News & Views

Myths About Careers

The University’s Career Services professionals could never be accused of sitting on their résumés. The staff, ably led by Bobbi Koppel, Ph.D. ’79, keeps busy helping students. Here’s proof: Last year, nearly 5,000 students attended events, job fairs, and presentations or participated in on-campus interviews. Career Services hosted 528 companies, school systems, and organizations on campus, and gave 150 classroom presentations. They provided confidential career counseling to 1,300 students. As our 2007 graduates are about to enter the workforce, we thought it would be fun to ask these pros about the misconceptions about careers and Career Services.

To find out more about URI’s Career Services, visit career.uri.edu or call 401 874-2311.

Myth: Career Services is only for seniors and only for those who know what they want to do in the future.

Freshmen through graduate students meet with career staff. Career Services offers assessments that can help students understand and articulate their own values, skills, and interests, which helps them in the career decision-making process. Internships, summer jobs, and part-time jobs provide invaluable experience for future career choices.

Myth: It’s a straight line from college to career.

More and more graduates are taking time off after graduation to gain additional experience, to travel, or to participate in volunteer or service projects. Career paths are often non-linear; most people change careers and/or jobs seven to nine times before they retire.

Myth: You can’t find a job in Rhode Island

Graduates can and do find great jobs in the Ocean State. The key is career assistance that will help students develop methods and strategies that will yield the greatest results for their specific search. Often if a student knows someone who hasn’t found a job, the assumption is that there are no jobs.

Myth: All I need is one résumé.

Don’t blast the same résumé to an unlimited number of employers. Each résumé should be tailored to the type of job you seek, which is easy with technology today. Do your homework. What does the organization do? What are the personal attributes and experiences it values? Find the name of the person you want to address in your letter. Fit your skills to the employer’s needs.

Myth: You can’t get a high paying job with a liberal arts education.

Many of the presidents of Fortune 500 companies as well as educators and government officials hold liberal arts degrees. Employers seek new hires with critical thinking, reasoning, and oral and written communication skills as well as the ability to work well in a team. They recommend an education focused on a specific field combined with broad-based learning.

A Switch from Keaney Blue

Students, parents, grandparents, and kids were in the pink in January as the Rams defeated the University of Massachusetts at the Ryan Center.

With a record-setting attendance of 2,657 students and a nearly sold-out arena, the fans did far more than root for the home team.

Students from the URI Athletics Department sold pink T-shirts the week before for the first-ever “Pink Out” to raise breast cancer awareness and donate funds to support research for treatments. The project raised nearly $10,000, which was presented to the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation at halftime.

Senior fashion merchandising major and track team member Elizabeth Lyons of Charlestown organized and coordinated the event. Lyons said that the first order of 1,500 shirts sold out and they had to order more.

“I thought it would be very moving,” Lyons said, “to see a sea of pink in the stands in support of those affected by breast cancer.”

Blues ‘N Cues

Members of the Greek system once felt behind the eight ball with the campus police, but now you’ll often find police officers shooting pool with students in the Memorial Union.

Joe Menassa, a senior, and Officer Mark Chearino established the program, “Blues ‘n’ Cues,” in April 2005. Menassa had approached Chearino about the gap between the police and the students in his fraternity, Sigma Pi.

The pair discussed several options before deciding on monthly billiards. “We wanted it to be social, calming, interactive, and fun,” Chearino said. “Hence, a casual game of billiard pool. Those tensions have since dissolved.”

Chearino, who has been with the campus police since 1994, says the program is open to all students. The number of students involved, which has risen, fluctuates between 20 and 40.

“It is not police against students,” Chaerino said. “It’s about interaction and fun.”

On a Roll for Autism Research

Sophomore Annie Kane and freshman Casey Kern were on a roll at Old Mountain Lanes in Wakefield last semester.

The two students along with their classmates in Celeste Martin’s business communications class proved that finals can be fun. The class designed and held a bowl-a-thon to raise awareness of autism and provide funds for research into treatment. Students solicited donors, created fliers, and placed contribution buckets around the campus and nearby community.

The class chose the project after learning that Martin, an associate professor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, has a son with autism. According to U.S. Department of Education statistics autism is growing at a startling rate of 10 to 17 percent per year.

Chi Phi Breaks Ground

The University’s oldest fraternity, now known as Chi Phi, broke ground for a new chapter house in January.

Douglas Bennet ’77 was the driving force behind building. New England Construction will build the 13,000-square-foot house located behind Weldin Hall. The house will contain 20 bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, a social area, and meeting space. It will be fully air conditioned with Internet access. Completion of the building is slated for August.

The University shut down Chi Phi in 2005, primarily for violations of the University’s substance-free housing agreement. Since the fraternity is inactive, the house will be rented to transfer students and others seeking housing during the 2007-2008 academic year.

“When the fraternity returns, it will be with a clean slate and with members focused on its founding values: truth, honor, and personal integrity. I look forward to working with Chi Phi,” said Steve Simo, director of Greek Affairs.

Chi Phi plans to return to campus in the fall of 2008 through a recolonization effort, the first step in rebuilding and reactivating a chapter. The house will eventually accommodate 40 to 42 brothers.

Chi Phi has agreed to renovate and sell its existing building on Upper College Road to facilitate the expansion of URI’s popular International Engineering Program.

“Chi Phi’s groundbreaking is another example of the resurgence of the Greek system,” said Thomas Dougan, vice president of Student Affairs, noting that the new Zeta Beta Tau chapter house opened last year.

“There are a lot of lessons to be learned living, working, and sharing space with other brothers,” said Bennet. “It’s a real benefit of college life, one that creates lifelong friendships. You learn to develop leadership skills and find out how to live on your own. We want to give that opportunity to future Chi Phi students.”

Tossing the dirt are (l-r) Thomas Dougan, Frank Kovacs, director of alumni development, Chi Phi national staff; Doug Bennett ’77; Tom Paquette ’82; and Charles Morton, project director, New England Construction.

URI: A Best Buy

Barron’s Best Buys in College Education chose the University of Rhode Island as one of its 247 best buys: colleges and universities that combine price with quality.

Those selected represent the best combination of sound statistics and student satisfaction based on questionnaires sent to deans and students.

Each school is profiled, highlighting student body, academics, facilities, special programs, campus life, cost cutters, rate of return, and payoff.

The academic evaluation of URI praises the availability of programs on land and sea, noting the University would hang three lanterns if it followed Paul Revere’s advice to hang “one [lantern] if by land, and two if by sea.”

“In addition to URI’s excellent programs in oceanography and marine affairs, courses of study for landlubbers also make the grade,” reads the entry.

Did You Know...

... that 25 members of the Rhode Island General Assembly are University alumni? This represents 22 percent of the membership, up from 20 percent in the last session and 19 percent from the previous sessions.

The nine senators are Stephen D. Alves ’82; Leo R. Blais ’79; Marc A. Cote ’75; Daniel DaPonte ’00; Hanna Gallo ’95, M.S. ’97; Paul Jabour ’78; Charles Levesque ’77; John McBurney III ’72; and James Sheehan ’88.

The 16 representatives are Joseph N. Amaral ’88; Jon Brien ’93; Elaine Coderre ’89; Paul Crowley ’73; Robert Flaherty, M.P.A. ’75; Peter Ginaitt ’83; Nicholas Gorham ’83; J. Russell Jackson ’92; Donald Lally ’77; Charlene Lima ’75; Edwin R. Pacheco ’05; Roger A. Picard ’79; Amy G. Rice ’87; Joseph H. Scott ’75; John Patrick Shanley ’76; and Donna Walsh ’71, M.A. ’76.

Alumnus Wins First Place in Greek Film Festival

Evangelos Giovanis ’02 won first place in the digital wave category at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival for his film Land of Nod. The festival, which is held in Greece, showcases the work of new and emerging filmmakers.

The award came with a 15,000 Euro prize, nearly $20,000, and praise from film critics who hailed the 29-year-old as a “young Scorsese” and likened him to John Cassavetes.

Giovanis’ applications to film schools were rejected. Undeterred, he and his brother, George, decided to become independent filmmakers.

Land of Nod, the brothers’ second film, takes an uncompromising look at the AIDS epidemic that Giovanis says has created fake sociality and the death of romance.

Giovanis became intrigued with filmmaking after taking some experimental film classes with Art Professor Sheri Wills. He says his films are also influenced by literature he read in his URI English classes.

Powerful Women

Two URI alumnae were listed in top business magazines as among the most powerful women in the world.

Nancy McKinstry ’80, Hon. ’05, CEO of Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in the Netherlands, was listed in the Oct. 16, 2006, issue of Fortune magazine as the 8th most powerful businesswoman in the world.

She joined Christiane Amanpour ’83, Hon ’95, on the pages of Forbes magazine’s Sept. 18, 2006, issue. Amanpour was listed as 79th on the list of most powerful women in the world and McKinstry was listed 67th.

McKinstry, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa in economics, joined Wolters Kluwer, a publisher and information services company that operates in 25 countries, employs 18,400 people and earns over $3 billion in revenue annually, in 2003.

Amanpour, who graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in journalism, is CNN’s chief international correspondent. She has been with CNN since 1983, and has reported on crises across the globe in Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, and Rwanda. She has received many prestigious awards for her work, including nine Emmy Awards.

Veggie-Powered Driving

When sophomore Nick Russell needs fuel, he drives his 1985 Mercedes past gas stations and stops at the Two Little Fish restaurant in Westerly to pick up a plastic drum full of free, discarded soybean oil.

It took him five months to convert his diesel engine car to run on vegetable oil with the help of an $800 kit from greasecar.com. His car must run the first five miles of any trip on diesel fuel before he switches to filtered veggie power. Russell gets 29 miles per veggie gallon and 28 miles per gallon on diesel fuel.

“Vegetable oil is free, and we aren’t dependent on foreign oil,” explains the member of URI’s Renewable Energy Club. The German major is contemplating a possible career in Germany where there is an emerging alternative energy program.