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Arts & Sciences Dave and Tracey Maron, both 1982 graduates, have contributed $25,000 to the Humanities Challenge Campaign. The endowment was created to provide competitive research fellowships for graduate students and faculty pursuing exemplary scholarship in the humanities. Jamie Carr, a Ph.D. candidate in English, is the first beneficiary of the Marons’ endowment. Carr is using her fellowship to travel to the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif., where she will conduct dissertation research on Christopher Isherwood. The fund also helps the University expand its public speaker series for visiting humanities scholars. • Valerie Karno, assistant professor of English, is one of a handful of academics who teach courses that combine literature and law. In a course titled “Literature and Law,” Karno asks students not just to view “law in literature” or “literature in law,” but rather to view both as cultural products influencing each other. In another course, “Narratives in Justice,” she asks students to explore how stories contribute to society’s understanding of what constitutes reason and madness and to ponder whether justice is a universal or culturally specific notion. Business Administration Because research shows that most companies do not segment their markets by lifestyle, Dean Edward M. Mazze, the Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro, Inc., Leadership Chair in Business, joined colleagues Robert D. Michman and Alan J. Greco in co-authoring Lifestyle Marketing, Reaching the New American Consumer. Published by Praeger Publishers, the book evolved from the authors’ research on the impact of consumer lifestyles on purchasing behavior and from consulting for consumer goods companies. This is the third book Mazze has co-authored since his arrival at URI in 1998.
Engineering F. “Gus”Lusi ’47 recently donated $50,000 for the establishment of the A.F. Lusi Construction Engineering Ambassadors Scholarship. The new endowment will provide twelve $500 scholarships each semester to deserving students who will serve as ambassadors for the College of Engineering. They will help to recruit students, promote the college, and provide tours for visitors and alumni. • FarSounder, Inc., and James Miller, professor of ocean engineering, have begun production of the FS-3, the first 3-dimensional, forward-looking sonar designed as an aid to marine navigation. The device will allow marine vessels to avoid collisions with submerged obstacles and potentially save $2-to-$3 billion per year in damage costs. “We’ve been told that we’ve broken the laws of physics with this technology, but we haven’t. We’ve just opened the world up below the water line,” said Miller, who began development of the technology with former student Matthew Zimmerman ’01, who is now FarSounder’s vice president of engineering.
Nursing Students of Professor Hesook Suzie Kim recently raised $20,000 for an endowment in her name. Kim, who will retire this year, has been an international researcher and leader in nursing theory development with an emphasis on the nature of nursing practice. See the story on Suzie Kim. • Lisa Sullivan, who is pursuing a master’s degree as a family-nurse practioner, is benefiting from an endowment established by the family of the late Sharon Dubois-Hall, M.S. ’00, to memorialize her life and her dedication to nursing. The endowment was created in the fall of 2002 to help graduate students in nursing pay for their studies. Each year, a student who demonstrates a commitment to primary care nursing is chosen to receive the $1,000 scholarship. Graduate School of Oceanography Marine explorer Robert Ballard, professor of oceanography and director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, was among 10 distinguished Americans awarded the 2003 National Humanities Medal. President George W. Bush presented the medals at a White House ceremony on November 12, 2003. Ballard is best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic, but he has conducted more than 100 deep-sea expeditions, using both manned and unmanned vehicles. Other shipwrecks he has discovered include the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the American aircraft carrier Yorktown, and patrol boat PT-109 that was piloted by John F. Kennedy during World War II. • Volcanologists Steven Carey and Haraldur Sigurdsson have been awarded a $73,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop Internet and CD-based virtual field trips dealing with different types of volcanic settings. The virtual field trips will use inquiry-based exercises to allow students to observe eruptive activity, make observations, and formulate hypotheses about volcanic processes. The project will be tested on undergraduates enrolled in an introductory volcanology/environmental science course. |
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