I write to call your attention to the URI Helping Haiti Campaign that is now underway across the campus. The entire community - students, staff, faculty, and administration – is involved. All of us should be especially proud of the leadership once again demonstrated by the students of URI. Please check our home page for all the events that are scheduled and for ways that you can help.
The University of Rhode Island has a wonderful history of dedication to assisting those in need and of working to make our world a better place. The Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America, the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, and the innumerable opportunities for community service are notable examples of URI’s commitment to making a difference.
Even our research facilities are employed in the service of others. Our primary oceanographic research vessel, the R/V Endeavor, is departing at 2 pm tomorrow to deliver portable living shelters and other supplies to Haiti. It will also spend 14 days mapping the faults and related structures along the coast of Haiti in the vicinity of the January 12th quake. Many of the Graduate School of Oceanography’s staff worked very hard to prepare the ship for this mission on short notice. On behalf of all of us here at the University of Rhode Island – thank you!
As I am confident you know, our tag line is “Think Big, We Do”. But the people of URI can also say “Think Service, We Do”, "Think Peace, We Do”, “Think Caring, We Do”. It’s a source of joy for me and many others that the University of Rhode Island aspires to be a place that lives those words.
