 
|  Alumni Achievement Awards | ||||||||||||||
| Alumni Achievement Awards Presented at Winter Homecoming brunch on January 31, the awards acknowledge the achievements of alumni in the arts, business, community service, education, humanities, professions, and science and technology. A $1,000 scholarship in each recipient’s name is awarded to a student on the basis of merit and need. The awards and their recipients are: The Arts Enrico Garzilli, M.A. ’66, is an internationally acclaimed composer, pianist, organist, educator, and scholar. Presently the musical director and organist for Kingston Congregational Church, Garzilli has written the music, book, and lyrics for Rage of the Heart, Shadow of the Wall, Michelangelo, and Save Me the Waltz, which recently completed a successful run in New York. He is a South Kingstown resident. Business Robert W. Allen ’71, who earned a B.S. in mathematics, knows how strong customer service, outstanding products, and a history of community service can add up for a great business. Allen is president and CEO of The Vermont Country Store, one of the country’s most successful catalog businesses. The Dorset, Vt., resident is a former member of the College of Arts&Sciences Advisory Council. Community Service Robin S. Chin ’83, a pharmacy graduate, has worked to end gender and ethnic disparities in health care. As chair of the board of directors of the National Asian Women’s Health Organization, she is active in communicating health information to the country’s 92 million Asian-Americans. The Attleboro, Mass., resident also promotes breast cancer awareness and screening, HIV/AIDS awareness, and diabetes awareness. Education Steven R. Krous ’77, M.S. ’81, is an award winning teacher at Cranston High School West. For the last seven years, Krous, who earned his B.S. in natural resources and M.S. in animal pathology, has coached his school’s Ocean Science Bowl Team, which captured the national championship in 2003. URI’s Office of Marine Programs selected the Portsmouth, R.I., resident for its Teacher ARMADA program. Professional Achievement Paul S. Sledzik ’84, an anthropology major, is curator of the anatomical collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., and a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. The Germantown, Md., resident, worked at the sites of the Oklahoma City bombing and at one of the Sept. 11, 2001, plane crashes. Science and Technology Paul J. Marangos, Ph.D. ’73, president and CEO of InfaCare Pharmaceuticals Corp. in San Diego, has published four books and 252 articles in the fields of biochemistry and pharmacology as well as being inventor on 14 issued U.S. patents. He is the founding editor of The Journal of Molecular Neuroscience and has received National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovative Research Awards totaling over $1.5 million. Humanities Michael C. Keith ’76, M.A. 77, Ph.D. ’98, associate professor of communication at Boston College, is the “most prolific academic chronicler of the radio industry,” according to Journalism History. His noted “fringe group” book series, which includes Waves of Rancor, Signals in the Air, Voices in the Purple Haze, and Queer Airwaves, examines the role of minorities and the “outer-culture” in electronic media. Ram Award Nancy A. Lundgren ’54 chaired the 2001 Winter Gala Committee and is a member of the Alumni Association Nominating Committee and Government Relations Committee. The Tiverton, R.I., resident, a retired teacher who is active in many local organizations, is also a current URI Foundation trustee and a member of the Rhode Island Alumni Chapter. Philip J. Saulnier ’62, the co-captain of the 1961 football team that defeated Brown and a graduate of the University’s ROTC program, was commissioned as an infantry officer in the 82D Airborne Division. He volunteered twice for Vietnam and received several medals. A trustee of the URI Foundation and a leader of the Washington, D.C., Alumni Chapter, he lives in Dunn Loring, Va., with his wife, the former Judith Stone ’61. Alumni Service Award Dorothy P. Crossley ’48 is a member of the URI Government Relations Committee, the Rhode Island Alumni Chapter, and the Class of 1948 Reunion Committee. She also serves on the Golden Grad Council and is both a class agent and past secretary of the Alumni Association Executive Board. A food science and nutrition major in college, she lives in Warwick, R.I. Chester W. Ham ’62, M.L.S. ’69, was one of the earliest supporters of the Centennial Quadrangle Brick campaign. He is a 12-year volunteer on the Winter Gala Committee, an Annual Fund phonathon volunteer, and a member of the Rhode Island Alumni Chapter. This former Warwick teacher/librarian is a costumed tour guide with the Providence Preservation Society. Honorary Alumnus Award The late Robert Sauber was a public issues coordinator at URI’s Feinstein College of Continuing Education who helped create 20 broadcasts that brought public issues to the people of Rhode Island, including a series of televised town meetings on such topics as casino gambling. He also helped launch The Rhode Island Citizen, a public issues magazine published by the College of Business Administration. Gary Ley, the chief meteorologist on News Channel 10, is a fan of URI basketball and a supporter of the Graduate School of Oceanography. One of the original forecasters at the Weather Channel, he was a forecast specialist at the National Weather Service’s National Meteorological Center in Washington, D.C., from 1980 through 1982. He was voted “Best Rhode Island Meteorologist” by Rhode Island Monthly magazine for four straight years. Recent Alumna Award Cortney Mahoney ’01, a former Rhody the Ram (her license plate proclaims “IMARAM”) helped establish a $10,000 endowment for student scholarships for those who serve as URI’s mascot She also chairs the Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Weekend Committee. A member of the Rhode Island Alumni Chapter, she was awarded the New Chapter Advisor Award at the Alpha Phi Northeast Regional Conference. Presidential Award Albert R. Peckham ’52, who earned a B.S. in agronomy, took over the family farm in the 1970s and built the Peckham Greenhouse. One of the largest and oldest retail nurseries in Rhode Island, the Little Compton business is highlighted on Yankee magazine’s Web site. Founded in 1866, the nursery is now being run by the fifth generation of Peckhams.
Cast Your Vote Online for the new members of the URI Alumni Executive Board at http://advance.uri.edu/eservices/surveys. Voting must be completed by May 31, 2004.
Robert Weygand Appointed Vice President for Administration Following a national search with more than 160 applicants, the University has chosen Robert A. Weygand ’71, ’77, president and CEO of the New England Board of Higher Education, as the new vice president for administration. Weygand earned a B.S. in civil and environmental engineering in 1976 and a B.F.A. in theater in 1971. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Second District, from 1997 to 2001, served as lieutenant governor from 1993 to1997, and was a state representative, 84th District, from 1985 to 1993. “Bob will be a persuasive advocate for URI, someone who can articulate effectively what this institution brings to Rhode Island and America and what it needs to serve its students and the economy of our state.” said President Carothers. The vice president for administration oversees the Controller’s Office, Human Resources, Business Services, Budget, Facilities and Operations, Capital Projects, Purchasing, Payroll, the W. Alton Jones Campus, the Ryan Center and Boss Arena, and the Public Safety and Risk Management functions. In May 2002, Weygand and his wife, Fran, established the Weygand Family Scholarship endowment for non-traditional, Rhode Island students attending URI. Weygand was also instrumental in securing $1 million in federal monies in January 2000 toward a new Center for Environmental Studies at URI. Along with U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, later that year, Congressman Weygand provided support for a $10.3 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the URI Coastal Resources Center.
Updates on Alumni William B. Gould IV ’58, Hon. ’86, Charles A. Beardsley Professor Emeritus of Law at Stanford University and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, spoke at the Riverwalk Watermen Sign Dedication in Wilmington, N.C., on October 21, 2003. The sign honors the perilous journey undertaken by Gould’s great-grandfather, William B. Gould, and seven comrades. On the night of September 21, 1862, the men, all slaves, boarded the U.S.S. Cambridge and used their knowledge of local waterways to help defeat the Southern Confederacy. Gould recently edited his ancestor’s diaries and published them as Diary of a Contraband. Gary Kullberg ’63 was sworn in as the 11th chair of The Salvation Army’s Manhattan Advisory Board on January 8, 2004, at division headquarters in New York City. He has served on the Manhattan Advisory Board for 20 years, the last three as a member of the Executive Committee and as chair of The Army’s Public Image Task Force. Five years ago, Gary received the Beat the Drum Award, and last year his work with the Eastern Territory’s Charitable Gift Annuity program received a Best Practice Award at The Army’s national convention. He is the founder and CEO of Kullberg Consulting Group, LLC, based in North Kingstown, R.I. Simon Ostrach ’44, M.E. ’49, Hon. ’95, the Wilber J. Austin Professor of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, designed some $25 million worth of experiments on the NASA Space Shuttle. Now he has made history as the oldest person (he’s 79) to ride the NASA “vomit comet” that is used to acclimatize astronauts to conditions they will encounter at lift off and in space. Si points out that although his good friend John Glenn went to the moon and has logged many more hours in weightless space, Si himself is the oldest person to pass the NASA test. Si is the proud owner of a NASA flight suit that displays his “wings.” He and his wife, Peg, have named their cat NASA. Anthony Russo ’74, one of the top editorial illustrators in the country, designed the cover of the November 24, 2003, issue of The New Yorker magazine, a haunting, black and white illustration of the war in Iraq. An art major in college, Anthony’s distinctive work appears in newspapers, on book covers, and in national and international magazines. His studio is in Little Compton, R.I., where he lives with his wife, Linda.
From Your Alumni Association President Dear Fellow Alum, I just returned to my office from a meeting on campus, and I was thrilled to see the progress being made on our new Alumni Center. For those of you who haven’t been to campus in awhile or who haven’t visited the Web site, I thought I could be your eyes and describe how the project is coming along. Picture if you will a square filled with dirt—that’s all there was in August 2003. As summer wound down, the foundation was completed, and you could finally see the building’s footprint. The steel was delivered to the site in October; by the end of November, the steel framing was completed. Winter weather played some havoc with the timeline; however, additional progress was still made. By the end of the year, framing of the two end units and construction of the elevator shaft on the left side of the building and the staircase on the right side were all moving along. As QUAD ANGLES goes to press, structural wood framing is being installed. We’re still hoping for a grand opening celebration in October of this year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Alumni Center will be completed in time for Homecoming. On another note, we’re asking all alumni to actively participate in this year’s election of officers to the Alumni Association Executive Board. The Nominating Committee has once again done a tremendous job of putting together a group of dedicated individuals willing to donate their time to their alma mater. To vote online go to http://advance.uri.edu/eservices/surveys. If you know of anyone who would like to volunteer, or if you’d like to become active yourself, please call the Alumni Office at 401-874-2242. There are many ways for you to volunteer your time. We can help you select a role that matches your interest. We look forward to hearing from you! Finally, I would like to share with you a letter I received from an alumna, Cynthia Roslund Robbins ’78. She and her son Erik visited URI last spring and took the guided tour of the campus. Cynthia was very complementary about the tour guide who was “enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the University, the different colleges, extra-curricular activities, and the Greek system” and could speak to her son about his interests in animal science. Cynthia noted that guided campus tours were not available when she was looking at colleges. I’m sure that this positive connection made a difference in helping Erik in his decision to enroll at the University. He will start his freshman year at URI next fall, continuing the tradition started by his mom in the 1970s. For those of you who sometimes wonder how your donations are put to work, the Guided Tour Program through the Admissions Department is one example. The Alumni Association provides funding on an annual basis to help cover the cost of this program. Sincerely, Kathy Goulding ’77
Richard Beaupre ’62 recently donated the first $500,000 of a $1 million pledge to the University. A longtime supporter of URI, Beaupre is founder and CEO of ChemArt, a multi-million dollar company located in Lincoln, R.I. His gift will establish an endowment for students in the College of Arts and Sciences. It also signals the start of the University’s upcoming capital campaign, which is in its early planning phase and will focus primarily on contributions to build the URI endowment.
The University of Rhode Island was awarded $5.6 million in federal funding for its efforts to reduce alcohol abuse among college students. Members of URI’s Alcohol Research Center and the Health Promotion Partnership’s Alcohol Team received a strong vote of support from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism with grants for two different research proposals. Mark Wood of the Psychology Department and Cancer Prevention Research Center is the principal investigator on both grants: $3.5 million for “Environmental Methods for Reducing College Drinking” and $2.1 million for “Alcohol Early Intervention for Freshmen.” The Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center based at the University of Rhode Island, recently honored Senator Jack Reed for his strong support of education programs for professionals who provide care for the elderly. The honor was presented to Sen. Reed during the third in a series of RIGEC workshops on geriatric clinical care. Willow Tree Farm owner Chet Cekala ’54, who runs the most successful poultry farm in the region, has made a $15,000 contribution to URI to establish the Chester Cekala and Eileen Cekala Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship will benefit students from the North Attleboro area. Preschoolers Are Getting a Jumpstart at URI. The University was selected in the fall as one of 13 institutions to participate in Jumpstart, a national early childhood program pairing college students with preschool children struggling in Head Start or other early education classrooms. Thirty students—members of the URI Jumpstart Corps recruited and trained at URI’s Feinstein Center for Service Learning—are spending 300 hours this academic year making a big difference for these preschoolers.
Study the Heavens at the URI planetarium on Upper College Road. Please contact Liz Bozyan to set up a time. She can be reached by email at lizzie@etal.uri.edu or by phone at 401-874-2057 or 401-874-2634. |
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