ANNUAL REPORT

HONORS PROGRAM AND VISITING SCHOLARS COMMITTEE

2001-2002

The highlight of our honors year was award of the first Rhodes Scholarship in the history of the University to Rachel E. Walshe, class of 2000. Rachel became the first woman from a New England public university ever to win the Rhodes, and the first student from a New England public university to win since 1974. Rachel was one of only four public university students in the nation to win the scholarship. Nine hundred twenty five scholars competed nationally for 32 awards. Announcement of her award in December, 2001 was greeted with a campus-wide Memorial Union assembly of celebration organized by the President's Office at which Rachel, together with more than twenty-five additional national scholarship nominees, finalists, and winners were introduced to the campus community. Throughout December and the Spring semester, the URI News Bureau, under the leadership of Linda Acciardo and Jan Sawyer Wenzel, did an outstanding job of informing our constituencies and the press of this remarkable story. We wish Rachel all good success at Oxford University commencing in October, 2002.

In more routine matters, the Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee continued to offer a wide range of stimulating Honors courses, promote scholarship opportunities, sponsor undergraduate research projects, and provide financial support for noted scholars to come to URI for special presentations to students, faculty, and the public. A brief informational report describing specific activities of the Committee for 2001-2002 follows.

A. Eligibility Standards for 2001-2002

The standards of eligibility for students to participate in Honors Program course work continue to be the same: Freshmen must have graduated in the top 10% of their high school class or present a letter of recommendation from their principal or guidance counselor. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors must have earned a 3.2 QPA. Under special circumstances, these requirements may be modified with permission of the Director.

B. Courses and Enrollment

During the Fall, 2001 semester, the Program offered twenty-four Honors courses in addition to Senior Honors Projects and Administrative Internships: thirteen 100-level courses, the 200-level Colloquium, eight 300-level tutorials, and two 400-level Senior Seminars. In the Spring, 2002 semester we offered twenty-two Honors courses in addition to Senior Honors Projects and Administrative Internships: ten 100-level courses, nine 300-level tutorials, and three 400-level Senior Seminars. Student enrollment in Honors classes was 366 during the Fall, 2001 semester and 263 students during the Spring, 2002 semester. For Fall, 2002, twenty Honors courses in addition to Senior Projects and Administrative Internships will be offered totaling 410 seats. 877 currently registered URI undergraduates have now participated in Honors courses during their undergraduate career, bringing the program near the national norm for participation which is to involve at least one-fourth of Honors-eligible students in Honors course offerings.

C. Faculty

During the 2001-2002 academic year: College of Arts & Sciences: Professor Paul Abell (Chemistry), Professor Mark August (Communication Studies), Professor Sharman Brown (Communication Studies), Professor Lisa Bowleg (Psychology), Professor Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies), Professor Victor Fay-Wolfe (Computer Science & Statistics), Professor Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), Professor David Gitlitz (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature), Professor Frank Heppner (Biological Sciences), Professor Galen Johnson (Philosophy), Professor Leonard Kahn (Physics), Professor Sandra Ketrow (Communication Studies), Professor Alfred Killilea (Political Science), Professor James Lewis (Mathematics), Professor Richard McIntyre (Economics), Professor Arthur Mead (Economics), Professor Alinda Nelson (Communication Studies), Professor Ronald Onorato (Art), Professor Nedra Reynolds (English), Professor Albert Silverstein (Psychology), Professor James Starkey (Economics), Professor Arthur Stein (Political Science), Professor Judith Swift (Theatre), Professor Michael Tammaro (Physics), Professor Gerry Tyler (Political Science), Professor Walter Von Reinhart (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature), Professor Robert Weisbord (History), Professor Thomas Zorabedian (Development). College of Human Science and Services: Professor William Lynn McKinney (Education). College of Nursing: Professor Carolyn Hames (Nursing). College of Business Administration: Professor Laura Beauvais (Management), Professor Charles Hickox (Management), Professor Andrew Laviano (Management). College of the Environment and Life Sciences: Professor José Amador (Natural Resource Science), Professor Robert Thompson (Community Planning and Landscape Architecture). Graduate School of Oceanography: Professor Kenneth Rahn. Labor Research Center: Professor Scott Molloy.

The following faculty have been selected to teach Honors Program courses during the 2002-2003 academic year: Professor Mark August (Communication Studies), Professor Sharman Brown (Communication Studies), Professor Mary Cappello (English), Professor Linda Davidson (Communications Studies), Professor Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies), Professor Victor Fay-Wolfe (Computer Science & Statistics), Professor Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), Professor David Gitlitz (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature), Professor Frank Heppner (Biological Sciences), Professor Galen Johnson (Philosophy), Professor Leonard Kahn (Physics), Professor Sandra Ketrow (Communication Studies), Professor James Lewis (Mathematics), Professor James Loy (Sociology/Anthropology), Professor Lisa McClure (Communications Studies), Professor Richard McIntyre (Economics), Professor Arthur Mead (Economics), Professor Elizabeth Miles (English), Professor Alinda Nelson (Communication Studies), Professor Ronald Onorato (Art), Professor Lynn Pasquerella (Philosophy), Professor Nedra Reynolds (English), Professor Lawrence Rothstein (Political Science), Professor Arthur Stein (Political Science), Professor Judith Swift (Theatre), Professor Michael Tammaro (Physics), Professor Gerry Tyler (Political Science), Professor Walter Von Reinhart (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature), Professor Jean Walton (English), Professor Robert Weisbord (History), Professor Thomas Zorabedian (Development). College of Human Science & Services: Professor George Willis (Education). College of Nursing: Professor Carolyn Hames (Nursing). College of Business Administration: Professor Charles Hickox (Management). College of the Environment and Life Sciences: Professor José Amador (Natural Resource Science).

With the support of the Office of the Provost, Deans, and Chairs, twenty members of the URI faculty currently hold three-year limited joint appointments between the Honors Program and their home departments. These faculty members are providing a stable core for Honors course offerings and planning. Those holding limited joint appointments with Honors are: Professor José Amador (Natural Resource Science), Professor Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies), Professor Victor Fay-Wolfe (Computer Science & Statistics), Professor Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), Professor David Gitlitz (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature), Professor Carolyn Hames (Nursing), Professor Frank Heppner (Biological Sciences), Professor Charles Hickox (Management), Professor Leonard Kahn (Physics), Professor Sandra Ketrow (Communication Studies), Professor Alfred Killilea (Political Science), Professor James Lewis (Math), Professor Richard McIntyre (Economics), Professor Lynn McKinney (Education), Professor Arthur Mead (Economics), Professor Ronald Onorato (Art), Professor Arthur Stein (Political Science), Professor Judith Swift (Communication Studies), Professor Gerry Tyler (Political Science), Professor Walter Von Reinhart (Modern and Classical Languages and Literature).

Additional Honors courses continue to be solicited each year from the entire URI faculty, and nominations for additional three-year limited joint appointments will commence in Fall, 2002 to become effective Fall, 2003.

D. Honors Colloquium

Professors Deborah Grossman-Garber (College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Office of Student Programs and Academic Outreach), Robert Thompson (Community Planning and landscape Architecture), and Judith Swift (Department of Communication Studies) coordinated the Fall, 2001 Honors Colloquium, "A Just and Sustainable Future: Overcoming Barriers to Action." The list of outstanding speakers began with the Fall University Convocation address given by Lester Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute and Chairman of the Board, The Worldwatch Institute. Among others, additional speakers in the Tuesday evening Colloquium series were Penn Loh, Executive Director, Alternatives for Community and Environment; Eileen Claussen, President, PEW Center on Global Climate Change; William McDonough, Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia; Amory Lovins, Co-founder and CEO, The Rocky Mountain Institute; David Orr, Chair of Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College; Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary (Columbia University); and Magnus Ngoile, Director General for the National Environment Management Council, Tanzania.

Judith Tolnick, Coordinator of the URI Art Galleries, organized two photography exhibits concomitant to the Colloquium, the first called "This is North America/Is This North America" and the second titled "There, Not Here," as well as a public forum on "The Photography of Sustainability" featuring Professors Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (Art), and Ronald Onorato (Art). Additional Colloquium events included a poetry slam and two film evenings.

In addition to financial support from the Honors Program, major grants in support of the Fall, 2001 Honors Colloquium were made by the Providence Journal, URI Foundation, Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities (RICH), Office of the President, Division of University Advancement, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Additional sponsors at URI: Coastal Institute and Coastal Resources Center, Departments of English, Political Science, Psychology, African and Afro-American Studies, Communication Studies, and Music; Multicultural Center; John Hazen White Center for Ethics and Public Service; Counseling Center; Dr. Pauline B. Wood Health Services.

The Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee has selected for the Fall, 2002 Honors Colloquium: "Genetic Technology and Public Policy in the New Millennium" coordinated by Professor Lynn Pasquerella (Philosophy), and Professor Lawrence Rothstein (Political Science and Charles T. Schmidt, Jr. Labor Center).

E. URI Foundation Distinguished Visiting Scholar

As recipient of the 2001-2002 URI Foundation Distinguished Scholar Award, Fredric R. Jameson, William A. Lane Jr. Professor of Comparative Literature and French at Duke University, Director of the Literature Program, the Marxism & Society Program and the Duke Center for Critical Theory, presented a lecture in late March, 2002 on "The End of Temporality."

F. Endowment and Awards

An additional gift was made to the Honors Program Endowment by Mr. & Mrs. Carroll Brown, in memory of Mrs. Brown's mother, Professor Grace B. Sherrer who gave the first Honors lecture at the University. Once again this past year, cash awards from the Sherrer endowment were made to ten outstanding Honors Program students, sophomore, junior and senior. Awards are based on GPA, steady progress toward completion of the Honors Program, and additional noteworthy achievements. Five awards were made to seniors, three awards to juniors, and two awards were made to sophomores. These were announced at the fourth annual Spring Honors Convocation on May 8, 2002.

G. Visiting Scholars

The HPVS Committee received requests totaling $5132 for Visiting Scholars presentations for 2001-2002. Thirteen awards were made, totaling $3545; these represented a gratifying range of departments, colleges, and disciplines. Although most of the grants are of necessity for small sums, their cultural and intellectual enhancement of the community is considerable. The Committee has provided co-sponsorship with several departments and programs. The Committee always encourages applicants to seek partial funding from other sources.

H. Senior Honors Projects and Administrative Internships

The Program had twenty-three students doing Senior Honors Projects (HPR401/402) during 2001-2002. Some of the project titles were: "The Problem of Emotion in the Thought of Sartre: Towards a Phenomenology of the Inter-World," "Reorganization of the Nervous System in Regenerating Hydra," "Dos Semanas Dominicanas: An International Nursing Experience," "Rhode Island Hunger Profile," "Two New Species of Halosydna Kinberg, 1855 (Annelida: Polychaeta: Polynoidae) from Peru and California/Mexico," "First Body of Original Poetry," "Costa Rica as Peace Builder: A Regional Success Story." Senior Honors Projects were presented at the second annual Honors Undergraduate Research Day on May 9, 2002.

One Honors Program student served an administrative internship in the Office of Student Life under the supervision of Lorrie Miller, Assistant Director, Student Life.

I. Spring Honors Convocation

The fourth annual Spring Honors Convocation was held on May 8, 2002, with Professor William L. McKinney, of the College of Human Science & Services, as guest speaker and included a luncheon organized by the Honors Student Advisory Board. The Sherrer prizes were awarded (cf. section F above) and Senior Honors Projects were presented in the form of a booklet of abstracts prepared by the students. Grateful appreciation was expressed to the twenty-three faculty sponsors of senior honors projects (HPR 401 and 402). Dr. Lynn McKinney was awarded Honors Professor of the Year for 2001-2002. Dr. Arthur Stein was the inaugural Honors Professor of the Year in 2000-2001.

J. Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee

The members of the Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee during the past year were: Professor Robert Felner (Education), Professor Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), Professor Richard McIntyre (Economics), Professor Donald Kunz (English), Professor Edmund Boyle (College of Business), Professor Michael Vocino (URI Library), Professor Robert Thompson, ex officio (College of Environment and Life Sciences), and two Student Senate appointees.

K. Honors Student Advisory Board

The Honors student board has now been in existence for four years. Twenty students were selected by application during the Spring, 2002. Benjamin Leveillee, 2004, was elected President (succeeding his older brother, David Leveillee, 2002) and Lori Facer, 2003, was elected Secretary-Treasurer.

L. Major Scholarships

Under the leadership of Professor Cheryl Foster (Philosophy), the National Scholarships Office continues to make its home in the Honors Center. Dr. Foster reports the following activities for 2001-2002.

OVERVIEW

With the exception of the British Marshall Scholarship and the new Gates Cambridge Scholarship, URI students won awards or received honorable mention in every national competition where candidates were fielded in 2001-2002. In addition, applications for major scholarships among URI students continue to rise. Because many of these place a limit on the number of candidates to be nominated by any institution (Truman and Goldwater allow up to four, for example, while the Udall allows only three), URI faculty/staff committees perform the valuable service of recruiting, interviewing and selecting nominees on an annual basis. For the second year in a row, the Goldwater committee saw two of its four nominees win awards, while the British Scholarship Committee celebrated its success with URI's first ever Rhodes Scholar. Even so, we measure the success of the program not by numbers of scholarships won but rather by numbers of students applying for nominations, as we believe participation in the process to be an important academic opportunity for its own sake. Indeed, many students who do not advance beyond the URI nomination are able to "recycle" their scholarship applications into successful graduate and professional school applications, most of which come with fellowships.

During the 2001-2002 academic year, the Scholarships office began to oversee URI nominees for NCAA and Atlantic Ten graduate scholarship awards. During the first sustained effort in these directions, eight URI students submitted applications for the A-10 awards, and two of the four league-wide winners were from URI. NCAA graduate scholarships are extremely competitive, yet in our first year of submission, both URI female athletes nominated were named as finalists for the national competition.

Nominees, Finalists and Recipients of Major National Scholarships and Awards, 2001-2002

	Rhodes Scholarship
	Leadership and Academic Excellence
	Winner	Rachel Walshe '00
	State Finalists	Bryan Bannon '02
		Yolanda Bogacz '02
	Nominees	Brian Campbell '02
		Titus Dos Remedios '02
		Nicole O'Connell '02
	Marshall Scholarship
	Academic Excellence and Service
	Finalist and First Alternate List	Bryan Bannon '02
	Nominees	Evan Lapisky '02
		Jayne Merner '02
		Nicole O'Connell '02
	Gates Cambridge Scholarship
	Academic Excellence and World Problems
	Nominees	Brian Campbell '02
		Evan Lapisky '02
		Donald Rodrigues '01
	George Mitchell Scholarship
	Academic Excellence and Irish Study
	Nominee	Damian Murphy '02
	Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
	Excellence in Science
	Winners	Rebecca Owens '03
		Monique Perron '03
	Nominees	Nevan Hanumara '04
		Sarah Hartt '03
	Morris K. Udall Scholarship
	Excellence in Environmental Leadership
	Honorable Mention	Monique Perron '03
	Harry S. Truman Scholarship
	Leadership in Public Service
	Finalists	Rebecca Boxx '03
		Jessica Walsh '03
	Nominee	Eric Schwass '03
	Michael P. Metcalf Memorial Award
	Rhode Island Foundation
	Nominee	Bethany Toole '03
	Atlantic Ten Postgraduate Scholarship
	Student Athletes in Varsity Competition
	Winners	Yolanda Bogacz '02
		Anthony Lordo '02
	Nominees	Tara Hutchinson '02
		Kelly Labowitz '02
		Catherine Zanni '02
		Erin Silvering '02
		Kathleen Wall '02
		Peter Benevides '02
	NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
	Superior Student Athletes
	Finalists	Yolanda Bogacz '02
		Erin Silvering '02

FACULTY AND STAFF PARTICIPATION

British Scholarship Committee, 2001-2002

Charles Hickox, Management, Chair

Stanley Cobb, Biological Sciences

Nancy Cook, English

Mary Hollinshead, Art History

James Kowalski, Computer Science

James Loy, Sociology/Anthropology

Rod Mather, History

Richard Rhodes, Vice-Provost; AVS

Thomas Rockett, Emeritus Dean, Graduate School

Gilbert Suzawa, Economics

Foreign Scholarships Committee, under formation 2002

John Leo, English, Chair, Fulbright and IIE Awards

Donna Figueroa, Study Abroad, Chair, Boren Scholarships

Robert Bullock, Biology

Nicolai Petro, Political Science

Nancy Potter, English Emerita

James Findlay, History Emeritus

Katherine Sama, Italian

Malcolm Spaulding, GSO

Goldwater Scholarship Committee, 2001-2002

David Heskett, Physics, Chair

Ramdas Kumarasen, Electrical Engineering

Joan Lausier, Pharmacy

Roger LeBrun, Plant Science

Murn Nippo, AVS

John Montgomery, Mathematics

Truman Scholarship Committee

Alfred Killilea, Political Science, Chair

Marc Genest, Political Science

Bruce Hamilton, Director, Memorial Union

Timothy Hennessey, Marine Affairs/Political Science

Albert Lott, Emeritus, Psychology

Karen Markin, Director, Research Office

Lynn McKinney, Dean, Human Science and Services

Lynn Pasquerella, Philosophy; Chair , IIB

Evelyn Sterne, History

Timothy Tyrell, Resource Economics

Michael Vocino, Library

Udall Scholarship Committee

Alfred Killilea, Political Science, Chair

Deborah Grossman-Garber, Partnership for the Coastal Environment

Lynn Pasquerella, Philosophy; Chair, IIB

Timothy Tyrell, Resource Economics

Respectfully submitted,

Galen A. Johnson, Honors Director