 of Smithfield, R.I., on May 23, 2016 Beverly Malin ’78 of Tiverton, R.I., on October 16, 2016 Stephen R. McGinn ’79 of North Attleboro, Mass., on September 29, 2016 Anne Louise (Treacy) McGill ’80 of Lincoln, R.I., on October 26, 2016 Marion Marceau ’81 of Wakefield, R.I., on November 6, 2016 Maj. Britt DeSaussure ’82 of Hudson, Ohio, on July 1, 2016 Francesca (Gencarelli) Wish ’83 of Westerly, R.I., on October 25, 2016 Mark W. Stoermer, M.S. ’85 of Seattle, Wash., on December 3, 2016 Martha A. Parker-Magagna, M.A. ’87 of Grantham, N.H., on December 4, 2016 Dorothy A Van Couyghen ’90 of Warwick, R.I., on May 3, 2016

May 19–21, 2017

Class of 1967 • 50th Reunion If you graduated in 1967, don’t miss your 50th Reunion, which takes place during Commencement Weekend.

Event details: alumni.uri.edu/50threunion

Veronica M. Auslander ’03 of Narragansett, R.I., on July 16, 2016

For more information, contact Christina Haas ’05, Alumni Relations, 401.874.7402 or christina_haas@uri.edu.

Liam P. Cunningham ’11 of Needham, Mass., on September 27, 2016

June 2–3, 2017

Jason J. Carvalho, Pharm. D. ’12 of Cumberland, R.I., on December 10, 2016

Faculty and Staff In Memoriam Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences William H. Krueger of West Kingston, R.I., on October 3, 2016

Golden Grad Weekend Alumni who graduated more than 50 years ago are invited to this very special reunion.

Event details: alumni.uri.edu/goldengrad

For more information, contact Kate Maccarone ’08, Alumni Relations, 401.874.4679 or kemaccarone@uri.edu.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 39

BACKPAGE

it Subm y sb entrie 4, April 2017

PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST

Have a funny idea for what’s going on in this photograph from the University of Rhode Island library archives? Email your caption to pjack@uri.edu, or respond at uri.edu/quadangles.

DECEMBER WINNERS Avis Buxton Child ’52 helped give us some context for the photo we used for the last contest, which is simply labeled “sophomore cooking class 1921” in our archives. “The two women standing in front of the left-hand window are Flossie E. Buxton ’24 and Alice T. Sisson (Buxton) from the same class,” Child wrote. “They were both home economics majors. How do I know this?

Alice was my mother, and Flossie was my aunt.

Alice became Flossie’s sister-law when she married Flossie’s brother, Charles Buxton, who later became my father.”

Other readers were reminded of phenomena as diverse as the Rhody Burger (a standout bacon hamburger before they became trendy, says Paul Karanfilian ’73) and of how, during the late 1950s, home ec majors were kidded about going for their “MRS” degree (because they went from “Miss” to “Mrs.,” explains Deanna DiBiasio Wright ’60). Cookie pushers or not, “These ladies stirred it up for women of the future in the fields of teaching, food and nutrition, textiles and clothing, and child care, to name a few,” adds Wright.

Other readers riffed on delightfully Rhodycentric themes like Allie’s Donuts and clam cakes.

We enjoyed them all. • —Pippa Jack 40 QUADANGLES SPRING 2017

WINNING CAPTION:

“As always, URI was decades ahead, with the very first episode of Cupcake Wars.”

– Kathy Ojeda ’81

RUNNER UP: “Meanwhile, at Pastore Hall, the Princess Leia Fan Club prepares for its annual bake sale.” (With apologies to the late, great Carrie Fisher.)– Dan Brown ’94 TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS: “Oh, so now you tell us you are allergic to garlic.” – John A. Daley ’89 “Hey, if you had to Bunsen burner your muffin and coffee everyday, you would not be smiling either. The three who are smiling are new.” – David Singer ’90

PHOTOS: COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Top five reasons... ‌to make a scholarship gift to URI: #1. Be a part of something bigger. #2. Relieve a student’s financial burden. #3. Reward academic achievement. #4. Motivate students by investing in their success. #5. Set an example through your generosity.

Give to the URI Scholarship Fund today and make a difference.

To learn more, visit urifoundation.org/scholarship or call 401.874.7900.

Pictured: URI Student Orientation Leaders gearing up, this past summer, to welcome the incoming class of 2020!

Alumni Center 73 Upper College Road Kingston, RI 02881 USA

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Alumni Association University of Rhode Island

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

an evening of grapes grain

&

June 10, 2017, 5–8 p.m.

President’s House Lawn URI Kingston Campus

Eighth Annual Benefit for URI Women’s Athletics Enjoy a wide selection of fine wines, specialty beers, and select foods provided by area businesses.

Hosted by Lynn Baker-Dooley and Friends of Women’s Athletics with generous support from

uri.edu/grapesgrain