June 9, 2025

To Our URI Community,

At the University of Rhode Island, graduate education is integral to our mission as a public land- and sea-grant university. Our commitment is to provide graduate students with transformative opportunities for research, scholarship, creative expression, and professional development, all of which position them for success in their careers and lives.

To strengthen this commitment, last fall we engaged the Council of Graduate Schools Consultants to conduct a comprehensive review of our graduate education infrastructure and offer strategic insights for its continued growth and enhancement. Their recommendations will guide us in refining our approach to graduate education and improving the support systems available to our students.

One key recommendation from the final report was to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Graduate School dean. In response, and with the aim of aligning our graduate education program more closely with peer R1 institutions, we will be elevating the position of Graduate School dean to the role of vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.

This change reflects the critical importance of graduate education in advancing the University’s mission and better supports our strategic goal to expand graduate education opportunities and enrollment as part of our Focus URI 10-year strategic plan.

As we shared last month, Brenton DeBoef, dean of the Graduate School and professor of chemistry, has been named interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, effective June 1, 2025. Colleen Mouw, associate dean for diversity and academic affairs in the Graduate School and associate professor of oceanography, will serve as acting dean of the Graduate School, effective June 9, 2025.

Colleen has helped to lead graduate education at URI since 2022. While serving on the faculty, she focused on graduate education at the Graduate School of Oceanography. Colleen maintains a vibrant research program with funding from NASA, NOAA, and NSF, while actively mentoring numerous graduate students and staff. For the past 11 years, Colleen has also led a national mentoring program for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars aimed at retention. Colleen earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in oceanography from URI. She was a postdoctoral scholar and research scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an assistant professor at Michigan Technological University before returning to URI in a professional role in 2016 as a faculty member and senior fellow at the Coastal Institute.

I want to take this opportunity to express deep gratitude to Brenton, Colleen, and the entire Graduate School staff for their tireless efforts and unwavering commitment to our graduate students. Their dedication has been, and will continue to be, instrumental in the ongoing success of our graduate programs. This change will support their work and reflects a strategic investment in the future of graduate education at URI.

We will soon initiate a comprehensive search to identify the vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. We look forward to building on our strong foundation and to fostering the ongoing growth and excellence of our graduate programs.

Sincerely,
Barbara Wolfe
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs