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URI to honor veterans during ceremony Nov. 10

Event to feature URI faculty, students and staff affiliated with the military

URI's Veterans Day Ceremony will be held Friday, Nov. 10 in the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center on Upper College Road. All members of the community are welcome. (URI Photo/Nora Lewis)

KINGSTON, R.I. — Nov. 2, 2023 — The University of Rhode Island community will come together to honor the country’s veterans and military members during a Veterans Day Ceremony Friday, Nov. 10, at 11 a.m. in the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center.

The entire campus and surrounding community are welcome at the free event hosted by the URI Center for Military and Veteran Education in conjunction with the Student Veterans Organization. This year’s annual ceremony will take place in the Hope Room of the visitor’s center, and will feature veterans and active military members who are part of the URI community, according to Bob Flynn, director of the Center for Military and Veteran Education. More than 300 members of the faculty and staff at URI are affiliated with at least one branch of the military, and nearly 200 children of veterans are URI students, Flynn said.

Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius (Tad) O. Granai IV, battalion commander of the URI Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), will deliver the keynote address. He is a URI graduate who is an Army and Air Force reserve veteran and continues to serve in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. The ceremony will also feature URI College of Business Dean Sean Rogers, former Army soldier currently serving in the Air Force Reserve; as well as 2nd Lt. Chantel Rosario De Los Santos, a URI graduate student in kinesiology who currently serves in the U.S. Army Reserves.

  • Director Bob Flynn
  • LTC Cornelius (Tad) O. Granai IV
  • Dean Sean Edmund Rogers
  • 2nd Lt. Chantel Rosario De Los Santos
Director Bob Flynn, LTC Tad Granai, Dean Sean Edmund Rogers and 2nd Lt. Chantel Rosario De Los Santos will be among those participating in the ceremony.

“It would be fair to say we have a robust veteran presence among the students, faculty and staff here at URI,” said Flynn, himself a 28-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. “I think URI is a place that honors service of all kinds. It’s very important that we recognize our veterans who have served, especially those who have suffered hardships as a result of their service. We just want to keep it in everyone’s minds that there are people out there serving as we speak, and many among us who have served. And we want to honor that service.”

The brief speaking program will be followed by refreshments. Parking for members of the surrounding community is available in the lot directly behind the welcome center, 45 Upper College Road, Kingston.

The Student Veterans Organization will be collecting non-perishable food items on behalf of Operation Stand Down Rhode Island for anyone wishing to donate.