Summer 2022

Features

Defining Success

The story, in two acts, of Tony Award-winning actor Andrew Burnap ’13

Act I

Act I, in which the actor and those who know him recount his journey from URI’s Fine Arts Center to some of the world’s greatest stages.

Portrait of the Artist

Act II

Act II, in which the actor, having earned a Tony Award, returns to URI to teach theater students practical lessons, including the value of failure.

Lessons in acting and LIFE

Thinking Blue

Many sectors of the economy depend on the ocean. Together, they comprise the blue economy. Read about how and why URI is helping to advance the blue economy in the Ocean State and beyond.

Engineering professor Arun Shukla in his Dynamic Photo-Mechanics Lab

Wave of the Future

URI faculty and students are working directly with federal defense and private industries to advance naval technology and keep the U.S. submarine fleet ahead of the pack.

Massive rolls at a printing plant where the sheets are cut at the desired dimension.

Challenging Times for the Paper Industry

Supply chain issues have affected us all. Read how two URI alumni—and the University of Rhode Island Magazine—have been impacted.

Commencement 2022

Hats Off

Meet some of URI’s phenomenal 2022 grads!

Read student profiles

On the weekend of May 20-22, URI held its 136th commencement celebration, adding to the community of 140,000 alumni all over the world. Highlights of the ceremony included the presentation of an honorary degree to Rhode Island creator, artist, and visionary, Barnaby M. Evans, and a keynote address delivered by acclaimed oceanographer Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D. ’75, Hon. ’86.

3,265 undergraduate degrees
804graduate degrees
31 countries represented
41 states of the U.S.

It is true that the University of Rhode Island offers first-class education to the future leaders of the world. But what is perhaps more compelling is that the students, staff, faculty, and alumni who work, teach, and learn on our campuses and in our communities make up the dynamic interactions of our everyday lives, inspiring and empowering us to believe in ourselves, support one another, and be the absolute best version of a community we can be.
Marc Parlange
President, University of Rhode Island

Bookshelf

Looking for a good summer read? Check out these titles, and others, from URI alumni authors.

Book cover of Fly Girl, by Ann Hood

Small bites

A picture of a woman weaving a geometric patterned textile

Swimming in a Sea of Polyester

Watch this TEDxURI talk by Martin Bide, URI professor of textiles, fashion merchandising and design, on how clothing impacts the environment and how we can help minimize that impact.

clothes for a healthy Planet
  • Kevin Suggs helps interpret for Makoto Motoyama, a Shimadzu service supervisor and engineer from Japan. Here they are shown seated in a laboratory. From Pawtucket to Fukuoka - Kevin Suggs grew up on anime. Now he’s heading to Japan for a year to complete the requirements for his bachelor’s degrees in computer engineering and Japanese through URI’s International Engineering Program.
  • A pond with a great blue hero at the Norman bird sanctuary, part of the traditional land of the Narragansett Nation Scholarship Opportunity - A newly established scholarship will help citizens of the Narragansett Nation attend URI.
  • GSO professor Steven D’Hondt on the deck of R/V Neil Armstrong after a sediment core was retrieved from the waters off Puerto Rico. Deepwater Record - URI scientists and students took a recent water core sample in the Puerto Rico Trench. It is believed to be the deepest water core sample ever taken.
  • Rachel Cohn, who is pursuing her master’s degree in marine affairs, will travel to Kenya in the fall. Fulbright Winners - Two URI grad students and a 2020 alumna were awarded prestigious Fulbright grants to to teach and conduct research in Kenya, Brazil, and Vietnam.
  • Assistant Professor Maya Vadiveloo. New Dietary Guidelines - URI professor of nutrition and food sciences Maya Vadiveloo co-authored the American Heart Association’s new dietary guidelines.
  • Graduating PharmD student Michael Burkett is pictured with Capt. Bill Leahult and Clinical Professor Jeffrey Bratberg. Pharmacy Student Recognized Nationally - College of Pharmacy graduate Michael Burkett, Pharm.D. ’22, earned the Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Award from the United States Public Health Service.
  • Alyssa Botelho, a 2021 graduate, holds her award for Best Director and Best Short Film Emmys for “To Dust All Return." Student Film Earns Two Emmys - Harrington School alumna Alyssa Botelho ’21 earned two college Emmy awards for her film, To Dust All Return, which was produced as part of her URI senior capstone project.
  • Tim Gray, founder of the World War II Foundation and its Global Education Center and Museum in Wakefield, stands in front of the museum’s D-Day/Normandy invasion display. Honoring the Experiences of World War II - URI alumnus Tim Gray ’89 founded the World War II Foundation and the Global Education Center and Museum in Wakefield, R.I.

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