KINGSTON, R.I. — April 24, 2001 — The University of Rhode Island has once again extended its legacy of teaming up with a non-profit agency to enhance education, research, and service support to the larger community. This time URI has joined with Meeting Street of East Providence, a rehabilitative center that has a national reputation for providing quality services to children and families for more than 50 years. The partnership was officially announced in a recent ceremony involving URI President Robert L. Carothers, other URI faculty, and officials of Meeting Street. The agreement will not only provide quality assistance to Meeting Street’s 3,000 clients, but will also strengthen opportunities for increased research, educational and service exchanges between students, faculty and staff of URI and Meeting Street. Some of the URI departments and administrative and clinical units within Meeting Street expected to benefit from the exchange involve physical therapy, communicative disorders, psychology, bio-medical engineering, the Family Resource Partnership and others. Jay Singer, chairman of communicative disorders at URI, stated that his department has already had a long-standing relationship with Meeting Street and he believes that the agreement will only strengthen that experience for students. “Meeting Street has always been a rich training opportunity for our students,” he said. “It has been a positive experience in the past and will continue on into the future.” Agreeing with Singer is URI’s Director of Physical Therapy Mark Rowinski. “This agreement now identifies Meeting Street as a primary site for generating practitioners who will be likely candidates for future employment at such a center,” he said. Meeting Street President John Kelly said he believes the agreement will lead to wonderful collaborations. “It’s great to see the University reach out to the families of children with disabilities and developmental delays,” Kelly said. “This combination is phenomenal because it’s an opportunity for us to attract future staff into this field of work as well.” For Information: Dave Lavallee 874-2116, Keith Marshall 874-2116