One hundred twenty-five million thanks!

To the overwhelming majority of voters who said yes on 4, the University of Rhode Island says thank you! We are so grateful to the 63.4 percent of Rhode Islanders in 38 cities and towns who approved the $125 million bond for a new College of Engineering.

You have made it possible for us to build a state-of-the-art facility that will transform buildings, classrooms, and laboratories that have not been changed in 50 years. Engineering is a field that generates significant revenue and jobs for the state of Rhode Island – today, the College of Engineering produces $142 million in economic activity for the state. That number will increase thanks to your support.

Throughout the bond campaign, we were gratified to receive the endorsement of major newspapers, chambers of commerce, and professional organizations, as well as Rhode Island’s top engineering businesses, which rely heavily on graduates of URI’s engineering programs to fill highly skilled positions. In fact, more than 4,000 URI engineering graduates work for 750 Rhode Island companies. We are proud of our partnerships with the state’s corporate community, and we are confident that the new engineering complex will only strengthen these important collaborations.

You have given your flagship research institution a tremendous gift in approving this bond. And we do not take your trust in us lightly. We pledge to do our part in revitalizing Rhode Island’s economy. And while it is true that the new College of Engineering will sit on our Kingston campus, it belongs to all of Rhode Island.

Thank you for believing in the power of thinking big. Together we will celebrate a brighter future for Rhode Island as we enter a new era in engineering at URI.

Show Up

It is a truism that “the world is run by those who show up”. At the University of Rhode Island this is not a cliché or a platitude. Currently, shared governance is vibrant and strong at URI, but it can be even better, and we are working to achieve that outcome. The participation of our faculty, staff, and students in setting the priorities and defining the future of the university is critical. So is the input from our alumni and partners. I ask, and hope, that all members of our community will seek out ways, and take advantage of opportunities, to be engaged in setting our course. 

 “Showing up” is essential to democracy. Our votes do matter. It may well be that the decisions and direction of our state and nation would be different had voter turnout in recent primaries and general elections been other than they were. I think that America will be its best when all Americans who are eligible vote. The same is true for Rhode Island. These are unrealistic goals, but certainly we should aim to come as close to achieving them as we can. I believe that our state and our county will make its best choices and decisions when those choices and decisions closely reflect the collective judgment of all Rhode Islanders and all Americans – in all of our diversity. So let’s vote on Tuesday. 

A lot is at stake, in Rhode Island and nationally. A lot is at stake for the University of Rhode Island. An affirmative vote on Question 4, to build new facilities for the College of Engineering at URI, is especially important. The need for new facilities in engineering is critical. The opportunities that will be provided as a result of these new facilities will be truly remarkable – and will benefit the entire campus and every member of our community. Indeed, these facilities will benefit all Rhode Islanders because the invigorated and expanded research and educational activities that result will be a timely and continuing stimulus for economic growth and prosperity in our state. Together, we can create a better future by approving Question 4.

Manufacturing and Yes on 4

Recently the University of Rhode Island hosted representatives from many of Rhode Island’s top manufacturing companies to recognize National Manufacturing Day.  The range of products represented was truly amazing – nuclear-powered submarines to high-tech shoelaces.  I kid you not.  Equally impressive was the fact that these manufacturing companies are succeeding in the intensely competitive international marketplace.  Many people doubt that Rhode Island-based manufacturing can compete, especially compared to locations where labor costs are substantially less than here.  The fact is, however, that numerous manufacturing companies located in Rhode Island are globally competitive. 

I have visited many competitive manufacturing companies in Rhode Island – large and small. A common element to their success is Innovation: innovative products; innovations in efficiency and productivity; innovative marketing and customer service; Innovations in creating opportunities for the growth and development of their personnel.  The successful Rhode Island manufacturers I am familiar with are characterized by consistent (bordering on relentless) innovation in some or all of these areas.                     

So, if these companies can be globally competitive, why can we not create or attract more such manufacturers here? Why can we not assist our existing manufacturers in becoming even more successful, and therefore to expand?  Both strategies would produce more economic growth, more opportunities, and more good jobs in Rhode Island.  I think we can do this.

Of course, we are all aware of the structural difficulties associated with being in Rhode Island, and we must develop effective strategies to improve our competitive standing as a state.  While that challenging work is underway, the University of Rhode Island is vigorously pursuing multiple approaches to assist our existing manufacturing companies and to create new companies.  That is why we created the Business Engagement Center, brought the federal Manufacturing Extension Program into our Research Foundation and reorganized it as Polaris MEP, and also took on the administration and leadership of Rhode Island’s Small Business Development Center.

The University of Rhode Island is doing even more. Research drives innovation and stimulates the creation of new products, new services, and new companies.  The locus of much of this activity at URI is the College of Engineering. Research universities like URI not only produce the advanced, highly-skilled workforce so essential to economic prosperity, these institutions also produce new intellectual property and create new companies.  Consider this: graduates and faculty of the College of Engineering have founded 28 companies in Rhode Island, and another 17 in our New England neighbors.  Hundreds of companies, including practically all of Rhode Island’s leading manufacturing and technology companies employ graduates of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Engineering.

This is one of many reasons why approval of Question 4 on our November ballot is so critical to the future of Rhode Island. Modern, competitive facilities for education and research are essential to expanding and sustaining a globally competitive economy.  I am convinced that Rhode Island can compete – because we have so many great examples all around us – but only if we have the people and the facilities to drive innovation.  The Rhode Island economy may finally be gaining new momentum. Now is not the time to “take our foot off the gas”.  Vote Yes on 4.

For more information, please visit engineering4ri.com

Our Student Athletes

I have previously written about URI's outstanding student athletes.  They provide leadership, service, diversity, and so much more, to our campus community - in addition to representing the University of Rhode Island in competition and in many other ways.  Here are just a few recent examples: over 75 student-athletes, representing all 18 varsity teams, participated in "Rhody Reads" - reading to nearly 1,000 kids at four elementary schools; 50 student athletes volunteered at the Rhode Island Special Olympics, hosted at URI; student athletes regularly volunteer and raise funds for Habitat for Humanity; URI baseball has hosted an Autism Awareness Day for six years; and multiple teams raised funds for breast cancer research and treatment.  

Donating bone marrow

Supporting Special Olympics 

Building a house

URI's student athletes continue to excel in their academic work.  For the spring semester of 2014 our student athletes posted a combined GPA of 2.96 (3.16 for the women and 2.78 for the men. 33% of them were on the Dean's List. This performance is among the best in recent years. 

To thank all of our student athletes for their dedication and achievement, Lynn and I hosted the teams for an outdoor cookout at our house on September 7th .  We have frequently invited teams over, but this was the first time we had all of our teams at once (excepting mens soccer, who were away).  The coaches, their families, and Rhody joined us as well.  I think a great time was had by all, as the photos below will indicate. Not every team could pose for a photo, and I couldn't fit all the pictures in, so I'll post more at another time.

Loading up

The food

Rhody colors were in evidence

Athletes at work

AD Thorr Bjorn chows down

Macro Jenga

Rhody at bat

Rowing

Basketball

Softball

Basketball

Football

Warning Labels

All of us (probably) have read warning labels on all kinds of products. Such labels are omnipresent, so much so that the tendency to ignore them is pervasive.  Warning labels can be useful, and on certain products, like medications, reading the label carefully might be essential.  As we enter the fall semester of 2014, higher education is increasingly engaged in an escalating and complex series of conversations that include consideration of what may be appropriate “warnings” or perhaps disclosures.  These conversations cover such issues as “content warnings” for courses, expectations for responsible discourse, campus cultures, the meaning and limits of academic freedom, and possible boundaries involving “free speech” and “civility”. 

My motivation for this particular post is not to address the numerous, complicated reasons why higher education is currently engaged in these conversations. Rather it is to consider, and ask the members of the University of Rhode Island community to consider, what kind of disclosure or “warning label” might be consistent with both our identity as a public research university and our shared values. 

Now, I’m not talking about things like: “The traffic coming to URI at 8.30am M-F can remind you of Boston”; or “The coldest part of campus in the spring is the baseball field if there’s a home game”; or “Multiple showers required after ooze ball”; or “Faculty Senate meetings can be a bit tedious, especially if the President speaks.”  These facts are so well known across campus that a disclosure statement or warning label would be redundant.

I am thinking about the distinction between our ideal – that every member of our community should feel welcomed, affirmed, supported, and respected – and the notion that we should feel “comfortable” here at all times.  When I was a young faculty member at Amherst College, our President at the time, G. Amour Craig, gave a commencement speech in which he critiqued the idea that the statement “I’m comfortable with that” constituted a sound basis for decisions at Amherst. He asserted, if memory serves accurately, that there will be times in which the best decision for the college and its students may well be one that makes at least some members of the community distinctly uncomfortable. The discomfort would arise perhaps because the right decision would encompass something new, or challenging, or entail some risk, or simply be a departure from the then-current, tacit assumptions widely shared across the campus. 

President Craig was right, I think. “Comfort” may be the best criterion to use when securing an airline seat assignment, or choosing a mattress, but it could be misleading, inappropriate, or damaging if preferentially applied to the kinds of decisions frequently made at the University of Rhode Island.  We must be especially cautious if the “comfort” standard reflects compatibility with our own social, political, philosophical, or religious views – for multiple reasons.  First, the University of Rhode Island is a diverse community with widely varying views among its members, so seeking outcomes where everyone is “comfortable” at all times would inevitably lead to complete paralysis.  More importantly, it is invariably a mistake for any individual, or group of like-minded individuals, to believe that they have a monopoly on the truth; history teaches otherwise.  One of the best attributes of a university is that it can be, and should be, a place where one’s ideas, assumptions, and worldview can be challenged and examined in an environment that is supportive and encouraging. Consequently, in many instances the better response is not “I’m comfortable with that”, but something like: “I see your point. I’m not sure I agree, and it makes me uncomfortable, but I must admit that you may be right.”

After all, we are not aiming for comfort; we are aiming for truth.

So, perhaps the “warning label” for new students at the University of Rhode Island should read something like:

Caution.  Joining the University of Rhode Island community may cause occasional mild to significant discomfort.  Faculty members and fellow students may challenge your ideas and beliefs.  You will be expected to respectfully challenge theirs, which may cause additional discomfort.  You will also live and learn with people who are very different than you, which may lead to occasional mild anxiety.  Do not be alarmed because such feelings are within the normal range.  Assistance in dealing with these feelings will be provided by your advisor, resident academic mentor (RAM), RA, instructor, friends, and other members of the community.  And remember, these experiences, although episodically uncomfortable, will help prepare you for success upon graduation from the University of Rhode Island.

What URI Did on Its Summer Vacation

One of the most frequent questions I get following commencement until Labor Day is something along the lines of: “Must be nice to have a break; are things pretty quiet at URI?”  I have previously commented on the University of Rhode Island’s summer (in 2010), but 2014 and the summers that immediately preceded it have been extraordinary, and warrant some comment here. 

The campus hosted over 57,000 people this summer, in programs and events that included the Rhode Island Special Olympics, the US Youth Soccer Association Region 1 Tournament, the RI National Guard parachute competition, multiple sports camps, and numerous educational and research programs.  I will highlight some of these, but first I want to thank the staff, faculty, and managers who made all of these programs so successful.  Staff from URI’s maintenance, grounds, custodial, residence life, and dining operations were simply outstanding. So also were the essential administrative and support staff from all the divisions of the university.  In addition to creating, teaching, or supervising numerous special or intensive summer programs, the faculty of URI taught 5,250 students over the summer, and directed the research and scholarly work of hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students.  Thanks again, to you all.

In order to keep this post to a readable length, I can only mention some of the highlights of an extremely busy summer, a summer with far too little South County beach time.  Noteworthy events and programs include:

•      The annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) conference, supported by the NSF and NIH, featured 138 posters by undergraduates and over 400 attendees from URI and the other eight participating colleges and universities in Rhode Island, (see http://web.uri.edu/surfconference/)
• The Graduate School of Oceanography also provides a SURF program in oceanography, which included undergraduates from 14 colleges and universities across the country, and is in its 30^th year, see http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=7144 
• The Kingston Chamber Musical Festival, hosted and supported by URI, celebrated its 26^th season with eight near-capacity concerts featuring “many of the world’s finest solo and chamber music artists” – to quote Artistic Director Natalie Zhu.
•  URI presented its Eighth Annual Ocean State Writer’s Conference with 176 attendees, which has become one of the premier writer’s conferences in the northeast; the link for this summer’s conference is http://www.uri.edu/summerwriting/2014/index.html 
•  URI has an expanding array of special educational programs for international students, including the International Summer Engineering Academy and multiple Summer Cultural Exchange Programs for students from China and Taiwan; students in the latter programs study either Finance and Investment or Global Enterprise Management, as well as English.
• Intensive language programs involved dozens of students in the study of German and Chinese; in addition a new program for middle- and high-school instructors in French was launched in 2014, sponsored by the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., the French Consulate in Boston, and URI’s Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department; see the story on our homepage, http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=7142
  
  

There is much, much more of course, but a final note: approximately 100 of our student athletes were on campus this summer taking classes, working, and preparing for their seasons, which reflects their commitment to excellence in their academic work and in competition.

I would not be surprised if here may well be folks at the University of Rhode Island who look upon the fall as the time when things “quiet down”.  A modern research university like URI truly does operate on a 12-month, nearly 365-day calendar. As you know, Lynn, Rhody and I live on campus and there are truly quiet days – December 25 and January 1.

An Early Welcome to the Class of 2018

As we say “thanks and best wishes” to the Class of 2014, the University of Rhode Island is preparing to welcome the Class of 2018 to the campus. Your Class promises to be another superb addition to our vibrant and diverse community.  I have enjoyed the opportunities to talk with many of you already during your visits to the campus, and look forward to welcoming you in September when you arrive. You will have a busy and all-too-brief summer to prepare and get organized, and I know you are excited and enthusiastic about joining the URI community. We are delighted that you have selected the University of Rhode Island.

I suspect that one element of your excitement and enthusiasm is your recognition that you will be changed, perhaps even transformed, by your experience here, and that upon graduation in 2018 you will be a different person than when you arrive this fall.  That certainly was the case for me. Allow me to share with you some of my story.

When I was born, my father was farming cotton in the Central Valley of California. Like many young men of his generation, he had left high school early to enlist in the armed forces following the attack on Pearl Harbor. No one in his or my mother’s family had been to college.  Eventually he left farming to pursue a life as a minister, and for that he felt he needed a college education.  So we left the Valley and temporarily moved near Riverside, a small, mostly agricultural town that was just beginning to experience the explosive growth that has long characterized southern California. He managed three small children and two jobs while attending college. Twice he had accidents and totaled two cars by falling asleep at the wheel. I don’t remember much about those incidents except my mother’s fear and worry. But my father was convinced that a college education was critical to our future and was determined to succeed. He did, and his graduation was a very proud moment for him and my mom – I remember that clearly, even though I had absolutely no idea at the time what a college education was.

Subsequently, my closest grandmother (my mom’s mother) decided to pursue a nursing degree. She went to Porterville Community College part time while working at a state hospital facility. By then I could read and found some of her nursing textbooks fascinating, and she encouraged my interest.  She then bought us two different sets of encyclopedias, and encouraged me to explore them, which I did, reading practically everything from A-Z. My father, mother, and grandmother insisted that “going to college” was essential and that education was the key to my future. They demanded that all other goals must be secondary.  It wasn’t really presented to me as a choice, and I am glad that it wasn’t. Very few of my extended family went to college, but it was, without any doubt whatsoever, the best course for me and my brother and sister.

You, the members of the Class of 2018, will discover at the University of Rhode Island what I discovered at University of California, San Diego: that higher education has the power to transform your life, and help you to become a different, and better, person than you otherwise would have been.  I could not have imagined, as a kid growing up in mostly small towns in rural California, that I would become a scientist, a professor, a Vice President and ultimately the President of a research university.  Even as a first-year student at UCSD, I had no firm idea of what I would do after graduation. UCSD offered what appeared to me as a universe of opportunities, just as URI does. It was the exhilarating experience of doing research as an undergraduate that set me upon the course to where I am today.

You must, of course, be willing to embrace and engage the opportunities that URI provides, just as the Class of 2014 did.  If you do, you can dispense with all the limitations that may have been imposed upon you, and create your own future.  That is both the promise of higher education and a promise you must make to yourself.  You cannot purchase your education, but we can help you create it. We are partners in this endeavor.  It will be a lot of work, and sometimes all consuming, but you need to remember that the work itself is not the goal.  The goal is to become the person you aspire to be.  Do not let yourself be distracted from this goal. We will be there to help. Welcome to the University of Rhode Island, and best wishes for your success.