Makerspace URI at the Carothers Library and Learning Commons gives students and faculty access to fabrication equipment, like the 3D printer pictured here. Your support makes URI a place where big ideas and bold plans come to life.
With the summer issue, the magazine announced Big Ideas. Bold Plans. The Campaign for the University of Rhode Island. Chairman of the public phase, Richard J. Harrington ’73, Hon. ’02, offers his personal reflections on what the campaign means for URI.
This is a transformational moment for URI. Over the past decade, the University has built on a solid foundation and reached new levels of excellence.
This campaign is an effort to bring in resources for scholarships and campus improvements that will benefit students and faculty, but it is also a great source of alumni pride. We will have new opportunities to highlight our past and present achievements, and more ways to let others know what a great University we have.
Today, URI recruits students with vision and passion who bring with them a wide variety of skills and life experiences. We have nearly 18,000 of them, representing 48 states and 76 countries. We welcome people from all walks of life and backgrounds because that is essential to our mission as a land, sea, and urban grant university.
We are also a flagship public research institution. Last year, we received more than $100 million in competitive grants for innovative research. Our faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates are leading the way in solving the critical challenges of the 21st century.
Our students are destined to leave their mark on our world because they are thinkers, dreamers, and doers. From saving our oceans to early detection of Alzheimer’s, to changing public spaces through art and launching new companies, the people of URI are making a difference.
The campaign takes a comprehensive approach to ensuring our students’ success through access to the best faculty, campus, education, and developmental experience possible. This bold undertaking has the power to ensure that URI is more resilient, resourceful, and better prepared to serve our state, this nation, and our world.
The one thing I want everyone to remember is this: To succeed, we need our whole community to mobilize like never before, because we are at a pivotal moment in our history. I want every alum to realize that they are part of this success and that we are all connected through this institution.
I look forward to connecting with more of our alumni, hearing more personal stories of your URI experience, and moving our University forward together. GO RHODY!
—Richard J. Harrington ’73, Hon. ’02 Campaign Chair, Public Phase
Photo: Nora Lewis
Big Ideas. Bold Plans.
The Campaign for the University of Rhode Island
