URI QuadAngles Spring 2015

QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

The ACI and URI

A look at 6 women who work in this toughest of male-dominated worlds. | 22

The Kingmaker Conference What do 3 Pulitzer Prize winners have in common? A June trip to Kingston.

You should try it. | 14

Going, Going, Gone

How a passion for antique pinball machines and her irresistible gift of the gab sold them on a new business. | 40

Grit, Salt & Sails

URI’s sailors are frozen-fingered, drysuit-clad underdogs scrambling to make their mark.

A former Olympic coach is at the megaphone. | 18

Matthew J. Valletta ’16, at work in the Fine Arts Center sculpture labs.

Matt, who grew up in Saunderstown, R.I., will be exhibiting his work alongside that of 20 other senior art students at the Warwick Museum of Art, 3259 Post Road, Warwick, R.I. The show runs April 7 to May 1, with a reception on Wednesday, April 8, from 6 to 8 p.m.

More student artwork will be on display at the annual juried student show in the main gallery of the Fine Arts Center on the Kingston campus, April 6 to May 1.

QUADANGLES

SPRING 2015 | VOLUME 22, NO. 3

Features

Departments 2

FEEDBACK

4

PRESIDENT’SVIEW

5

ALUMNIWRITE

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Growing up on the Bay

PRESSBOX

30

CLASSACTS

37 40

14

NEWS&VIEWS

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33

12

News from your classmates

18

CLOSEUP

Kenny Sulaimon ‘16

CLOSEUP

Rolt Smith ‘89

BACKPAGE

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Antiques Rhodeshow

More Online uri.edu/quadangles

We’ve updated our website! See the whole print issue and more. Follow the orange arrow icons to see exclusive online content.

Share stories with friends and family.

Post your comments.

Online Only: Providence Sky Chiefs

The city’s first professional basketball team in more than three decades.

Blogging the Solomon Islands

An oceanography student searches for underwater volcanic activity, and tells the world about it on a National Geographic blog.

Fighting Childhood Malnutrition

#MakeYourGreenCount, a student social media challenge, is supporting a Rhode Island nonprofit’s life-saving interventions.

On The Cover: Kaitlyn Norton ’15 and Matt Coughlin ‘16.

Photo by Rob Migliaccio. See story, page 18.

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

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WOWW!

We could all use a little more of what this student group offers.

Writer to Writer

URI’s Ocean State Summer Writing Conference attracts big names who mix and mingle with people like you and me.

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The Wildest, Wettest Sport

Rollin “Skip” Whyte ‘72 is on a mission: revive the URI sailing team’s former glory. See just what that looks like, from the comfort of your warm, dry armchair.

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Law and Order, URI

Six extraordinary women, from nurses to counselors to criminologists, take us inside R.I.’s Adult Correctional Institute and the services that support it.

Seeing Green

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If Landscape Architecture students ran the world, it would be a heck of a lot prettier, more walkable and more neighborly.

Oh yeah, and environmentally sustainable, too.

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FEEDBACK Spouses Lisa Rodier ’87 and Chris Yun ’88 wrote after attending a November Men’s Rowing Team Alumni Day celebration at the boathouse and campus that drew 70 former and current team members from around the country: “Rowers from classes dating back to the first-ever URI crew and up through the class of ’14 joined together to take part in several intra-squad ‘rumbles’ on the water that left many gasping for breath from exertion and laughter.

“The URI Crew, first formed in the fall of 1965, has produced nine U.S. National Team members, including four Olympians, and

two World Champions. The crew is already looking forward to next year’s big 50th reunion, and asks that any individuals (men and women) who have been part of the rowing team under the club sport umbrella contact the team at urimensrowing@gmail.com with updated contact information.”

Bits and Pieces High tech kayak

Tour Inner Space

URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography had an unusual red kayak on display at the late-January Providence Boat Show. Visitors who stopped to check it out learned that it was no ordinary pleasure craft. In fact, the self-propelled robotic watercraft is used to gather data on water temperature, salinity, pH, chlorophyll, and oxygen, as well as sonar images.

It is used by URI students and researchers to help understand the conditions in the Narragansett Bay watershed and elsewhere.

Join free monthly tours of URI’s Inner Space Center, the facility that brings real-time oceanographic research from around the world to the Graduate School of Oceanography. The brainchild of Robert Ballard, the URI oceanography professor best known for his discovery of the remains of the Titanic, the facility offers around-theclock live video of research expeditions aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s ship RV Nautilus, as well as video from the NOAA vessel RV Okeanos Explorer and other ships.

Tours are offered on the first Tuesday of each month at 3 p.m. Space is limited, so register in advance at bookeo.com/ innerspacecenter or by contacting Romy Pizziconi at romy@uri.edu, 401.874.6119.

Online help for spring plantings URI’s Outreach Center has compiled a native plant guide, an online resource that lists 400 plants indigenous to the state and where to buy them. Users can search the guide by plant type, name, sun/shade tolerance and soil conditions. Plants are also identified as to their value to wildlife and their food or medicinal value to humans. uri.edu/rinativeplants

Researchers to develop ‘smart city’ network Three URI engineering professors have been awarded an $850,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the sensors and computer architecture for future “smart cities,” inspired by fundamental elements of the human nervous system.

According to Tao Wei, URI assistant professor of electrical engineering, the concept will link all municipal infrastructure, including power grids, communication networks, water and wastewater systems, public transportation, health care and security, real-time monitoring and response.

According to a report by consultants Frost and Sullivan, the market for the development of smart cities is anticipated to reach $3.7 trillion by 2020.

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QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

Mark your calendars Commencement 2015: Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17.

Students and family members are invited to attend, but complementary tickets are required; more information is at uri.edu/commencement.

Further Reading 41°N, the magazine of Rhode Island Sea Grant and the URI Coastal Institute, went quahog wild in its winter issue, with a tantalizing feature that includes six recipes by Rhode Island chefs. Other stories focus on the state of federal flood insurance, how marinas deal with storms, and a wealth of other marine-focused topics.

Get it on newsstands in Rhode Island or by emailing 41n@gso.uri.edu.

Lifeguards!

You Tell Us quadangles@uri.edu

Maybe you were one; may you just admir be ed them from afar We want your . stories: pjack@uri.edu

Last issue, we asked for your stories of entrepreneurship, and received this amazing response—proof, like our Winter 2014 cover story, that URI alums really do make the world a better place.

Katie Johnson ’08 writes: I’m the the youngest of three girls, with a middle sister who happens to have Down syndrome. I have learned much about the world through Krissy.

She is incredible; she loves abundantly and without a hint of prejudice, she states her feelings regardless of how socially or politically correct it may be to do so, and she has the most joyfully contagious laugh I’ve ever heard.

Krissy is capable of meaningful work. She is focused, pays careful attention to minute details, and asks for help if she encounters something she’s unsure of. She would make an excellent employee, but because her disability is so visible, she is not given many opportunities to prove this.

And so, I am building the business plan for From Scratch Baking Co., a bakery that I am planning to open in my hometown of Wolfboro, N.H. It will provide employment to people with developmental disabilities, including my sister, and allow others to see how capable this marginalized community truly is.

Through a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo, we were able to raise about $30,000 in start-up funds for our bakery, and hope to open this summer. We are still in need of funds, or skilled labor in the form of plumbing, carpentry and electricity.

My education at URI cultivated the passion and drive I have to succeed, and further instilled in me a desire to use the skills and training I received to spread good in the world. What good are the tools I gained through my time at URI if I use them only to benefit myself?

More information: fromscratchbakingcompany.com.

PHOTOS: TY WIVELL; MIKE SALERNO PHOTOGRAPHY; NORA LEWIS; ANGEL TUCKER; COURTESY KATIE JOHNSON

QUADANGLES A quarterly publication of the University of Rhode Island Alumni Association, 73 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI 02881. p: 401.874.2242 e: quadangles@uri.edu Executive Editor

Editor in Chief Art Director Contributing Editors

Contributing Designers

Photographer

Michele A. Nota ’87, M.S. ’06, Executive Director, URI Alumni Relations; Secretary, Alumni Association Executive Board Pippa Jack Kim Robertson Barbara Caron Shane Donaldson ’99 Dave Lavallee ’79, M.P.A. ’87 Todd McLeish Johnson Ma Bo Pickard Verna Thurber Nora Lewis

Editorial Board

Kelly Mahoney ’03, Executive Director, External Relations and Communications Linda A. Acciardo ’77, Director, URI Communications and Marketing Tracey A. Manni, Director of Communications, URI Foundation

URI Alumni Relations Staff

Robert Ferrell ’07, Assistant Director Kathleen Gianquitti ’71, M.S. ’82, Assistant Director Shana Greene ’95, M.S.’97, Interim Associate Director Darthula Mathews ’13, Program Assistant Mary Ann Mazzone, Office Assistant Amy Paulsen, Web/Print Editor Kate Serafini Maccarone ’08, Assistant Director Karen Sechio ’99, Assistant Director

Alumni Association Executive Board

Alumni Association Councilors-at-Large

Louise H. Thorson M.B.A.’85, President Susan R. Johnson ’82, President-Elect Joseph M. Confessore ’96, Past President Daniel G. Lowney ’75, Vice President Thomas F. Shevlin ’68, Vice President Patrick J. Cronin ’91, Treasurer Laurel L. Bowerman ’77, M.B.A. ’84 Matthew T. Finan ’11 Colleen Gouveia M.B.A.’98 Tyrene A. Jones ’10 Brina R. Masi ’01 Gregory S. Perry ’88 Perry A. Raso ’02, M.S. ’06 Karen E. Regine ’81 Darran A. Simon ’98 Christos S. Xenophontos ’84, M.S.’85

Alumni Association Representatives Business Administration Feinstein Continuing Education Engineering Environment and Life Sciences Human Science & Services Nursing Graduate School of Oceanography Pharmacy URI Foundation Faculty Senate Student Senate Student Alumni Association

Jordan D. Kanter ’99, M.S.’00 Bianca S. Rodriguez-Slater ’10 Anthony J. Rafanelli ’78, M.S.’85, Ph.D. ’95 Catherine Weaver ’82, B.L.A.’96 Christine S. Pelton ’84 Silifat “Laitan” Mustapha ’97 Veronica M. Berounsky Ph.D. ’90 Henrique “Henry” Pedro ’76 Lorne Adrain ’76 Andrea L. Yates ’94, Ph.D.’06 Joseph Maynard ’16 Kevin L. Drumm ’15

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

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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PRESIDENT’SVIEW

March is Women’s History Month, and it seems a fitting time to celebrate some of the women who make up the broad diversity of the URI community, elevating the life of our campus and the lives of people throughout Rhode Island and the world.

In that vein, allow me to introduce We’re Offering Women Wisdom, an all-female student organization celebrating its tenth anniversary at URI. So popular that its alumnae return to campus for a reunion every year, the group reminds us of the importance of support and acceptance, inclusion and kindness, and of the key role mentoring plays for our students and for all of us, in our professional and personal lives.

Twenty URI undergraduates traveled to Cuba over J Term.

Now URI is working with the Providence Chamber of Commerce to explore opportunities there, and a semester abroad program is in the works

One recent graduate you will read about achieved an impressive first for the University. Morgan Breene ’14 (summa cum laude) was one of 31 American winners of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. She will use her award to pursue two master’s degrees over two years of study in the United Kingdom. This Rhode Island native exemplifies what a URI education has come to embody: rigorous scholarship; creative inquiry; and preparation to compete in a global economy, all grounded in the University’s commitment to “enriching the lives of its students through its land, sea, and urban grant traditions.”

While we were delighted at this award, we were not surprised. In recent years, growing numbers of our students have pursued international study, travel abroad, and foreign languages. As part of our transformational goal of globalizing the University, international undergraduate enrollment has dramatically increased. Consider this:

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Even before the U.S. announced that it was normalizing relations with Cuba, 20 URI undergraduates were signed up to travel to Cuba over J Term. There, they explored culture, politics, sports, education, and economic reform, and spent time with Cuban families for a truly authentic experience. Other new J Term destinations included Chile, France, Korea, and the Philippines; travel programs overall have seen a 63-percent increase in enrollment.

Students who choose to stay closer to home are also forging brave new paths. It’s fitting to close with the story of another 2014 graduate, Clara Feliz. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she joined URI as a Talent Development Program participant. Her drive to give back to the community led her to an internship at the maximum security prison. Today, she works to help prisoners transition back into society. In this issue’s feature on alumnae working with Rhode Island’s correctional system, you will read about the challenges and rewards Clara and other URI women face in a setting that most of us would find more foreign than Cuba.

And that brings us right back where we started: Kindness, acceptance, and service, guiding lights for the women—and men—of URI. Wishing you a warm and wonderful spring,

David M. Dooley

PHOTOS: JOE GIBLIN; JASON ROSEMBLUM ’15

ALUMNIWRITE In two hours we have seventeen stripers, all more than thirty pounds, sitting on top of ice in the storage compartment below deck.

“I bet we got about five hundred pounds of striped bass here, Jake. I’ll call Hank at Narragansett Fish Factory.

Maybe we can get a good price.”

I realize this was never just about going out and having a good time fishing. Captain had said fishing “for fun.” Yeah, right. But I guess I might as well get paid to fish, even if it is just like pirating.

Captain punches it, and we are in Providence in eight minutes, idling up to the dock. The Fish Factory restaurant is right on the water, and there’s a ton of people sitting at tables outside, eating, drinking, and laughing.

Captain leaves me there in the boat and shuffles up to the red building. I lift the hatch and begin removing the fish one by one. The slippery scales force me

to squat and reach deep into their huge gills to lift them out of the hold. The people in the restaurant look on, some in amazement at all the fish we caught.

Others seem disgusted by our appearance, as we’re covered in fish scales.

Captain is walking back down the gangway, followed by three men. One of them is wearing a green sweater and pale-yellow shorts. I assume it’s Hank because the other two are carrying large green fish totes, dressed in aprons and white kitchen clothes.

“Jake, meet Hank,” Captain says, thumbing toward the guy who has already got one of his white sneakers resting on the side of our boat. “That’s Jake. He’s a great fisherman. John Cole’s kid.”

“Jesus Christ, John Cole’s kid? No wonder you’re a good fisherman; your dad could catch anything in that bay. I heard what happened to him. It’s a damned shame.”

This excerpt from young-adult novel Swim That Rock illustrates some of its preoccupations: loss, resilience, and fishing. Authors John Rocco and Jay Primiano (below, left to right) drew on a long shared history around Narragansett Bay to imagine the stirring tale.

At 11, Rocco started working on Primiano’s commercial shellfishing boat. He went on to work full time on his own quahogging boat; then, one winter day, it sank. “I immediately decided that I would run off to college, as it seemed a much safer choice,” he relates. He spent a year and a half at URI before moving on to study design; since then he’s worked in the entertainment industry and has written and illustrated many books for children.

Primiano’s equally varied career includes, besides that shellfishing boat, stints as URI assistant men’s soccer coach and as a municipal director of parks and recreation. He’s also a poet, performer and, now, author.

See an interview with the authors.

VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES

Swim that Rock © 2014 by John Rocco and Jay Primiano.

Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

COURTESY JOHN ROCCO; CANDLEWICK PRESS

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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NEWS&VIEWS

4 Things About Farming and Climate Change

1 2 3 4

Most of the efforts in Rhode Island to address climate change have so far focused on how coastal communities can prepare for rising sea levels and eroding beaches.

A new initiative linking 12 Northeast states will help farmers and forest owners adapt to the changing climate, too—and URI has a lead role.

More information at climatehubs.oce.usda.gov/northeast-hub and riclimatechange.org.

Climate-related threats to farming include changes to planting cycles, new pests moving into the area, and more extreme weather events. “Increasingly severe storms are going to cause all sorts of problems for agriculture,” said Bill Buffum, a URI research scientist who is managing the project in Rhode Island. “And rain patterns are expected to shift, so rainfall in winter will go up, but we’ll have more drought in the summer.”

Universities in the Northeast Climate Hub (one of seven federally funded around the country) have already begun to interview local farmers to learn about their specific vulnerabilities and plan pilot projects to help.

One of the first projects will address increased storm runoff from farms. “With the heavy rainfalls that are coming, nitrogen and phosphorous will work their way into our drinking water systems,” Buffam said. “We’re looking at ways to plant more vegetation along stream banks that could absorb some of those nutrients. And hopefully the plantings could be something the farmers could earn some money from.”

Universities in other states will be testing other ways of adapting to climate change—in Connecticut, for example, the first project is experimenting with different methods of tilling the soil so it doesn’t dry out so fast.

Underwater Explorer Captures Marshall Scholarship It’s a first for URI: a graduate student has won the prestigious international award, which provides two years of funding to study anywhere in the UK. Morgan Breene ’14, who grew up on a farm in West Greenwich, R.I., is one of 31 U.S. Marshall Scholars this year and the only one from Rhode Island or from a public institution in New England.

Breene, a history and anthropology Honors graduate who also trained here as an advanced scientific diver, has studied nineteenth-century sea battles in the Mediterranean and contributed to important underwater discoveries from the Napoleonic wars. She is now a member of an exclusive group that includes Supreme Court justices and Pulitzer Prize winners.

Currently pursuing a graduate certificate at URI in geographic information systems and remote sensing, she plans to use her award to pursue a master’s degree in maritime archaeology at the University of Southampton and another master’s in European history at University College London.

So what drives her to dive?

“I like to know why we do what we do, how we got to the present,” Breene says. “And I like to tell stories. What can a shipwreck tell you about the past? The coastal waters of New England are important to our identities as Americans, but the colonial history of the coast cannot be understood without understanding the corresponding social climate in England. The major archaeological finds of the next 100 years are going to be found underwater.”

VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES

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PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; ROD MATHER; ISTOCKPHOTOS.COM

URI

gr

th

ow Trajectory

URI will invest approximately $5.3 million to fill 55 new faculty positions by 2019, expanding teaching, research and engagement across all disciplines and at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The new faculty will teach a student body that has grown significantly over the past 15 years.

Enrollment at URI increased by approximately 4,000 students between the late 1990s and 2010.

Growth then leveled out, but this year is up again: the University just announced the largest freshman class in its history, at 3,270, and largest-ever total enrollment.

URI is seeking a student to faculty ratio of 16.5:1, designed to increase our competitive advantage in the public research university marketplace. URI is already attracting a greater percentage of high school graduates from the Northeast—where demographic shifts mean high school classes are shrinking—and becoming correspondingly more academically competitive and racially and culturally diverse.

Walls are Up for the Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences

Watch in real time as contractors work on the new $68 million center, which will provide 135,000 square feet of laboratories, classrooms and offices, nearly doubling the amount of space for chemistry research at URI. A live video feed is monitoring the building, which was funded largely with a bond issue, and is due to be complete in the spring of 2016.

See it at chm.uri.edu.

Another building project, the new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center, is also taking shape. URI officials say the small center is on track to open this spring. They believe it is the first university building in the country designed specifically for LGBTQ programs and services.

VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES

ronic Disease h C n o h tc a W g in p e monitor Ke l revolutionize how we one and the cloud wil

A wristwatch, a ph al engineering ditions, says biomedic con h alt he ic ron ch at and tre o graduate students, Mankodiya. He and tw l na Ku sor fes Pro t Assistan brother with epilepsy, one of the team has a es— on ed lov by ed inspir —are developing s suffered a heart attack ha o wh r he fat a er anoth h the new, readily artphone to team up wit sm a s ow all t tha are softw arer’s vital signs. tches to monitor the we wa art sm of ed bre ble availa ation or program a ctors can adjust medic do ta, da the h wit d Arme to change dosage or cally alert the patient ati tom au to ter pu com wheel of a car. delay getting behind the UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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In Ghana, Rebuilding Vital Fish Stocks

The United States Agency for International Development has awarded $24 million to the Coastal Resources Center at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography to lead a five-year sustainable fisheries project in Ghana, West Africa. The grant is the largest in URI history. The project is expected to benefit 100,000 people involved in the local fishing industry by ending overfishing and rebuilding key marine fisheries stocks. The project will include efforts to reduce child labor and trafficking.

“This will be a very challenging and ambitious project. If successful, our work with the Ghana Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development will reverse the trend in declining fish catches,” said Brian Crawford M.A. ’86, PhD. ’09, who will move to Accra, Ghana, to lead the project for URI. “With improved management, tens of thousands of metric tons of high-quality, low-cost fish protein supply can be recovered, benefiting not only tens of thousands of fishermen and women processors, but improving food security for millions of people in Ghana and its neighbors in West Africa.”

Crawford will work with a consortium of international and local partners, and help the University of Cape Coast, Ghana to improve its applied research and extension services in coastal and fisheries management.

Brian Crawford (left) poses with the chief fishermen at a village in Ghana.

URI Geosciences Professor Dawn Cardace (left) and graduate student Julie Scott examine rocks at the Coast Range Ophiolite Microbial Observatory.

Seeking the Origins of Life

University of Rhode Island geochemist Dawn Cardace and a team of scientists from a dozen other institutions are collaborating on a NASA-funded project to discover the origins and evolution of life in the universe.

The researchers will work at three field sites to study what they call “rock-powered life,” the mostly undocumented microbes that feed on the chemical energy released from the interaction of rocks and water deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Their findings will provide insight into the processes that fueled early life on Earth.

“We’re finding more and more evidence in the deep biosphere of microbes inhabiting pore spaces in rocks or in fluid pathways, where they aren’t dependent on photosynthesis,” said Cardace. “It’s life of a different sort—surviving not on solar energy or photosynthetically-derived carbon, but from the chemical energy inherent to our planet.”

Deep biosphere habitats on Earth may have analogs on other planets that might have sustained subsurface microbial life. Mars, for example, has a deep crust and mantle that are mineralogically similar to those of Earth. So the research has implications for the habitability of Mars and other planetary bodies.

Lorne Adrain ’76 is New Foundation Chair URI Foundation trustees have elected Providence businessman Adrain as their new volunteer chair, taking the helm from Thomas J. Silvia ’83, who will remain a board member.

Adrain has led a national corporate and estate life insurance practice for 20 years.

A graduate of URI’s business school, he earned his MBA from Harvard and spent a number of years as an entrepreneur in the technology and environmental sectors.

Highlights from a career marked by public service include stints as chair of the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education, 8

QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

president of the URI Alumni Association, and vice president of the Harvard Business School Alumni Board, as well as founding Social Enterprise Greenhouse. He is married to New York Times bestselling author Ann Hood ’78.

The URI Foundation is a non-profit, independent corporation charged with managing URI’s endowment portfolio, currently valued at $119 million, and administering fundraising and charitable development activities. For more information, visit urifoundation.org.

What does this cloth have to do with cancer?

This West African pagne design could help prevent cervical cancer in the West African country of Mali, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a stroke of inspiration by URI vaccine expert Dr. Annie De Groot, and her collaboration with RISD textile graduate Eliza Squibb.

For more information, see uri.edu/ news/releases/index.php?id=7265.

A Gift with Positive Energy

Who: Carolyn Rafaelian, founder, creative director, and CEO of R.I. company Alex and Ani, LLC. What: A new $1 million donation to URI that will result, among other things, in the naming of a lab supporting natural product research, and the discovery of plant-based molecules to improve human well-being.

When: Announced Fall 2014.

Where: The Alex and Ani Impact Lab, a research lab in the $75 million, state-of-the-art College of Pharmacy building, which opened in 2012 on the Kingston campus.

Why: “The University of Rhode Island is one of the crown jewels of our state,” says Rafaelian. “We are honored to be able to support important initiatives that will positively impact not only URI students but the people living in our beloved state as well.”

Positively: “This will expand the scope and quality of the research being done here,” says Biomedical Sciences Professor David Rowley, who researches the beneficial compounds in cranberries and will lead the newly renovated lab.

“The discoveries made by researching these molecules could have far-reaching effects.”

PHOTOS COURTESY: URI COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER, DAWN CARDACE, ANNIE DE GROOT; NORA LEWIS; BO PICKARD.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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PRESSBOX We Stand Against Sexual Assault

VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES

One in every four women is sexually assaulted. With this statistic in mind, URI’s student athletes have taken an active role in the new URI Standers group, short for the Bystander Intervention Program.

The group grew out of the Peer Advocates program at the URI Women’s Center, founded in 2001 by the center’s assistant director, Keith Labelle ’01, M.A. ’03. From the start, the mission was to educate students about sexual assault and domestic violence. The new bystander intervention training sends Standers—who’ve been trained to hold interactive workshops—out around campus to engage other students in

Blue Jeans Go Green Imagine spending your winter months huddled around a stove with your family members, trying to keep warm because you can’t afford heating. Imagine living in a home that is not properly insulated.

Imagine the cold creeping in in the middle of the night.

Every winter, members of the Rhode Island community face these challenges. In October, URI Civility Mentors teamed up with a cotton company and ran a denim drive called Blue Jeans Go Green to help make a change in the local community. The goal was to collect jeans and recycle the denim into insulation for houses. The URI students are working with Habitat for Humanity to make Habitat homes insulated with recycled denim.

Denim is a great option for insulation because it is ecofriendly and it lasts for a long time.

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Junior Kelli Hingerton is a member of the URI rowing team, as well as a Civility Mentor. “We are hoping that we can spread this message and create awareness amongst all of the athletic teams,” Hingerton said.

The goal for this campaign was to collect up to 750 pairs of denim, but the drive led by Hingerton surpassed the goal, collecting more than 1,200 pounds of denim.

“We all have things that we cling to that we know we will never wear again, so why not give it to a good cause?” Hingerton said.

“We will make a great change for the local community members we are helping who don’t have heat.”

URI was one of only five colleges across the country picked to take part in the campaign, and the only one from the East Coast.

—Nichole Sarkis ’16

PHOTOS: MICHAEL SCOTT

conversation about topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. Their workshops emphasize how individuals have a responsibility to step in and say something when they see any of these crimes.

“One in four women is sexually assaulted and one in four women is physically assaulted,” Labelle said. “When that statistic becomes one of your personal friends, it becomes even more real.”

The group signed on to the “It’s On Us” campaign in November, a pledge being taken at colleges across the country to raise awareness and put an end to sexual assault.

A stirring video shows URI student athletes vowing to stand up for victims and end prejudice and assault.

—Caitlin Kennedy ’16

A Benefit for URI Women’s Athletics June 6, 2015 • 5–8 p.m.

an evening of grapes grain

&

Winning Seasons

Soccer

In a spectacular upset, the men’s team won the Atlantic 10 regular season title after finishing last in 2013. It is the first time in the history of the A-10 that a team has claimed the regular season title after going winless in the league the previous year.

Head coach Gareth Elliott ’02—who won the league’s Coach of the Year honor in this, his second season as URI head coach—led his troops to the A-10 championship game, where the Rams fell to Fordham. Freshman goalkeeper Nils Leifhelm was named conference Rookie of the Year as the Rams were ranked 21st in the nation by the end of the regular season.

Elliott is Rhode Island’s second coach to be named Atlantic 10’s Coach of the Year. URI Hall of Famer Ed Bradley—who currently serves as Elliott’s director of operations—won the award in 1995 and 2001. In addition to his Rookie of the Year honors, Leifhelm was selected to the All-Conference First Team as well as the All-Rookie squad. Joining Leifhelm on the A-10 First Team was senior Matt Sykes.

Also earning All-Conference accolades were grad student Falko Friedrichs, who landed a spot on the Second Team as well as the All-Academic Team; senior defender Jon Cloutier, who collected Academic All-Conference honors as well; and Dante Lamb, who earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team.

Sophomore Nicole Brennan earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 Women’s Soccer All-Conference team after leading the Rams with six goals and six assists, totaling 18 points.

Gareth Elliott ’02

Cross Country Nils Leifhelm

Freshman Alexa Pelletier had a stellar season, finishing second at the A-10 Championship. She tied the best individual finish in program history. Pelletier earned a spot on the All-Conference and All-District teams.

In addition to her performance at the conference meet, she placed 23rd at the NCAA Regionals in Riverdale, N.Y., in November. A 4.0 student in pharmacy, Pelletier also earned a spot on the A-10 Academic All-Conference Team.

Volleyball

Junior Franki Darnold was a First Team Atlantic 10 All-Conference selection. Senior co-captains Caroline Casey and Catie Steffen were named to the All-Academic Team, while freshman Marie Gillcrist was an all-rookie selection.

Football

Five football players were named to the CAA Football All-Conference Team, led by senior linebacker Andrew Bose, who earned First Team honors. Also named to the league’s all-conference team were tight end Justin Favreau, tackle Tyler Catalina, kick returner Myles Holmes and punt returner Robbie Jackson, who all earned Third Team honors.

Bose—who made the All-CAA Football Team for the third straight season—is the first Rhode Island linebacker to earn First Team honors in 16 seasons, dating back to Miguel Vieira in 1998. Bose led the conference with 125 tackles and 10.4 tackles per game, a figure that ranked 14th in the country. The 125 tackles were the 10th most in a single season in school history.

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What’s the biggest superpower of all?

The gift of acceptance.

In a cozy room at the Women’s Center on the URI campus, dozens of women are sprawled across the floor playing a game called “Warm Fuzzies.” No, they’re not tossing around puffy lint balls. They’re offering something more precious— kind words.

One by one, they write down cheerful observations about their friends: caring; awesome personality; you are honestly hilarious; you da bomb; I love your energy— and your scarf; thank you for bringing me!!!

Welcome to WOWW, or We’re Offering Women Wisdom, an all-female student group that provides women a safe and nurturing place to be themselves without worrying about being judged. And in this age of mean girls and narcissistic selfies, that philosophy resonates in a big way.

“WOWW is about positive energy and lifting everyone up,’’ says Kelsey Lever ’15, who joined the group as a freshman and is now the organization’s president. “Being around people who care about me—I mean really care—gives me so much confidence.

I feel like I can do anything.”

Founded in 2004, the organization has grown from a handful of women to about 60 today. Lever boasts that membership is increasing every year, thanks to the group’s welcoming spirit and lack of pretense. No one is turned away. “We’re about including everyone,’’ she says.

And on this evening that’s what members strive for with a game that is both uplifting and fun. Each woman signs her name on a large sheet of paper. Then, the sheets are circulated around the room to members, who write remarks meant to inspire and instill confidence.

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Hearty laughs come easily. Giggles too.

Lever snaps photos. “Ladies,” she says, kneeling to take a close up, “Smile.”

Announcements about themes at future meetings are made: a potluck and holiday sweater contest. In no time, the posters are covered with missives highlighting what is good—and possible—in a young woman’s college life.

“I can get support from any of these girls here,” says Courtney Walker ’15, of Burlington, Conn., wearing a sweatshirt with WOWW stretched across the back.

“They’re like my sisters.”

One of them is Caroline Poulter ’18, of Newtown, Conn., who signed up as a freshman at the recommendation of a friend who was a member when she went to URI years ago. “Everyone is so accepting here,” she says. “And kind.”

“Want to have dinner?” says Walker.

“Sure,” says Poulter, and off they go.

Lever was a shy freshman when she started URI four years ago. She couldn’t find her niche. Sororities didn’t feel right; neither did sports teams. She had so much trouble making new friends she rushed home to Barrington, R.I., every weekend.

The loneliness was so bad she considered dropping out. Then the unexpected happened. Another student had been nagging her for months to check out a WOWW meeting, and Lever finally gave in.

“I thought it would be a bunch of girls hanging around talking about girlie stuff— what to wear at parties, makeup, guys,” she says. “No way. I fell in love with the group when I walked in the door.”

There were no whisperers huddled in corners, gossiping. Women came near to talk: Where are you from? What are you studying? Who’s your adviser? Burgers or burritos? Lever’s white horse had galloped in, just in time.

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS, KELSEY LEVER

Mentoring is crucial to the group’s success; older students advise younger ones. Lever’s mentor was a senior— a “Big”—whose wisdom about everything from course selection to study habits helped her get through rough patches.

Now Lever is mentoring a younger student, Jessi-Lynn Minneci ’16, a “Little.’’

“Kelsey is always there to help me, whether it’s studying or just hanging out,’’ says Minneci, of Nutley, N.J. “It was an instant friend connection. I didn’t know anyone when I came to URI. WOWW is where I’ve made my best friends.”

The students also bond through community service projects, like raising money for cancer research, donating Christmas toys to families that are poor, buying prom dresses for high school students who can’t afford them, or making Valentine’s cards for elderly people. Money collected during fundraisers is donated to the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“Everything we do is about improving the lives of women,” says Lever.

Weekly meetings give members a chance to talk about pressing issues on college campuses today, including sexual assault, substance abuse, eating disorders and stress, both academic and social. In a session called “Breaking Boundaries” the women discuss personal problems openly, knowing that what is said at meetings stays at meetings.

Allison Costa ’15, of Huntington, N.Y., found comfort talking about a tough breakup with a boyfriend back home.

“I realized that other girls had gone through the same thing,” says Costa, the group’s vice president. “I wasn’t alone, and that made everything easier to handle.”

Unsure of a major, Costa appealed to her mentor for academic advice, settling on health studies and biology, with the goal of

following in the same path as her mentor and becoming a physician’s assistant.

“My mentor was always there for me, even with her busy schedule,” says Costa.

“You don’t have to be sitting in your dorm room by yourself. WOWW made me feel like I really started to belong here.”

The group is so popular alumnae return to the URI campus every summer to reconnect and remember Lindsay Anne Freeman ’09, of Clinton, N.J., a beloved former member killed in a car accident in 2011, at the age of 24. The group gives out the “Live.LAF.Love’’ award to a current member who embodies Freeman’s spirit.

Lever received the award last year.

“It was one of the greatest feelings of my life,’’ says Lever. “When they handed me the award, I lost my breath. I’ve grown so attached to this group. It changed everything.”

She’s also proud of her “Warm Fuzzy” poster, which says, among other things, that she’s a “great prez.” It’s tacked to her bedroom wall, and she reads it every day.

When she graduates this spring it will go with her as she steps into the world.

—Elizabeth Rau

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VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES 14

QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

Writer to Writer URI’S OCEAN STATE SUMMER WRITING CONFERENCE IS A LITERARY GATHERING LIKE NO OTHER. AT THE 2014 OCEAN STATE SUMMER WRITING CONFERENCE IN JUNE,

Top to bottom: Novelist Percival Everett and URI Professor Josie Sigler Sibara; Playright Ayad Akhtar; Novelist Amity Gaige.

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

URI English professor Josie Sigler Sibara introduced a keynote speaker. It was her mentor, and the best writer you haven’t read but ought to: novelist, poet, short-story author and professor Percival Everett.

Sibara recounted how, as a Ph.D. student in creative writing and English at the University of Southern California, she started a novel. “I was pretty scared, not only about how I was going to do it, but when I was going to do it,” she told the crowd in Swan Hall’s auditorium. A chance conversation with Everett solved both problems. “When I was trying to figure out what form my novel would take, Percival said: ‘No one even knows what a novel is.

That’s the beauty of it. You can just follow yourself in.’ And when I was trying to figure out how I would write it while teaching and writing a dissertation, he said: ‘I just look for little openings in the day. You don’t need some crazy structure to work. You just have to be interested enough in your idea that you’ll want to return to it every chance you have.’”

That was the day, she adds, that, “I went home and became a novelist instead of a short story writer.”

After a warm hug—no air kisses here— Everett approaches the podium. “Thank you for that introduction,” he says to Sibara. “I’ll pay you that five dollars later.”

He turns to the audience. “Students like Josie are the reason I continue to teach,” he says. “She will not be denied.”

That hug, those words, were from mentor to mentee, but also between peers: writer to writer, professor to professor. And between two honored writers, two of this year’s 38 recipients of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, chosen from more

than 1,300 applicants. This was an embrace of literary firepower.

SINCE THE OCEAN STATE SUMMER WRITERS’ CONFERENCE BEGAN IN 2007,

it always has boasted a wide array of speakers and workshop leaders, from Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestseller of suspense novels, to National Book Award winner Julia Glass (The Three Junes), to National Book Award finalist, poet Kevin Young. One of Julia Child’s co-authors has attended; several editors every year from presses big and small, plus publicists and agents; newspaper reporters and editors; screenwriters, actors, filmmakers; one year, even a men’s fashion editor from Town & Country magazine.

“What makes our conference unique is that our creative writing faculty have relationships and are able to attract writers who are contemporaries in their field, receiving national recognition for their work,” says conference organizer Michelle Caraccia. For example, Speaker Ayad Akhtar, a Pakistani-American Pulitzerwinning playwright, studied under URI’s Mary Cappello when she was at the University of Rochester. He was 19, she was 27, but they have maintained a relationship since.

Then there’s how conference founder and URI professor Peter Covino invited his longtime friend, poet Richard Blanco, to run the Beginning Poetry workshop in 2012.

That fall, President Obama chose Blanco to be the 2013 inaugural poet, placing him in the ranks of Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. Blanco returned to the writing conference as a keynote speaker in 2013 and spoke at URI’s undergraduate commencement this year, receiving an honorary degree.

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In fact, the conference can claim a certain prescience when booking speakers. In 2013, for instance, artist Susan Bee received a Guggenheim Fellowship after accepting her invitation to speak. In 2011, one keynote was Jennifer Egan, whose novel A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize two months before the conference—well after she was booked.

“I am a huge believer in conferences,” Egan said in her keynote address that year.

“Going to conferences like this one was really the way that I learned to write.”

In its eighth year, the program offered 31 presenters and a greater array of workshops and subject matter than ever before for the 2014 sessions.

In addition to more traditional topics such as poetry, fiction, nonfiction and the writers’ marketplace, it held workshops and master classes on screenwriting, plays, science fiction, trance poetry (involving hypnosis!) and its first forays into workshops on graphic arts and young adult literature.

Nowhere is this diversity more evident than among the keynote and featured speakers. Two white male poets, we grant you, but of two different generations and respective relationships to language: Charles Bernstein, a “radical modernist” who began publishing in the 1970s, about when the younger, more lyrical Stephen Burt was born. There were two highly acclaimed novelists—Percival Everett and Amity Gaige—both experimental, but in highly different ways. Alison Bechdel,

a lesbian graphic memoirist with 30 years of cartooning behind her, and Akhtar rounded out the group.

What do they share? The freedom to differ in perspective.

Gaige instructs writers to consider this chain of perspectives: the real-life author, the implied author, the narrator, and the reader.

When Everett writes, he says, “I discover the voice of the character and become that character” and doesn’t consider the prospective reader at all.

And this is why 125 writers attended: To learn from vastly disparate ideas and voices, in order to uncover their own.

AYAD AKHTAR’S MASTER CLASS FEELS SOMEWHAT FORMAL, EFFICIENT.

He asks the attendees to write down questions on paper, and he’ll sort through them and see how many he can answer.

“I expected everyone would have laptops,” Stuart Gamble, a teacher from Westfield, Mass., leans over to confide, “but look, all these pens and notebooks!”

The session drew women in linen and men in khakis and ball caps—predominant groups at the conference—but among them were poets, aspiring playwrights and screenwriters, fiction and nonfiction writers alike. Akhtar discusses Aristotle, Shakespeare, the Qur’an and Star Wars with equal agility and reverence. His advice on getting a script noticed? Don’t merely network, “Surround yourself with the aroma of viability, with people who have it.”

Memoirist Alison Bechdel (left) pauses, during last year’s book-signing event, to pose with an aspiring writer.

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Amity Gaige’s master fiction class on “The Unreliable Narrator” drew young adults and senior citizens, women and men, neophytes and Pulitzer winner Akhtar.

“So, I want you to think of a lie you told,” Gaige instructs the class. “It could have been yesterday, it could have been a long time ago.

“Nothing that’s going to get you arrested,” she cautions with a smile.

“When you’ve thought of one, write it down.” Pens and pencils move, some rapidly, some reluctantly. Brows furrow.

When it’s time to share, a woman confesses that the other night, she’d completely forgotten she was going to meet her neighbor in East Greenwich for a drink.

“I told her I’d been writing and lost track of time. But I’d just forgotten. And… I wasn’t even writing, I was playing computer games!”

“My husband said I can’t buy any more shoes, I have too many shoes,” said Natalie Tortalani of Warwick. She’s 80. “I say nothing, I buy more shoes. Then when he sees them, he goes, ‘Are those new?’ and I say, ‘Nooo, I’ve had these for years. You see me wear them all the time.’ “ As it turns out, this is an exercise in reliability, and why we lie. Some unreliable narrators are conscious constructs, such as rapper Jay-Z’s personas, as noted by attendee Anita August, a rhetoric professor from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

But everyone’s technically an unreliable narrator, Gaige says, because everyone has only one point of view. Whether you’re lying to save face, to hide something you did or didn’t do, we all do it.

“But she—” a student says, pointing to Natalie—“Isn’t she being true to herself, by buying the shoes anyway? It’s like, I have two characters in my book, who take turns telling the same story, and one’s lying and the other isn’t. But you can’t tell which is which.”

“They sound Italian,” Natalie says, and everyone laughs.

2015 Ocean State Summer Writing Conference June 18–20, 2015 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Conference attendees mingle and enjoy lunch on the grass at the URI Kingston Campus.

THE OCEAN STATE SUMMER WRITING CONFERENCE IS A BIG COMPONENT OF CREATIVE WRITING AT URI, BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE.

Online summer writing courses dovetail with the conference by including admission—and are often taught by conference faculty. URI is home to prestigious poetry press Barrow Street, and the Ocean State Review, now in its fourth year, features writers from across the country; some have attended or presented at this year’s conference or previous ones. The Read/ Write series brings three acclaimed writers to the University and to the public every semester, most recently Afaa Michael Weaver, recipient of the Kingsley-Tufts Prize.

And throughout the academic year undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in creative writing seminars of multiple genres. “We’re so proud that our graduates go on to teach in MFA programs; and our graduate students are attending conferences, getting real-world experience, and completing incredible and creative projects,” says conference coordinator Thomas Barkman, who holds an MA from URI.

URI’s Cappello adds, “No art happens in a vacuum, and mentoring relationships are essential to the work that we create. In the English Department, we’re really quite devoted to our students. We give them a lot of one-on-one attention and guidance outside of class, as well as opportunities that extend beyond the classroom.

“It’s thrilling when, each semester, students discover, in many cases, for the first time, that they have very real writing abilities. They respond to the rigors of our classes, the in-depth reading and critiquing that we require, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch as they discover their own voices. We graduate truly outstanding creative writers and critical thinkers each year.

“I mention this because the conference is not an isolated annual event. It is directly linked to the unique and exciting curriculum that we have shaped in the Department of English, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In effect, it combines community outreach with a deepening of our program offerings. Our students, in other words, also benefit from the conference, and they also help to plan it and orchestrate it.”

—Elaine Beebe VIDEO | URI.EDU/QUADANGLES

Tracy K. Smith 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry Antonya Nelson New York Times Notable Novelist ALSO FEATURING

Karen Brennan Tina Chang Ru Freeman Richard Hoffman Robert Leuci Derek Nikitas

uri.edu/summerwriting UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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The Wildest, Wettest Sport It’s March, and your thoughts are naturally turning to summer, to the beach, maybe even to getting out on the water once it finally gets nice enough. Consider: URI’s sailing team, perhaps at this very moment, is already out there—whether March came in like a lamb, or like a lion.

Rollin “Skip” Whyte ‘72

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Sailing has a storied 75-year history at URI. The Rams were national champions in 1965 and ’77, and continued to be challengers throughout the ’80s and ’90s, even as other schools were expanding their coaching, facilities, and funding. These days, the squad is playing catch up; it’s been a while since the coed team placed in the top ten nationally, although the women’s team won the nationals in 2011.

Rollin “Skip” Whyte ’72, a collegiate AllAmerican, caught some of the fun when, as team captain in 1971, the team came third nationally. “Ok, we weren’t coed back then,” he says. “The Northeast was the last holdout on that front, which sucked. But we did great, and we were just a small team from a tiny state university, against all the Ivies.”

Whyte brokered his college sailing success into two Olympic efforts and a 40-year coaching career. He led Boston University, a team on the verge of being dropped, to a first place at the nationals four years after taking the helm; then went on to become an Olympic coach, spanning five Olympiads and yielding five medal performances, including gold in 2004.

And in September 2013, the Wickford, R.I., native came home to URI. As sailing’s new head coach—which means he’s its only coach—there’s plenty of work ahead.

“I want to see if I can bring it back,” he says. “We are a young team right now and a lot will rest on recruiting, and that’s a two-year thing until they even get here.

Bear in mind that sailing is a one-division sport, with club teams like us and big Division 1 NCAA teams like Stanford all thrown in together. No schools are allowed to give scholarships, which levels the field for us a bit. But basically, we are an underfunded program duking it out with the big guys.”

He seems to like it that way. At the Arrigan Sailing Pavilion down on Salt Pond, where the team has had its home for 23 years—and which it shares with recreational sailing, including lessons and a 2-credit kinesiology class that feeds the team a fair percentage of its walk-ons— his office is a revolving door of fit-looking students, curious recruits, and alumni who are thrilled he’s reinvigorating the program.

The walls are lined with more than 30 PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

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2

1

3 “Good dancers make good sailors. The music is the wind and the water, with their variations in tempo that change all the time.”

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All-American plaques; the team has also produced several Olympians and world champions. The team’s new website (urisailing.org) displays photos that show the raw drama of what the team does.

The Northeast, with its density of programs and short drive-times to water, is the de facto worldwide center of intercollegiate sailing, the arena any self-respecting sailor wants to play in.

And it’s an increasingly coed arena—the 18 Vanguard Flying Juniors that many collegiate teams use handle better with a lighter crew, so in recent decades in particular, the sport has welcomed women.

Which brings Whyte to one of his biggest pitches: “Sailing is very social. It’s coed, it fosters responsibility and decision making, and you can enjoy it in many ways after college. I’d challenge any other sport to offer that combination of lifelong skills and opportunities.”

When it comes to winning, Whyte says you need commitment, intelligence, and talent. You can teach someone to be a decent crew-member, but

4 to be a skipper, in charge of the boat—that’s different. “There’s always a bit of a mystery in the final equation,” he says. “I’ve noticed that good dancers make good sailors. The music is the wind and the water, with their variations in tempo that change all the time. Like good dancers, good sailors can’t always explain what they’re doing. It just flows.”

But time management and the ability to make decisions on the fly are critical skills that improve with practice—and good cardio fitness is essential, particularly if a boat capsizes amongst the ice floes that can plague early spring events. With no dedicated training facilities, Whyte keeps an online, shared spreadsheet in which team members note their 2,000-meter ergometer times each week, fostering a useful brand of friendly rivalry.

“Sailing is a two-season sport with up to five events a weekend, so we spend a lot of time together,” Whyte notes. “And since there’s only one of me and I can’t be everywhere at once, the squads have to operate independently—and they’ve really stepped up. What’s kind of nice is

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

5 that no one on our team right now was a highly sought-after prospect in high school. They’ve come here and come a long way. They’ve moved past many of those top prospects, and we’re going to move past some more.”

The team had its best combined performances in many years at the Atlantic Coast Championships in November, the premier fall event, placing 13th for coed and 10th for women. Now, it has its eyes on nationals in May and June, which will be held in Newport—upping the ante for URI and its main instate competition, Brown, Salve Regina, and Roger Williams.

“I’m never satisfied,” Whyte says, “but we’re getting better.”

Team members say he’s an intense coach.

“When Skip came in the beginning of my junior year, the team was kind of in shambles,” says Caleb Armstrong ’16, an engineering major and the team’s top skipper. “He meant business right away. He’s not like any coach I’ve ever had—very serious about the sport, but also a complete

character who will often make the entire team laugh during chalk talks.”

Elizabeth Durgin ’16, Caleb’s crew and a biology major, sailed out of Newport with her family throughout her childhood, and says she can’t wait to compete there at the nationals. “The women’s team has made it to nationals the past couple of years and if we stay on track, the coed team will too. I know we have what it takes.”

Durgin says Whyte’s coaching has helped her see her old hobby in a new way. “Skip has not only taught us new skills on the water, but taught us how to be athletes, including being disciplined and having the right mindset. He’s stressed the importance of acting as a team and each setting an example for the others.”

Whyte says this is the side of coaching he enjoys the most. “You’re with people for four years at kind of an important time in their lives, and you become central to their development,” he says. “I dig it.”

—Pippa Jack

1. In addition to the 18 Vanguard Flying Juniors, the club maintains two J-24s, five Coach Boats, and 12 Tech Dinghies.

2. The URI Arrigan Sailing Pavilion allows coach and sailors to analyze digital video for debriefing as well as descriptions and breakdowns of specific venues through aerial pictures and nautical charts.

3. Students practicing on Point Judith Pond, Wakefield, RI. 4. Team meeting.

5. The pavilion overlooks the docks and Salt Pond at Potter’s Landing, where the fleet is stored.

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“Ex-inmates have gone from America’s most wanted to America’s least wanted. The churning of repeat offenders through the system poses a risk to public safety and contributes to rising correctional costs.”

A.T. Wall, II, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections

LAW & ORDER URI Why do women work in the tough field of corrections, so often seen as a man’s world?

For one URI alumna, an undergraduate internship at the maximum-security facility left an impression that she couldn’t shake; for another, it was a post-college internship at the Training School.

Others worked with runaways, or took classes taught by a recovering addict. However unique their motivations, these remarkable women, URI graduates of the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s —and the professors who taught them—have chosen the incredibly challenging, often frustrating professional path of working with incarcerated men and women at Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI).

These are their stories.

By Melanie Coon

CLARA FELIZ ’14

DISCHARGE PLANNER, THE PROVIDENCE CENTER Clara Feliz says she has the best job in the world.

An internship at the ACI’s maximum-security facility during her senior year at URI was the hook. She was surprised to find she loved it, so when she graduated last year, she took a job at The Providence Center, which provides a variety of wraparound services and programs for people affected by psychiatric illnesses, emotional problems and substance use disorders.

Now her work as a discharge planner focuses on prisoners, primarily those with substance use disorders, re-entering the community. She also runs an anger management group in the Women’s Prison.

Not Throwing Away the Key Sixteen years ago, URI nursing professor Ginette Ferszt, a certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, never dreamed of volunteering in the Women’s Prison. But her early research led to her facilitation of a grief group, as a result of which she helped establish protocols for inmates to observe rites of mourning with dignity.

“You need to tell offenders what they’re doing wrong, what a bad relationship looks like. You also have to remember: how you come across is more important than what you say.”

“Women share their traumas and their troubles,” she says. “I always tell them that anger does not go away. It’s what you do with those emotions that counts.”

When her clients go to their new placements in residential settings and outpatient clinics, such as Anchor Community Recovery Center, an initiative of The Providence Center, there are groups specifically designed to meet their needs—a lifeline for many of them. “Patience has run out on most of these people,” she says. “They have no one in their lives who believes in them anymore.”

But even with support, “things can go south quickly,” Feliz acknowledges.

“The first 48 hours are the most dangerous.

Tolerance for drugs is low, there is easy access, and unfortunately overdosing is likely.”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

Parole or probation violations that send her clients back to the ACI are also likely, especially among nonviolent offenders.

This phenomenon, she says, is known as “life on the installment plan.”

Despite everything she’s seen, she’s optimistic. Clients on the “outside” who are doing well give her hope. And for those who return, Feliz has a strategy. “I ask them which parts of the discharge plan worked.

I praise whatever they did right. I tell them, ‘We’ll try again.’”

Former Warden Carol Dwyer approached Ferszt about assisting with the needs of the pregnant incarcerated. With URI College of Nursing colleague Debra Erickson-Owens, a certified nurse midwife, Ferszt developed a support group for these inmates, and the pair collaborated with doctoral student Rebecca Lebeau-Craven to create an educational packet now used by women’s prisons nationwide. Today, pregnant prisoners are identified by blue dots on their nametags and receive prenatal vitamins, extra evening snacks, and two mattresses for comfort during their second and third trimesters.

Rhode Island is one of very few states to support breastfeeding. According to Ferszt, it takes teamwork and a visionary correctional administration to implement such progressive initiatives.

While Rhode Island has not shackled prisoners during childbirth for decades, Ferszt, in collaboration with Warden Dwyer, was instrumental in advocating for legislation to be passed and continues to work with nursing organizations in other states to encourage them to follow suit.

Integrating her research with her teaching, Ferszt actively engages undergraduate and graduate students in her work. Groups of nursing students select clinical practicums in the women’s and men’s facilities. They emerge with a keen appreciation of the stigmatization of people in prisons.

In 2012 and 2013, Ferszt traveled to Sweden on a Fulbright, and she praises the Swedes for investing in programs to build women’s skills so they are less likely to recidivate. She also visited a Norwegian women’s prison with a focused program: Prisoners sold handmade crafts and jewelry at a prison shop in a major city. Ferszt dreams of similar programming in Rhode Island. “When you feel you have something to offer, you can continue to have hope.”

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BETHANY WATERS ’82

DENTAL ASSISTANT, ACI

“You’ve got all these tattoos, what are you afraid of?”

Bethany Waters’ mother was a dental assistant on U.S. Air Force bases. Waters took a similar, but slightly different path.

She is a dental assistant for corrections, serving the entire population of prisoners.

“I liked speech pathology and audiology, and I always knew I wanted to work with people with different kinds of special needs—not just physical,” Waters says.

She has been at the prison for 14 years, and she is on a mission: “I want them to love their dentist!”

For many prisoners, their visit to the on-site clinic is the only time they will see a dentist in their lives. Waters believes her open, friendly manner has made a difference in prisoner attitudes toward dentists. “I tell them we are not here to torture you, it’s not part of your sentence.”

On a more serious note, Waters says that drug use does tremendous damage to teeth. “Teeth are the barometer of the body.

We try to not only provide cleanings and fillings, but also education about maintaining good dental health.” Waters urges inmates to take advantage of dental services while they are incarcerated, and provides them with lists of dental clinics that are federally funded so that newly released prisoners have the information they need to seek dental care in their communities. But, she acknowledges, this rarely happens.

“They joke with me when they return, which, unfortunately, is pretty likely,” she says. “They tell me they were arrested on their way to the dentist.”

Just two dental hygienists serve more than 3,000 prisoners annually, and Waters says that while it can be a daunting challenge, the rewards far outweigh the frustrations. Her clients are appreciative of the care they receive. “I am happy to say I have not become cynical in this job,” she says.

“I am still empathetic to patients’ needs.”

LYNNE CORRY ’95

DEPUTY WARDEN, WOMEN’S PRISON “I got bit.” Lynne Corry—referring to her internship at the R.I. Training School following graduation from URI—says working with youth in the guidance department and then teaching at the school cemented her passion for working in corrections.

A stint doing assessments in the Women’s Prison for the Providence Center was followed by positions as a probation and parole officer and supervisor. Terry Smith (page 26) was Corry’s mentor. “She taught me you cannot take the disappointments personally,” Corry says.

Corry is a Talent Development Program grad and credits the program for helping her get through URI. And like Feliz, the experience made her want to give back.

She was appointed deputy warden in 2014, and her responsibilities are significant.

Overseeing the “mini-city” that is the Women’s Prison, Corry ensures that inmates are treated humanely, that the facility is safe, and that the 130 staff under her leadership can go home safely every night.

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“This is a 24-hour, thankless business,” Corry says. “No one has a parade for the DOC, but we are the backbone of public safety.”

And for many prisoners, she adds, “We’re the most consistent thing in their lives. Their families have cast them aside after addiction has taken them to a bad place.”

That is why she is determined to provide opportunities for prisoners to experience success while they are incarcerated, so they have a better shot at staying out. And she knows rehabilitation is possible. Not long ago, an offender she had supervised early in her career approached her in the grocery store. He thanked Corry for saving his life.

His wife added, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have this man and this baby. He stayed clean for you. You never abandoned him.”

Corry says not too much surprises her anymore, but the incident caught her off guard. “No one ever thanks me for putting them in prison,” she laughs.

“Everyone deserves a second chance. I try to approach my work with no judgment.”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

LISA SODERLUND ’95

ADULT COUNSELOR, MEDIUM SECURITY

“It’s frustrating, but not surprising, to see people coming back over and over. With a record, no skills, and no education, they go back to what they know.”

Even as a youngster, Soderlund says, “I had a thing about needing to fix broken people. I always brought home the strays.”

She got into scrapes protecting a friend who was developmentally delayed: “I hated bullies.”

She’s seated at a table meant for attorneyclient conversations, in a private room within the cafeteria-like visitor’s space at the John J. Moran Medium Security Facility, where her clientele currently includes some 150 inmates. After 19 years working in the ACI, she says the job can breed negativity, especially when a former patient succumbs to an overdose. But, she adds, “If I can influence just one person to straighten out, it’s worth it.”

She traces her inspiration back to a psychology class, taught by a recovering addict, that she took at the URI College of Continuing Education. At the time she was doing a master’s in history, with plans to become a teacher. But the class, and a friend working in the field, opened her eyes to the possibility of counseling. Today Soderlund is a certified criminal justice professional; she also maintains a license in chemical dependency counseling.

In addition to coordinating the process for inmates to get into drug treatment programs, including screenings, assessments, placement, and counseling, Soderlund prepares prisoners for release and for parole

board hearings. Winner of the DOC’s 2011 John J. Moran Award, which honors employee excellence and the rehabilitation of offenders, Soderlund is proud that her peers recognized her commitment and says the rewards outweigh the frustrations.

When Soderlund bumps into someone doing well in the community, supporting himself legitimately and maintaining his recovery, she considers it a blessing.

To stay mentally and physically healthy, Soderlund does something positive for herself every day. And when released prisoners do return, Soderlund helps them to focus on the factors that brought them back.

“We talk about what’s missing and what needs to happen. What were the holes in the cheese that caused the relapse? And how do we plug those holes?”

TERRY SMITH ’79

PROBATION AND PAROLE SUPERVISOR

“Our role is to work with probationers and parolees so they can be their best where they are.”

Thirty years total of experience in the Department of Corrections, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and Juvenile Probation, have not dampened Terry Smith’s enthusiasm. “I love what my staff do every day with offenders,” she says.

“They are motivational interviewers, trying to break the cycle of drug abuse and connect people with what they need.”

Starting out as a child protective investigator, Smith also worked in the State Juvenile Division in Wakefield, as a probation officer for adults, in risk assessment in Cranston, and as a probation officer in the sex offender unit in Cranston. Today, Smith supervises parole and probation officers and staff in Newport and South County.

She explains the balancing act of probation and parole: “Rehabilitation is possible, but first and foremost we consider public safety. Sometimes we recommend incarceration, but we always weigh a number of important factors first, including what else is going on in offenders’ lives, how compliant they are, and the nature of the new charges.”

One of Smith’s proudest accomplishments has been her involvement in three

of the state’s re-entry councils—in South Kingstown, Westerly (which she helped to launch), and Newport, which was the first in Rhode Island. The councils bring together law enforcement professionals, local service providers, community action programs, local chambers of commerce, discharge planners, and parole and probation supervisors to review plans for re-entering offenders. “We raise concerns about anything— housing situations, access to appropriate medications and mental health services, for example—that could trigger dangerous behavior,” she says. “The councils have created a much more seamless re-entry into the community.”

Smith says she has seen progress toward what she calls stopping the cycle of the revolving door. She commends transition programs within the prison walls, and notes that adult counselors like Soderlund have good systems of communication with parole and probation officers.

Another rewarding aspect of Smith’s job: when probationers or parolees become counselors themselves. “They are some of the best counselors we have. They have walked in the shoes of their clients.”

LAURA PISATURO ’91

PAROLE BOARD CHAIR

Laura Pisaturo did not seek to be appointed chair of the Rhode Island Parole Board, but she was delighted and honored when former Governor Lincoln Chafee appointed her in 2014.

The Parole Board has broad discretion to determine when offenders will be released from prison. Pisaturo points out, “The paramount goal is public safety. We’re balancing many different elements, including the seriousness of the offense, rights of victims and the rights of offenders, some of whom may have the capacity for rehabilitation.”

A marriage-equality activist and attorney with more than 18 years of experience as a civil litigator and criminal prosecutor, Pisaturo was a state prosecutor under three state attorneys general, and a civil litigator with the law firm Hinckley, Allen & 26

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Snyder. As director of advocacy and legal services at Day One, the state’s sexual assault resource center, she led the Rhode Island Children’s Advocacy Center to its first national accreditation.

She intends to draw on her experience as a prosecutor, her work with the Rhode Island Supreme Court Disciplinary Board, and her long history of advocating for victims and the voiceless. “My advocacy for victims, the LGBTQ community, and for those who aren’t at the table but should be, reflects my commitment to equal justice under the law,” she says.

Pisaturo’s take on treatment programs for prisoners echoes the sentiments of others profiled here. “It’s challenging when we don’t have enough programs or opportunities within or outside of prison for

“Whatever hat I’ve worn, I have been an advocate.” offenders,” she points out. Managing an offender’s transition back into the community requires collaboration across local law enforcement, community service providers, and parole and probation officers. “It’s a complex task and a profound responsibility.”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; COURTESY LAURA PISATURO

Throwing the Book at Rhode Island Prisons The stories that URI Sociology Professor Leo Carroll tells of his days as a captain in the military police at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in the late 1960s are harrowing. From boiling racial tensions to searing post-traumatic stress disorder and mental illness suffered by the Vietnam vets in his charge, Carroll witnessed events that changed him forever.

“I learned in a very real way it is difficult to be humane in a prison environment,” he says.

“I am kind of an oxymoron: very far left of center politically, but in terms of prisons and other areas of life, I think where there are rules they should be reasonable and sensible, but also they should be enforced.”

Returning to Rhode Island to resume his doctoral studies in sociology at Brown, Carroll spent hours almost every day for 18 months observing and interviewing prisoners, guards, and the administration, and assessing their interactions and interrelationships. The result was his first book, Hacks, Blacks and Cons: Race Relations in a Maximum Security Prison.

This participant observation study details how well-intentioned reforms facilitated the importation of racial conflict from the free community into the prison, plunging it into chaos and violence.

In 1978, the federal court in Palmigiano v. Garrahy declared conditions in the ACI constituted cruel and unusual punishment and entered a comprehensive remedial order.

Carroll examined the ultimately successful 18-year struggle to implement that decree in a second, award-winning, book, Lawful Order: Correctional Crisis and Reform.

At URI, Carroll teaches courses including The Criminal Justice System, Police in Democratic Societies, Punishment and Corrections, and Policy Issues in Criminal Justice. He also coordinates the department’s internships.

The professor has influenced the careers of Smith, Feliz, Corry, and many other alumni who serve on police forces and as state troopers around the country.

Today, despite the fact that there are more prisoners, the facilities at the ACI are much improved from those of 50 years ago, according to Carroll, who works closely with the Department of Correction’s Planning and Research unit. His fundamental purpose: to learn if best practices reduce recidivism.

He’s “moderately optimistic” about progress on this front.

“The trend is toward a bleak future when you get out of prison,” he says. “To reverse that, you have to keep people away from drugs and alcohol. And you have to work to de-stigmatize the ex-cons by providing them with education and employment opportunities. We have to be willing to make the investment. We cannot afford to have people keep coming back.”

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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SEEING GREEN

Landscape architecture students are imagining better versions of the towns and schools around them

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When Rhode Islander Rowland G. Hazard gazed at a breathtakingly beautiful stretch of his land holdings in South Kingstown back in 1819, he was drawn in recollection to his stay in the lovely Dalarna region of central Sweden, a place of verdant forests, fish-filled lakes, and rolling orchards.

Hazard named his pastoral acreage “Dalecarlia.”

If he could only see Dale Carlia Corners today.

The junction of Kingstown Road and Old Tower Hill Road in the village of Wakefield, so familiar to URI alumni, is like any number of intersections across America: a frantic hive of asphalt, concrete, and backed-up vehicular traffic, where jittery pedestrians and bicyclists must survey eight lanes of travel if they dare to cross the street.

As the commercial hub of this town of 31,000, the busy crossroads hosts enterprises that attract a steady stream of consumers—a supermarket and pharmacy, restaurants and coffee shops, a liquor store, bank, and many other businesses— as well as providing access to neighboring Narragansett and to Route 1, one of the state’s vital north-to-south highways.

“To walk from old Wakefield to Dale Carlia Corners is quite an experience,” said Vincent Murray, the town’s planning director, who is an avid walker. “The intersection has long awaited a design that promotes safety for pedestrians.”

The challenge is one of several tackled by URI’s landscape architecture department. Under the guidance of Department Chair William A. Green, Professor Richard Sheridan, and the rest of the faculty, URI landscape architecture students completed a re-imagining of Dale Carlia Corners that won a 2013 American Planning Association Rhode Island Chapter award for “Outstanding Undergrad-

uate Student Project.” It’s one of a series of groundbreaking studies and building proposals for some of South County’s most important neighborhood features, including an interactive, outdoor learning space at South Kingstown High School, a new Village Center in the adjacent rural town of Exeter, and the re-imagining of a 2.2-mile stretch of winding, narrow Kingstown Road (Route 108) from Kingston to Peace Dale.

These detailed proposals—engagingly written, generously illustrated with computer renderings, and based on rigorous analysis—are published by the students of the Senior Design Studio. It’s a methodology created by Green and intended to provide the students with full immersion in the highly complex and politically contentious world of 21st-century design and implementation.

“We teach how to have a career in landscape architecture in the private sector,” Green said recently, relaxed behind a desk covered with folders, binders, news clippings, recent trade publications, and new textbooks. He likes to keep current.

“We’re training them in design, but they’re also learning plants, soils, hydrology, and all the technology required to get a job. Methods, materials, grading and drainage and roads—key elements in landscape,” Green said.

For town planner Murray, the partnership with URI students begins a public discussion to identify the nature of the problems at Dale Carlia, and to pose a range of solutions and improvements. The key word is public. Without the participation and support of the Corners’ many business owners, a host of town and state boards and officials, and, most importantly, town residents, nothing can be accomplished.

“The students’ perspective generated a lot of new ideas for property owners and the town to take a look at and apply over time,” Murray said.

“This is a positive partnership for both sides.”

Maria Mack, chair of the South Kingstown Planning Board, agrees—noting that the Dale Carlia Corners project is the third collaboration between the town and the University’s landscapearchitecture students.

“The students are unencumbered by the regulatory environment, unlike us,” Mack said.

“They have the freedom to think outside the box, and that allows us to see in a different fashion.”

RE-VISUALIZING THE REBELS The first thing Green did was get his students out of the classroom. Their study of Dale Carlia Corners began in October 2012 and included consideration of the intersection’s history and place in the culture of the local community, along with a visual analysis of its many constructed and few natural features. The goal was to focus on the layout of the site and come up with ways to make it look better and function better, while helping both the resident businesses, drivers, and pedestrians.

Once you get out of your car and actually look at Dale Carlia, a lot becomes apparent.

Completely covered by asphalt and concrete, the only place for rainwater to go is into town storm drains and through underground sewer lines. Not a drop of that “gray water,” as it’s called, is reclaimed for use. That also means that all of the soil under that impermeable carapace is dead, deprived of water and sunlight.

The death of an 88-year-old Wakefield woman who was struck while trying to cross in November 2005 led the state Department of Transportation to install new pedestrian safety measures. In addition, a pair of “No Right Turn on Red” signs were installed on two of the four corners. However, on any day of the week, an observer standing in the nearby pharmacy parking lot can see that the signs are routinely ignored by drivers, who sail through the red light, sometimes while talking on cell phones. Not surprisingly, the sidewalks are usually empty, and bicyclists are rare.

Aesthetically, Dale Carlia is a hodgepodge of commercial design styles and in-your-face signage, bereft of trees, grass, and plantings. Though it is the most-viewed intersection in Wakefield, drivers and pedestrians see nothing that links the area architecturally to the older sections of Wakefield and neighboring Peace Dale. There is nothing to mark it as a village center.

The students also found that there is a curb cut marking an entrance or exit for a business an average of every 23 feet, baffling some drivers and making for an endless parade of vehicles pausing to turn from or enter a lane of travel— and compounding the danger to pedestrians.

As their research continued, the students conducted a charrette at the Town Hall as a way to encourage public comment. The results were eye-opening and informed the group’s final

recommendations. Some of the changes would require redevelopment of present land parcels, but others are quite simple: • Bring more of a mixed-use residential presence to improve the economic base and to encourage walkable and bike-able sites.

• Reduce the amount of paved areas by introducing bio-swales—wide strips of green plantings—and rain gardens to absorb and filter rainwater run-off. Students projected that increasing vegetation by four acres will prevent 430,000 cubic feet of water from entering the storm-sewer system each year.

• Add plantings to make building facades and parking lots more attractive and user-friendly.

• Add bicycle lanes, widen sidewalks, install benches, and improve lighting.

Ultimately, the goal is to make Dale Carlia a place where residents and visitors feel welcome and safe, while improving the area’s relationship with a natural ecosystem.

“Dale Carlia is a perfect opportunity, with so much potential,” Mack, the Planning Board chair, said. “It’s the perfect place to show that you can improve water runoff and water quality, and improve the look and feel of the commercial area. Businesses do not have to be ugly. We can make things better for everyone.”

Looking at the proposals for South County that the students of URI’s landscape-architecture Senior Design Studio have developed in recent years, it’s not hard to imagine a unified network —a “sense of place”—of bike paths and broad sidewalks, linking the architectural imagination of the past to the commercial and residential reality of the present.

What’s harder to imagine is harnessing the political will to get it done. But teachers, students, town and school officials, and landscape architects agree that it can be accomplished—and that these student proposals are essential ingredients in the broader public discussion that must take place.

See more student landscape design projects at uri.edu/lar/outreach-studios.

—Jerry O’Brien ’81

PHOTOS: KAYLA DESBONNET; COURTESY URI LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE; NORA LEWIS

One graduate of the URI landscape architecture program is Catherine Weaver ’82, BCA ’96, who now operates her own design firm, Tupelo Gardenworks, in North Kingstown. Her mission: create landscapes that include the work of local artisans and that bring her clients closer to their natural environment.

Tupelo Gardenworks won the contract to transform the outdoor courtyard at South Kingstown High School, based on a 2011 URI Senior Design Studio project titled “Re-Visualizing the Rebels.”

Currently under construction, it will become an interactive home for outdoor classroom space and demonstration gardens, with native plant species, permeable walkways that allow rainwater to percolate into the soil, and locally made solar panels.

Weaver, whose peers have chosen her as president of the RI Nursery & Landscape Association (she’s also on URI’s alumni board), said that in a time of disappearing federal and state investment, increasing climate change, and concern for community welfare and the prudent use of resources, the role of landscape architects is more important than ever.

“Our environment is so stressed, we have to think of ourselves as restorative, not designing only for aesthetics. You take good science and good design, and create a vision to solve problems.”

CLASSACTS Baby James Timothy Fiore and family

Amy Leasca ’04

‘51

‘68

Alec Voight, ENG, of Milford, Conn., writes: “I celebrated my 91st birthday and am very grateful for continued good health and mobility. URI brings back a flood of fond memories. In 1946, I was part of the first wave of WWII veterans to attend the University. We all soon became part of fraternity life (Sigma Chi), I met my life’s partner the (late) Pat Joslin ‘54, and friendships that I made along life’s path have helped me appreciate this journey. I have a lifetime of happy memories. I am still very proud to be part of the legacy of URI. I also want to write that Sikorsky Aircraft placed my resume on the web. [Ed. Note: Google “Alec Von Voight CBI Hoverfly” to find several pages that give a fascinating glimpse into how helicopters first came into use during WWII, and Alec’s pivotal role.]

Thomas Francis Shevlin, CBA, of Darien, Conn., writes: “I was recently appointed senior vice president of Fiduciary Trust Company of New York. I am responsible for portfolio management and new business development for high-net-worth individuals throughout the United States. I am the proud grandfather of seven and father of five. Our son, Tom D. Shevlin, is a senior at URI.”

‘57

DAISY'S FIRST SHOW AND RIBBON

Tom Brennan '82 has been managing horse boarding facilities since 2003 and showing Arabians since 2007.

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Don Daubney, HS&S, and his wife, Doris Jensen Daubney ‘58, CBA, of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., write: “We are happy to have a granddaughter as a freshman at URI. Sarah Corrigan was initiated into Alpha Delta Pi Sorority on November 15, the same sorority that Doris was part of while at URI. Don retired from teaching 21 years ago but continues to coach JV basketball at Croton Harmon High School, here in N.Y.”

‘70 Dianne Pastore Fonseca, HS&S, of Greenville, R.I., writes: “I was an adjunct at URI in the Education/World Language Department, serving as a supervisor of foreign language student teachers from 2004-2008. I am a 15-year breast cancer survivor and volunteer for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of the American Cancer Society. My team, Keeping the Pace with Dianne, has been the top fundraiser in RI and among the top 20 in the nation the past several years.

With the help of family and friends, we have raised over $150,000 to date.

This year we are already over $25,000 with a a goal of $35,000 and we are presently #1 in the country.”

‘73 Jan Owens, A&S, of Racine, Wisc., continues as chair of the Department of Management and Marketing

A GIFT THAT LASTS 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. You can personalize your gift to include name, class year, sorority, fraternity, club, athletic affiliation, or anything meaningful to you.

at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisc.

Her advanced degrees were from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, M.B.A. and Ph.D. Her husband John Owens ’74, E&LS, of Racine, Wisc., recently retired at S.C. Johnson.

He entered the company as a group leader in research and development, and retired as the global regulatory compliance manager. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at Purdue University.

‘74 Raymond Fricano, E&LS, writes: “I am retiring after 38 years of service as an administrative judge with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Appeals Division. I plan to spend plenty of quality time with my family and grandchild, before starting a new career in a yet to be determined field of endeavor.”

Gerard “Jerry” Herlihy, CBA, of West Palm Beach, FL writes: “I recently published Hedge Fund Grannies, a satire about how Wall Street meets Main Street during yet another stock market boom. Available on Amazon.”

‘75 Peter W. Marshall, ENG, of Norfolk, Va., client service corporate coordinator for Navy programs and retired Navy Admiral, was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He was nominated after serving on a volunteer research

committee for the Academy. He was also elected as a new member of the 2014 class by The National Academy of Construction, recognizing his leadership in planning, constructing, and managing military facilities and in policy development for improving U.S. infrastructure.

‘76 Peter Stetson, E&LS, M.S. ’83 HS&S, of Wyoming, R.I., was recognized by the Sustainable Schools Summit as the 2014 Environmental Educator of the Year. Peter has worked hard to establish an Envirothon Club at Coventry High School. He advises students as they prepare for the R.I. State Envirothon competition.

Coventry’s teams have won the state competition in 2004 and 2009.

‘77

Regiment’ of the First World War; War Memories of Service with Infantry Regimen 169. The book was inspired by the wartime journal of his grandfather, a veteran of this unit. With over 15 years of research, this book offers a rare English language history of a German Infantry Regiment in World War One. Published by Badgley Publishing, additional information can be found at: www.badgleypublishingcompany.com/ImperialGermany.

John recently moved to Socttsdale, where he is employed with the federal government.

‘81 Mary Kay Koreivo, CBA, of Cumberland, R.I., is a senior client manager for business banking at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Providence Office.

‘82 Matthew Haag, A&S, of Arlington, Va., was promoted to Captain, U.S. Navy, on October 1, 2014. He is currently stationed at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, where he is the country program director for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Thomas Brennan, A&S, of Meridian, Conn., writes: “I’ve been working as a news blogger/journalist for an Israeli news site since April. This has opened up the door for redesigning my social media business to support Israel and promote U.S./Israel business, social and cultural relations. In addition,

Aoife Isabella Devlin

George La Cross, A&S, of Barrington, R.I., writes: “A Providence Journal employee since 1980 and editor of the Laff In The Dark website (www. laffinthedark.com) since 1999, I wrote a feature story, with video, documenting the Haunted House Dark Ride in Ocean City, N.J. You can read the story here: http://www.laffinthedark. com/articles/gillians/ghh_P1.html”

‘81 John Rieth, CBA, of Scottsdale, Ariz., recently published his second book, titled Imperial Germany’s ‘Iron

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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Pick a Card, Any Card Introducing the new Alumni Association membership cards BECOME A DUES-PAYING MEMBER OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AND CHOOSE A CARD THAT REFLECTS YOUR TRUE RHODY SPIRIT!

I have a website, Horse-SenseSocialmedia.com, which manages social media marketing for equine businesses. I’ve been managing horse boarding facilities since 2003 and showing Arabians since 2007.

My writing can be found at: http:// www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com/ israelnews/?s=tom+brennan

‘85 Scott Stafford, ENG, of Wakefield, RI, is a senior engineer at Raytheon BBN Technologies, in Middletown, RI. He has worked at BBN for almost 22 years, has a patent in the computer hardware field, and is a senior member of the IEEE. Scott and his wife Jane (Healy, BA 86’, MA 89’), an elementary school teacher, have been married 26 years, and have two children: Morgan (21) and Tyler (18).

‘87 Card Proud to be a Ram

Marc Paulhus, CBA, of Costa Mesa, Cali., head of asset finance for Citizens Commercial Banking, was appointed Citizens Bank Rhode Island President. Marc has held a number of senior leadership positions with Citizens.

‘92

I Love URI Card

Michael I. Miga, ENG, MS ’94 ENG, was promoted to professor of biomedical engineering, radiology and radiological sciences, and neurological surgery at Vanderbilt University in May of 2013. In a March 2014 ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Miga was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, representing the top 2 percent of medical and biological engineers.

‘93

Classic Card

Cory Cloud, A&S, of West Warwick, R.I., is the new departmental grievance coordinator for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Cory will be responsible for the coordination of inmate grievances in the RIDOC, administering a procedure which permits inmates to have access to an orderly, fair, simple and expeditious method of solving grievances.

‘95 Once you’ve joined the Alumni Association and received your new card, you’ll get invitations to special membersonly events, and discounts and benefits galore. Your membership helps us support more than 65 programs and services for alumni, students, and the University.

Joining is easy — go to alumni.uri.edu/membership today and get carded!

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James M. Laviano, A&S, of Waltham, Mass., is a wealth advisor at Twelve Points Wealth Management in Concord, Mass.

‘99 Karolyn Zambrotta, Nursing, of Newport, R.I., is a certified nurse midwife at Newport Hospital’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center. Karolyn has been practicing midwifery for more than 10 years. She provides a comprehensive range of women’s services spanning pregnancy and

delivery, including prenatal, postpartum and newborn care, breastfeeding support and routine gynecological care.

‘01 Marisa Lynn (Saccoccio) Laurent, CELS, '01, MA ’05, was appointed to the position of assistant professor in the Fire Science program at the Community College of Rhode Island in December 2013. Professor Laurent teaches the Fire 1130-Emegency Medical Technician (EMT) courses and taught one of the first Rhode Island Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) pilot courses in Rhode Island.

Thomas Morrissey, A&S, of Lincoln, R.I., has made a small production space in Woonsocket, R.I., his base of operations for the latest development in a life spent in perpetual motion.

Tom’s unique, refreshing perspective of precise, law-driven art brought him to the guitar due to its role as a functional art form. A guitar has to be extremely precise, durable and outwardly beautiful. For Tom, this was a perfect marriage between his former aeronautical engineering studies and his artistic meanderings.

He joins a growing number of smallscale, high-end guitar manufacturers who are starting to attract attention away from the big makers Fender, Gibson, Martin and Taylor, who push out quantity, often over uniqueness.

‘02 Albert P. DeSalvo, A&S, of New Haven, Conn., was named Woman’s Basketball Coach at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn.

‘03 Tiffany Risch, A&S, of Amsterdam, N.Y., was recently recognized by the American Meteorological Society as the 2014 K-12 National Distinguished Educator of the Year. Tiffany has worked hard to establish an oceanography program at Coventry High School.

‘13 Amanda Smigliani, HS&S, of Windham, N.H., writes: “I wanted to give an update on my selection for graduate school. I am attending MGH Institute of Health Professions in Charlestown, Mass., for their Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. The program is ranked number one in New England and number seven in the country. I just wanted to make sure that this was on record for the future! I wanted to give kinesiology students the confidence that the curriculum at URI for exercise science is fantastic, and gave me the tools I needed to be accepted into this great program.”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

Kenny Sulaimon ‘16 Innovator Providence native and Talent Development Program participant Kenny Sulaimon has hit an enviable stride.

His major, mechanical engineering, no longer seems as daunting as it once did: “I’ve worked through my hard general courses,” he says. “Now I can focus on what interests me, robotics and electrical systems, so I actually want to study.”

The work world ahead also seems more approachable, thanks to his summer 2014 internship at Visa’s Colorado data center, which turned out to hold unexpected similarities to working at the URI mail room: “We were making sure the system keeps running,” he says. “I had top clearance. I was giving tours by the end.”

By the end, he had also placed in the top three in an intern challenge to come up with a new commercial application for Visa using emerging technology. His idea: an app store for payment widgets.

So for this summer’s internship, he’s thinking Silicon Valley—or maybe Visa, which wants him back. It’s pretty much all good, because there’s one thing he won’t have to worry about come graduation: resume padding.

—Pippa Jack

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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ort p p u S URI ts! n e d Stu

URI Alumni Association Liberty Mutual Alumni Cup Scholarship

GOLF TOURNAMENT Monday, June 8, 2015

Quidnessett Country Club, North Kingstown, RI SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Product Donor: Beer, soda, and/or sports-drink beverage donation for signage at lunch and dinner, and a listing in our program Ad Sponsor: $50 for a quarter-page ad, $75 for a half-page ad, and $100 for a full-page ad in our program

Beverage Location Sponsor: $650 for tee signage at either the 6th or 14th hole, 100 custom beverage napkins at the bar, signage at lunch and dinner, and a quarter-page ad in our program

Contributor: $100 for signage at lunch and dinner, and a listing in our program

Bronze Sponsor: $1,000 for complimentary foursome, signage at lunch and dinner, custom pin flag, quarter-page ad in our program, and logo listing on URI alumni golf tournament website

Tee Sign Sponsor: $250 for Contributor-level benefits, plus tee signage at one hole

Silver Sponsor: $1,500 for Bronze-level benefits, plus tee sign and upgrade to half-page ad in our program

Practice Hole/Putting Contest Location Sponsor: $500 for tee signage at premier location, signage at lunch and dinner, and a listing in our program

Gold Sponsor: $2,500 for Silver-level benefits, plus upgrade to premier tee sign and full-page ad in our program

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Kathy Gianquitti at 401.874.4853 or kathyg@uri.edu.

Learn more I alumni.uri.edu/golftournament DON’T MISS A GREAT DAY OF GOLF FOR A WONDERFUL CAUSE! 34

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‘14 Sabrina Brotons, A&S, of Long Beach, Cali., writes: “I moved to California and started my first realperson job at Ner Tamid of South Bay, working as assistant director of experiential education.”

WEDDINGS Kevin M. O’Brian ’88 to Catherine M. Rumschlage, on Oct 3, 2014.

Lara E. Hinz ‘99 to Benjamin W. Proctor, on October 3, 2014.

Celebrate

Mark G. Blanchette ‘04 to Elizabeth B. Kim, on August 8, 2014.

Amy Leasca ’04 to Conor Casey, on August 31, 2014 Sara Acciardo ‘05 to Michael Nadeau ‘08, on June 14, 2014.

Jean Reuter ‘05 to Adam Finkleman, on August 16, 2014.

Michael Puhacz ‘05 to Michelle DeJesus, on June 14, 2014.

Marisa Lynn (Saccoccio) Laurent ’01, MA ’05, to Joseph L. Laurent Jr., on August 24, 2014.

Moira Brown ‘06 to Michael Higgins, on May 31, 2014.

Maria Inelli ‘07 to Jonathan Kurowski ‘06, on July 13, 2013.

Jana Morettini ‘07 to Fabio Bethlem, on September 4, 2014.

Heather A. Jarbeau ‘09 to Marc S. Lattinville, on September 12, 2014.

Your URI Legacy with Us! Legacy Family Brunch • May 16, 2015 leg•a•cy noun \ıle-gə-sē\

: a student or alumnus/a who has a parent, grandparent or sibling who graduated from URI

URI legacies are, by definition, extraordinary families who have given continued support to URI for generations. Each year we invite graduating legacy seniors and their families to our Legacy Family Brunch during Commencement Weekend. Do you fit the definition?

If so, we’d love to see you at this family celebration—it’s a great tradition that you helped build!

Learn more I alumni.uri.edu/legacy Ethan Jacob Blumenthal

BIRTHS Eddie Cronan ‘72 and Mary-Ellen (Mercurio) ‘73, of East Providence, R.I., write: “The Cronan clan has another grandchild! McKynlie Mae Cronan was born on April 30, 2014.

She joins old sister Teigan Ellen (2) with dad, Jarrett Cronan ‘03, and mom, Vanessa. Eddie and Mary-Ellen have five grandaughters as Patrick Cronan ‘01 and Kristy (Faiola) ‘01, have three daughters: Ana Rose (7), Grace Elizabeth (4) and Julia Elise (1).

We are very blessed with the health and happiness of all family members!

Go Rhody!”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

Eileen Phillips Fiore '94 and Henry Fiore, Jr. '80 welcomed James Timothy on October 20, 2014.

Jeffery and Lindsay Redfern Lazzeri ‘04, a son, Tyler James, on November 6, 2014.

Lisa (Iadevaia) Devlin ‘01 and Alan Devlin, a daughter, Aoife Isabella, on November 4, 2014.

Theresa (Bourgeois) Jaffer '05 and Nate Jaffer '06, a son Nicholas Anthony Jaffer, on December 11, 2014.

Jessica Moran Dunn ‘03 and Michael Dunn ‘06, a son, Jameson Brennan Dunn, on September 22, 2014.

Josh Blumenthal ‘03 and Cherilynn Blumenthal, a son, Ethan Jacob Blumenthal, on December 1, 2014.

IN MEMORIAM Frank Deluca ‘38, of Enfield, Conn., on November 16, 2014.

Allen Andrews ‘40, of North Providence, R.I., on May 23, 2014.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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Daniel J. Coonan ‘40, of Jersey City, N.J., on October 18, 2014.

Jean Smith Martin ‘53, of Warwick, R.I., on November 20,2014

Edward B. Palazzo ’42 ,of East Greenwich, R.I., on October 24, 2014.

Howard Holt ‘54, of Wakefield, R.I., on October 6, 2014.

Avis Myra Palmer Wheeler ‘43 of Pawcatuck, Conn., on November 10, 2008.

Laurie Stephan Holtz ‘54, of Miami Beach, Fla., on August 24, 2014.

Dorothy Angell Campbell ‘44 of Wakefield, R.I., on November 30, 2014.

Alice Rowley Ellinwood ‘45, of Safety Harbor, Fla., on July 8, 2014.

James F. Pyne Jr. ‘48 of Bradenton, Fla., on November 1, 2014.

Sidney Dubinsky ‘49, of Knoxville, Tenn., on February 5, 2014.

Isabel Prata Picozzi ‘49, of North Providence, R.I., on November 23, 2014.

Allan Zelig Fine ‘50 of Attleboro, Mass., on November 6, 2014.

Carol Ahlborg ‘51, of Warwick, R.I., on November 12, 2014.

Patricia M. Mahon Bolster ‘51, of Narragansett, R.I., on September 25, 2014.

Now is the time to start planning your next reunion with URI, so round up your friends and classmates and make it happen at Homecoming Weekend, October 16–18, 2015.

Learn more I alumni.uri.edu/homecoming 36

QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

Raymond Laurie Steen ‘51, of Seekonk, Mass., on November 4, 2014.

Raymond A. Boffa ‘52, of Swampscott, Mass., on October 31, 2014.

Donald O. Champagne ‘52, of Fort Sumner, N.M., on November 11, 2012.

Marie Ploeger King ‘54 ,of Oak Ridge, Tenn., on October 29, 2014.

Leo LaRiviere ‘54, of South Windsor, Conn., on July 17, 2014.

William Wilkinson ‘54, of Warwick, R.I., on October 29, 2014.

Amario DiOrio ‘55, of North Providence, R.I., on September 26, 2014.

Robert A. Caruolo ‘56, of West Kingston, R.I., on October 24, 2014.

Amelie Chalaron Haller ‘56, of Covington, La., on September 20, 2014.

David A. Martin ‘58, of Hilton Head, S.C., on November 25, 2014.

Roger A. Chambers ‘59, of Jackson, N.H., on April 20, 2014.

Richard J. Collins ‘59, of West Andover, Mass., February 20, 2014.

George Conti ‘59, of Walpole, Mass., on August 20, 2014.

James Cooney ‘59, of Smithfield, R.I., on November 22, 2014.

Richard T. Cooney ‘59, of Salem, Mass., on November 27, 2014.

Francis J. Culp ‘59, of Port Royal, S.C., on November 26, 2014.

PHOTOS: JULIA P. JONES; JOE GIBLIN

Rolt Smith ‘89 Theatre Geek Rolt Smith is where the Broadway buck stops.

The college drop-out worked in a bank on Block Island before he chanced into a URI theatre course at the perfect moment: The stage management program was just coming into being. “We were building something together,” Smith recalls. “I was finally paying attention to what made me happy. It changed my life.”

He’s never stopped paying attention since.

First at Matunuck’s Theatre By The Sea, then on tour, and finally in New York, he’s built a career as a backstage boss, responsible for the mundane stuff—the props in place, the understudy ready—and for the overall artistic integrity of the show. He makes sure the show stays fresh, alive and special to each audience, eight times a week, for as long as it runs.

His credits include Chicago and The Producers, and his coworkers Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey and Christie Brinkley. He’s currently production stage manager for Fish in the Dark, written by and starring off-beat comedian Larry David, and like each show before, it’s his favorite.

He’s also an occasional guest lecturer at URI. “When I ask how many are theatre management majors, so many hands go up,” he marvels. “It always gives me a thrill, because it’s a great career. Like no other.”

—Pippa Jack

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John Nimmo ‘59, of Medway, Mass., on December 3, 2014.

Edward R. Mackie ‘60, o f Breinigsville, Penn., on October 6, 2014.

Robert Peterson ‘60, of Farmington, Minn., on September 6, 2014.

Anne Galloway Bowen ‘61, of Wakefield, R.I., on December 2, 2014.

John F. Riley ‘61, of Golden Valley, Minn., on October 4, 2014.

Dorothy (Smith) Farnum ‘61,of Wakefield, R.I., on November 12, 2014.

Robert M. Anes ‘63, of Fort Lee, N.J., on January 6, 2014 Charles H. Goyette Jr. ‘63, of Atlantic Beach, Fla., on April 4, 2014.

Lawrence West ‘64, of Narragansett, R.I., on December 6, 2014.

Norman M. Fucile ‘65, of Middletown, R.I., on November 17, 2014.

ENHANCE YOUR ACCESS TO CAREER EXPLORATION ACCESS – a powerful one-word description of the LinkedIn community and capabilities. Access to people, companies, jobs, industry news, updates, and insights is the LinkedIn mission, and it is executed quite successfully. In the latest Alumni Career Services article, we describe the unique LinkedIn features we find career-enhancing: • Your Profile • Introductions • Company Research

• Fellow Alumni • Job Board Like No Other

The URI Alumni Association provides you with assistance from our two alumni career advisors who, in partnership with URI’s Center for Career and Experiential Education, are dedicated to working with alumni who are conducting a job search or considering a career change. Alumni who graduated a year or more ago seeking career advice, please call 401.874.9404 to speak with Alumni Career Advisors Karen Rubano or Marie R. Geary.

Read more I alumni.uri.edu/careerservices

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QUADANGLES SPRING 2015

Mary Cesario Sylvestre ‘65, of Waterford, Conn., on February 5, 2012.

Robert Hirst ‘65, of Boynton Beach, Fla., on October 12, 2014.

Thomas Hemenway ‘66, of Gainesville, Fla., on November 17, 2014.

Kenneth Lee Parker ‘66, of Westfield, N.J., on November 5, 2014.

Mark A. Serrano-Diaz ‘67, of Sarasota, Fla., on February 16, 2012 Leslie Thompson Leduc ‘67, of Dandridge, Tenn., on August 15, 2014.

Arthur L. Bliss ‘68, of Hollister, Calif., on June 15, 2013.

Joseph Brown ‘68, of North Scituate, R.I., on November 17, 2014.

Ann Monica McGlinchey Neville Long ‘69, of Kyle, Texas, on November 16, 2014.

Russell Dow M.D. ‘70, of Portland, Oregon, on October 15, 2014.

Kenneth Grillo ‘70, of Grove City, Ohio, on October 5, 2014.

David M. Midwood ‘71, of Byfield, Mass., on October 3, 2014.

Charles Oller ‘72, of Warwick, R.I., on May 13, 2014.

Paulette M. Sepul ‘76, of Attleboro, Mass., on November 15, 2014.

Edith Chisholm ‘77, of Barrington, R.I., on October 7, 2014.

Judith Averill Kimball ‘77, of Kittery, Maine, on July 25, 2012.

William F. Graham ’78, of Bradenton, Fla., on September 17, 2014.

Grace Klein-MacPhee 79, of Narragansett, R.I., on September 20, 2014.

Burak A. Gunbay ‘80, of Sopchoppy, Fla., on February 25, 2014.

Maureen Young-McGarry ‘81, of Greene, R.I., on November 12, 2014.

Scott Vozza ‘82, of Vernon, N.J., on February 20, 2014.

Raymond V. D’Agostino ‘83, of Wellington, Fla., on April 29, 2014.

Valerie Neuse ‘83, of Kingston, R.I., on October 18, 2014.

ALUMNISCENE November 20, 2014 SW Florida URI Alumni Chapter: A Day at Mote Aquarium “Nearly 50 members of the Southwest Florida Alumni Chapter enjoyed a delicious lunch followed by a very engaging sea exploration cruise of Sarasota Bay. Our very active chapter holds six events per year, and we are eagerly awaiting the next events!”

—George B. Smith ’66

Stephen Ferri ‘84, of Warren, R.I., on November 14, 2014.

December 7, 2014 Exclusive Smithsonian Exhibit: Beyond Bollywood

Joan D. Reynolds ‘84, of Lynn, Mass., on November 1, 2014.

Florence Clowes ‘86, of Vero Beach, Fla, on January 29, 2014.

“This exhibit portrays the varied experiences of the people of India as they settled into the American culture. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, photographer and director of URI’s Center for the Humanities, discussed her photographic essay, which is included in this traveling exhibit. It was a great opportunity for local area graduates to meet new and old friends, while experiencing one of the many cultural venues that abound in the Washington, D.C., area.”

Jane Ferraro McChesney ‘87, of Attleboro, Mass., on November 3, 2014.

Inger Soderman ‘88, of Sparkill, N.Y., on November 13, 2014.

Mark Grabherr ‘89, of Mystic, Conn., on November 1, 2014.

Susan M. Needle ‘94, of Wakefield, R.I., on February 23, 2013.

Sharon Deluca ‘95, of Wakefield, RI, on October 28, 2014.

Kathleen Wallace ‘99, of Wakefield, R.I., on November 11, 2014.

Megan A. Mello ‘04, of Coventry, R.I., on October 9, 2014.

IN MEMORIAM FACULTY John D. Dempsey, of North Kingston, R.I., on December 10, 2014. Professor emeritus of applied violin and viola, music theory, music appreciation, and chamber music; coach for the URI Undergraduate Honors String Quartet, associate chair of the Music Department, and chair of the department’s Scholarship and Recruitment Committee.

Walter P. Gould, of Wakefield, R.I., on November 21, 2014. Professor emeritus of natural resources science; member of the Society of American Foresters.

Christopher T. Rhodes, of Narragansett, R.I., on January 1, 2015.

Professor emeritus of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences.

—Leo Brennan ’61

December 22, 2014 Theta Chi Alumni Chapter Quarterly Dinner “As you can see, we're mostly just a bunch of old guys who enjoyed each other's company more than 50 years ago and—lo and behold— we still do. Guys have come in for these dinners from California, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. We write emails to each other and cry when someone dies. Of course, the one thing we all have in common is meeting at URI. The fraternity bound us together and continues to be our main reason for friendship.”

—John Eastman ’62

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

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Dovetail Auctions’ Nick and Melissa Ricci

Antiques Rhodeshow Melissa Ricci ‘02 and her husband Nick know lots of things you don’t. Like, how to restore a 1905 Automatic Clerk Mansfield’s Choice Pepsin Gum dispenser (wintergreen and blood orange flavors once available, 5 cents). Or, how to value the 2,000 dolls they took out of a collector’s house in Cranston (it was supposed to be more like 750, but once you’re there, you’re there).

Then there’s how much a 1972 S. S. Kresge Batman action figure, still sealed in the original box, is worth ($3,000—surprise!).

Oh yeah, and Melissa, who studied music education at URI and talks faster and more engagingly than almost anyone you’ve ever met, also knows one other thing: how to run an auction. She went to school for it, after the couple, who’d been poking around estate sales and antique pinball machines for years, decided to redesign their lives.

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Nick, who, like Melissa, grew up and still lives in Cranston, R.I., was the first to break from his day job as a graphic designer. The pair, with help from family, renovated a huge space in an industrial building close to home, even adding a food service counter for Aunt Linda’s goodies— we’re talking veal and peas right across from the auction block, a fine way to spend an evening, as their growing client base attests.

Melissa, meanwhile, took a year off from teaching middle school band. They just can’t keep up, what with the two kinds of auctions they run—Monday “discovery auctions,” and the monthly collector’s auctions for the big ticket stuff—not to mention the phone calls for appraisals, pick ups and repairs. It’s not unusual for a 9 p.m. call to send them off to Central

Falls, where they might pick through a huge warehouse ‘til midnight; or for Nick to find some rare collectible in someone’s mother’s attic. It’s all an exciting voyage of discovery, of history and curiosities, Picasso and Dali, military parachutes and autopsy tools and the adrenaline in the room when Melissa’s holding her gavel. They’re hooked. Stop by Dovetail Auctions, and you will be, too.

—Pippa Jack Dovetail Auctions 30 Webb Street, Unit 2 Cranston, R.I. 401.263.6220

dovetailauctions.com

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS

YOUR SUPPORT INSPIRES Meet Sulaimaan Abdul-Mateen: economics major, member of the University of Rhode Island Class of 2016, and scholarship recipient.

Though many obstacles have come between Sulaimaan and his dream of attaining a college education, his path led him to URI and, thanks to the private scholarship support he receives from our generous donors, he is well on his way to success.

Your gifts, supporting scholarships or any purpose of your choosing, provide both opportunity and inspiration to the students they impact.

Learn more about establishing or contributing to a scholarship by contacting the URI Foundation at 401.874.7900.

“People need people. Without someone giving me an opportunity, this gateway for my education would not be possible.”

Consider making your gift through a bequest or other planned giving option to make an impact for future generations.

Contact Rita Verespy, director of gift planning, at 401.874.9530, for more information.

Visit urifoundation.org for more information or to make your online gift.

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

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Alumni Center 73 Upper College Road Kingston, RI 02881 USA

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

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

COME BACK TO KINGSTON!

May 15–17, 2015

May 29–30, 2015

Class of 1965 • 50th Reunion

Golden Graduate Weekend

If you graduated in 1965, don’t miss your 50th Reunion, which takes place during Commencement Weekend!

Event details: alumni.uri.edu/50threunion

Alumni who graduated more than 50 years ago are invited to this very special annual celebration.

Event details: alumni.uri.edu/goldengrad

For more information about these events, contact Karen Sechio ‘99, 401.874.4854 or karensechio@uri.edu.