Why Hip-Hop Matters Aperture
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UNIVERSITY OF RHODEFALL 2018 ISLANDMAGAZINE Why Hip-Hop Matters Aperture “GHOST BERRIES” by Charlie Scott, M.S. ’21 Honorable Mention, URI Research and Scholarship Photo Contest Juniper berries have always fascinated graduate student Charlie Scott. As a child, Scott mistook them for food. “I learned the hard way that they weren’t,” Scott says. The berries are prized by the Diné (Navajo) people for their spiritual significance. The berries are only gathered once they’ve fallen from the tree. They’re rubbed against rocks to remove the skin and fruit, the seeds are soaked, and holes are bored through them. Once they’re dry, they’re threaded to create necklaces and bracelets. Scott, who lives on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona, is studying college student personnel in the Human Development and Family Studies Department and aspires to be president of a tribal college. 10 FALL 2018 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 11 Inside UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE • VOL. 1, NO. 1 • FALL 2018 5 From the President 6 Feedback CURRENTS FEATURES NETWORK 8 20 38 46 Sigrid Berka Why Hip-Hop Designing for Class Notes The true value of learning Matters Sea and Stars a new language When Kendrick Lamar Imagine you’re a woman 49 won the 2017 Pulitzer researcher on an 8-hour Michael Shawver ’06 9 Prize for music, it mission in a small Co-editor of the blockbuster signaled a recognition by submersible with three Bryan Dewsbury 2018 movie, Black Panther 52 the cultural elite that hip- other people, and you Inclusive teaching to Life on Purpose hop has something to need a bathroom. But reduce failure and 50 contribute. It is art, there isn’t one. A URI It's the stuff social media dreams are withdrawal rates poetry, philosophy, big textile design team has Marisa O’Gara ’12 made of—beautiful, young, nomadic couple, living in a van with their dogs. business…and, for some, a solution. LGBTQ activist and Point 10 Storyteller and Instagram celebrity even salvation. Foundation Scholar Kyla Duffy 42 Brianna Madia ’11 is living life her way. Film photography in 28 Going Strong 53 a digital world From Masta These senior athletes, Bill Darran Simon ’98 to Legend Nixon ’58 and Diann 15 Career advice from a Duval “Masta Ace” Clear Uustal ’68, are redefining CNN Digital senior writer 14 Good Five Cent ’88 is humble about being the rules of aging. They Former Buddhist Monk Cigar Editors have talent, drive, and called a legend. But when 56 Thupten Tendhar of URI's Center for discipline, and they’re Why student journalism some of the biggest artists Photo Caption Nonviolence and Peace Studies, shares going strong. is important in the industry cite him Contest some expert advice on staying present, as an influence, and his calm, and peaceful. friends tout his integrity and artistry, it’s pretty clear the label fits. 34 What a Day for a Daydream New York Times best- selling author Ann Hood ’78 proposes that we all need to free up some time to do nothing. Well, not really nothing. We need to make time to daydream. It’s actually Sunrise over solar panels on good for us. URI's Kingston Campus. COVER PHOTO: ZOE GOLDSTEIN PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOS, THIS PAGE: NORA LEWIS; BRIANNA MADIA; 2 FALL 2018 AND COURTESY THUPTEN TENDHAR UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 3 FROM THE PRESIDENT The statue in front of the new Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center was a gift from Joan Libutti and Dan Libutti ’63. Welcome to Your URI Magazine The bronze sculpture by artist David The new University of Rhode Island Magazine brings you a variety of Spellerberg was given in honor of Daniel Libutti ’25 and dedicated to ideas, voices, and images, reflecting the diversity of our community. all generations of Rhody Rams. AFTER 25 YEARS, QUADANGLES HAS BEEN The growth of our international programs and transformed into the University of Rhode Island cultural competence is not the only evidence of Magazine. Why a new look and feel for the tremendous change at URI. In the last 12 years, magazine? In readership surveys last year, you nearly $900 million has been invested in renovat- told us you’d like more features, more photos, ing or constructing and more University-focused stories. You wanted about 1 million alumni, faculty, and students to speak to you square feet of build- through these pages. I know you’ll enjoy exploring ing space on cam- this inaugural issue. pus. I am delighted New sections in the magazine feature those to report that in June voices of faculty, students, and alumni you asked the General Assem- for. In Why I Teach, Bryan Dewsbury explains the bly approved a $12 intervention system he uses in his first-year biol- million initial phase ogy classes. In Annotations, Kyla Duffy ’18 shares of improvements at her insights and photos in a piece about why film the Fine Arts Center, photography is relevant in a digital world. In so that we can begin Ask Our Big Thinkers, pharmacy professor David needed improve- Rowley and Kingian nonviolence trainer Thupten ments to our perfor- Tendhar share expertise you can use now. Our mance spaces and to features uncover some true URI treasures, like the building’s mechanical systems, roofing, and The new Robert J. Duval Clear ’88, aka Masta Ace, an icon in the other structural elements. Higgins Welcome hip-hop industry. These pages reflect the ever- What else is in store for the class of 2022, most increasing diversity of Rhody Rams from every of whom were born after the millennium? It was Center offers a generation. fitting for these students, savvy consumers of tech- head-turning first Speaking of Rams, our new Robert J. Higgins nology, to help us usher in a new series of events impression of URI. Welcome Center pays tribute to our mascot with and programs: URI Innovation with Impact 2018. a new statue (left). It opened in time to greet Showcasing the creative and boundary-pushing the class of 2022, culled from a record 22,786 work of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and applications. Forty-four states, plus Washington, industry partners, the series launched our new D.C., Puerto Rico, and 49 nations are represented academic year with 14 days of events, including in the class, which can choose from several new the opening of an Artificial Intelligence Lab in majors, including international studies and diplo- the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning macy, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Commons. These align with the University’s vision to build an Just as we thought big about how we could international community of scholars in our small become a global institution of higher learning, so corner of Rhode Island. The globalization of URI too are we envisioning ways to stay ahead of the we imagined a decade ago is a reality today. next technological breakthrough. I have every Expanding students’ horizons so they truly confidence the class of 2022 will lead the way. understand global citizenship is a theme that ties I can’t wait to learn what they have to teach us. to one of my favorite pieces in the magazine, an Until next time, essay by International Engineering Program exec- utive director Sigrid Berka. Sigrid explains how learning a new language can teach empathy. She contends, “When we learn a new language, we David M. Dooley hold a mirror up to our own culture, allowing us President, University of Rhode Island to see it from a different perspective.” 4 FALL 2018 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 5 PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; JOE GIBLIN Feedback Write to us: [email protected] How Far We've Come Guys Have Stress, Too Visit us and comment at uri.edu/magazine “The Changing Face of Fieldwork” (Spring would make the request possible. I enjoyed the article, “How to Succeed 2018) presents outstanding examples of In November 1963, Trident left the dock in Business Without Really Stressing” how far we have come. Women are serving with the assistant aboard, accompanied by Marybeth Reilly-McGreen in the From the Editor as chief scientists aboard oceanography by GSO librarian par excellence, the late Summer 2018 issue. However, surely I feel very fortunate to introduce myself to This photo of my grandfather at vessels in the most rugged and remote Nancy Coman. It was a wonderful cruise, I was not the only one to note that the you as the editor of the very first issue of his wedding to Mildred Edwards reaches of the world. with a mission to take nutrient and phy- author and all six of the professors who the University of Rhode Island Magazine. on URI's Kingston Campus was always a part of my mother's Such possibilities were a pipe dream 55 toplankton samples from the Sargasso Sea. contributed to the article’s content were A product of many months of research, family photo gallery. years ago when the late Professor Theodore Thanks to the vision and tenacity of women. On behalf of my fellow male readership surveys, and hard work by the Smayda argued for his female research Professor Smayda, the hatches were work professionals, let me go on record previous editor—my colleague and friend, assistant to be allowed to join one of the opened to women. Oceanography is the that guys have perspectives on this topic Pippa Jack—your newly named and rede- early expeditions of the R/V Trident, GSO's richer for it. This fortunate research and can use some counsel on managing signed URI magazine will continue to first deep-sea research vessel.