The Special Programs for Talent Development,|The SSV Corwith Cramer,|The Cooperative Extension Food Safety Education Program|Emergency Admission|The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting|A Survey of URI students|A three-year, $750,000federal grant|URI’s American Cancer Society scholars:|
The Special Programs for Talent Development,
which began in 1968 with 13 students, is welcoming 288 freshmen this fall, the largest class in its history. TD Associate Director Sharon Forleo, who has been with the program since 1974, was recently named 2005 YMCA Outstanding Woman for her work with the TD program. “Talent Development is such a unique program,” she says. “Look at the longevity of it. Similar programs that began at the same time are all gone because the intent and funding have all dried up. TD just keeps getting stronger.”
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The SSV Corwith Cramer,
among the most sophisticated research vessels in the United States, recently docked at the Narragansett Bay Campus to celebrate a new partnership between URI and the Sea Education Association. This partnership will allow students to spend a semester at sea learning navigational skills, studying oceanography, and conducting marine science research (after a six-week shore component) without jeopardizing their financial aid or needing to transfer credits from another institution.
The Cooperative Extension Food Safety Education Program
has been awarded a $590,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop educational materials designed to help high school special needs teachers teach their students how to prepare, serve, and store food safely. Once the teaching materials have been created, they will be incorporated into the special needs teacher education curricula at Rhode Island College, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Massachusetts.
Emergency Admission
to URI has been offered to qualified Rhode Islanders and out-of-state students whose enrollments at colleges and universities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were derailed by Hurricane Katrina. URI has also announced a plan to build a home for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Members of the entire University family—including students, faculty, staff, and alumni—are being asked to contribute to the project, with a goal of raising $70,000 before March 2006. It is anticipated that members of the URI student chapter of Habitat for Humanity will travel to the Gulf Coast region during spring break to help build the house.
The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting
at URI has been awarded an $856,000 grant by the National Science Foundation to expand its environmental reporting fellowship program for minority journalists. For five years beginning in 2006, the institute will offer six working journalists—up from two in each of the previous three years—a 42-week fellowship to learn basic science, connect science to public policy issues, and work as an environmental reporter applying new knowledge.
A Survey of URI students
has demonstrated that they support stricter alcohol control policies and enforcement. The students want campus and local authorities to increase enforcement efforts and develop new programs to address the problem of drinking and driving, according to a new survey released recently by Common Ground, a university-based substance abuse prevention program. Alcohol-impaired driving is the leading cause of death among U.S. college students.
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A three-year, $750,000federal grant
to URI will help to prepare nurse practitioners as gerontological specialists. Rhode Island ranks sixth nationwide for the percentage of adults over 65 and fourth nationally for the percentage of individuals 80 and older, according to Denise Coppa, director of the URI Family Nurse Practitioner Program. Currently there are only 10 gerontological nurse practitioners licensed in the state.
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URI’s American Cancer Society scholars:
Three URI researchers have received more than $1.4 million in grants from the American Cancer Society. The researchers were joined by Dr. Jerome Yates (center), national vice president of research for the American Cancer Society, at URI’s Cancer Prevention Research Center. From left to right are, Gongqin Sun, assistant professor of cell and molecular biology; Dr. Yates; American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow Kara Hall; and Bryan Blissmer, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology.
