Successful women, wake up!
Your Younger sisters want to grasp your outstretched hands,
and encouraged by the love of your hearts
start their journeys to success.
                   -Rose Butler Browne, 1969

Course:  HDF297

Meeting Time:  Tues & Wed, 2-3:30pm

Location: Bliss Hall             

Contact information:   

Gail Faris  gailfaris@uri.edu

Project Abstract

   Rose Butler Browne was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Rhode Island in 1921, and this program, sponsored by the Women's Center and the Center for Student Leadership Development, is named for her and invokes her spirit in its implementation.

    The Rose Butler Browne Leadership and Mentor Program for Women of Color at URI is a four step program that creates a safe harbor for these women while at the same time helping them participate fully in University life and preparing them for career success. It is designed to assist in the adjustment, academic and social success, leadership development, campus participation, and career preparation of a group of students who have a higher than average dropout rate, as well as feelings of isolation and lower social satisfaction, and who experience subtle and overt discrimination at our predominantly white university.

    The program components consist of for credit, graded and non-graded classes using creative learning techniques and facilitated in a nurturing, supportive, and validating environment. Women will have the opportunity to participate differently each year and continued participation will be recognized with increasing responsibility. Women will be 1.) mentored during their first year, 2.) engaged in active and applied leadership development as sophomores, juniors, and seniors, 3.) serve as mentors during their sophomore, junior and senior years 4.) plan and facilitate leadership development programs and juniors and seniors. Faculty and staff of color will also participate as mentors. Successful women of color alumnae and community members will participate in all aspects of the program, including advisory board membership, curriculum development, training and teambuilding retreats, class sessions, community service projects, and recognition and celebratory events.

Whereas today's opportunities are based on the work of pervious generations, and the doors that our ancestors opened,

And Whereas Rose Butler Browne, a woman from a pervious generation, opened doors for women of color at URI by being the first African American woman to graduate from URI in 1921,

And Whereas Rose Butler Browne continued to open doors for people of color by working her whole life as a teacher, a professor, and a mentor,

Be it Resolved that the Leadership and Mentor Program for Women of Color at URI be dedicated to her spirit, and thereby renamed the "Rose Butler Browne Leadership and Mentor Program for Women of Color at URI."

So Dedicated this 27th day of February, 2002.

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