Signs of Spring
President Dooley on next-generation food producers, a new governing board, freedom of expression, and the Class of 2024.
Spring in New England frequently arrives late and then fades into summer too soon. Even so, it is invariably a time of growth and transformation, when the dull, drab landscapes of winter explode with color and new life, the robins really do return, the Quad is once again full of students, and Commencement concludes another special academic year.
At URI, we have become very familiar with growth and transformation. From our founding in the 19th century as an agricultural institution, to the 21st-century interdisciplinary sustainable agriculture and food systems programs featured in this issue of the magazine, URI has always been among the leaders in agricultural research and practice. Today, our students are preparing to lead a new generation of growers and producers in areas such as organic foods, aquaculture, animal management, and agricultural technology. The recent agreement with private sector partners to create an agricultural innovation campus is the most recent manifestation of URI’s leadership.
The rapid increase in URI’s partnerships with companies and organizations throughout Rhode Island, our growing impact on economic development in the state, dramatically increased enrollment and student success, and the surge of innovative, interdisciplinary research and scholarship at URI are among the reasons the Rhode Island General Assembly created, as part of the current state budget, a new governing board of trustees for the University. What does this mean? Greater agility. More flexibility. Faster decisions on funding and financial aid to meet enrollment, administrative, and staffing needs. More opportunities for our community of scholars. And many more benefits. I ask those of you who live in Rhode Island to thank your state representatives, senators, and the governor for their support, which will, in turn, strengthen our position as a leading economic engine for Rhode Island.
MICHELLE HENNING ’22
“Bonnet Shores” Oil on canvas, 16” x 20”, 2019
A non-traditional student, Henning is finishing the art degree she started more than 20 years ago. Her husband’s Army career and raising three children put degree completion on hold. This painting, for Professor Bob Dilworth’s Painting II class, depicts the view from Bonnet Shores Beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Henning is an ocean lover, but says her favorite subject to draw or paint is the human figure. Says Henning, “I’ve always been an artist and known it was what I wanted to be since I was very young.”
The Board of Trustees will also support our drive to create academic programs that address societal issues and meet market demands today and into the future–like URI Online. Offering the academic rigor students have come to expect from URI and taught by URI faculty, URI Online represents a pivotal development in our evolution. We launched with undergraduate programs in communications and nursing, as well as master’s programs in cybersecurity, dietetics, teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), and health-care management, along with several certificate programs–and this is just the beginning.
Like other 21st-century universities, we embrace online learning and other technology-based educational innovations. At the same time, we must reinforce our time-tested role as a safe place for civil discourse, disagreement, and the exchange of ideas and perspectives; a place where the freedoms of expression protected by the First Amendment–religion, speech, press, and peaceful assembly–are honored and advanced. In fact, the First Amendment is foundational to the values of all American universities. Perusing the stories in this issue that showcase the URI community’s views on the First Amendment, I could not help but reflect on the amendment’s centrality to our own mission. A prominent member of our extended community who perfectly exemplifies the amendment’s spirit is Laurie White ’81, who established the Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights in honor of her late husband, Jim Taricani, Hon. ’18, a renowned investigative journalist, who was, in her words, “a champion of the news media’s First Amendment rights. He knew that protecting those rights is critically important–not only for a journalist, but for all of us.”
Students are drawn to places where these sentiments are not only expressed, but brought to life in and out of the classroom. So I am delighted, but not at all surprised, to report that this year URI has broken records, receiving 23,500 applications for 3,250 spots in the Class of 2024. That’s a testament to the university we are, and to the university we are becoming.
Onward and upward,
David M. Dooley
President, University of Rhode Island