Selected alumni profiles.
Thomas J. Farrell, M.A. ’74Patricia Thompson ’76Alison Davis Maxell, M.L.S. ’93Cynthia Jones, M.S. ‘74, Ph.D. ’84Katherine “Kate” Brewster ‘95Class Acts Profiles
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Thomas J. Farrell, M.A. ’74
Little did Tom Farrell realize that hosting a student from Nagaland would open the door to his writing a best-selling novel.
After reading a gift book from this student, which was an anthropological study of the tribes of the Naga Hills of the 1940s in India, Farrell, then dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Johnson & Wales University, became interested in Nagaland. He researched the Naga people’s struggle for independence from India, which the BBC has characterized as “the world’s longest running conflict.”
Farrell wrote a novel about the situation, which he describes as “a story of injustice.” He felt that “a work of fiction could be more effective in reaching the public than a political treatise.”
The plot of Ghandi of the Nagas revolves around an American professor from the University of Rhode Island who travels to India in 1991 with an Indian student with whom he is having an affair. Unknowingly, he has violated a tribal taboo by having this relationship, and the girl’s father vows revenge.
In November 2004, an Indian publisher, Indialog, republished the book under a new title, An American in Nagaland, the first novel to have as a major sub-theme the fifty-year struggle fought by Naga nationalists in northeast India. Reviewers have described the book as “a passionate novel of clashing cultures and conflicting generations” that is “suspenseful, stirring, and absorbing.”
Shortly after publication An American in Nagaland hit the best-seller list in India.
“I hope readers enjoy it as a novel,” said Farrell, “and if it became part of the public dialogue about the future of Nagaland in India, that would be great.”
Farrell, who holds degrees from URI and Notre Dame, is now dean emeritus at Johnson & Wales. The author of the novel Nantucket 1970 as well as textbooks and articles, he divides his time between Narragansett, R.I., and Nantucket.
An American in Nagaland is available from Indialog, indialog.co.in. The Gandhi of the Nagas is available on amazon.com.
—Portia Little
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Patricia Thompson ’76
Trying to sort out money issues such as tax savings strategies, social security reform, and cost segregation often leaves folks in a quandary, wondering where to turn for information.
Patricia Thompson, who has distinguished herself in the accounting profession both on the state level and on the national stage, has stepped up to the plate to educate consumers and also to legislate for reform.
Thompson, a tax partner with Piccerelli, Gilstein & Company, LLP, in Providence, is currently the only Rhode Islander appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Tax Executive Committee. This committee, the final authority on the AICPA’s policy recommendations relating to national tax legislation, tax administration, and ethical standards, considers the Congressional climate and economic outlook throughout the decision-making process.
While on the AICPA’s Individual Technical Resource Panel, Thompson encouraged Congress to make changes in the tax law to eliminate/reduce the marriage tax penalty. She attended Congressional hearings and presented information on the topic to legislators’ aides. Also on the national level, Thompson reviewed the Social Security reform document, which studied various proposals and how they impact the economy.
In Rhode Island Thompson chairs the Federal and State Taxation Committee of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is also past-president of RISCPA.
A familiar face in the media, she has appeared on Channel 10 in Providence on Frank Colleta’s Sunrise Business Report to explain recent tax legislation and other issues such as Rhode Island historic tax credits, like kind exchanges, and Rhode Island enterprise zone benefits. Cost segregation is a topic she hopes to address in a future program. She also served as the moderator of Channel 36’s Tax Planning Forum.
A frequent contributor to Neil Downing’s Moneyline column in The Providence Journal, Thompson also served this year as a member of a panel sponsored by the Planned Giving Council of Rhode Island discussing the topic of Women & Philanthropy.
—Portia Little
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Alison Davis Maxell, M.L.S. ’93
If walls could talk, those of the Providence Athenaeum, the nation’s fourth-oldest library, would probably share stories of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allen Poe, and other literary greats who visited. Or perhaps they would speak of less famous patrons who arrived by horse and carriage and read by gaslight.
Since 1753, the Athenaeum, one of America’s last remaining membership libraries, has been satisfying its patrons’ thirst for knowledge.
Alison Davis Maxell, the newly appointed executive director of this historical gem, must embrace the library’s past, respond to its members’ needs, and plan for its future. To meet this daunting challenge, Maxell, who also holds an M.B.A. from Bryant, will draw upon her experiences as a library administrator and marketing instructor.
Indeed, her immediate responsibilities are many. They include restoring the library to financial health, overseeing structural renovations, recruiting and retaining members, and raising public awareness of all the Athenaeum has to offer.
“While we are a membership library, we need people to realize that we are open to the public every day and that many of our programs are free—even to non-members,” says Maxell.
The Athenaeum offers such distinctive programming as the recent spring lecture series dealing with the art and history of Turkey. The library also maintains unique collections, including eight incunabula (books printed before 1501) and rare first editions of novels written by Herman Melville. “We speak to intellectual curiosity through our unique collection, our historic building, and our cultural programming,” Maxell says.
Moved by patrons’ stories about their experiences at the Athenaeum, Maxell recognizes that the library has made an indelible imprint on the community. “We have a historical presence in Providence that has spanned centuries, but we also have a future filled with possibility. The Athenaeum’s story continues, and I am pleased to be a participant in its next chapter.”
—Maria V. Caliri ’86, M.B.A. ’92
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Cynthia Jones, M.S. ‘74, Ph.D. ’84
Named the 2004 Virginia Professor of the Year by both the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Cynthia Jones, professor of ocean, earth, and atmospheric sciences at Old Dominion University in Virginia, was chosen from a group of nearly 400 nominees. This is just one in a long list of honors she has received, including being chosen as one of Virginia’s Outstanding Scientists of 2003.
Though highly complimentary of her professors in the Graduate School of Oceanography, where she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees, Jones credits mathematics professor Gerry Laddas for her success as an academic. “I audited his linear algebra course. He was phenomenal. When students asked a question, he’d repeat it to show how a mathematician would have asked it. He’s inspiring to me.”
Jones’ achievements as an educator are mirrored by her accomplishments in research. She developed methodologies for determining the age of fish by examining their otoliths (ear bones). “The chemistry of the otoliths, containing elements such as magnesium, provides a passport of where the fish has lived. We can pinpoint the sea grass bed where the fish was born. We’re looking at the Chesapeake Bay’s major beds—a key issue for fish habitats—to prioritize which beds should be restored.”
The impact of her research extends beyond the classroom. The first fisheries scientist appointed to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Jones assists the agency with fisheries and habitat management. “The fishing industry likes having me on the commission because I’m impartial. It doesn’t matter if you fish commercially or recreationally; I’m concerned with habitat quality so there will be fish for future generations. Fish are renewable resources, so we have to harvest wisely.”
Whether teaching or helping to shape fishing regulations, Jones is a preeminent scholar dedicated to students and science. The recognition she has received is a testament to her passion for her work.
—Maria V. Caliri ’86, M.B.A. ’92
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Peaceful Parenting
When you ask your seven-year-old to come in for supper, the child might run inside because he’s hungry, or decide instead to play longer with his friends outside.
With the goal of teaching parents and other caretakers of children the skills necessary to navigate the push-pull relationship between themselves and their children, developmental psychologist Nancy S. Buck established Peaceful Parenting, Inc., in 2000. Using her 25 years of experience as a trainer and educator with the William Glasser Institute—as well as her personal experience as the mother of identical twins—Buck uses a clear and concise teaching style to help students move from theoretical to real-life situations.
“Peaceful Parenting® follows the idea that human beings are internally motivated - they do what they do because of what is going on inside of them,” says Buck, whose programs are built on her book Peaceful Parenting and its companion workbook.
When the parent learns the internal instructions the child is born with, he or she can then help the child make effective choices, be accountable for those choices, and establish loving bonds between parent and child that will help the child grow to healthy adulthood. Unlike other parenting programs, Peaceful Parenting® does not rely on external rewards and punishments.
An internationally recognized lecturer and trainer, Buck has presented training workshops and study modules to professional counselors, therapists, educators, and parent groups across the United States, Australia, and Canada.
She was recently instrumental in helping a so-called “underperforming” school in New Bedford, Mass., lift itself out of that problem situation.
Dr. Buck is a senior faculty member at the William Glasser Institute in California and an adjunct professor at Salve Regina University in the Master’s program in Holistic Counseling. She has also taught at Bridgewater State College, Providence College, the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, and the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development.
Information on Peaceful Parenting, Inc., including workshops, seminars, products, and the newsletter, is available at http://www.peacefulparenting.com.
—Portia LittleNBuck
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Katherine “Kate” Brewster ‘95
While the percentage of children in poverty decreased nationally between 1990 and 2000, it increased in Rhode Island from 14 percent to 17 percent, according to a study produced by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the same decade, the child poverty rate in Providence rose above 40 percent.
These alarming statistics keep Kate Brewster awake at night. As head of the Poverty Institute, an organization based at Rhode Island College that advocates for low-income Rhode Islanders, she oversees policy research, analysis, and advocacy efforts to raise awareness and shape legislation. Brewster, a sociology graduate with a master’s in social work from RIC, succeeds the late Nancy Gewirtz, the institute’s esteemed co-founder who was integral in providing a voice for the poor in the business community and at the State House.
Brewster, a former student of Gewirtz, fondly recalls her mentor: ”After she became sick she bought me the book Tuesdays with Morrie, I think to tell me she had a lot to teach me. Everyone wants to know how I’m going to fill her shoes.” Then, with a laugh, she adds, “I could never fill her shoes. For one thing, she had bigger feet than I do.”
Yet Brewster has to develop a strategy to carry on Gewirtz’s mission. Initially, she plans to reach out to business and political leaders and dispel the myth that only welfare recipients are poverty-stricken. In actuality, some of the neediest work full-time—often in the service sector—and still cannot make ends meet.
“The discussion has to shift from the most vulnerable to include the working poor. Our studies show that it costs three times the federal poverty level for a family of three to live in Rhode Island. And we are talking about bare bones living—food, rent, and clothing.”
Brewster recognizes that perceptions are difficult to change, yet, having dedicated her professional life to social causes, she is ready for the challenge.
—Maria V. Caliri ’86, M.B.A. ’92
