KINGSTON, R.I. – Dec. 10, 2025 – Fifteen retired University of Rhode Island faculty and staff members were inducted into the University’s Lifetime Service Society during a ceremony held last week at the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center. Each year, the University honors and thanks its retiring staff and faculty members who have been employed at the University for 40 years or more, dedicating their work lives to URI.

This year’s inductees are Susan Trostle Brand (40 years), John K. Dunn (46), Katherine T. Favreau (46), David L. Freeman (49), Gayla Gazerro (40), Laura Kenerson (44), Ramdas Kumaresan (42), Michael LaPointe (50), Maureen McDermott (43), Richard McIntyre (41), Arthur Mead (49), Mary Jane Palm (42), Fred Forrest Pease (45), Joseph S. Rossi (41), and Linda Welters (45). The group joins approximately 230 URI employees who have been inducted into the Lifetime Service Society since it began in 2013.

“We celebrate these members of our community who serve as keystones in the foundation of URI,” URI President Marc Parlange said. “They helped build and support this vibrant, welcoming, diverse, and extraordinary community. Our people are what make URI so special and so unique, and each of them has left a lasting impact on the place they chose to spend their careers.”

The president also acknowledged the families attending on behalf of LaPointe and McDermott, both of whom were posthumously inducted this year. McDermott, director of the Memorial Union and Student Involvement, died Nov. 15, 2024, following a vehicle-pedestrian accident. LaPointe, who was a hall director for Housing and Residential Life, died Feb. 21, 2025, following a long illness.

“Maureen and Michael’s love for their Rhody family will always be felt at URI and in the hearts of those they touched throughout their lives,” Parlange said. “Over the years, thousands of Rhody Rams found their people, discovered new passions, and made lifelong friendships because of Maureen and Michael’s decades of dedication and unwavering commitment to our students.”

This year’s class are individuals who retired from URI between January 2024 and July 2025. Inductees also received certificates of appreciation from Gov. Daniel J. McKee, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, and U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner. A commemorative brick engraved with each inductee’s name and years of service will be placed in the patio in front of the entrance to the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons.

“We recognize not just the longevity of their careers, but the depth of their commitment and impact,” URI Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Dean Libutti said. “The hard work and dedication of these individuals over many years of service have been the foundation of the University’s success and the momentum that we are experiencing today – including being the No. 1 public university in New England by the Wall Street Journal.”

Each honoree on Dec. 2 was introduced and honored by a colleague.

Susan Trostle Brand, of Cataumet, Massachusetts, an early childhood education professor in the Feinstein College of Education, was introduced by Adam Moore, an associate professor within the college. 

Brand began her career as a primary-grades teacher and literacy specialist. A lifelong advocate for equity, Brand dedicated herself to preparing justice-minded educators who champion historically marginalized students, Moore said. 

She also served for more than 30 years as counselor for the URI Kappa Delta Pi chapter and now the KDP United Nations representative. Moore said Brand also received the Lucinda Rose New Counselor Award and was a member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Chapter.

John K. Dunn, of Narragansett, an associate professor of business instruction, was introduced by Donna Gamache-Griffiths, teaching professor and international business program coordinator within the College of Business.

Gamache-Griffiths, who had Dunn as a professor when she attended URI, said Dunn’s passion for the law went beyond textbooks. His lectures, mentorship and unwavering commitment to molding his students’ abilities is what drove Dunn’s work in the classrooms over the years, Gamache-Griffiths said.

“His classroom was a place where ideas flourished, futures were shaped, and everyone learned the invaluable lesson of being truly prepared,” Gamache-Griffiths said. “By sharing his own legal experiences, he inspired many students, including myself, to pursue careers as attorneys.”

Katherine T. Favreau, of Wakefield, a fiscal clerk for the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, was introduced by Michael Rice, professor of fisheries and aquaculture within the college.

Rice recalled when Favreau joined CELS in the late 1980s around the same time URI’s current Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Services department was being formed as a new department out of three that were shrinking in size. Favreau, Rice said, was in the middle of a hectic period assuring people got paid on time, by being adept at skillfully working within state and federal regulations to keep things always on the up and up.

“She would absolutely make sure that I learn how the online systems worked and that I tried to at least start those forms by myself,” Rice said. “She was a patient taskmaster, but more importantly, a skilled teacher with an editorial eyeroll that did most of the talking.”

David L. Freeman, of Wakefield, a chemistry professor, was introduced by Matt Kiesewetter, chair of the University’s Department of Chemistry.

Kiesewetter said Freeman’s journey to Kingston began in California and then to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts—where he earned his Ph.D. Over the next five decades, Freeman made foundational contributions to computational and theoretical chemistry, including Monte Carlo methods, cluster dynamics and electronic structure theory.

Along with publishing close to 100 papers in his career, Freeman’s mentorship toward others left a lasting impression at URI, Kiesewetter said. “Dave has guided generations of students and postdocs who now fill faculty positions and research labs worldwide,” he said. “He’s done it all with calm patience that somehow survived decades of faculty meetings.”

Gayla Gazerro, of East Providence, assistant director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives, was introduced by Lori Herz, the office’s associate director.

Herz recalled Gazerro asking tough, insightful questions when she first met Gazerro during a community candidate interview at the University’s former Providence campus. Gazerro, Herz said, is a diehard intellectual with the curiosity of a cat and was a genuine ally for equity and inclusion, always advocating for what’s right. 

“These qualities have fueled 41 years of outstanding contributions to the URI community and to everyone who is fortunate enough to know her,” Herz said.

Laura Kenerson, of Wakefield, assistant vice president, human resource administration, was introduced by Anne Marie Coleman, assistant commissioner for human resources and labor relations at the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education.

Coleman said Kenerson, a New Jersey native, probably thought about earning her degree at URI in the 1970s and then head back home. Instead, Coleman said, Kenerson stayed in Rhode Island and made the University—where she contributed to many projects and helped thousands of employees along the way—her home.

“Laura once remarked that it was hard to fathom anyone loving URI more than she did, and she has certainly lived up to that proclamation,” Coleman said.

Ramdas Kumaresan, of Wakefield, a professor of electrical computer and biomedical engineering, was introduced by Rick Vaccaro, an electrical engineering professor within URI’s Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering.

Vaccaro said Kumaresan’s Ph.D. dissertation and early publications on subspace-based modeling and processing of digital signals were widely recognized. Kumaresan, originally from India, was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers after his first 10 years as a URI faculty member, based on Kumaresan’s strong research and publication record.

“Many of his graduate students have gone on to faculty positions and two of them developed successful start-up companies,” Vaccaro said. “Ramdas is the quintessential embodiment of what it means to be ‘a gentleman and a scholar.’”

Richard McIntyre, of Wakefield, an economics professor, was introduced by Cheryl Foster, professor within the University’s Department of Political Science.

Foster said McIntyre retired from URI as the equivalent of an academic “triple threat”—excelling in scholarship, teaching, and all forms of campus and community service. Along with running two Honors Colloquiums, McIntyre also led the University’s Honors Program as its director during what Foster called a critical period of programmatic and spatial change. Plus, McIntyre’s dedication to translational scholarship and community activism are reflected in more than 100 public initiatives, reports, public interest research exercises, and teach-ins, she said.

Arthur Mead, of Newport, an economics professor, was introduced by Judith Swift, professor emerita in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Swift recalled Mead having a remarkable fluency in numerical conversation. While serving together on multiple committees, Swift said Mead never hesitated to make appointments with a president or provost to “number-splain” flaws within proposed plans, and often wound up reframing such efforts.

“But most of all, he served his students with hours of preparation, excellent lectures, lengthy and generous office hours and ever-available guidance,” Swift said. “Throughout difficult political times and pedagogical winds of change, Art has always stuck up for and believed in ‘his kids.’”

Mary Jane Palm, of Saunderstown, manager, instructional technology and media services, was introduced by Mark Oliver, manager of the Tier 2 Support in the University’s Information Technology Services.

Oliver said Palm’s trademark since she arrived at URI in September 1982 always has been her passion for helping others. On multiple occasions, Palm, Oliver said, would work late nights or over weekends to complete projects so instructors could have the best computer platforms available for courses or research. Palm also was responsible for managing the University’s audiovisual systems and later was instrumental in incorporating Brightspace into URI’s IT world, Oliver said.

Fred Forrest Pease, of Jamestown, captain, research vessel, ocean engineering, was introduced by Christopher Baxter, professor within the civil, ocean and environmental departments in the College of Engineering.

Baxter said Pease embodied the spirit of his departments’ can-do spirit at the University. Pease always got the job done, Baxter said, whether it was deploying buoys, conducting seismic surveys, collecting sediment samples, building equipment for the wave tank, or handling a myriad of tasks. Baxter also lauded Pease for securing the URI Allen Harbor facility in 2012 in North Kingstown from the U.S. Department of Education, “an achievement that will benefit students for generations,” Baxter said.

Joseph S. Rossi, of Wakefield, a psychology professor, was introduced by Colleen Redding, research professor emeritus in the Cancer Prevention Research Center.

Redding said Rossi, who first joined URI’s psychology department in 1985, served three times as a behavioral science Ph.D. program director and served on or directed graduate research committees for hundreds of graduate students. Rossi, alongside colleagues at the Cancer Prevention Research Center, co-developed the transtheoretical model of behavior change, widely expanding its applications across multiple health behaviors, Redding said. That team, Redding said, produced more than 60 funded grants totaling more than $75 million to the University.

Linda Welters, of Newport, professor, textiles, fashion merchandising and design, was introduced by Martin Bide, faculty emeritus in textiles, fashion, merchandising and design.

Bide said Welters’s career coincided with the evolution of textiles, merchandising and design from its home economic origins to a dynamic multidisciplinary program—and was a driver of that evolution. Her understanding of the broad textiles, merchandising and design world—science, business, design, history and culture—has been a linking force for the department, Bide said.

“She has been a leader, not in the ‘boss’ sense, but as an encouraging colleague who will mentor faculty—that she has helped recruit—to successful careers,” Bide said. “Her long career has done much to give URI this unique and productive program.”