  | Selected alumni profiles. Charlotte Waters Mapes ’34Patricia Rollins Trosclair ’72Ronald Maine ’76, M.S. ’78Richard Ferri ’80Nicholas Gorham ’83 | |||||||||||
Class Acts Profiles
Charlotte Waters Mapes ’34 Swimming, shooting, field hockey, basketball—whatever the sport, Charlotte Mapes has probably tried it. Charlotte, who has just been inducted into URI’s Athletic Hall of Fame, was particularly active during her college days. As a female student in the early 1930s, she helped pave the way for other sports-loving coeds. When asked about her numerous athletic activities, Charlotte laughed, “Well, my mother didn’t think it was all so wonderful—she wanted me to be a lady!” While studying Home Sciences and Services, Charlotte fit in a lot of sports. “Basketball was outstanding. I was paired with an older girl, a senior named Marian Bishop. They always put two girls who worked well together.” Unfortunately, a bout of pneumonia kept Charlotte out of basketball her senior year. She was also one of the first girls to participate in a rifle club. “I didn’t know that you would be lying on your stomach propped up on one elbow shooting at a target. I might not have tried it if I had known that,” she admitted. “I was one of the best shots at one time. But lots of other girls joined later on and they were very good too.” After graduation, Charlotte taught home economics, first for the Girl Scouts in Rhode Island and later for the 4H Girl’s Club in New York City. Then, in 1942, she joined the Navy and became a part of the history-making WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). She was a lieutenant in the Navy and served at the Washington Naval Gun Factory for three years. One of her duties was to organize sports events for the children of her WAVES colleagues. Charlotte, who at 90 still enjoys a game of golf, is proud of her sports experiences. “I always wanted to be one of those people elected best athlete,” she chuckled. —Jennifer Sherwood ’89
Patricia Rollins Trosclair ’72 “Do not be afraid of it, ask questions and enjoy the discovery.” These words form Pat Trosclair’s mantra. Coordinator of the Multicultural Center at Johnson & Wales University, Trosclair invites everyone—students, faculty, and staff—to reach out and learn about diversity. With 20 years experience in multicultural program development, she demystifies the process with entertainment. “Diversity is fun, so games are effective educational tools. At SUNY Binghamton I created an orientation game that allows students to ask personal questions of each other such as: ‘Do you have any gay friends?‘ Students love it—even transfer students, who usually think they know all there is to know.” Trosclair, who completed Ph.D. coursework in psychology, also uses workshops, panel discussions, and classes to spread the diversity message. At Johnson & Wales she assists in coordinating a “Lunch and Learn” series, full classes featuring diversity-related lectures, and she initiates discussion groups on race and racism for female faculty and staff. Further, she is partnering with residence hall leaders to introduce new students to the center and its programs. “Our goal is to make all students feel that the center is a safe space.” To extend her impact beyond the J&W campus, Trosclair serves as president of the Society Organized Against Racism in New England Higher Education, a consortium of 22 colleges and universities committed to eradicating bigotry. URI became one of SOAR’s founding institutions while Trosclair was in graduate school. Trosclair went on to develop SOAR programs at Skidmore College. Her goal is to help SOAR achieve its mission of eliminating discrimination and creating campus environments that support inclusiveness. Trosclair promotes the NOAH principal: “Don’t complain about the flood. Build the ark. The same applies to racism. It may take awhile, but we have to work at it. We have to reach the point where we are less afraid of people who are different. I see the next generation as one where parents transmit curiosity instead of fear.” —Maria V. Caliri, ‘86, M.B.A. ‘92
Ronald Maine ’76, M.S. ’78 From tramping the trawlers of the Rhode Island fishing fleet to traveling the world for the United Nations to haunting the riverfront coffee shops of Rome with his trusty laptop, Ronald Maine, has traveled far in his 63 years. His latest trip, however, into the inner reaches of his imagination and a place called “The People’s Democratic Republic of Lesser Mondraga,” is a little different. Mondraga is an imaginary third-world country at the core of Maine’s first play, The Rescue, now in production in the theater-rich Trastevre section of Rome, where Maine has retired after a lifetime training adult educators for the United Nations’ education extension branch in exotic, Mondraga-esque locales like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Mozambique. The play features a father-son team of corrupt industrialists on the edge of bankruptcy, “good ol’ boy” President Scrub out to relieve himself of the nuisance of needy people, and a sharply manipulative native population. “It’s a one-act satire revolving around the attempt of an incompetent leader of a super power to privatize his country’s foreign aid policy,” Maine said. The director, Sandra Provost, formerly of the Boston Opera Company, is widely known in Rome for her annual production of Gilbert and Sullivan. Maine credits his wife, Eugenie, a teacher at Ambrit International School, with encouraging both his careers. “Without her I would have done little in life while nurturing an unfulfilled belief that I could do anything if I could just get off my ass and get started,” he said. The play may already be looking at a second run, Maine said, and if the reception is good, he plans to investigate getting it into an off-off-Broadway venue. “Or,” he said, “maybe into a university like Rhode Island’s, who knows?” —David Henley ’96
Richard Ferri ’80 The financial landscape has changed drastically in just a few short years. The stock market gains of the 1990s are like a dream compared to recent media accounts of lost retirement savings and middle class poverty. Who can you turn to for sound financial advice? Richard Ferri, who earned a B.S. in Business Administration at URI, has some solid strategies to offer. After an eight-year tour as a pilot in the Marines, Ferri switched careers and worked as a stockbroker for the next 10 years. Ferri’s expectation of Wall Street was of a world where expert financial insights lead to superior returns. Instead, he experienced an industry where recommendations are motivated more by commissions and fees rather than sound advice. High returns were random at best, and most investors experienced results far below the markets. Frustrated, Ferri turned to academia for a solution. Over the next seven years, he earned both an M.S. in Finance and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. During this period, Ferri found that the financial markets are relatively efficient and that spending a lot of time and money searching for a superior return is counter-productive. The secret to success is diversifying one’s portfolio over a broad spectrum of low-cost investments designed to match the return of the markets rather than trying to beat them. This philosophy became the driving force for Ferri to start his own investment firm, Portfolio Solutions, LLC. Sharing his hard-earned knowledge is important to Ferri, who is an adjunct professor of finance at Walsh College teaching portfolio management. He has also published extensively on the subject including three books: Serious Money (1999), All About Index Funds (McGraw-Hill 2002), and Protecting Your Wealth (McGraw-Hill 2003). Ferri has recently made his first book available on-line for free. You can read or download Serious Money in its entirety at www.PSinvest.com. Now that’s an offer that makes sound financial sense! —Jennifer Sherwood ’89
Nicholas Gorham ’83 Rhode Island history was made in July when the General Assembly approved the Separation of Powers Bill that will prohibit lawmakers from serving on state boards and commissions and strengthen the governor’s appointment powers. “It’s the preeminent issue of our time,” says Rep. Nicholas Gorham, the bill’s sponsor. Gorham, a journalism graduate who practices law at his family law firm, Gorham & Gorham, Inc., in Scituate, developed a passion for separation of powers in 1998 as a newly elected state representative: “Our government put power in the hands of a few elected by a few. That is profoundly un-American.” Although voters overwhelmingly passed non-binding referenda twice, lawmakers were disinterested. Gorham describes the day the bill died as “the Wednesday afternoon massacre.” Undeterred, he re-introduced the bill, which became a 2002 campaign issue. Many candidates pledged to pass the bill, but the controversy surrounding it made fulfilling those promises a Herculean task. For six months, lawmakers crafted the bill’s language until they reached a stalemate in describing the government’s branches. The House favored “separate and distinct;” the Senate preferred “separate and co-equal.” Gorham appeared unfazed as the debate played out: “The issue was larger than that. It rested not on two words, but instead on Article 6, Section 10 of the constitution that essentially gives the General Assembly unlimited control. It tethers Rhode Island to a time when a small group of men ran our state.” Gorham prevailed, and the constitutional question on next year’s ballot will ask voters to remove the “broad powers” clause from Article 6, Section 10. “I never considered it my issue. It’s the people’s issue,” Gorham commented. “I’m just lucky enough to be identified as the steward.” This has been an exciting year for Gorham. In September he and his wife, Roseanna, became the proud parents of daughter Alejandra. They live on a farm in Greene with their son Austin, who is three. —Maria V. Caliri ’86, M.B.A. ’92 |
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