UNIVERSITY OF

RHODEFALL 2020 ISLANDMAGAZINE

Our Plastic Problem Is it too late to turn the tide? Aperture

BREATHING ROOM on Laustsen is a thinker. An artist too, of J course, and a sculpture instructor in URI’s art department. But make no mistake, his art is a vehicle for the ideas that inspire and inform his work. This fall, he mounted an installation in the Project Space at the Fine Arts Center. The idea, he says, was to demonstrate facets of the creative process itself. He built a set that mimics his office as an at-home studio, with a gallery reflecting an envisioned art installa- tion. Making himself a critical part of the installation, he visited regularly to type a few pages and to sculpt freely using his chosen materials: wire, aluminum foil, and an air- hardening clay. His habit of daily writing and sculpting was recently re-inspired by Julia Cameron’s classic book, The Artist’s Way. Through this dynamic installation, he aimed to “provide [his] students with an experience of discovery through actively working with materials, tools, and space, with curiosity at the forefront. “When you work with words or materials and stay focused on the present— the process, rather than the outcome—some- thing will grow, an idea or theme will unfold.” Lausten’s current theme—breathing— emerged from a wire wind turbine he crafted in late spring as he contemplated the coun- try’s escalating death toll from COVID-19. He took a late-night walk, which took him to an overgrown field where, he says, he “envi- sioned a cemetery overflowing with sculpted wind turbines.” He continues, “They seemed a sign of healing, an emphasis on the air of the earth, the breath of life. This was the day George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, pleading to breathe.” His current work is entitled, “For All Who Can’t Breathe, and for a Less-Damaged World.” • —Barbara Caron

1PHOTO: FALL NORA 2020 LEWIS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 2 Inside FEATURES UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE • VOL. 3, NO. 1 • FALL 2020

CURRENTS 8 IN BRIEF URI news to keep you in the know.

9 BAY AND BEYOND An 11-year-old finds a record- breaking quahog and donates it to URI’s Marine Science Research Facility.

10 BEHIND THE SCENES Meet the woman at the helm 30 of URI’s COVID-19 response, director of URI Health Services BREWING A BUSINESS Ellen Reynolds ’91. Adam Oliveri ’05 and Bryan Ferguson ’05 met as students at URI. Read the story of how their longstanding friendship became the foundation for a successful craft beverage business. And 11 don’t miss their recommendations for delicious bites to pair with the brews they love! BIG IDEAS. BOLD PLANS. A message from campaign chair Richard J. Harrington ’73, Hon. ’02.

12 MEDIA SPOTLIGHT URI experts are quoted in the 16 24 34 40 media frequently. Here are a NETWORK few that bear repeating. 46 50 53 CAN WE FIX OUR BRIDGING TWO THE HUNGER CRISIS ACTIVIST HISTORY CLASS NOTES CLOSE UP NICHE PLASTIC PROBLEM? CULTURES Hunger on campus and beyond The racial reckoning of 2020 13 isn't a new problem, but reveals how much remains URI alumni are amazing! Catch Plastic. We depend on it. But Leah Hopkins ’20 is the What’s for dinner? Chef Bruce There are extreme athletes COVID-19 has exacerbated unresolved in the struggle for RHODE TAKEN up with your classmates and it’s wreaking havoc on our Haffenreffer Museum of Moffett ’87 has some ideas for you. and then there’s Holly the situation. URI faculty, staff, racial justice. We look back at National Geographic Explorer get to know the newest and environment. URI faculty, Anthropology’s first community Zimmermann, M.S. ’93. and alumni are helping to feed URI’s history of student-led Callie Veelenturf ’14 is making longest-standing members of students, and alumni are engagement specialist. Teaching 52 our community and address the civil rights activism. an impact in turtle research the Rhody family. working hard to turn the tide. people about Indigenous history 56 root causes of food insecurity. and conservation. YOUR STORIES and culture isn’t just her job, 49 Stephen Hopkins ’72 shares his CAPTION THIS it’s her mission. 14 tale of a field trip from long ago Stroll down Memory Lane, BLUE MINDS that didn’t go quite as planned. check out last issue’s winners, WHY I TEACH At left: Diamondback terrapins are Rhode Our cover photo was shot by award-winning filmmaker, Captain Zach Rollins ’19 and send your best caption Island’s rarest turtle species, and URI students photographer, multimedia journalist, and URI assistant professor Carnell Jones Jr. teaches his teaches people how to love for this issue! and faculty are studying their nesting process as of multimedia journalism, Jason Jaacks. He is a principal member students that what is public the ocean through his podcast, part of a long-term conservation program. Story of the Ocean State Initiative for Marine Plastics team, serving as is also personal. Along the Keel. and video at uri.edu/features/turtle-tracker. their lead on multimedia journalism.

2 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; COURTESY CRAFT COLLECTIVE; JASON JAACKS; COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 3 FROM THE PRESIDENT

MOVING IN Austin Pare ’23 (on truck) moved into Hillside Hall this fall with help from her mom, Kristen Woodman and stepdad, Michael Harvey. The Essex, Massachusetts, native and nursing major says she was excited to come back this fall after feeling like her first year was “stripped away from me his academic year, my final year as the systems required to deliver its full right when I was finally feeling comfortable.” Because of Preparing president of the University of Rhode curriculum online and in-classroom. COVID-19, students in URI residence halls are not permitted T to have visitors from other buildings. “That rule makes it Island, reminds me of the central theme Building on URI’s institutional strengths, Students to harder to make new friends,” says Pare, “but I joined the of my inauguration in 2010: The future we are preparing our students for the women's Ultimate Frisbee team and am rushing a sorority in is not predetermined, and we have the “next normal,” enabling them to pursue order to meet new people this year. It isn't challenging to live Lead in the opportunity to create the future we wish their studies while bolstering their resil- on campus because our building staff has been so supportive “Next Normal” to see for ourselves and those who follow iency and resourcefulness. and professors reach out to students and answer questions us. The stories in these pages reflect the And that is really the heart of our mis- the best that they can. It is definitely important to know that URI community’s enduring capacity to sion. We have long embraced our role in there are people on campus to support us during this time.” recognize some of the most important developing and launching multidimen- challenges we face in building a better sional global citizens with excellent aca- future: infectious disease; climate change; demic credentials who are also capable of the global contamination of our environ- navigating rapid change. The pandemic ment and food supplies by plastics and has certainly reinforced the value, indeed other pollutants; hunger that threatens the necessity, of this part of our mission. our ability to learn and to thrive; and Our ambitious Big Ideas. Bold Plans. social injustice that threatens the fabric The Campaign for the University of Rhode of human societies in America and across Island will serve as a catalyst for further the world. Undaunted by the public development of URI as a learning-centered health crisis, political turmoil, and the research university. Thanks to your gener- longstanding crisis of systemic racism osity, we are already starting to see the that have dominated the first year of this impact of Big Ideas. Bold Plans. Recent new decade, URI students, faculty, and graduates like Leah Hopkins ’20, profiled alumni are innovating and finding cre- in this issue, exemplify the transformative ative ways to address the most pressing effect of higher education. Leah’s URI and threatening issues of our times. experience has shaped her critical work to URI has weathered—so far—the raise awareness of Indigenous people and extraordinary threats and challenges of their contributions to our country. And, 2020. Prior to the COVID-19 onslaught, in turn, Leah’s influence has changed the we had received the highest number of URI community. applications in our history, validation that Whatever the future holds, I am confi- students and their families recognize the dent that we will continue to be inspired tremendous value of an education at the by the stories that define our University University of Rhode Island. Despite the and its bright future. uncertainties presented by the pandemic, we enrolled an impressive 3,345 students. We acknowledge, of course, the potential for COVID-related adjustments to these numbers, despite our having put into David M. Dooley place comprehensive and sophisticated President, University of Rhode Island safety and health measures. Throughout the spring and summer, the faculty and staff worked tirelessly to prepare for this academic year. By August, we were ready to teach and our students were ready to learn. Creating a 24/7 learn- ing environment has been a University priority for a decade, and the pandemic served as an accelerant for the delivery of an unparalleled online academic experi- ence. In fact, URI is the only university in Rhode Island to receive a Tier 1 designa- tion from Educate to Career for having

4 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: JOE GIBLIN; NORA LEWIS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 5 Feedback Write to us: [email protected] Visit us and comment at uri.edu/magazine

A Few Historical Notes Bravo, Cigar! Kudos Liberal IN THE 2020 SUMMER MAGAZINE CLASS the basement of Davis Hall. Women and THERESA BROWN’S STORY I FINALLY HAD A CHANCE THIS MORNING Professors Notes, Claude Trottier ’60 wrote about men commuters were separated in 1957; about The Good Five Cent to go through the latest issue (summer I JUST RECEIVED THE training a puppy for Guiding Eyes for the men had space in the Union, women Cigar’s coverage of the pandemic brought 2020). I wanted to send a message and let summer alumni magazine the Blind in memory of his fraternity shared the bottom floor of Davis with back memories. Forty-seven years ago, you know I thought this issue was one of and I was going to praise brother Manuel “Duke” Germano ’60; the mailroom. Each time we left for a I was executive editor of The Cigar at a your best. It was interesting and poignant. you all for such excellent certainly, a very worthwhile gift. He class, we walked by the man who rang time when we were also consumed with I enjoyed it immensely. articles and then I saw your Calling all birders! wrote that Duke was the first visually the bell for classes at the ground floor a raging issue: widespread student unrest —Jane Bourbonnais Northup ’82, cover. We all know that all lives Has spending more time at impaired student to graduate from URI. back entrance. The Dean of Women’s over the Vietnam War. M.A. ’14, Ph.D. ’19 matter. After reading the rest of I was recommended to URI by John Office was one floor up. We loved Dean “URI stresses the importance of experi- the magazine and the various quotes, home during the pandemic L. “Jack” Klages ’53. Legally blind, he “Evelyn” and she was kind to us. Those ential learning; what better way to engage I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW HOW it appears that your professors are led you to pay more attention lived on campus, but when he could get of us who traveled to school every day in experiential learning than this?” Theresa much I appreciate your magazine. My eye- extreme liberals. What a sad time for to the feathered residents of home for a weekend, my family and I from all points in R.I. had great fun wrote. “We are testing the skills we’ve sight prohibits me from reading a lot of your state and the rest of our country. your backyard or hiking trails? drove him back to school on Sunday together and spent spare moments play- learned in the classroom even as we report digital literature, periodicals, etc. but I can There are so many good teachers Or maybe you're a dedicated evenings, a vivid memory for me. Jack ing hi-lo-jack, knitting argyle socks, on the same topic being covered by the read print versions without any problems. and worthwhile people and events birder with an impressive life was not the first visually impaired stu- studying, and sharing stories. Our famous journalists we admire." The writing and photography are superb! to write about that I am sure your list? We’d love to hear your dent to graduate from URI, but I believe restrictions were many: No shorts, for My experience writing for and editing The mountains here (New Mexico) are staff could entertain. stories and see your photos. he was one of the first. example—even Bermudas had to be The Cigar during the tumultuous 1970s, just beautiful but I do miss the ocean, sea- —Benjamin Malvinni, M.S. ’70 Send them to [email protected]. I share this not to discredit Duke covered by a trench coat. Time moves combined with the teaching of some fine food, and Little Rhody—with all its quirks. Germano’s accomplishment (I remem- on and traditions and rules disappear, professors (including the recently I enjoyed my years at URI and felt inspired ber him) or Mr. Trottier’s memorial gift, but URI left many of us with great deceased Jack Thompson), provided the by many of my professors, especially in the rather to shed light on early strides that memories and a fine education. groundwork for my rewarding 40-plus Speech Department. Your magazine brings From the Editor URI made to assist people with disabili- Thank you for your delightful years in journalism. back many happy memories. Thank You! ties to succeed with their education. magazine. I enjoy every issue. The Cigar’s name comes from a quip —Nancy George Pempey ’75 2020 HAS BEEN QUITE A YEAR. As I write this message in early October, my Mr. Klages made a great impression on —Jean Bordo Lawrence ’61 attributed to a U.S. vice president some hope is that wherever we find ourselves in late November, you will find rea- me and my sister. 100 years ago: “What this country needs sons within these pages to be proud of and inspired by your alma mater. Most of my URI memories center is a really good five-cent cigar.” Well, From our cover story about how URI is tackling the problem of plastics in The University of Rhode Island Magazine is around the women commuters area in Theresa and these fine young journalists the environment, to the back cover, featuring the beautiful artwork of Eric published by the University of Rhode Island. are just what this country needs now. Lutes ’91, this issue is bursting at the seams with stories of you and for you, Copyright pending, all rights reserved. Rhody alumni. Bravo! Email: [email protected] —Bill Loveless '73 Online: uri.edu/magazine Whatever you do—whether you paint or teach, build bridges or busi- Phone: 401.874.5895 nesses, explore the oceans, or care for those in need—the world needs you Executive Editor: Michele A. Nota ’87, M.S. ’06, now, more than ever. Keep doing what you do. SOCIAL SNAPS | INSTAGRAM Vice President, URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement —Barbara Caron, Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief: Barbara Caron Art Director: Kim Robertson Contributing Editors: Annie Babineau, Dina M. Dionizio ’91, Dave Lavallee ’79, M.P.A. ’87, Leslie Lowenstein, Corrections Kate O’Malley, Marybeth Reilly-McGreen CLASS NOTES IN MEMORIAM Contributing Designer: Cynthia McMillen Well, we really messed up Holly Clarification: Peter Clark ’92, Photographer: Nora Lewis Zimmermann, M.S. ’93. Holly did, Illustrations: Anthony Russo ’74 was listed in the “In Memo- Digital Design: Laurel McLaughlin ’92 in fact, finish first in the international riam” section of the summer Editorial Board: women cohort of the 2018 Mount issue. We heard from Peter J. Kelly Mahoney ’03, Executive Director, External Everest Marathon, but we incorrectly Clark ’92 (same name and Relations and Communications; spelled her last name “Zimmerman” class year, different person), Move-In 2020 Fresh and Beautiful ROTC Lab Engineering Fun Linda A. Acciardo ’77, Director, Communications and Marketing; (missing the final n) and we neglected who wanted to clarify that Day 4 of move-in is going great, These great looking fresh fruit Cramer’s Sabers battalion’s first The URI Society of Women Austen Farrell, Chief Marketing Officer, URI to note that her degree was a master’s he is alive and well in thanks to our RAMS and RAs!!! cups are available at Brookside lab included classes on the chain Engineers made tie-dye T-shirts Foundation & Alumni Engagement degree. Our sincere apologies, Holly! Pennsylvania. #rhodytogether Bistro and Butterfield! Thanks of command, uniform regulations, on the Quad in September. University safety guidelines regarding photography and Read more about Holly on page 53. @urihealthsvcs URI Catering for making these crossing linear danger areas, and Forty people participated in videography adhere to directives from the Centers for daily. #uridining more. #SABERS socially distant small groups. Disease Control and Prevention and Rhode Island @uridining @cramers.sabers @uriengineering Department of Health.

6 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 7

=BAY AND BEYOND= Currents Holy Moly! That’s a Big Quahog! News Ticker Get more Get more news at at news today.uri.edu A family outing turned into a lucky—and record-breaking— day for 11-year-old Cooper Monaco.

= IN BRIEF = TRACKING FISHING LOCATIONS Thomas Sproul, a natural resource economist at URI, is mapping commercial 100-Million-Year-Old Microbes Awakened fishing activity to provide data to offshore URI oceanographer Steve D’Hondt, and a global team of researchers investigating for the wind regulators and developers, aiming to Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, recently examined sediment reduce conflict between the two ocean- taken from nearly 20,000 feet undersea, in the middle of the South Pacific Gyre. dependent industries. The team wanted to know if microbes could exist in this underwater desert, lacking nutrients and organic material. They drilled numerous sediment cores below the seafloor and found oxygen present in all their samples. Their findings suggest that if COVID-19 DASHBOARD sediment accumulates slowly on the seafloor, at a rate of no more than An online case tracker is helping to monitor a meter or two every million years, oxygen will penetrate, allowing for coronavirus cases at URI. The dashboard is oxygen-dependent microorganisms to survive for millions of years. designed to provide up-to-date information When the team incubated the samples to coax the microbes to grow, on COVID-19 cases, testing, and quarantine they found that the microbes were capable of growing and dividing. and isolation space. “What’s most exciting about this study is that it shows that there are no limits to life in the old sediment of the world’s ocean,” said D’Hondt, co-author of the study. “In the oldest sediment we’ve drilled, with the least amount of food, there are still living organisms, and they can wake up, grow and multiply.” SEABIRDS CONTAMINATED Research conducted by Graduate School of Oceanography doctoral student Anna Robuck found high levels of chemical Communicating contaminants, including PFASs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), in seabirds with Brain Signals from coastal areas in Massachusetts, Rhode Engineering professor Yalda Shahriari has Island, and North Carolina. been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop a method for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients to communicate using brain signals. Recognizing the MOBILE APP LAUNCHED limitations of current communication RhodyConnect, developed by URI’s Cooper Monaco poses with the giant quahog he found last summer. methods based on eye movement, her Information Technology Services and Moto research could lead to new technology that Labs, puts information, including news, leven-year-old Cooper Monaco was Cooper’s mother, Sherrie Monaco, says would not depend on fine eye control. calendars, visitor maps, sports schedules, “I felt the edge of it and Shahriari and her team will develop and more, at your fingertips. Download at E clamming with his grandfather last the family searched online and learned I thought, ‘Holy moly, algorithms to improve brain-computer Apple’s App Store or Google Play Store. summer in Weekapaug, Rhode Island, that the oldest ocean quahog, nicknamed interface systems for patients with severe when he discovered what may be the Ming, was dredged from the waters off this is a clam!’ So I pulled motor deficits and will create an autonomous largest clam ever harvested from Rhode Iceland in 2006, and scientists calculated it out. It was amazing.” URI doctoral student Bahram Borgheai and hybrid system for non-communicative Island waters. Monaco and his family that it was 507 years old. The quahog URI Assistant Professor Yalda Shahriari (right) patients who are without residual motor VOTING IN A PANDEMIC donated it to URI’s Marine Science found by Cooper is comparable in size to the interesting research conducted here adjust the cap used to monitor ALS patient function, such as those who lose their eye- Engineering professor Gretchen Macht Research Facility at the Narragansett Ming, though its age has not yet been and explain why it’s important.” Doug Sawyer’s brain activity. gaze control in the late stages of ALS. conducted national research benefiting Bay Campus. determined. The facility hosts an array of research both 2020 and future elections by develop- The quahog—measuring 5.75 inches “I’ve been reading the Guinness Book and features dozens of tanks holding a ing polling location layout models that across and weighing 2 pounds, 7.75 ounces of World Records, so I told my mom not to variety of marine life, most of which is consider public health needs and wait times. Record Research —is one of the largest specimens on cook it just in case it’s a record-breaker,” used for research on the changing marine record, though the Rhode Island Depart- said Cooper. environment. This year’s research topics Ranking ment of Environmental Management Ed Baker, manager of the URI Marine include the effect of warming water on The College of Pharmacy has been ranked NEW PROGRAMS does not keep quahog records. A typical Science Research Facility, said the quahog the development of juvenile lobsters, how 8th in the country for federal funding, This fall, URI launched an online master’s quahog grows to about 4 inches across. would be displayed at the facility, along microplastics affect oysters, disease resis- having secured more than $18 million in program in supply chain management “I was down on my hands and knees in with blue lobsters and other Narragansett tance in local oysters, and understanding fiscal year 2019. The ranking, among 143 and applied analytics, the first online pharmacy colleges, makes URI the only the water looking for clams, and I touched Bay sea creatures. coral biology to improve its survival program of its kind in the nation. And a Northeast school to make the top 20. this huge rock thing,” he said. “And then “We try to inspire young kids to get around the world. • new bachelor’s degree in professional I felt the edge of it and I thought, ‘Holy interested in marine science by showcas- —Todd McLeish leadership studies will help students moly, this is a clam!’ So I pulled it out. It ing some of the marine life found in the develop critical thinking and strategic decision-making skills. was amazing.” bay,” he said. “We also highlight some of

8 FALL 2020 PHOTO: MICHAEL SALERNO PHOTO: TODD MCLEISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 9 CURRENTS

= BEHIND THE SCENES = Stay Calm and Know the Drill At the center of URI’s response to COVID-19 is Ellen Reynolds ’91, assistant vice president of student health and wellness and the director of Health Services at URI. Known for her boundless energy, calm demeanor, and willingness to do whatever it takes to solve the problem at hand, she’s leading URI’s response to this crisis with characteristic poise.

Reynolds was central llen Reynolds ’91 had only been the munity about the steps it was taking, Reynolds E University’s director of Health Services was often the primary person talking directly in planning for URI’s for about a year-and-a-half when she received with those students and their parents. Through return to in-person disturbing news the morning of Oct. 21, 2014: the din of constantly ringing phones and con- classes this fall, A student who had been to Liberia—the versations at the University’s Emergency Opera- establishing isolation African country being decimated by Ebola— tions Center, she retained her smile and calm had returned to campus exhibiting symptoms manner, and even managed to squeeze in time and quarantine consistent with the often-fatal disease. for interviews with the media. processes, and The student tested negative for Ebola, Reynolds’ commitment and steadiness have developing resources but that scare helped Reynolds and her team helped her lead URI’s public health response to respond decisively to a suspected case of the COVID-19 outbreak and anchor the Uni- for students. COVID-19 on the first day of classes in January versity’s COVID-19 Task Force, along with the 2020. Eventually, the student tested negative University’s Office of Emergency Management for the virus, but Reynolds and her team knew and other administrative units. She is also in the drill: They immediately isolated the student, constant contact with the Rhode Island Depart- meals were delivered to her door, and URI ment of Health. Makerspace URI at the Carothers Library and Learning Commons gives students and faculty access to fabrication equipment, Health Services personnel used technology In that role, Reynolds was central in plan- like the 3D printer pictured here. Your support makes URI a place where big ideas and bold plans come to life. to check in with her daily. In addition, her ning for URI’s return to in-person classes this roommates were removed immediately from fall, establishing isolation and quarantine pro- = BIG IDEAS. BOLD PLANS. = the shared room, tested, and quarantined for cesses, and developing resources for students. two weeks. Before the start of the fall semester, Reynolds A View to the Campaign Reynolds says that knowing the drill means and her Health Services team tested close to With the summer issue, the magazine announced Big Ideas. Bold Plans. “frequent training for our doctors, nurses, EMS 4,000 students moving into campus residence The Campaign for the University of Rhode Island. Chairman of the public responders, and staff in how to put on and take halls. She helped develop URI’s COVID-19 off personal protective equipment, as well as tracker, which gives students, faculty, staff, par- phase, Richard J. Harrington ’73, Hon. ’02, offers his personal infection-control precautions, contact tracing, ents, and the general public daily updates on reflections on what the campaign means for URI. inventory control, and supply management.” testing, positive cases, and the numbers of stu- In February 2020, as the pandemic was dents in isolation and quarantine. his is a transformational moment We are also a flagship public research more resilient, resourceful, and better beginning to spread internationally, “Our effective response to COVID-19 T for URI. Over the past decade, the institution. Last year, we received more prepared to serve our state, this nation, a URI team was formed to depends on a thorough understanding of University has built on a solid foundation than $100 million in competitive grants and our world. bring students back to the epidemiology, health-care delivery, incident and reached new levels of excellence. for innovative research. Our faculty, The one thing I want everyone to United States—first from management, and crisis communication,” This campaign is an effort to bring in graduate students, and undergraduates remember is this: To succeed, we need China, and then from says Sam Adams, URI’s Emergency resources for scholarships and campus are leading the way in solving the critical our whole community to mobilize like other countries—and Management director and assistant improvements that will benefit students challenges of the 21st century. never before, because we are at a pivotal to inform the com- director of Public Safety. “In all and faculty, but it is also a great source of Our students are destined to leave moment in our history. I want every alum of these respects, I couldn’t ask alumni pride. We will have new opportu- their mark on our world because they to realize that they are part of this success for a better partner than Ellen nities to highlight our past and present are thinkers, dreamers, and doers. From and that we are all connected through Ellen Reynolds ’91 was unsure of her career path as an Reynolds as URI navigates the achievements, and more ways to let others saving our oceans to early detection of this institution. undergrad, but an internship at South County Hospital complexities of this historic know what a great University we have. Alzheimer’s, to changing public spaces I look forward to connecting with more in her senior year paved the way to a full-time job there Today, URI recruits students with through art and launching new compa- of our alumni, hearing more personal and a career in health-care management. She holds a event. Her knowledge, poise, master’s degree in health-care administration from Salve and dedicated leadership bring vision and passion who bring with them nies, the people of URI are making a stories of your URI experience, and Regina University and is completing a doctorate in out the best in everyone a wide variety of skills and life experi- difference. moving our University forward together. educational leadership at Johnson & Wales on our team.” • ences. We have nearly 18,000 of them, The campaign takes a comprehensive GO RHODY! University. —Dave Lavallee ’79, representing 48 states and 76 countries. approach to ensuring our students’ suc- —Richard J. Harrington ’73, Hon. ’02 M.P.A. ’87 We welcome people from all walks of life cess through access to the best faculty, Campaign Chair, Public Phase and backgrounds because that is essential campus, education, and developmental to our mission as a land, sea, and urban experience possible. This bold undertak- grant university. ing has the power to ensure that URI is

10 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: COURTESY ELLEN REYNOLDS; NORA LEWIS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 11 CURRENTS

=MEDIA SPOTLIGHT= = RHODE TAKEN = You Can Quote Me Saving the Planet—One Turtle at a Time CALLIE VEELENTURF ’14

On the discovery and resuscitation of 100-million-year-old microbes under the seafloor: On how the pandemic has motivated more people to realize they should allie Veelenturf ’14 The most exciting part of this study is that it basically shows that not put off end-of-life discussions: “ C was nearing the end RHODE TO A there is no limit to life in the old sediment of Earth’s ocean. of a five-month sea turtle DEGREE research project in Panama Maintaining full physiological capability for 100 million years “I believe in starving isolation is an impressive feat.” when the nation’s borders we are living in were closed due to the pan- Deciding Moment —Steven D’Hondt, professor of oceanography a real watershed moment. demic, forcing her to remain Listening to upperclassmen in the country for three Reuters (The pandemic) will not during a marine biology months longer than planned. information session. “All of my allow us to be as death- She had just completed her doubts went away.” On the impact of the coronavirus, the widening digital divide, and the cost to avoiding or death-fearing, first project as a National = distribute basic technology to students: at least for some Geographic Explorer, docu- Mentors menting nests of endangered Marine biology professor “If districts don’t receive additional revenue, they will either have to period of time.” Jacqueline Webb dip into a rainy day fund, ask for additional revenues from the state, sea turtles, investigating human interactions with the and fellowship advisor Kathleen Maher or move internal revenues to create more fungible revenue.” turtles, and educating residents —Sara Murphy, adjunct faculty and = —R. Anthony Rolle, dean, Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies certified thanatologist about the threats turtles face. The founder of The Scholarships Wired US News and World Report Centennial Scholarship and Leatherback Project, a sea NOAA Hollings Scholarship turtle conservation organiza- = tion, Veelenturf spent her On teaching kids to spot fake news: On whether invasive alien animal species could cause Campus Leadership another coronavirus: unexpected additional time Civic engagement leader in Panama launching an for URI 101; Trip leader for Ideally, discerning how media international campaign for “ When you bring in an animal, either Alternative Spring Breaks influences us should start early on, before a universal declaration of the to Austin, Texas, and Nashville, through the illegal wildlife trade or as a Tennessee. kids are even allowed on the internet. rights of nature, a concept pet, there’s a great possibility that it’s similar to human rights but = Young children need to develop a which states that every spe- Volunteer Work going to be carrying some Leatherback nest excavation in Equatorial Guinea. Excavating nests vocabulary for media literacy early in life. cies of wildlife has the right 500 hours with AmeriCorps ” pathogens that could be zoonotic after the incubation period ends involves removing and opening to exist and persist without all unhatched eggs and shells, and staging the sea turtle embryos. = or spread to other animals. fear of extinction from Veelenturf says, “It’s really interesting to see the different stages of Study Abroad —Renee Hobbs, professor of communication studies and human causes. Just two coun- development the sea turtles reached before growth stopped.” Bermuda Institute of Ocean director of the Media Education Lab at the tries, Ecuador and Bolivia, Sciences in junior year University of Rhode Island —Laura Meyerson, professor of natural resources science recognize these rights in their Center for Tropical Island Good Housekeeping The Independent UK constitutions, and Veelenturf aimed to encour- had a lifetime of experiences in just the last few Biodiversity in Panama age other countries to support the idea as well. years. She studied sea turtles in Costa Rica, as a senior “It’s a concept that really resonated with me, Equatorial Guinea, and Saint Kitts; traveled in = On the popularity of supplement use On ammonium nitrate, the chemical On the lack of discussion in doctors’ and I think it needs to be the basis of the global among teenage boys: behind the summer’s deadly offices on the important topic of a deep-sea vehicle 700 feet below the ocean sur- Influential Experience explosion in Beirut: patient diet and nutrition: change we need to see for the planet,” she says. face as part of a shark research expedition; won International Nonviolence Training, nutrition “We must consider the planet and nature when a photography contest sponsored by the journal Summer Institute through the URI Center and sleep need to “We want to encourage planning future development.” Nature; was named a fellow of The Explorers Ammonium nitrate Within weeks, she connected with several Club; tagged hammerhead sharks with conser- for Nonviolence and (physicians) to have Peace Studies: “They come first. Unless you can lawyers, conservationists, and other advocates vationists in Colombia; and launched a project normally sits nicely and treated us like we could say yes to all of those diet be part of the in Africa, Australia, and South America; met to reduce fisheries bycatch of sharks and sea behaves itself all be the next MLK.” conversation with the first lady of Panama; and worked with things, supplements turtles in Ecuador, where she will return for = until you do something and not something a Panamanian senator to draft legislation that six months beginning in January. And last should be off catastrophic to it. Degree that we ignore. is now before the country’s National Assembly. summer she was selected for the National B.S. marine biology the table. ” She also made a virtual presentation to the Geographic Society’s prestigious Early Career —Disa Hatfield, associate professor and —Maya Vadiveloo, assistant professor United Nations—her third time speaking to Leadership Program. chair of URI’s Department of Kinesiology —Jimmie Oxley, professor of chemistry of nutrition and food sciences the global intergovernmental organization— “I can’t believe all this is happening,” she to make her case on World Oceans Day. says. “It’s like my dreams are coming true.” • The New York Times The Wall Street Journal Today.com It was a whirlwind of activity, but that’s —Todd McLeish nothing new for Veelenturf. She has already

12 FALL 2020 PHOTO: COURTESY CALLIE VEELENTURF UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 13 CURRENTS

= WHY I TEACH = This is a Movement, Not a Moment CARNELL JONES JR. Adjunct Faculty Member, Africana Studies Program

In teaching his Black ovelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and a then-14-year-old Jones attended the funeral of “‘I just want you to come back home,’ she N civil rights activist James Baldwin his 19-year-old uncle, Kelvin Thompson, mur- would say.” Lives Matter course, famously said, “The paradox of education is dered in a drive-by shooting by two white men, While Jones the teenager chafed at the cur- Carnell Jones Jr. precisely this—that as one begins to become who shot him with a .22-caliber pistol while tailment of his freedom, Jones the father still includes stories and conscious one begins to examine the society Thompson was riding a bicycle on the Chef finds himself saying much the same thing to artifacts from his own in which he is being educated.” Menteur Highway in New Orleans. his own sons, now grown, when they head Carnell Jones Jr., URI’s director of enroll- Jones shares with his students court papers out the door. history with racial ment services and adjunct faculty member for and articles about the case, among them an “I tell them, ‘I don’t want you to go. I don’t violence and hate URI’s Africana Studies Program, understands appeal made by one of the two men convicted want to go through what my father went crimes, demonstrating wholly what Baldwin describes. Time and again, in the crime. In “State v. Messick,” the Fourth through,’” Jones says. “So it just gets passed on.” he has observed the students in his Black Lives Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana rejected to students that what Matter course transform from neophytes to convicted murderer Emmett Messick’s appeal. A generation willing to take a risk is public is also activists in the space of mere months. Messick, who is serving a life sentence without Jones sees the intersection of two historic personal, and that His Black Lives Matters course is always full. the possibility of parole for the murder of events, the Black Lives Matter movement and there is a place for Students routinely arrive to class early and after- Thompson, argued in his appeal that it was the COVID-19, spurring society to rail against ward trail him to the parking lot with lingering other murderer, Harold Allen, who actually shot racial injustice in numbers not seen since the everyone in the questions and comments on the day’s lesson. Jones’s uncle. Allen had already passed away in civil rights movement of the 1960s. “The pursuit of social Jones has watched his students engage in tele- prison. Added injury: The warden of the prison pandemic has forced the world to be on pause, justice. vised peaceful protests, and he’s had letters from in which Messick was incarcerated supported and people are seeing events happening, and parents moved at how their children have taken his petition, not only writing a letter on his saying, ‘This is wrong,'” Jones says. “This is classroom discussion to the dining room table. behalf but also showing up at court. “When why you see people flooding the streets. In June, media outlets Forbes and The New does a warden get involved in an appeal?” “This is a movement,” he says, “not a York Times noted that students, many still in Jones says. moment.” their teens, have made significant contributions “What the appeal doesn’t talk about, what What is encouraging is that Black Lives to the Black Lives Matter movement, organizing my father said, is that when they found my Matter protests are attracting a broader protests, raising awareness on social media, and uncle, the look on his face was one of shock. demographic than what was in evidence in donating money to activist organizations. Because when you’re hit like that, it captures the 1960s. Then, some citizens who might Today’s youth are informed, engaged, and ready your last expression,” Jones says. have protested, couldn’t, because such a pub- to act, says Jones. “I’m seeing my students out “And that was the first funeral I went to as a lic action would have surely meant a sacrifice there actively protesting, passionately speaking, young, Black man—seeing my uncle in a casket too great to bear,” Jones says. taking up the movement, and carrying it forward.” due to being killed at the hands of just cold- “During the 1960s, if you protested, you Jones has taught his Black Lives Matter blooded murderers.” would sacrifice something. You could lose a course since 2015, one of the first of its kind in What Jones needs no documentation to job, a scholarship. You pretty much had to New England. The readings change each semes- remember is the effect his uncle’s death had on participate in silence,” Jones says. “This gen- ter to keep abreast of current events and include his family. eration questions everything. They push other groups’ trials in the battle for civil rights. “To go to that funeral, to see my uncle in a back. They’re not concerned about sacrifice. This fall’s syllabus includes readings and discus- casket, was life-changing for me because that “They’ll take the risk.” • sion about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling was the first time I saw real pain,” Jones recalls. —Marybeth Reilly-McGreen that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ “I had never seen my grandmother cry. I’d never employees from discrimination based on sex, as seen my 17 uncles and aunts cry. I’d never seen well as the court’s decision to block the revoca- my father cry. I’m talking about wailing crying. tion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arriv- “My mother was traumatized. She felt she als program, popularly known as DACA, which had to do everything in her power to protect has protected from deportation some 700,000 her three sons,” Jones says. “Everything” meant individuals brought to this country as children. virtual home confinement for Jones and his brothers when they weren’t at school or engaged ‘I’m talking about wailing crying’ in sports. “My mom would tell me that when Another teaching tool: Jones’ own painful per- interacting with the police or folks outside of sonal history with racism and violence. In 1986, my comfort zone, to swallow my pride.”

14 FALL 2020 PHOTO: BRANDON FULLER UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 15 ast summer, URI Graduate School of Oceanography professor Brice Loose and his team found a disturbing amount of plastic in Arctic sea ice cores collected Lfrom floes during an 18-day Northwest Passage Project expedition. Sea ice tends to concentrate everything that is in the water, including nutri- ents, algae, and microplastics. “Even knowing what we knew about the occurrence of plastics across the globe—for us, it was kind of a punch to the stomach to see what looked like a normal sea ice core taken in such a beautiful, pristine environment just chock-full of this material that is so completely foreign,” Loose says.

Plastic has infiltrated the Earth’s environment. From Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, CAN WE TURN the ubiquitous material has been found in the air, the water, and even in the ice. URI is THE TIDE ON THE harnessing the expertise of researchers from all disciplines to address this global crisis, particularly in the area of marine plastics. Our alumni are equally engaged, tackling the PROBLEM OF Plastics? problem from a variety of important angles. By Diane M. Sterrett

Plastics are chemical compounds that have proven to be inordinately useful for humanity— disposable syringes for example. The problem is, they don’t degrade on a human timescale. And once discarded, they begin breaking down into micro- and nanoplastics and drift into the air and water, becoming virtually impossible to recover. The news is alarming, and inescapable. PBS NewsHour reports that over 9 billion metric tons of plastic has been created since the end of World War II. National Geographic reports that today, about 40 percent of the plastic produced each year is single-use plastic (SUP), and that about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations every year. And a 2016 World Economic Forum report said about one truckload of plastic waste is dumped into our oceans every minute. What’s more, increasing production may soon outstrip our ability to deal with it. Plastic production has increased exponentially, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons in 2015, and is expected to double by 2050.

16PHOTO: FALL NORA LEWIS 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 17 THREAT TO PLANET AND PEOPLE with life in the ocean, you’re messing with the human impacts on the environment, coastal giant spiderweb. Understanding that no single Peter J. Snyder, URI’s vice president for research one factor that is regulating the Earth’s tempera- resiliency, ocean health, marine biology, and the entity can solve everything, the group worked to and economic development and professor tures and storms. So by adding this much plas- impacts of global warming. We have talented distill that web into areas where URI could have of biomedical sciences, says the problem is, tic to the ocean, you are affecting the ability of and passionate people, and I see a lot of capabil- the greatest impact. indeed, growing exponentially and we don’t life itself to function.” ity to tackle these problems. That includes engi- From that web grew a University-wide stra- fully understand its ramifications. Pre-pandemic, there was international rec- neering, polymer chemistry, marine biology, tegic initiative with a working title of “Plastics: “It’s only been since the early 1970s that we ognition of the looming crisis and the idea that marine affairs, and public policy, as well as edu- Land to Sea.” Currently writing its position have recognized uncontrolled ocean pollution we have limited time to impact it in a meaning- cational, social, and cultural initiatives that we statement, the group is refining thrust areas for from plastic waste,” he says, “and alarm bells ful way. But COVID-19 increased demand for need to take to really wrap our arms around the research. didn’t start ringing until 20 years ago.” plastic production. complexity of this problem.” “We’re taking an inordinately complex prob- You’ve likely seen distressing videos of sea “We are now producing, using, and throwing Snyder’s brainstorming group mapped all the lem and identifying five research areas we can turtles with straws stuck in their nostrils or away more gloves, masks, drapes, curtains, and ways plastic gets into the marine environment go deep in and really have an impact. We’ve whales hopelessly tangled in monofilament fish- surgical gowns than ever before. If you walk and how URI could identify approaches to miti- been working with faculty across the University ing line. “Those macroplastics threaten pinnacle beaches, even here in Rhode Island, it’s not a gating the problem. The result looked like a as well as external partners and will release our 9 species in the food chain and therefore the shock to find single-use plastic surgical masks initiative with a new website and campaign this billion metric tons entire food web that we depend on,” Snyder or gloves. Until we have a treatment that’s effec- fall,” Snyder reports. explains. “Bacteria, viruses, and invasive species tive, I don't see an end in sight,” Nixon says. One of the five research thrust areas is the of plastic has been could also adhere to micro- and nanoplastics The Economist reports that consumption of textile industry and microfibers, apt in light of created since the and be transported by ocean currents. Nano- SUPs may have grown by 250–300 percent in Rhode Island’s industrial history. Throughout plastics aggregate as biofilms on the surface the United States since the coronavirus took the water column, 85 percent of microplastic end of World War II. of the ocean and are ingested by all forms of hold, according to the International Solid Waste particles are shed from textiles. In addition, aquatic life, which end up in the tissue of the Association. That includes essential personal more than 100 million tons of textile fibers fish and shellfish we eat. And we’re finding protective equipment as well as the return of made from plastics are produced each year. 40 them in our own bodies.” plastic grocery bags, a boom in e-commerce Wearing and laundering them results in the percent of the plastic The effects of plastic on human health are packaging, and restaurant food packaged in sin- continual shedding of microfibers into the produced each year less well-known, though a new Center for gle-use containers for takeout and delivery. In environment, which are not visible or retriev- International Environmental Law report sug- addition, the pandemic has curtailed some recy- able. Many end up in the marine environment is single-use plastic. gests exposure to plastics poses distinct toxic cling programs for SUP bags. and by then it’s too late, literally water under risks and intersecting human health impacts “The pandemic has set aside all sorts of new the bridge, says Snyder. ranging from cancer to neurotoxicity, low birth legislation and municipal regulations that were “URI has textile scientists working alongside weight, and cardiovascular disease. just beginning to take effect with the hope marine biologists, engineers, pharmacists, and Angela Slitt, a professor in the Department of causing some improvement,” Snyder says. chemists—as well as textile manufacturers—to of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, “Collectively there had been 15 years of slow inform research on new generation textiles that has researched the health impacts of bisphenol consumer education and behavior modification shed less. But it’s not enough to invent these A (BPA), and how exposure early in life affects to re-think single-use plastics, to re-use cups, things, you have to implement them. We need the liver through fat accumulation and don’t ask for straws, and bring canvas bags to social and political scientists to help us design increased body weight. the market. All those little things have incre- public policy and eventual legislation,” says Snyder. “There is a real concern for exposure to micro- mental benefits. That’s all being undone. What’s plastics. They have a lot of different components it going to mean to try to reverse that now?” NEW PURPOSE FOR OLD BOATS in them, possibly BPA. Microplastics might also Nixon, in his role as director of Rhode Island act as carriers for perfluoroalkyl substances URI TACKLES PLASTICS Sea Grant, leads research devoted to improving (PFAS) that are found in things like Teflon and URI students, faculty, and alumni are involved the management of Rhode Island’s coastal firefighting foam, called ‘forever chemicals’. We on many fronts and in a wide range of research. waters. Seven years ago, the Rhode Island need to know more and to understand how to Last winter, Snyder hosted a brainstorming ses- Marine Trade Association (RIMTA) brought enjoy the conveniences of day-to-day life with- sion of experts from across the University to a problem to his attention. out having these types of chemical exposures.” discuss how URI could tackle the problem. As “There was a tremendous surplus of end- a research university, he says, URI has tremen- Dennis Nixon, M.M.A. ’76, director of Rhode Island of-life fiberglass boats rotting away and landfills WE NEED SOLUTIONS NOW dous value to bring to this global effort. Sea Grant and professor of marine affairs, often were not eager to accept them. They challenged commutes to URI's Narragansett Bay Campus by “Our food web is at risk,” says Dennis Nixon, “We have one of the world’s finest schools me to find an environmentally sustainable solu- kayak, traveling across the bay's West Passage from M.M.A. ’76, director of Rhode Island Sea Grant of oceanography and one of the nation’s most Jamestown. On his commute, he finds large tion,” Nixon says. and professor of marine affairs. “If scientists are productive colleges of environment and life quantities of trash floating on the water. “If scientists A breakthrough came when he and then- correct, there will be more plastic than fish in sciences. Our research strengths are squarely are correct,” says Nixon, “There will be more plastic research assistant Evan Ridley ’15, M.A. ’17, the ocean by 2050. When you start messing within environmental science, the study of than fish in the ocean by 2050.” attended a marine show in Europe and discovered

18 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: JASON JAACKS; NORA LEWIS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 19 German scientists were working on a process to WHAT’S HIDING IN OUR OYSTER BEDS? the chemical composition of microplastic turn fiberglass windmill turbines into virgin While Nixon focuses on macroplastics, Andrew particles in Narraganset Bay. So far, they have cement. They thought: Why not use the same J. Davies, associate professor of biological sci- identified polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene process on boats? They began to solve the tech- ences, is working at the other end of the spec- microbeads, as well as a few synthetic pigments, nical issues and Ridley wrote his master’s thesis trum, microplastics. He is also lead principal and are continuing to identify and quantify on the topic. investigator for the Ocean State Initiative for microplastic pollution and its impact on impor- “We solved the, ‘Can you do it?’ question, Marine Plastics (OSIMAP), a group he formed tant species. but it was important for industry to own the to serve as a central point for coordinated A graduate of URI’s textiles, fashion mer- process,” Nixon explains. “So we transferred all research efforts. They are working to better chandising and design program, Maynard- the knowledge over to RIMTA and Evan went inform stakeholders and the public about the Dean’s background provides a unique perspec- from being my graduate student to directing the impact of marine plastics on the ocean. tive. He says his OSIMAP experience was project. Rhode Island is now a national leader in “We’re the Ocean State and we have such an rewarding and challenging. 60 solutions for end-of-life fiberglass boats and incredible natural environment right on our “Having spent my undergraduate years tons of fiberglass other states are calling on us. It’s a great example doorstep, but we don’t have that much quantifi- learning about the negative environmental of how to use the best of science and engineer- able information about plastics in the environ- impacts of the fashion industry and consumer from 45+ boats has ing to help a real pollution problem.” ment,” he says. “We don’t know that much about habits, I was left with a desire to reform the Marine biology and ocean engineering major been diverted from Over at RIMTA, the project is now named how many plastics there are, where they’re com- systems that contribute to environmental Jacqui Roush '23 (left) and marine biology and the Rhode Island Fiberglass Vessel Recycling ing from, or where they’re going. Establishing and ecological destruction. Working on the chemistry major Cara Megill '21 pump water from Rhode Island landfills Narragansett Bay through a filtration system built program. Ridley reports they have recycled 60 that baseline is really important.” OSIMAP project and specifically with the by URI professor Andrew Davies. and junkyards. tons of fiberglass taken from more than 45 boats One OSIMAP project is studying how Raman spectroscope has proven to be the diverted from Rhode Island landfills and junk- microplastics affect commercially important perfect platform to help develop a clearer yards since they began formal recycling activities. species to understand how changes due to sea- understanding of the extent of plastic pollution PLASTICS IN THE FOOD WEB “The work ahead is focused on developing sons, rainfall and weather patterns, and human and its environmental and ecological impacts.” Kelton McMahon, assistant professor of ocean- partnerships and logistic pathways that give us behavior affect microplastics levels. ography, is in the beginning stages of an OSIMAP greater capacity to deal with the millions of Coleen Suckling, assistant professor of sus- KNOWING MORE ABOUT MICROPLASTICS study of how plastic may be propagating through boats awaiting end-of-life management,” Ridley tainable aquaculture, runs URI’s clean labora- Another OSIMAP project is measuring the the food web. His project focuses on two com- says. “The ultimate intention is to continue tory, the facility needed for the intensive work quantity, sizes, and types of microplastics in mercially important taxa, bivalves and crabs. refining the process and our capacity to supply of extracting, quantifying, and characterizing Narragansett Bay and their movement. Davies “We’re looking at the impact of plastic on material to end users in the cement manufac- the microplastic samples they collect. built a complex pump and filtration system to the biology of these organisms, which in turn turing industry and beyond, while documenting Suckling, an eco-physiologist gaining recog- increase sampling volume and provide more impacts their quality as food, how susceptible and reporting to stakeholders.” nition as a leading expert in sea urchin aquacul- reliable results. This summer, URI students they are to being eaten, and how they can bioac- ture, is researching how animals interact with Cara Megill ’21 and Jacqui Roush ’23 used the cumulate plastics as one organism eats another. and are impacted by microplastics. “My exper- filter to gather samples from a dozen sites They can quickly increase their concentration tise within this project is to determine whether around the bay. They found microscopic pieces of plastics with every bite,” McMahon says. the physiology of oysters, crabs, and sea urchins of plastic at every site they tested, from Point He is also considering the intersecting rela- is impacted by the type and concentration of Judith to Providence, as well as the middle of tionships between the physical plastics in the microplastics in our coastal waters. To assess the bay. Back in the lab, they’re analyzing sam- organisms and the physiologic and metabolic this, I’m measuring their growth, metabolic ples to identify the sources of the microplastics. impacts they might have in terms of nutritional 448 million tons of plastic rate, and energetic needs.” So far, they’re seeing plastics that look like they value, size, and the possibility of transferring “We don’t expect that current field concen- are from fishing line and laundered clothing. pollutants and pathogens. was produced in 2015. trations of microplastics will have that much of “I’ve always been passionate about studying a negative impact on the oyster itself,” Davies plastic pollution, and this research has solidified FILTERING PLASTICS FROM WASTEWATER That's expected to explains, “but we anticipate there are indirect that interest,” Megill says. “I especially want to OSIMAP co-principal investigator Vinka double by 2050. effects, for example on the oyster’s reproduction study the effects of plastics on coral reefs. The Oyanedel-Craver, professor of environmental or resilience to disease.” field and lab work I did this summer has con- engineering, is focusing on microplastics in Rory Maynard-Dean ’20, an OSIMAP intern, vinced me I’m heading in the right direction.” wastewater treatment facility outflow. Her team worked with Davies using the clean lab’s Raman “There are so many different dimensions to conducted a critical literature review of extrac- spectroscope—a type of laser beam—to determine the microplastics problem that it’s going to take tion and identification reports from wastewater multiple projects, multiple principal investiga- purification sites and discovered extensive dif- Through the Rhode Island Fiberglass Vessel Recycling tors, and multiple years to really start to under- ferences in the methodology use, which made Program, Evan Ridley '15, M.A. '17, leads efforts to stand it,” Davies says. “It’s an impactful area of it difficult to fully assess the magnitude of recover and dismantle end-of-life boats, like this one at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, research that represents a challenge for scien- microplastics contamination. There is a trend using the fiberglass hulls to create virgin cement. tists, managers, and stakeholders.” toward using common methodologies, which

20 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: JASON JAACKS; AYLA FOX; TODD MCLEISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 21 WE NEED BETTER DATA “We help Fortune 500 companies understand designing packaging and goods so that they can Recognizing the ubiquity of plastic in our lives, what packaging is recyclable, how best to recy- be reused or recycled, to ‘keep the molecule in Christopher M. Reddy ’97, senior scientist in cle it, how they can make environmental claims play.’ This is very different from our current lin- the Department of Marine Chemistry and legally, how they can reduce their carbon foot- ear economy, which, for the most part, is: Make, Geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceano- print and increase their recyclability, and how use, dispose.” graphic Institution, studies how plastic breaks they can incorporate recycled content in their At Circular Matters, Bush works with com- down in the environment. His goal: Create a products and packaging,” Bell explains. Right panies, communities, trade organizations, and better plastic with a shorter life span. now his company is working with Colgate-Pal- manufacturers to ensure packaging is as recycla- “I find it fascinating to see when nature wins molive on a recyclable toothpaste tube for their ble as possible while strengthening programs and when nature gets stymied when encounter- Tom’s of Maine brand, among others. and policies to achieve high recycling rates and ing a pollutant. How a chemical is assembled Bell is also working with countries around support the value of the material. often dictates how it might be broken down by the world and with several U.S. states on extended “We’re working to develop strong end mar- nature, or not,” Reddy says. “Part of my job is to producer responsibility, a policy approach that kets for recovered materials, including plastics. figure out the attribute in that chemical that will makes manufacturers more responsible—finan- If we can encourage consumers to recycle and last forever when you release it into the environ- cially and/or physically—for the treatment or purchase products with recycled content, the ment. And then inform manufacturers and poli- disposal of post-consumer products. market will expand, the material will have value cymakers about how they might change the for- “In every European country and many oth- and hopefully be treated as a commodity, not “The circular economy mulation, or use a different type of plastic, to ers around the world, producers have to pay for waste. A big part of this is ensuring consumers make the best product in the future.” every gram of packaging they put on the mar- understand what and how to recycle, so that stresses designing In checking his own lab results on how long ket. The fee is based on how easy it is to recycle processing is cost-effective.” goods so that waste One hundred million tons of textile fibers made plastics last in the environment against existing your materials—a clear PET (polyethylene tere- Currently there are strong markets for PET is designed out. That from plastics are produced each year. Jacqui data, Reddy found the numbers were all over phthalate) bottle will have a lower fee than a (soda and water bottles) and HDPE (shampoo Roush '23 holds a plastic textile fiber, a visible the place. Depending on which report you read, colored one. This creates stable funding for col- and milk bottles) plastics, which Bush says com- means re-using representation of the microplastics that she and the lifetime of a plastic grocery bag is anywhere lection and recycling. Many also have disruptor prise 98 percent of plastic bottles produced. materials at the end co-researcher Cara Megill '21 found at every from 20 to 500 years. Reddy and co-author fees—we call it ecomodulation. If you design PET is recycled into thermoform containers, Narragansett Bay site they tested last summer, of their first useful Colin P. Ward researched the disparity and pub- something stupidly, like putting a ceramic lid on fiber for carpet and clothing, and fiber-fill prod- from Providence to Point Judith and in the life in an environ- middle of the bay. lished their findings in Proceedings of the a glass bottle, you pay, because that contami- ucts like furniture. HDPE is recycled into plastic National Academy of Sciences USA. nates the recyclables. But if you do something bottles, engineered lumber such as composite mentally friendly “One key assumption behind the issue and smart with recycled content, you get dis- decking, lawn chairs, and garden edging. Rigid way and designing will eventually lead to comparable and more public outcry is that plastics last indefinitely in counts—a great economic incentive to do things polypropylene plastics such as margarine tubs packaging and goods accurate information. Depending on treatment the environment, resulting in chronic exposure correctly. It increases recycling rates and the and to-go containers also have relatively strong methodology, some reports showed an overall that harms animals and humans. But the data value of the recycled material.” domestic markets and are recycled into automo- so that they can be removal rate of 95–98 percent. supporting this assumption are scant. There is The United States, however, is one of the few tive products, buckets, railroad ties, and other reused or recycled, “Our wastewater treatment systems are not wide variation among published data and a sur- places that still has single-stream recycling, which extruded products. to ‘keep the molecule specifically designed to capture microplastics, prising dearth of primary literature supporting leads to more contamination and less valuable which are very small and float, and are released it. We need better data—how long plastic sticks recycled content. “We have one of the most bro- POISED TO TURN THE TIDE in play.’ This is very in effluent. So even though 95 percent is a high around, what makes it break down, and what it ken systems in the developed world,” Bell says. There is much about the marine plastic pollu- different from our removal rate, if you count in terms of number of becomes—to make more informed decisions,” tion problem and its impact that is not yet fully current linear econ- MAKE WASTE A COMMODITY particles, 5 percent is still a lot of particles being Reddy says. understood, but URI researchers are poised to omy, which, for the released,” she explains. “We need new technolo- Though interrupted by the COVID-19 lab Susan Bush, M.S. ’93, agrees, pointing to statis- change that. 85 gies that are feasible to implement, and we are shutdown, Reddy and his team are starting tics that show the total plastic bottle recycling “If we don’t get a handle on the problem, I most part, is: Make, percent of microplastic studying electrocoagulation systems used in work again and he is hopeful for the future. “I collection rate in the United States was just 28.9 worry about my grandchildren. I wonder what use, dispose.” Brazil as a refinement treatment. In these sys- do think you can make a noticeable and mea- percent in 2018. “We can do certainly do better.” sort of world they’ll be inheriting,” Nixon says. particles are shed from tems, direct current is applied to metal elec- surable impact on this recognized environmen- Bush is a principal of Circular Matters in “They’ll be asking, ‘What was my grandfather —Susan Bush, M.S. '93 textiles. trodes that dissolve and change the charge of tal stressor. It is probably the easiest stressor Narragansett, Rhode Island, a consulting firm doing when they allowed this stuff to go on?’” Principal of consulting firm suspended particles. Bubbles form and particles that can be fixed in a reasonable timeframe.” that works to bring about the circular economy, “URI is a medium-sized university in the Circular Matters can be removed when they settle at the bottom a way of conducting business that is restorative smallest state in the country. We are not naïve in or float to the top.” PACKAGING MATTERS and regenerative in nature, which has been pop- thinking we can tackle this alone. We need to be Oyanedel-Craver’s team is also looking into Over in Jamestown, Rhode Island, Victor Bell ularized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. part of a national and international effort and the contribution of uncontrolled storm water ’73, M.M.A. ’77, helps multinational companies “The circular economy stresses designing we need strong partners, but we need to be in runoff, which some studies show could be the develop more eco-friendly packaging and navi- goods so that waste is designed out. That means the mix,” says Snyder. “Being a strong sea-based culprit for 70–80 percent of microplastic dis- gate complex sustainability regulations as the re-using materials at the end of their first useful institution with a strong ocean program, the charge into coastal systems. U.S. managing director of Lorax EPI. life in an environmentally friendly way and ocean is where we can have focused impact.” •

22 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: JASON JAACKS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 23

While still an undergraduate, Leah Hopkins ’20 became Takôy the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology’s first community “Cold weather” engagement specialist. Her job: Collaborate with academic A story told out of institutions, create educational programming, and raise the season disturbs the order of things. profile of Indigenous and tribal communities. A big job? Yes. But also one Hopkins has, in fact, been doing for almost 20 years.

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS 24 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 25 1. Takôy “Cold weather” some students came to understand they had been an excellent student. I felt like I A story told out of season disturbs the were benefitting from the wisdom of two had failed her. order of things. A harvest story, for dedicated scholars: Rojas and Hopkins. “I spent the next few years educating instance, shouldn’t be told in the spring if But not every student appreciated that. myself, trying to figure out what you believe that many things—plants and One student, part of a group presenting Sauncksquûaog animals, for instance—are sentient and on the Narragansett leader Canonicus, “Queens” malleable. This is what Leah Hopkins stumbled in the pronunciation of his name. Hopkins occupies a unique ’20, a member of the Narragansett Indian “I’m not even going to try,” she said. space in academia and ATribe, the Algonquian people native to Rojas used the moment to explain to Rhode Island, was taught as a child. society: She is a bridge the undergraduates that scholarship—and 3. Sauncksquûaog. “Queens” Winter is the time for stories. human decency—demands that students between two cultures. This is why, URI English professor pronounce a name correctly. Hopkins, for It is a sunny Friday afternoon in June Martha Elena Rojas explains to her class whom the leader in question is an ances- Narragansett or Wampanoag texts I could 2019, and Hopkins is having coffee and one day in the fall of 2019, they will not tral relation, is pragmatic. “It’s a common include. Who was doing the work in oce- checking her phone with the frequency be following the dictates of her syllabus occurrence,” she reflects. “We do what we anic Indigenous studies?” of a teenager. She is awaiting word as to on that particular day. The class, “What can to change it. And then Hopkins returned to URI in whether she will be offered the position of Cheer: Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism,” “It’s a 400-year-old battle.” the spring of 2018. community engagement specialist at the surveys literature of Colonial America “I started school in 2008 and I stepped Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at through the lens of critical race theory, 2. Unchemokauhettíttea “Let us away for a while because I was working at Brown University in Providence. There is specifically examining settler colonialism, discourse.” the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and serious competition and Hopkins is not the conquering and subjugation of Native Research Center full time,” Hopkins says. yet done with her undergraduate degree. Rojas recalls Hopkins, an anthropology people by settlers, as a structure rather “I was on that museum trajectory, and I If she gets the position, it will mean a full- major, being a star student when they met than an event. The class was to read honestly thought, ‘Why do I need this?’ I time job and coursework, come the fall, as in 2008. So it was a big surprise when she “Moshup,” a creation story, but it was fall. didn’t drop out of school so much as I just well as the demands that come with a pre- Hopkins, a member of the Narragansett left URI. kind of stopped taking classes for a while, cocious 3-year-old. Indian tribe and a student in the class, “She disappeared from my class one because in my mind I was really like, Hopkins is not too worried, though. brought this to Rojas’ attention. Hopkins day, and I didn’t have a conversation with ‘Why do I need this degree? I’m already She is the product of a strong matrilineal calls herself an educator, but the term her about why. English 396, ‘The Litera- in the field,’ and then my husband was heritage. One of her ancestors, Queen seems inadequate given the scope ture of the Sea,’ at the time I was teaching like, ‘Just finish, just get it done. You’re Weetamoo, was a Pocasset Wampanoag of her work. it was more traditionally structured, and I almost there.’ sachem and ally of Metacomet, also Hopkins occupies a unique space in was transforming what had once been a “And my mom and dad wanted me to known as King Philip. Weetamoo led 300 academia and society: She is a bridge very male, very white canon.” troops into battle during King Philip’s War. finish, and I took a couple of classes here Leah Hopkins wears earrings created by her husband, Jonathan Perry. Perry is an Aquinnah between two cultures, tasked with keeping Rojas began adding African-American Wampanoag speaker, singer, actor, and artist, and a traditional Wampanoag boatbuilder. Like “The whole idea of American feminism and there, and then I had my son in the customs and traditions of her people and Black writers and women writers to Hopkins, the focus of his work is educating the public about Wampanoag history, culture, art, is relatively new, but Indigenous feminism 2016,” Hopkins says. her syllabi—writers and traditions. has existed for millennia,” Hopkins The arrival of a child might cause such as Olaudah observes. “The word for ‘woman’ in our some to postpone a return to school. Not Equiano, Phillis be open to it, to hear it, and not just moments when I told her, ‘You will be the language literally translates to ‘one with Hopkins. Motherhood compelled her to Unchemokauhettíttea Wheatley, Colson explain it away. She was returning to the expert in the room.’ It was an acknowl- final say.’” “Let us discourse.” Whitehead, Rachel finish. “And when I returned, that’s when class as I was implementing the changes edgement and an open invitation for her When people talk about Indigenous Carson, and I really developed my love for continuing she had prompted me to consider.” to deliver what were essentially mini- male leaders who spoke on behalf of their NourbeSe Philip. education.” Round two found the pair transcending lectures in the class,” Rojas says. communities, these men, these decisions, “And Leah asked And for a second time, Hopkins enrolled the usual professor-student relationship. Postscript: Hopkins won the presti- weren’t just off-the-cuff. They were alive while also diffusing that heritage to a me why there weren’t any Indigenous in Rojas’ “The Literature of the Sea” course. They became friends and collaborators. gious 2019 Rumowicz Maritime Essay decisions made with the consent of the wider, non-Indigenous group. writers on the syllabus given that we’re at “I was delighted when she called back “In the last 18 months of her college Contest for an essay written for Rojas’ elder women and the clan mothers of our The lesson on creation stories was one the University of Rhode Island. It was a years later to say that she was returning to career, Leah was a gift to me, still a stu- class, titled “The ‘Savage’ and the communities, because that’s just how we of many contributions Hopkins would lightbulb moment,” Rojas says. “I told her, URI. That moment of her return was a dent but possessing the knowledge and ‘Leviathan’: The Commodification of the functioned.” make to Rojas’ class over the course of the ‘There is no good reason.’ She left the happy convergence,” Rojas says. “Leah’s confidence of a colleague. We could have Bodies of Indigenous Men and Whales in What held hundreds of years ago again semester. And as the semester progressed, class shortly after that conversation. She question had stayed with me. I needed to frank conversations and there would be the Mid-nineteenth Century.” holds today. The female elders of her0

26 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 27 They wear their hair long and, in “Sometimes in academia or in daily Jonathan’s case, braided. They draw life, you have to set the stage of coloniza- attention. Sometimes it’s unwanted. tion before you can get to your point— “Automatically we become ambassadors what it is you really want to talk about,” for all Native people throughout Turtle Hopkins says. “So if you want to talk Indigenous artists welcome non-Native collectors of authentic Indigenous jewelry and designs. The best guarantee of quality and authenticity is Island—North America,” Hopkins says. about, for instance, responsible museum to buy from the artist directly, Hopkins says. On her feet, Hopkins wears moccasins embellished with traditional beadwork, which is an embroidery “For me it becomes exhausting when I’m curation, you need to talk about 400 years technique with glass beads. Hopkins’ cuffs were made by her sister-in-law, jewelry-maker Elizabeth James-Perry. The cuffs feature hundreds of wampum beads. having dinner at a Thai restaurant with of history first.” my husband—and it usually happens to Hopkins can handle translation my husband, I think, because not many exhaustion. It’s part of the job. She worries community are integral to the governance squash and beans; he is dressing venison people are used to seeing a man with long for Tristan, though. of its members, Hopkins notes. with maple sugar and garlic. The pair “I’m 29 and I’ve worked since I was a “So I think what would has worked together often over the years, young child to educate the public about be of value for academia and often with Tristan in tow. Only 3 years “So if you want to talk about Native people, to educate mostly non- institutions is to value Indig- old, Tristan has declared he, too, will give Native people, because those are the enous women. That’s where tours at museums, like his parents. responsible museum curation, people who really need that education,” all the knowledge is. I “We do this at home,” Hopkins tells Npépeyup náwwot you need to talk about 400 Hopkins says. “I work to enhance and shouldn’t say all the knowl- her small audience as she stirs the con- “I have long been here.” uplift our communities and obviously I’m edge because that negates tents of the small pot. There is no irony in years of history first.” always learning, and I’ll continue to learn men. But that’s where a lot her tone but it does underscore the fact —Leah Hopkins and I’ll continue to share what I’ve of knowledge is held. And that people are paying close attention to a learned, but I already see the microag- I’m not saying, ‘Listen to me mundane activity Hopkins and Perry will braids. But when you’re sitting down to a gressions toward my son. He is constantly because I’m a woman,’ but there’s a lot to likely repeat later that evening, without an private meal and people just come up told what a pretty girl he is because of his be learned by listening to women. So I audience. and ask, ‘Are you Native American?’ And long hair. hope to use my position as an Indigenous During a lull, Hopkins shares how she you say, ‘Yes,’ and then the litany of ques- “He’s a strong little spirit, but I still woman to bring light to our history and came to work in museums. “In 2008, I tions starts. want him to be able to grow up and not our knowledge and our voice.” had a high school internship here. My “Meanwhile you’re being polite and have to be an ambassador for Native peo- She got the job. mom was friends with the director of you’re talking to them but your food’s get- ple if he doesn’t want to be. Obviously, he public programs, Trudie Lamb-Richmond, ting cold. We’ve had that happen quite a 4. Npépeyup náwwot. “I have long and she took me under her wing. I really can do whatever he wants. I hope he will few times.” never encounter somebody who dresses been here.” liked the public education aspect. I spent time studying exhibits. I moved up to the Cold pad thai is one thing, but then up as a Native person for Halloween. It is late September, mid-afternoon at a position of educator. Then I became an there’s also translation exhaustion—the “I don’t want to break his little heart, th living history event, a 17 -century education planning coordinator for the term refers to the scaffolding Indigenous you know, by explaining that this is how encampment, at the Mashantucket Pequot Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in Aquin- people often must provide when in con- we’re represented. That we’re caricatures.” Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, nah, Massachusetts.” versation with non-Indigenous people. If there’s to be translation exhaustion, Connecticut. Hopkins, her husband, A family of four—husband, wife, and An example: To understand why an Indig- Hopkins will bear the burden in the Jonathan Perry, and their son, Tristan, are two adolescent sons—arrives, pausing the enous person might take umbrage in a hopes of creating a different experience dressed in traditional period clothing of conversation. After Hopkins introduces discussion about civil rights, it would help for her son. th the 17 century. Hopkins and Perry are her family, the woman smiles at Tristan to first know that they weren’t granted the “I can continue to educate people for Hopkins' work as the Haffenreffer Museum's demonstrating Indigenous meal prepara- and asks, “Where is your bow and arrow?” rights afforded to citizens of the United the rest of my life, and I absolutely will. I first community engagement specialist will tion: She is adding spices to a pot of Turning to Hopkins, she asks, “What is States until the Nationality Act of 1940, want to make Native people want to work ensure local Indigenous people's visibility and his Indian name?” and were prohibited from practicing their with museums and to make museums want cultural continuity. religion until 1978. That’s not a typo. The to work with Native communities,” she says. “I hope to use my position “We don’t share our Native names. We keep those private,” Hopkins replies. American Indian Religious Freedom Act “This is what I was meant to do.” • as an Indigenous woman to The woman presses the issue. Hopkins was ratified in 1978. In casual and, some- is gracious but steadfast. The answer is a times, academic conversation, it falls to bring light to our history and Author's note: The Indigenous language firm no. Finally, the family moves on. the Indigenous person to provide the his- used in the headings of this story is taken our knowledge and our voice.” It is a tough ending to the day but torical framework for a contemporary from Roger Williams’ A Key Into the —Leah Hopkins by no means unusual. Hopkins and conversation to begin to take place, Language of America. her husband are physically striking. Hopkins explains.

28 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 29 Left, Adam Oliveri and Bryan Ferguson work remotely at Bayberry Beer Hall in Providence. Below, Adam and Bryan enjoy downtime at Bayberry with their wives, who both attended URI, Felice Gerstel-Friedman and Meghan Ferguson '06.

Honing Their Craft

Adam Oliveri ’05 and Bryan Ferguson ’05 used the skills they developed at URI to build a burgeoning boutique craft beer business.

By Grace Kelly and business manager of Shaidzon Beer “I had my eye on Craft Collective long 50 employees, with a portfolio that Company in Kingston, Rhode Island, and before they started distributing in Rhode includes local breweries like Proclamation he story of Adam Oliveri ’05, Bryan doo-ah.’ That was my part in one of the so we just decided to get really good at a one of their suppliers. “It’s also the strat- Island,” he says. “From what I could see and Shaidzon, craft beverage peddlers like TFerguson ’05, and Craft Collective, songs we covered, “Semi-Charmed Life” few things,” says Ferguson. “And that’s not egy of their clients and accounts they they had the best beer brands, which I The Nitro Cart and Anchor & Hope, and their beer distribution company, begins by Third Eye Blind.” terribly different from the approach we’ve work with—these really restaurants and bars llike with a song. With each smooth harmony, jum taken with our business.” beer-specific, beer-appreciat- “I had my eye on Craft Collective long before they Bayberry—and the long- “ZBT, we were not the typical frater- jubba doo-ah, and refrain, they’d smash Craft Collective, based in Stoughton, ing restaurants and bars.” started distributing in Rhode Island. From what I standing Mews Tavern in nity, and one of the things we really the competition and win. Massachusetts, gives New England craft This has not only Wakefield, Rhode Island. prided ourselves on was the Greek Week That same desire to hone their craft and breweries and beverage-makers the attracted small craft brewer- could see they had the best beer brands, which I Their idea for a boutique competition,” says Oliveri. “We made it win is what drove Ferguson and Oliveri to chance to get their product out there, and ies looking to make a name wanted to build my business around.” distribution service has its our business to always win the Greek sing build Craft Collective, a boutique beer simultaneously helps restaurants and for themselves, but has also ­—Tom Dennen, owner, Bayberry Beer Hall roots in Oliveri and Ferguson’s and the lip-sync competition. We’d get a and beverage distribution service that is retailers carry the best in the local craft made Craft Collective sought appreciation for craft beer, the room in a basement somewhere and prac- sought out by suppliers and clients in beverage scene. after by trendy restaurants and bars. Tom wanted to build my business around.” expansive growth of the industry in the last tice some a cappella song. It’s funny, I was Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine. “I think their vision was about a seri- Dennen, owner of Bayberry Beer Hall in Started in 2015, Craft Collective has 10 years, their close friendship, and the on vacation last week and I found myself “Our fraternity, we were underdogs— ous focus on smaller, specific, really good Providence, says he opened Bayberry grown from the two-person team of Fer- leadership opportunities that attending singing, ‘jum jubba doo-ah, jum jubba we were the smallest, we were new—and craft breweries,” says Chip Samson, owner knowing he’d use Craft Collective. guson and Oliveri to a team that’s pushing URI afforded them.

PHOTOS: COURTESY CRAFT COLLECTIVE 30 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 31 s and B Oliveri and Ferguson met ... and later came back to beer when the rew ites craft beer proliferation was happening in B during rush season. the early 2010s,” says Oliveri. He became “I met Adam when I was joining ZBT,” inspired to apply his background in tech Craft Collective distributes said Ferguson. “I recall that Adam was and finance to beer, first crafting the idea SingleCut Eric hundreds of products from Oxbow Farmhouse involved in recruiting me and getting me of a beer incubator, which then morphed into my leadership roles there.” into a craft beer distribution service. More Cowbell! Milk more than 90 independent Pale Ale AdamAdam OliveriOliveri ’05’05,, founderfounder andand CEOCEO Their friendship grew and their very “I started the distribution company as Stout + Chocolate craft producers, from beer + Clam Chowder different personalities helped push each a way to lead into doing this incubator, other. and then it took off and we shelved the Pecan Pie and wine to hard seltzer “I’m sort of more extroverted; Adam’s incubator,” he says. “But along the way, I and nitro cold brew coffee. a little more introverted,” says Ferguson, was like, ‘I need a partner here.’” who majored in business management at And his longtime friend Bryan With so many options on URI. “Some of those classic traits that Ferguson immediately came to mind. tap, we asked five Craft The rest, as they say, partners have.” Milk stouts have their origins in the early 1900s A saison’s flavor lies in its use of a specific breed is history. Collective staffers (all URI “He leads through “I think being a part of when they were promoted as restorative drinks of yeast, which lends peppery, spiced notes to the fire and competitive- Today, Ferguson and for everyone from laborers to nursing mothers grads) to pick some of their brew. Oxbow throws in some hops for a bit of ness and gut feel, and an organization that is Oliveri not only have a to the infirm. To make the drink sweeter, unfer- citrus punch, creating a quaffable beer that growing business with mentable milk lactose was added to the brew, favorite fall and winter Becker sips with some “chowda.” Bryan Ferguson ’05, co-founder and president for me, I’m like, ‘I’m so passionate about this going to diagram this industry is infectious happy customers and hence the name, ”milk” stout. Oliveri likes to pair brews and the bites they I’m a Rhody native, and I recently moved beautiful mind style,’” clients, they also have a SingleCut’s version with an equally sweet and back to Rhode Island after a 13-year hiatus. What rich dessert. “ says Oliveri, an eco- and a great motivator. team that includes a enjoy with them. I missed the most? The clam chowder. I usually nomics major, laugh- Everyone is so excited number of URI grads. My wife and I host Thanksgiving every pair a bowl with a bottle of Oxbow’s Farmhouse year, and while I look forward to the turkey and Stories and illustrations Pale Ale, brewed due north in Newcastle, Maine. ing. “But that’s actually One of them, Jessica “ about their job, and to Hopped with American hops, Oxbow masterfully Becker ’07, knew Oliveri fixings, I’m there for the pie. Chocolate pecan is by Grace Kelly worked out pretty well be a part of that gets the dark horse. I usually pair it with SingleCut’s marries the traditional Belgian saison with the for us, having these dif- when she was at URI Eric More Cowbell! Milk Stout. It’s creamy, American pale ale for a blonde, dry, highly car- ferent styles and me excited, too.” and always thought he’d balanced, and roasty; not too sweet, and the bonated beer that balances the rich, creamy approaches. It’s allowed ­—Jessica Becker ’07 do something great. touch of vanilla works well with a slice (or two) chowder exceptionally well. of chocolate pecan. Shaidzon us to leverage our “He’s a great leader. —Jessica Becker ’07”, head of marketing strengths in being lead- He has vision and that’s —Adam” Oliveri ’05, founder and CEO Buffalo Czech ers that we developed at URI.” really critical when you’re starting or running any company,” she says. Pilsner Jessica Becker ’07, head of marketing As newly minted 21-year-olds at URI, the Proclamation Anchor & Hope duo also began to develop a taste for beer. “Craft Collective is a multi-state opera- + Cheesesteak The early days were all about the light tion, so it requires a lot of vision and Tendril IPA Mendo Red INDIA lagers that were popular at the time. But planning and leadership. Those are skills I PALE ALE as the craft beer movement began to grow, saw in him back at URI, and he continues + Hot Wings + Pizza so too did Ferguson and Oliveri’s curios- to shine now.” ity for a better brew—partially sparked by As for her taste in beer back then? 7.0% 1 PINT the local craft beer brand Newport Storm “I wasn’t drinking craft beer back then, Czech pilsners have a clean malt profile with a (now Newport Craft Beer Company). not even close,” she says, laughing. “Lots hint of spiciness from Saaz hops. Drinkable, with “During our senior year, we used to go of Busch Light, I can’t even think about it a clean, bitter finish, Buscher likes to pair over there on a Friday, and we would do a anymore. Luckily I’ve become educated Shaidzon’s Czech Pilsner with a cheesy, meaty Do IPAs even need an introduction? The craft cheesesteak, like the ones from Tilly’s in West tour and they would give out these since then.” brewery darling has grown from a drink that Emily Warden ’07, senior manager, Kingston, Rhode Island, near URI—and a stone’s Who says Craft Collective only distributes beer? wooden nickels that you could trade for In addition to learning to appreciate a languished in obscurity to a powerhouse with business services throw from Shaidzon Beer’s taproom. Anchor & Hope, a Rhode Island wine négociant, beautiful brew, Becker is thankful to be a endless varieties. But in almost every IPA, half-pours of beer,” says Ferguson. “I think works with small vineyards around the world to one thing is for sure: hops are the stars. And for When I’m craving a crisp and delicious that’s when I first became aware of craft part of an organization whose spirit and produce craft wines. And Warden likes her Ferguson, a full, fruity IPA with a hint of bitterness beer to match the autumn weather, I take the mission is clear in everything it does. “ Mendo red wine with a classic: pizza. brewing, and what breweries actually were goes great with a bucket of hot wings. familiar trip down Routes 2 and 108 to West “I think being a part of an organization and what it meant to make and sell beer.” Kingston, where Shaidzon brews Buffalo Czech My husband and I travel a lot around the My dad and I have been going to A few years later, Oliveri had devel- that is so passionate about this industry is Pilsner. It’s clean, refreshing, and a thirst-quencher holidays to visit family throughout New England. Patriots games together for years, and we’ve oped an interest in wine, while Ferguson infectious and a great motivator,” she says. “ after a long day of leaf-peeping. The beer’s subtle We“ never​ leave home without a bottle or two of always enjoyed the tailgating almost as much as sweetness and noble hoppiness cut through wine from Anchor & Hope. Their wines are was making frequent trips to breweries in “Everyone is so excited about their job, the game. On the menu? Something spicy like the salty fare I usually pair it with, like incredible, ​make the perfect host/hostess gift, Vermont—those were the early days of and to be a part of that gets me excited, too.” Buffalo wings, and a few iced-down cans of an cheesesteak—or chili, or a grinder. and pair really well with pizza, which is our go-to the craft beer industry. Jamie Buscher ’15, brand management assertive IPA like Proclamation Tendril. A West for takeout after a long day of holiday travel. We lead at Craft Collective, adds, “Bryan Coast/East Coast hybrid, Tendril has some —Jamie Buscher ’15, brand management” lead Then, in the early 2010s, the craft beer usually open a bottle of Mendo red to enjoy with bitterness but is super drinkable. It pairs world exploded. and Adam are hands-down the best a slice or two. bosses I’ve ever had. Bryan and Adam superbly with spicy foods, standing up to the “I first learned about beer and the —Emily Warden ’07, senior manager, Jamie Buscher ’15, brand management lead heat with refreshing notes of grapefruit, pine, ” culture through Newport Storm and then truly care about their employees and treat orange, and melon. business services transitioned to going on these wine trails us like family.” • —Bryan Ferguson ”’05, co-founder and president

PHOTOS: COURTESY CRAFT COLLECTIVE 32 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 33 Hunger Hits Home Food Insecurity on Campus and Beyond

Hunger. It’s a widespread problem—even on college campuses. How is URI responding to help get food to those in need? Donating and delivering produce grown in our experimental agricultural fields, running a campus food pantry, advocating to expand the federal school lunch program to public colleges, and more. By Todd McLeish

Apples from URI's East Farm are sorted and boxed for distribution to URI students and Rhode Island food banks. n international student living in URI’s affairs, it’s a subject that simply wasn’t A Graduate Village Apartments with talked about or acknowledged. “It’s an her three young children was struggling embarrassing thing for colleges to make to feed her family while working toward public,” she says. “But we have to talk her degree half a world away from her about it.” extended family and friends. She was National surveys have forced the issue doing the best she could on her limited into the light. income, but after paying for her academic In 2019, 167,000 students were surveyed expenses, clothing for her growing chil- by Temple University at 171 two-year col- dren, and housing costs, she had little left leges and 56 four-year institutions, and 39 over for food. percent of respondents indicated they had It’s a surprisingly common problem on been food insecure in the previous 30 university campuses nationwide, and URI days, meaning they did not have enough is not immune. Food insecurity is a grow- to eat or they were uncertain where their ing concern, and the COVID-19 pandemic next meal would come from. The rate is has made the situation even more challeng- lower at four-year schools, where it ing for an increasing number of students. typically ranges from 8 to 30 percent. A Thankfully, URI has developed a num- similar survey at URI found about 13 ber of resources in recent years to support percent of students were food insecure students in need. It is also growing fresh in 2019. produce for area food banks and leading “The expansion and diversity of the efforts to improve access to healthy food people who go to college has really for families in need around the state. But changed the landscape,” says Kathleen much more needs to be done at the state Gorman, director of URI’s Feinstein and federal level to address the underly- Center for a Hunger Free America, who ing issues behind these problems to led the URI survey. “Many more lower- prevent a further escalation of food income and moderate-income students insecurity on campus and beyond. with limited support from their families, who before wouldn’t have gone to college, Food Insecurity on Campus: now do. And colleges now have a lot more The Big Picture older students who have families and jobs and are struggling to pay their bills. It has only been in the last 10 years that “If 13 percent of our students are food food insecurity has been recognized as a insecure—and the true number is significant problem on college campuses probably higher than that—then that in the United States. According to Kathy means a couple thousand students are Collins, URI’s vice president for student hungry,” she adds. “That’s not OK.”

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS 34 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 35 Assisting URI’s Food-Insecure Students The demographics of those experiencing they’re couch surfing with friends or living to have a certain number of meals documents to apply for SNAP benefits. food insecurity varies widely among URI in their cars and lack a consistent address.” added to their ID card so they can They also help recipients complete students, but it includes commuters, in- Tisdale serves as a case manager on easily access meals with their interim reports and recertify that they and out-of-state students, grad students campus, so students who are hungry peers anonymously. still qualify. and even some who live on campus. Stu- eventually find their way to her. She “We run a big campaign This year, the state has taken over the dent-athletes are particularly susceptible guides them to a variety of services that every fall and spring to encour- program, but Gorman and Tisdale have to food insecurity, as only 25 percent are are now available. age students to share a swipe, applied to make URI a community part- on full scholarship, and their required Rhody Outpost, the campus food pan- and we get a great response,” ner in the program to help URI stu- training regimen—coupled with their try, was established in 2013 by two stu- Tisdale says. “There are usually dents—as well as students at Rhode Island coursework—leaves little time to earn dents as their final project in Gorman’s enough swipes donated to meet College and the Community College of extra income. class. They had an inkling that food inse- the need, in part because that’s not Rhode Island—access SNAP benefits. curity was a concern for many students the sole program we offer.” In addition to Gorman’s work, URI on campus and believed that if a food Students with greater needs than an Cooperative Extension coordinates a pantry were available, students would use occasional meal can also apply to the Stu- SNAP Education program led by Sarah it. They were right. Located in the base- dents First Fund, which provides financial Amin, assistant professor of nutrition. She ment of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church support to students with demonstrated “If you’re worried all the time oversees a team of 20 staff members who on Lower College Road and administered financial need for a variety of emergency about whether you can get teach nutrition education to low-income by the Dean of Students Office since uses, including for the purchase of grocer- families in urban communities in Rhode 2017, it regularly serves the needs of hun- ies or even an entire dining hall meal food and how to pay for it, Island. The federally funded program dreds of students, thanks largely plan. “Share a Swipe meals are often used it’s not just about the food. encourages people to choose nutritious to donations from church members, for students who are not in the best finan- It’s the psychological stress food through hands-on programming. cial standing with the University—those “One of the critical aspects of our pro- that might have an outstanding balance and constant worry,” grams is food resource management “Food insecurity has close ties on their university account or who might —Kathleen Gorman skills—how to stretch your food dollar not be actively enrolled but are still com- Director, URI Feinstein Center for and use it wisely,” Amin says. “We to housing insecurity, and we ing to campus regularly for one reason or a Hunger Free America empower participants with cooking skills see a number of students another,” Tisdale explains. “To access the and food preparation skills, in addition to who have to make choices Students First Fund, students must be nutrition information, to make the best enrolled in classes, be in good financial and one out of three single-mother house- food decisions. We teach them how to Jacqui Tisdale, Ph.D. ’14, assistant between stable housing, food, and academic standing, and they must holds regularly experience food insecurity. make a grocery list, for instance, and how dean for outreach and intervention in the and books.” have exhausted all other financial aid “It’s a huge issue. And if you’re worried to understand unit prices when shopping.” URI Dean of Students Office, said the —Jacqui Tisdale, Ph.D. ’14 options.” all the time about whether you can get survey numbers aren’t surprising, since food and how to pay for it, it’s not just Sharing the Harvest Assistant Dean for Outreach URI Responds to Hunger the issues people are faced with across the about the food. It’s the psychological The University also grows a great deal of country—and that are illustrated by and Intervention in Rhode Island stress and constant worry,” says Gorman. fresh produce in its agricultural research increased visits to food banks—also play “You can make an argument that it’s an fields, most of which is donated to local out on college campuses. campus food drives, and fundraising by Food insecurity isn’t just a problem on economic problem and a health problem food banks like the Jonnycake Center in “Today’s students are pretty savvy,” she Greek Life. campus, of course. About 11 percent of and a physical nutrition problem, as well. Peace Dale, where Kate Brewster ’95 says. “They eat out of vending machines, In the fall of 2018, a meal-sharing pro- Rhode Island households worry about For kids in school who can’t get enough to serves as executive director. Tens of thou- they borrow meal swipes from their gram was launched enabling students on where their next meal will come from, eat, it affects their academics, their behav- sands of pounds of squash, corn, melons, friends, they order a pizza and make it meal plans to donate one meal per semes- according to a 2019 report, but that num- ior, how they feel about themselves. It peppers, tomatoes, and other crops are last for eight meals. Food insecurity has ter to students in need. Called Share a ber doubled this year due to the pan- spills over into all kinds of things.” close ties to housing insecurity, and we Swipe For Hope, the program is modeled demic. National figures are similar. A number of efforts are underway harvested on campus each year to feed see a number of students who have to after the national Swipe Out Hunger pro- “Unemployment skyrocketed when around the URI community to respond to those in need. make choices between stable housing, gram. Students donate “guest swipes” the pandemic hit, and the last thing you this growing problem. Gorman has had a “The Agricultural Experiment Station food, and books. Their version of housing from their meal plan via a dining hall spend your money on is food,” Gorman contract for 19 years with the state of has been around since 1892, and there’s insecurity just looks a little different— kiosk, and those seeking meals can apply says. “There are certain things that are Rhode Island to manage its SNAP Out- always going to be extra food when you’re less flexible—you pay your rent so you reach Project, which involves helping experimenting with crops,” says Tim don’t get evicted, you pay for transporta- potentially eligible individuals and Sherman ’10, who manages the operations tion to get to your job. But people scrimp families gain access to Supplemental at the Gardner Crops Research Center, on food. And food prices have gone way, Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, for- also known as the Agronomy Farm. way up.” merly called food stamps). She has had a “We’re doing fertilizer trials, we’ve got a It’s an even greater problem in some team of staff and students visit commu- study on sweet corn, we’ve got a pepper segments of society. Data from the U.S. nity centers and other agencies to provide trial. And every year we have crops to Department of Agriculture shows that information, conduct screenings, and harvest from what the students in the veg- one out of every five Black households, help people fill out the complicated etable production class have planted.” one out of seven Hispanic households, paperwork and compile the necessary Although some of the produce could

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS 36 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 37 Master Gardener Susan Axelrod ’89 have so much food, we just need to get it has coordinated the harvest for the last to the right people.” four years, often bringing in school and Pavignano also coordinates the annual scout groups, Grad Village residents, and Food Summit, hosted by the URI Busi- others to help pick, though the pandemic ness Engagement Center, a networking limited this year's participation. “Everyone opportunity for those in the food industry has fun picking in the orchard,” she says. to hear from local experts, discuss part- The logistics of this year’s harvest were nership opportunities, learn about fund- managed by Hope’s Harvest RI, a Pawtucket- ing sources, and support the development based nonprofit that has partnered with of the local food movement in the state. the Master Gardeners to collect surplus The theme of the 2021 event in January is produce from local farms around the state food insecurity. It is hosted by the Rhode to deliver to hunger relief agencies in a Island Food Center, which Pavignano had practice called gleaning. Hope’s Harvest a hand in launching on campus in 2016 as gleaned more than 80,000 pounds of pro- a place where farmers, growers, produc- duce last year that would have otherwise ers, distributors, servers, retailers, and gone to waste. By training Master Gar- other food pioneers can easily access deners to lead gleaning trips to area URI’s agricultural resources, wider food farms, it expects to triple that number expertise, researchers, and business this year. support programs. Students who live at URI's Graduate Village “There are a lot of things that farmers Apartments help harvest and package apples URI Master Gardeners grow food on the URI campus and in community gardens, which can’t control, like the weather and pests, Address the Root Causes from East Farm. They take home part of the they harvest and distribute to Rhode Island food banks and other agencies. so they often grow more than they need Despite the wide range of activities and harvest for their own households; the rest is to mitigate risk,” says Eva Agudelo, execu- programs the University is engaged in to distributed to food banks. tive director of Hope’s Harvest. “That’s address food insecurity on campus and in state coordinator, they tend vegetable gar- them being good farmers. But they may the state, the problem is far from solved. funded is critical. We can do that, with a “I can’t live in a place dens at House of Hope in Warwick, for not have the labor to harvest crops they To do so, according to Gorman, requires little political will.” where we’re plowing under instance, where many individuals for- know they can’t sell, so Hope’s Harvest that the root causes of the issue be Gorman has advocated at the federal provides the labor and infrastructure. We food and we have people merly experiencing homelessness now addressed: low wages and a poorly funded level to expand the K–12 free- and live, and partner with SNAP Education coordinate with volunteers and food pan- safety net. reduced-price school meals program to who don’t have food. It’s a staff to offer workshops to teach the resi- tries for deliveries.” “Living wages—which is a lot more the state’s public colleges, in part because community—we have so much dents how to cook the vegetables they Master Gardener Sharon Pavignano than $15 per hour—would be the goal many college students don’t qualify for food, we just need to get it to the grow. Gardeners tending the Produce ’74, associate director of corporate and and would go a long way toward remedy- SNAP benefits, though the effort hasn’t Donation Garden at Roger Williams Park foundation relations for the URI ing the problem,” Gorman says. “But not gotten much traction yet due to the cost. right people.” in Providence and the Grow4Good Foundation and Alumni Engagement, all people are working or can work, so we “If families are struggling, we need to —Sharon Pavignano ’74, Garden at Mount Hope Farm in Bristol also has her hands full during the harvest need a safety net, and that’s where SNAP help them,” she says. “If students are Associate Director of Corporate do similar workshops for clients of local season. In addition to her regular job comes in. It has the potential to make a struggling, we need to help them. It’s responsibilities, she facilitates the move- and Foundation Relations for the URI food pantries. huge difference in the lives of many complicated, I know, but we should do it ment of produce around campus and Foundation and Alumni Engagement families, so keeping it strong and well- anyway.” • Connecting Growers, Produce, ensures that nothing goes to waste. She makes sure Rhody Outpost is supplied be sold, the University doesn’t want to and Those in Need with fresh produce each week, alerts the compete with local farmers. “The Experi- At the far corner of URI’s East Farm, a residents of Grad Village when certain Students First Fund ment Station and Cooperative Extension mile from the Kingston campus, a dozen crops will be available, coordinates with are here to help local farmers and build Master Gardeners and other volunteers Dining Services to transport food around Established in 2014, the Students First Fund provides emergency support agriculture in the state,” Sherman says. using long-handled poles harvest apples campus, and delivers produce to nutri- to URI students with demonstrated financial need. While it is often used to “That’s why we do variety trials in the first from the University’s research orchard tionist Kelli Kidd, who counsels student- provide meals to students experiencing food insecurity, it has also The Fifth Annual place—to see what vegetable varieties every week from mid-August through athletes, for distribution to hungry ath- reimbursed travel expenses so students can attend a family funeral, paid Rhode Island Food grow best in our environment to help our October. Some pick by hand, while others letes. Pavignano even found funding to for medical expenses not covered by health insurance, and subsidized the System Summit farmers. We don’t want to be competing load bright orange totes with apples and build a vegetable garden at Grad Village cost of books and other academic supplies. During the pandemic when Taking the Lead: with them for sales.” sort them before placing them onto a and recruited Master Gardeners to serve classes shifted online, the fund even paid for cell phone costs to access Improving Food Access In addition to what’s grown on cam- truck for delivery to Graduate Village and as mentors to the student gardeners. remote classes, since many students are dependent on their phones for in a Global Pandemic pus, URI Master Gardeners grow tons of the Jonnycake Center. By the end of the “I can’t live in a place where we’re internet access. January 20, 2021 fresh produce each year—15 tons last year season they will have harvested more than plowing under food and we have people The fund is managed by the URI Foundation and administered by the Dean alone—at more than a dozen community 15,000 pounds of apples from 159 apple who don’t have food,” she says. “The peo- of Students Office. Those interested in contributing to the fund are web.uri.edu/food-center/ gardens around the state for donation to trees of 11 varieties that would otherwise ple growing the food probably didn’t encouraged to contact Sharon Pavignano at URI Foundation and Alumni foodsummit2021 food pantries and other hunger-relief have dropped to the ground to spoil. A know about the food insecurity issue and Engagement at [email protected]. agencies. According to Vanessa Venturini dozen nearby peach and pear trees are don’t have time to move melons to where ’08, M.E.S.M. ’11, the Master Gardener also harvested. they’re needed. It’s a community—we

PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS 38 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 39 The Fight 1971 In 1971, students took over the administration building, protesting the lack of diversity for Justice at URI and cuts to funding for the Talent Development URI’s History of program. The protest led to several important Student-Led changes, including securing funding for Talent Development Civil Rights Activism for subsequent years. The 2020 “moment” of racial reckoning is the latest iteration of what is, in truth, not a moment, but a longstanding struggle for racial justice in the United States. At URI, student-led protests have been some of the most powerful catalysts for change. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at URI in October 1966. He addressed a crowd of 5,000 By Grace Kelly in Keaney Gymnasium.

“The appalling silence of the good people immediately, in the years subsequent to narrative that we continue to perpetuate, 1971: The Push for But things were different for her at URI. is as serious as the vitriolic words of the student protests,” says Abu Bakr ’73, M.S. but not necessarily that activist history.” Classmate Forleo explains: “When I bad people,” said the Rev. Martin Luther ’84, M.B.A. ’88. “I always wish that there was a way for Recognition and Respect started at URI, it was lily-white. There King Jr. from the podium. Africana studies, the Multicultural students to understand the long history of Voices of Change When Valerie Southern ’75, M.C.P. ’80, were some student-athletes of color, and T Student Services Center, the Black Stu- the struggle,” says Frank Forleo ’74. there were a smattering of African-Amer- Five-thousand students, professors, Frank Forleo ’74 was assistant director for first arrived at URI in 1970, she was and staff sat in Keaney Gymnasium on a dent Union, the creation of the chief “It would be a great benefit to the students Talent Development from 1975 until his retire- stunned at her treatment. ican students, but the numbers were very mild October afternoon in 1966, soaking diversity officer position, and resources to today to understand how we have arrived ment in 2016. His wife, Sharon Forleo ’72, “When I arrived and started partici- small.” address racism and bring about equity on where we are—at what young people call M.A. ’94, also served Talent Development as After a hiatus when he fought in Viet- up the words of the civil rights activist. associate director. The Forleos were the recipi- pating in my classes, which I was used to King's words—as well as the words and campus all have their roots in the student ‘the moment.’” ents of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the doing, I realized that there was a differ- nam, Forleo returned to URI to some actions of others—inspired change. Over protests of 1971, 1992, and 1998. 2019 URI Diversity and Inclusive Excellence ence,” she says, “not because they didn’t small improvements. “By the time I came the years, URI students, staff, and faculty “It’s such a pivotal part of our history, Awards for their 40+ years of service. President know who I was, but just because I back in ’69, things had changed a little “It would be a great benefit to David M. Dooley praised their dedication, say- spoke out against injustice, protested but not necessarily part of the narrative ing, “The cumulative impact of your love for was Black.” because the Talent Development (TD) inequality, and honored those who fought that we tell about URI,” says Mary Grace the students today to under- the students of the University of Rhode Island, Southern grew up in Jamestown, program was created in ’68. But the group Almandrez, chief diversity officer and stand how we have arrived particularly those students who, for very good was still pretty small.” the true fight. Buildings were occupied, reasons, felt marginalized, ignored underappre- Rhode Island, the daughter of a Naval activists gathered, and organizations formed. associate vice president. “We all know where we are—at what young ciated and disrespected, is extraordinary.” serviceman, attending St. Catherine And in 1970, Southern was part of that “All or most of the progress that has about Rhody Ram, we know the fight people call ‘the moment.’” Academy in Newport, where she was small population, around .001 percent. been made on campus has come, if not song—there are certain parts of our —­Frank Forleo ’74 encouraged to participate in class. “They weren’t used to Black students,

PHOTOS COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS; COURTESY FRANK FORLEO 40 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 41 In 1992, President Robert L. Carothers (seated at center) and Vice President for Student Affairs John McCray (standing behind Carothers to his left) met with students who took over Taft Hall to protest a truncated Malcolm X quote carved 1992 into the library facade. Two Hundred students participated in the takeover, which was led by the newly formed Black Student Leadership Group (BSLG). The students successfully negotiated important advances, including reconstruction of the Multicultural Student Services Center, establishing a chief diversity officer position, creating the library's Malcolm X Reading Room, and initiating an Africana studies major.

them, and gratefully accepting food from friends to keep their takeover energized. Wednesday evenings at URI were nor- mally quiet. “About the biggest thing on campus is an intramural softball game,” quipped a May 7, 1971, issue of The Good Five Cent Cigar. But the evening of Wednesday, May 5, was different. Southern remembers it only be able to read, but to contribute to.” vividly. Bakr and Southern were also involved “And then you begin to expe- At left, students occupying the administration building address a crowd on the Quadrangle. In addition to securing funding for the Talent “Suddenly, the police showed up and in planning the annual Black Cultural rience isolation, microaggres- Development program, the student protesters succeeded in establishing a Black studies program and a Black student organization at URI. they broke the glass and stormed in, Weekend. “It was like a festival and the sions, and the world all of a At right, the cover of the January 15, 1973 issue of Black Gold, a student newspaper established by Valerie Southern to give Black students at URI a voice. grabbed us and threw us outside. I people that passed through—the sudden becomes real.” thought they were going to kill us, I mean Temptations, Alice Coltrane, various poets, —­ Karoline Oliveira ’94, M.S. ’03 I literally thought, ‘This is it, my life is intellectuals, it was just fantastic,” Southern and there were hardly any Black faculty, realized we were serious; they all left, and over, but it’s for a good cause,’” Southern says. “Through hard work, we were able to “I was a Talent Development student hardly any,” she says. we chained the doors,” says Southern. says. “I closed my eyes and just kind of bring notables of American Black culture and, like the majority of the students on “I realized that professors were ignor- The 50-some Black students then hugged myself; I could feel rough hands to URI and it was really just wonderful.” campus who were students of color, I ing me. I would raise my hand, say, ‘I have hammered out a list of demands. picking me up, and I was like, ‘They’re came through the TD program,” she says. an idea,’ and they’d be like, ‘Yeah right, probably going to beat me up or kill me,’ 1992: Why Haven’t Things The TD program started in 1968, bring- hold on,’ and all the other students would “We decided one evening and the next thing I knew, I was lying on Changed More? ing students from diverse backgrounds to get their say,” she says. to take steps to be seen the grass outside.” the state university. The summer program “It was just signs—some subtle, some and heard.” The occupation of Carlotti was over, While the 1970s were a pivotal decade for was a way for TD students to prepare for very blatant—that we weren’t considered and Southern was unharmed, but the race relations at URI, students some 20 years the fall and get to know the campus. —­Valerie Southern ’75, M.C.P. ’80 worthy of the experience that the state experience has stayed with her to this day. later found there was still much to be done. “You have this amazing experience university was offering.” “It was very, very traumatic,” she says. Karoline Oliveira ’94, M.S. ’03, fondly where you’re connected with students you So, in 1971, the Black students took “We, the black students at the Univer- “For the rest of my life, I participated in remembers her first experience on the URI can relate to. We came from similar back- matters into their own hands. sity of Rhode Island, because of an marches and protests, but that was the campus, the summer before her first year. grounds, many of us from the inner city “We got together and decided we increased lack of respect from the racist one that took my mind away.” needed to try to communicate to the administration and the Student Senate The takeover was not in vain. Voices of Change University that we were feeling neglected, (Tax Committee), plus a lack of Black rep- “The end result is, we got a Black stud- as though we weren’t respected—that the resentation, hereby declare a takeover,” ies program, we got an officially estab- Voices of Change Valerie J. Southern ’75, M.C.P. ’80, is institutional racism was actually encour- they wrote. lished Black student organization—and the president of VJS-TC, providing expert aged as opposed to examined,” says “We demand that the freshman enroll- they gave us a van so we could do com- Karoline Oliveira ’94, M.S. ’03, is the consultation in planning, management, engi- munity work in the South Kingstown interim executive director in the Office of neering, and design of transportation systems. Southern. “So, we decided one evening to ment for fall ’71 contain 300 black stu- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and special Before establishing her practice, she held various take steps to be seen and heard.” dents,” demand 4 read, while demand 13 community,” Southern says. “It was a advisor to the president of Life University. municipal, state, and federal transportation They requested a meeting with then- required the University to “appoint a com- result of just speaking up.” Prior to that, she served URI as an academic planning and policy positions, including serving Southern also started a successful stu- advisor and transitions coordinator for Talent as the deputy secretary for transportation President Werner Baum; when this mittee approved by the Afro-American Development, part-time faculty member in planning and capital programming for the request was ignored, they decided to take Society to develop a Black studies Program.” dent paper called Black Gold. human development and family studies, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While a a more dramatic approach. During the first week of May, 1971, “Black Gold was designed expressly to assistant director and acting director of the student at URI, she started and served as give students a voice,” says Bakr. “And to Multicultural Student Services Center. editor-in-chief of the influential student “We went into the [Carlotti] adminis- they occupied Carlotti for days, giving newspaper, Black Gold. tration building and told everybody to speeches on the balcony, watching as a also express their literary and creative leave, we’re going to lock the doors. They large crowd grew on the Quad in front of sides. It was an outlet for students to not

PHOTOS COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS; COURTESY VALERIE SOUTHERN; COURTESY KAROLINE OLIVEIRA 42 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 43 In 1998, a cartoon published in 1998: Still Fighting Racism are in different phases of awareness. Some The Good Five Cent Cigar set off are just learning about racism and micro- protests led by Black student with Growing Solidarity aggression, some know a little about these group Brothers United for Action. 1998 The controversy exposed ongoing In 1998, another protest against injustice things, and some are deeply rooted in this racial tensions at URI. was led by the Brothers United for Action w or k .” (BUA) after the publication of a racist car- For many of the activists involved in toon in The Good Five Cent Cigar. movements past, the racial reckoning “There were only six years between the happening in 2020 reminds them that the Black Student Leadership Group [take- battle isn’t over. King’s words from his Student Leadership Group (BSLG). over of Taft Hall] and the BUA protests. speech at URI more than 50 years ago still “A group of around 30 students made a That was not a very wide gap before ring true: “We have gone a long way, but determination to take over Taft Hall, another major movement occurred,” says we still have a long, long way to go.” along with another 300 people who were Forleo. He still vividly remembers the Reflecting on the past and seeing the involved when they finally took over the BUA-organized march from Taft Hall to Black Lives Matter movement today gives hall and renamed it Malcolm X Hall and the Memorial Union, a massive show of Southern, Bakr, Forleo, and Oliveira hope. issued the 14 demands,” says Forleo. “The solidarity. “I was born in 1951. I saw and partici- demands were all about changing the “They had an enormous following of pated in civil rights activities and move- numbers of students of color at the Uni- students of all races and ethnicities,” For- ments, and I have never seen the level of of Providence. We felt like we belonged,” satisfying my curiosity.” versity, having more facilities and support leo says. “When the BUA stepped off for engagement and involvement by folks to she says. But the original quote was much more structures for students of color, and cur- their march … by the time the first mem- advance a critical issue like today,” says But then came the fall. damning. ricular change, which was still a big issue, bers of BUA got to the newspaper office Bakr. “To have that kind of movement The Rev. Arthur L. Hardge “In the summer you had this time of “I told the Englishmen that my alma because African-American studies had in the Memorial Union, there were still take on the energy that it has, not only in and the Origins of friend-making and navigating the cam- mater was books, a good library. Every not yet become a major in those years people in line coming from Taft. It was this country, but in untold numbers of Talent Development pus—an amazing experience, and then time I catch a plane, I have with me a between 1971 and 1992. The students one of the biggest demonstrations I had places internationally,” he pauses. “It’s totally fall comes and you realize, ‘Wow, there book that I want to read. And that’s a lot asked, ‘Why haven’t things changed ever seen at the University.” unprecedented, totally unprecedented.” • The story of civil rights and the fight aren’t that many of us here,’” Oliveira says. of books. If I weren’t out there every day more?’” for racial justice at URI is incomplete “And then you begin to experience isola- battling the white man, I could spend the Two days after the takeover of Taft, without mention of Talent Develop- tion, microaggressions, and the world all rest of my life reading, just satisfying my then-President Robert Carothers met with 2020: The Moment ment (TD) and the Rev. Arthur L. of a sudden becomes real.” curiosity.” the students to hear their grievances and Today, the fight to bring racial justice and “Some students are just Hardge. “Rev. Hardge was an extraordi- A string of incidents compounded this “That was really an issue for the stu- listen to their demands, a far cry from the equity to URI continues. learning about racism and nary man,” says Frank Forleo ’74, “A sense of “otherness” and disrespect, dents,” says Forleo. “And the other thing reception students had received in 1971. “I believe that URI has made some microaggression, some know preacher, a storyteller, a leader.” including mistreatment by the URI police besides misquoting Malcolm X was the strides,” says Oliveira. a little, and some are deeply Hardge was a freedom rider with and the misquote of Malcolm X on the quote from Thomas Jefferson on the other Examples include the fact that URI rooted in this work.” Martin Luther King Jr. He came to URI library. “All or most of the progress side if the library. It really angered the stu- now has a chief diversity officer, a post —­Maya Moran ’21 in 1969 as founding director of the TD “The [Black students] were being iso- dents that a slave owner was being quoted that has been made on campus currently held by Mary Grace Almandrez. program, to give underprivileged kids lated and unfairly watched by the police,” in stone and Malcolm X was being mis- has come, if not immediately, The University is undertaking a campus access to the state university. says Forleo, who was the assistant director quoted in stone.” in the years subsequent to climate survey to help inform the next “If you think about this time in con- of Talent Development at the time. Coupled with the crumbling, con- student protests,” University diversity action plan. Another text, Dr. King was assassinated and the The lid blew when a Malcolm X quote demned building where the Black student —­Abu Bakr ’73, M.S. ’84, M.B.A. ’88, example is the successful College of the civil rights movement was roaring was chiseled onto the façade of the library, group Uhuru Sasa held its meetings, Environment and Life Sciences Seeds of through,” says Valerie Southern ’75, but was a truncated version of the original and other racist incidents, the students Success Program, run by another former M.C.P. ’80. “At that time, the University quote. The inscription on the library read, took action. “This was historic,” says Forleo. “I student activist, Michelle Fontes ’96, M.A. ’11. was desperately behind, which is why “My alma mater was books, a good “We really had had enough,” says mean, it’s quite extraordinary. Carothers Current URI student Maya Moran ’21 Rev. Hardge started the program.” library. I could spend my life reading, just Oliveira, who was a member of the Black supported some of the demands. The TD is working hard to make sure URI keeps The program that began with 13 program grew, African-American studies the momentum moving forward. She is students has grown to admit approxi- became a major, other curricular things part of a group of students working with mately 600 each year. And a large part were offered—there was change.” URI’s Office of Community, Equity and of this growth is due to Rev. Hardge, Voices of Change A multicultural center was also built in Diversity on a social justice series called the other founding staff of TD, and the Abu Bakr ’73, M.S. ’84, M.B.A. ’88, transferred the center of campus, creating a safe and Diversity Dialogues, which addresses Voices of Change belief they had in their students. to URI from Duke in 1970 as a scholar-athlete. As an accessible meeting space for students of issues of bias, microaggressions, and “They asked me to become summer Maya Moran ’21 is a psychology major and undergraduate, he served as a counselor for the Talent color. social identity. director. I was young and didn’t neces- Development program and, upon graduation, as its summer leadership studies minor and an undergraduate director. He played on URI’s men’s basketball team, serving For Oliveira, this was a powerful Moran, who came from a diverse high scholar in residence for URI’s Office of sarily think I was ready for that,” says as captain for two years and earning distinction as one of moment that reminded her of what her school, says her initial experience as a Community, Equity and Diversity. She is a Abu Bakr ’73, M.S. ’84, M.B.A. ’88, co-creator of URI’s Diversity Dialogues project URI’s top all-time career rebounders. After a successful father had always told her: “You stand for student of color on a largely white campus laughing. “But folks at TD were about basketball career in Europe, Bakr returned to URI to complete and vice president of the student organization two master’s degrees. He served URI as an administrator for something or you fall for anything.” included feeling like she was sometimes D.R.I.V.E. (Diversifying. Recruiting. Inspiring. giving people opportunities and allow- 35 years—in many capacities, including executive assistant “Being in that building, for me, I felt so put in the awkward position of being an Volunteering. Educating.), which works with ing you to develop your talents. So that URI’s Office of Admission to increase to the president, and interim associate vice president for empowered that no matter what happened, authority on race. “As if I were the spokes- was my beginning, at age 23 or 24, of community, equity and diversity and chief diversity officer. diversity at URI. Bakr retired from URI in 2013. even if I was kicked out of school, I was person for all Black persons on Earth,” she actually being in a director role. That’s standing up for what I believed in,” she says. says, adding, “We recognize that students what TD and Arthur Hardge gave me.” •

PHOTOS COURTESY URI SPECIAL COLLECTIONS; COURTESY ABU BAKR; NORA LEWIS. 44 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 45 1975 practitioner at the Rhode Island She believes that a simple card Valerie Southern ’75, M.C.P. ’80, Hospital Center for Primary Care can remind people that they are Network page 42 and adjunct faculty at Rhode loved, important, and thought Island College School of Nursing. of. She also sells t-shirts, stickers, 1976 and a social/emotional coloring Dennis Nixon, M.M.A. ’76, and activity book. She gave every page 18 = CLASS NOTES = K-2 student in East Greenwich a copy of this booklet during their 1977 Let your classmates know what you’re up to. Reunions, gatherings, career online distance learning. or academic updates, weddings and birth announcements, retirements, Andrea Berkman Tilzer writes: “After 43 years in the apparel and Holly Zimmermann, M.S. ’93, exhibition openings, travel, or your favorite URI memories. textile industries, I have finally page 53 Submit notes and photos: email: [email protected], or online: alumni.uri.edu. decided to retire. I started with learning positions and worked Harritos 1950 1965 my way to management. I was BIRTHS able to use my URI experiences Joseph Young reports, “I am in Rhode Island weeklies published Denny Wilson writes, “So far him “an incredible learning envi- AND ADOPTIONS to help me move up. I now look Osprey, Florida. Retired and by the former Observer Publica- Maine has had 125 deaths, rates ronment, a strong background in 1991 forward to the next chapter Lara (Hinz) Proctor ’99 and enjoying life in the Sunshine tions Inc. He was poetry editor of of infection are low and most the life sciences, and excellent Eric Lutes, back cover where I will strive to keep busy State. Hope all my former class- the Providence Sunday Journal’s people have recovered. Warmer mentors, particularly then-grad Benjamin Proctor welcomed and to use my abilities where Ellen Reynolds, page 10 mates are also doing well.” Rhode Islander Magazine for weather brought most of our students William Bruce Hunter, Thomas Harold Proctor on ever that might be—in Bayside, seven years. An inductee into summer residents to Maine, but Ph.D. ’74 (who passed away in 1993 February 19, 2020. New York, where I currently live 1956 The Rhode Island Journalism Hall infections have not gone up. I 2016) and Robert Guimond ’61, with my retired husband, David, Don Velozo writes, “On May 2, of Fame, his poetry has been learned that my friend, Steve Ph.D. ’70.“ Hopkins now lives in Susan Bush, M.S. ’93, page 23 or maybe even Las Vegas.” 2020 I was inducted into the published in Yankee Magazine, Tucker '64, passed away in the Sierra Nevada mountains Pennsylvania Basketball Hall of Commonweal, Thought, March. Steve and I had been near Lake Tahoe in California and 1983 Newman's Twisted Orca series Fame. For over 30 years from Karoline Oliveira ’94, M.S. ’03, Sou’wester, Confrontation, Cali- friends since the late 1950s. We “still loves birds and all things Lynne Kaplowitz, HS&S, of 1970 to 2002, I broadcast more page 43 fornia Quarterly, Prairie Schooner both joined TKE fraternity and wild and free.” Montville, Maine, is the executive 1994 than 900 high school basketball and many others. He is also an enjoyed many good times, espe- associate and training coordina- Keri (LaRoche) Newman of Ken Volante publishes “Some- games and 600 high school foot- 1973 award-winning playwright, and cially while we were living in tor for Maine Family Planning, a Pawtucket, R.I. writes, “I chose thing (rather than nothing),” an ball games on radio and cable Abu Bakr, page 44 his fiction has been published in Bonnet Shores. We kept in touch volunteer council member for URI because of its excellent ocean- art/philosophy podcast that har- T V.” several journals. He co-owned over the years. I will miss him.” Victor Bell ’73, M.M.A. ’77, Midcoast Conservancy, and a ography program but graduated kens back to his time in Cheryl and co-edited Your Smithfield with a degree in English and Foster’s Philosophy of Art class at 1964 page 22 judge for the Maine Women’s Magazine and has been a fea- 1971 Communications. The education URI. Topics include, “What is art? Laurence J. Sasso Jr. ’64, Hall of Fame. tured columnist in four periodi- Steven E. Neville, A&S, of Mer- 1974 Carr's character, Corwin I received at URI, along with a What or who made you who you M.A. ’67 published a book of cals, winning first place honors ritt Island, Fla., writes, “Retired as Frank Forleo, page 41 1987 passion for ocean and marine life are? Why is there Something short fiction, Is Where the Heart, vice president for a third-party Christine Carr of South Kings- from the New England and the Sharon Pavignano, page 38 Bruce Moffett, page 50 conservation, prompted me to (rather than nothing)?” Guests in 2019. He served 19 years as claims administrator, where I town, R.I. has been a physical Rhode Island Press Associations. education teacher in East Green- create the Twisted Orca series of are artists of all types, including managing editor of the three contracted with underwriters at Dave Turnquist writes, “I recently 1989 wich, R.I. for 27 years (since grad- children's books to foster a love David Verespy ’94 and Buell Lloyd’s, London to administer retired as the associate vice Susan Axelrod, page 39 uating from URI). She recently of marine life and inspire future Thomas ’94. The podcast is commercial property and trans- chancellor at University of started a greeting card business. generations of ocean conserva- available on Podbean, iTunes, 1962 portation insurance claims. Mar- Colorado Denver and University 1990 Her website, www.chriscarrink. tionists. Books are available at Spotify, and YouTube. In addition, Colonel Philip J. Saulnier ried to Meredith for 47 years; of Colorado Anschutz Medical Nancy (Gautreaux) Harritos, com features her lovable charac- BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon. Ken works in the labor move- was inducted into the United have two children and five Campus. During my tenure, my M.S. ’90 (Nursing), received her ter, Corwin, whose name means com, and Stillwater Books. I am ment for The Oregon Education States Army Reserve Officer grandchildren. Life is good.” department relocated the medi- Doctor of Nursing Practice degree “heart’s friend.” This new venture grateful to URI for everything it Association and paints, writes, Training Corps National Hall cal research university from Den- from Rhode Island College in has been a source of true joy. has done for me.” photographs, and works in film. of Fame on August 14, 2020 ver to Aurora, to the Fitzsimons May 2020. Ms. Harritos is a nurse at URI’s Robert J. Higgins Medical Army Base, building and Welcome Center. Originally renovating nearly 4 million square 1986 scheduled for Fort Knox, feet of space. I have been active Julie Howard writes, “My sister Abby Rodman (Geduldig) ’84 and I Kentucky, the ceremony was in my professional association. In have recently started a podcast called Sisters Cracking Up on Apple moved to URI because of tioned into the Army 2017, my department received podcasts. We were inspired by the challenges of this life stage—the COVID-19 and broadcast Quartermaster Corps where an Award for Excellence from ‘sandwich’ between parenting children and managing aging parents, virtually to alumni and family, he served the remainder of the Association of Physical Plant menopause, empty nests, career reinvention, divorce, etc. On the pod- including Col. Saulnier and his career. Col. Saulnier Administrators (APPA), their cast we talk about issues that are ‘cracking us’ but also, what's cracking

his wife Judy in Fort Belvoir, exhibited exemplary leader- Hopkins highest institutional award. Since us up and helping us to get through it all. Our hope is that we can Virginia. Col. Saulnier was ship at every level through- then, I have evaluated other build a community of listeners that can relate and laugh with us. commissioned a Second out his civilian and military 1972 facilities departments as a sub- Lieutenant of Infantry upon careers. The United States Stephen Hopkins, page 52, is a ject matter expert for APPA. I “Abby is a psychotherapist who, after URI, got two post-grad degrees; graduation in 1962. He com- Army established a National lifelong environmental educator recently moved to Castle Rock, an EDM (Education and Counseling Processes) from Harvard and an pleted Airborne and Ranger Hall of Fame to recognize whose work has taken him from Colo., and I look forward to trav- MSW from Boston College. She has a thriving practice in Newton, training and twice volun- outstanding ROTC graduates URI’s W. Alton Jones Campus to eling the country with Laura-Lee, Mass. and is a successful author and speaker. I have spent my career in teered to serve in Vietnam. who have demonstrated an California and Ecuador. Pictured my wife of 41 years, visiting fam- the beauty industry working for and with such brands as Clinique, Initially commissioned an extraordinary level of leader- above with a giant Sumaco ily and friends, riding our bikes, Estee Lauder, Bath and Body Works, Origins, MAC and more. I am also Infantry Officer he transi- ship and service to the nation. earthworm, the proud father and camping, reading, lots of golf, and the author of young adult fiction novels. We always think fondly of our grandfather says URI provided other fun things that retirees do.” time at URI and still spend time every summer in Rhody.” Julie Howard and Abby Rodman in Quonochontaug, R.I.

46 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 47 NETWORK

1995 Holly Susi, M.A. ’03 (Adult Edu- 2019 Kate Brewster, page 37 cation) was recently named a fel- Emma Hidalgo of "I'm teaching people how low of the Association of College Providence, R.I., has been to love the ocean." 1997 and University Educators (ACUE) accepted into the Japan Christopher Reddy, page 22 having completed the ACUE Exchange and Teaching year-long Effective Practice 2002 program to become an Framework coursework. Susi, a Assistant Language Jason E. Abate has joined Ocean lover Zach Rollins ’19 professor in the English Depart- Teacher. She was set to Lynch’s Restoration as Insurance started a podcast to share the ment at the Community College depart on April 11, 2020, stories of people who build their Director and Estimator. = BLUE MINDS = of Rhode Island since 2002, but the pandemic post- lives and livelihoods on the teaches communication and poned her departure. ocean. Visit alongthekeel.com for reading courses, has advised the She graduated with a Sea Stories for the details and episodes. student newspaper and super- double major in writing vised honors projects. and rhetoric and English 21st Century and Japanese. She looks

2005 forward to teaching Eng- Hidalgo Zach Rollins ’19 hosts a podcast called Along the Keel. Bryan Ferguson, page 30 lish, strengthening her A URI marine affairs grad and licensed boat captain, Adam Oliveri, page 30 Japanese proficiency, he’s discovered a calling in teaching people to love and of course sharing 2020 the ocean. Writer Hugh Markey caught up with him

Mills 2006 the URI Fight Song with her Leah Hopkins, page 24 André M. Brown, M.S. '06, is future students. to chat about finding his niche as a podcaster. 2003 launching Coaching for Commu- Rory Maynard-Dean, page 20 Zach Rollins, page 49 Stephanie (Pavone) Mills '03, nity, the first Racial Just Us offer- How did the Rhode Island M.L.I.S. '07 was named 2020 ing, intent on eliminating racist coast shape you? k policy through the individual School Librarian of the Year by I grew up near Mill Creek in After graduation, Rollins efforts of one person at a time. School Librarians of Rhode Island Wickford, Rhode Island—we wanted a new challenge. He for her creative lessons, projects, Brown is an ICF certified coach used to call it the Amazon. As was reading Zen and the Art of and ideas for incorporating read- and racial bias trainer. The pro- ing to the curriculum at Park gram is a one-of-a-kind virtual you travel down the creek, it Motorcycle Maintenance when View Middle School in Cranston. hybrid group coaching and train- turns into an estuary, then a a friend called and suggested She adapted quickly to quaran- ing program. Participants com- harbor, and then Narragansett moving to Hawaii. Maybe tine in the spring, creating video plete an action plan to help Bay. So much to explore. inspired by the transforma- lessons and tutorials, meeting guide anti-racism efforts in their My parents wouldn't allow tional cross-country journey he with students online, and collab- personal lives and communities. me to take out our 12-foot was reading about, he agreed to the water. I started contacting Captain Zach Rollins at his orating with the public library to In addition to uncovering the Zodiac Rib power boat alone. go. Soon, he was working as a people whose businesses home in Wickford, Rhode Island, roles implicit bias and white priv- promote summer reading. She I’d been rowing a boat since I captain for a tour company. related to the ocean. on the shores of Mill Creek, part ilege play in race relations and of Wickford Harbor. Zach has continues to come up with new was 6, but the deal was, when People were interested. The ideas for the 2020-21 school year. racial justice, Coaching for I met hundreds of people from collected abandoned buoys I could swim across the creek first week the podcast was out She says, “It's different but I'm Community helps participants around the world; some had around the waters he's traveled without a life jacket, I could I got, like, 25 downloads, hoping it will be just as much fun.” target individual areas of anti- saved every penny to for many years. take the boat. Well, the sum- mostly friends and family. But racism meaningful to them. come on this trip. Encounter- www.racialjustus.com. mer I was 12, I swam that it kept growing and now we Julia Garrick ’13 and Marc Rabideau ’14 (top row, fourth from ing a manta ray or a hump- creek. After that, I could take have thousands of downloads farms. Whatever else happens, 2007 the right) were married on October 13, 2019 in New Jersey. The back whale became an oppor- the boat, and a whole new a month. I’ll continue working around Jessica Becker, page 32 classes of 1974, 1991, 2016, and 2021 joined in the celebration! tunity to share and educate. world opened for me. the ocean because it feeds the I had customers tell me it Emily Warden, page 32 I noticed that a number of podcast. The podcast has a lot ENGAGEMENTS AND was a life-changing experi- As a college student, you got your guests are artists. of legs. I want it to be enter- 2008 WEDDINGS ence. I learned how much your captain’s license. Art and conservation go hand taining and educational. I’m Vanessa Venturini ’08, M.E.S.M. I enjoy teaching and sharing I had been working at a boat- in hand. Conservation is really teaching people how to love ’11, page 38 what I know. yard and got my license at the an interpretation of what's the ocean. •

Ruthven 2010 end of my junior year at URI. The pandemic devastated important and valuable. I —Hugh Markey ’81 Tim Sherman, page 37 When I went to take the test, Hawaii’s tourism industry, think that's what artists do— Jennifer (Lodge) Ruthven ’03, the test administrator offered so Rollins returned to Rhode interpret what's valuable. Interview excerpted and edited 2014 M.A. ’11 was named 2020 East me a job teaching people to from 41° North: Rhode Island’s Jacqui Tisdale, Ph.D. ’14, page 36 Island to focus on his podcast. Providence Teacher of the Year. drive boats. What’s ahead for you? Ocean and Coastal Magazine and She is a second grade teacher at Callie Veelenturf, page 13 That job was trial by fire. How did your podcast start? I just signed a contract with a included here courtesy of 41° the city’s Orlo Avenue Elemen- I knew how to drive a boat, I was on a plane toying with company that is doing geo- North, a publication of Rhode tary School. She was nominated 2015 Island Sea Grant and the Coastal for her ability to connect with Jamie Buscher, page 32 Joelle L. Herbert ’07 and but figuring out how to teach the idea of how cool it would physical surveys off the coast students and families and pro- Mathew L. Lorie ’06 were someone else was a great be to tell stories of people of Rhode Island and Montauk, Institute at URI. Evan Ridley ’15, M.A. ’17, page 19 vide a safe space to learn. married on April 5, 2020. learning experience. whose lives are focused on New York—it’s for the wind

48 FALL 2020 PHOTO: DANA SMITH, COURTESY 41° NORTH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 49 NETWORK

=CLOSE UP= A Chef’s Journey from New England to the New South Classic Mussels with Crushed Bruce Moffett ’87 has found success and satisfaction creating dishes inspired Tomatoes, White Wine, and Garlic by his home state, Rhode Island, and his new home, North Carolina. Mussels are abundant on the jetties that line the New England shore. As a kid, we’d go out with our buckets to pick clams and mussels while the adults did adult things. My grandmother would steam mussels as a start to a summer meal. They’re a dis- tinct part of my childhood. At Barrington’s, we serve a classic Italian version—plump mussels steamed in tomatoes, white wine, and garlic. This recipe takes almost no time to make and works as a quick lunch, a light dinner, or an appetizer for two.

Mussels may require a process called debearding that removes a wiry membrane on the shell’s exterior. You can purchase mus- sels already debearded, but in case you need to take this step, there are instructions below. Serves two generously. Stuffed Clams ("Stuffies") Stuffed quahogs are considered a poor man's dish that is highly Ingredients: revered. Being near the coast in Rhode Island, there are Italian 2 pounds mussels and Portuguese communities that popularized the dish. Stuffed 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil clams became known by their local name, “stuffies.” No one can 4 garlic cloves, shaved put an exact date on the origin of the dish, but it is thought to 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme have been an invention of Italian and Portuguese immigrants in Pinch crushed chili flakes Rhode Island. “Stuffies” are nostalgic and comforting. It's the 1/2 cup white wine seafood cousin of turkey stuffing. A good clean clamshell is a 1/4 cup clam juice must. Make sure you cook them long enough to get the brown- Pinch kosher salt ing effect on the top and crunchy bits around the edges. 4 whole Roma tomatoes, peeled, with juice Crusty bread, for serving Chef Bruce Moffett is the founding chef of four successful restaurants and the author of a cookbook that Ingredients: tells the story of his evolution as a chef and his journey from New England to the “New South.” 1/3 cup clams, cooked and chopped 1/3 cup chorizo 3 tablespoons white onion, fine dice town—Barrington’s, a “new American” being a business owner. hef Bruce Moffett ’87 reminisces 3 tablespoons red bell pepper eatery that helped elevate the city’s culi- “URI taught me how to balance my life C about his earliest food memories— 3 tablespoons celery all quintessential Rhode Island experi- nary scene with a mix of Southern and and gave me a lot of discipline,” he says. 1/3 cup butter ences: shopping for produce at Carpen- New England cuisines. “It’s really reward- “My political science and literature classes 1 garlic clove, minced ter’s Farm in Matunuck with his mother ing to see Charlotte’s evolution from ‘meat gave me an understanding about different 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes and grandmother, slurping Del’s lemon- and three’ cafeterias to where it is today, political systems and how they work. In 9 ounces clam juice ade at the beach, and plucking mussels off and feel like I was a part of that,” he says. the workplace, it’s important to know the 6.5 ounces chicken stock the sea wall for dinners at his family’s Moffett would later add three more difference between being authoritarian 3/4 cup corn flakes South County summer home. Charlotte restaurants: Good Food on and being democratic—it gave me some 3/4 cup panko But Moffett, founding chef of four res- Montford, focusing on farm-fresh dining; diplomatic skills.” 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese taurants in Charlotte, N.C., and author of the cozy Italian eatery Stagioni; and “I think URI is a unique place,” he 1/4 teaspoon salt the cookbook, Bruce Moffett Cooks: A NC•RED, a casual seafood restaurant adds. “It has a sense of connectivity and 1/2 teaspoon pepper Rinse the mussels under cold running water to remove any sedi- New England Chef in a New South Kitchen, with hot lobster rolls and cold ’Gansett a sense of home—I don’t know if you get 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika ment. If necessary, use your fingers to pull off the beard, the wiry wasn’t born to be behind a stove. A politi- beer on the menu. that at a lot of colleges.” 1/2 teaspoon oregano excess protruding near the hinge of the shell. Scrub the mussels cal science major at URI, Moffett spent “I try to mesh the Southern dishes In many ways, that quality of URI once more under cold running water and place them in a colan- time in Washington, D.C., working in the I really enjoy with the Northern dishes I is a reflection of its home state—and In a large stockpot, melt the butter on a medium flame, add der to drain until use. office of the late U.S. Sen. John Chafee really enjoy,” explains Moffett. His menus Moffett’s—where he recently returned chorizo and cook to render fat. Add all of the veggies and sweat (D-R.I.) before moving to Charlotte with feature fusion dishes like grouper in for a visit spent, in part, sailing on down until tender. Add clam juice and chicken stock, bring to a Heat a sauté pan with olive oil over high heat and add the a friend and opening a pizza restaurant: tomato vinaigrette served over grits, but Narragansett Bay. simmer for 5 minutes. Add all seasonings (black pepper, sweet shaved garlic. Toast the garlic until it is golden brown, then add paprika, salt, oregano, and chili flakes). Finish with panko, corn the thyme and chili flakes, shaking the pan to incorporate the “A big, impulsive decision by a depressed also classics like Rhode Island-style “stuff- “I still miss Rhode Island,” he says. flakes, and Parmesan cheese. Add clams. Cook together for 3 flavors. Add the mussels, wine, clam juice, and salt. Crush the young man at the time,” he recalls. ies” and pulled pork sourced from house- “I may end up there again.” • minutes. Remove from heat and cool mixture. When ready, add tomatoes and add them to the pan with their juices. Simmer, The pizzeria broke even and propelled butchered North Carolina hogs. —Bob Curley a scoop of mixture into a quahog hard shell clam and bake at covered, for 4 minutes, until the mussels open. Transfer the mus- Moffett’s meals at URI were more Moffett to pursue a degree from the 375 degrees Fahrenheit in a preheated oven until golden brown sels to a wide, shallow bowl, discarding any that have not likely to come off a cafeteria plate than a Chef Moffett shares the recipes on the Culinary Institute of America. He and cooked through, about 12 minutes. opened. Serve immediately with crusty bread. returned to the Queen City in 2000 to La Cornue stove, but his time in Kingston facing page with URI Magazine readers. found—with a nod to his East Bay home- still helps the chef face the challenges of Bon appétit!

50 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: STEFANIE HAVIV UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 51 NETWORK

=YOUR STORIES= =NICHE= Field Ornithology and My Life of Crime Finding Herself in the Extremes Long on dedication to their studies and short on money and common sense, Holly Zimmermann, M.S. ’93, started her racing career with a 5K. two URI zoology undergrads head to South Carolina in search of the Now this author and mom of four has pushed her body elusive ivory-billed woodpecker. But things don't go quite as planned. to its limits in the Sahara Desert and on Mount Everest. She shares why she does it and what’s next.

illed woodp istening to myself I sounded quite y-b ec Not only were Southerners hospitable, or ke Iv r unconvincing. I was behind bars and • they also had a fine sense of humor. So, L lis How and when did you Why URI? What advice would you claiming my innocence. Some guy in a a when they asked me what I had done with ip c start running? When did URI runs in my family—both give someone who wants n suit was flashing his FBI credentials and i the sock I had over my head during the r that become a desire to to do what you’re doing? p my parents and my sister are asking me questions. s bank robbery, I offered my contribution u l do extreme races? i alumni, and my grandfather Find a race that inspires you

It was 1970. I was 20 and had just dis- h to the levity: “Well, hell,” I laughed, “It’s p

e Like many children growing was a professor there for and register for it. The rest will covered—the hard way—that they take p back on my foot.”

m up in the United States, I took follow.

a many years. After graduating, law and order very seriously in South C Whoosh—we were cuffed and tossed part in team sports. Soccer, I worked in engineering Carolina. I was in jail on suspicion of into the back of the police car. The humor field hockey, cross-country, research and development. What’s on your bucket list? bank robbery. of the situation deteriorated remarkably skiing—I loved anything Although I no longer work in I’m considering a 10-day ¡ ¡ ¡ when they drove us back to the field sta- active, especially outside adventure race in Patagonia in Vertebrate biology was the perfect class tion and spent an hour looking for the engineering, the tools that I sports. But it wasn’t until after 2021. I’d love to see that part “The exhilaration I for me in the spring semester of my junior the vacant field station, we found a note loot. When we failed to satisfy their learned at URI are always with my fourth child was born that of the world, and what better feel at the finish line year. It was an elective, so it attracted only tacked to the door welcoming us—their repeated demands to disclose the location me. And believe me, planning I started racing. I began with way to do it than on foot? the hard-core budding zoologists. The colleagues from URI. of the money, they took us to the main a multi-stage adventure race brings me back time a 5K and was hooked. Armed prof was a great teacher and a renowned Typically, the biological field station police station in Aiken and locked us up. involves some serious calcula- with a GPS watch, which More from Holly Zimmermann and time again.” scholar. In class, we delighted in discus- offered the most basic of accommoda- Round about noon the next day, the tions in terms of calorie con- motivated me to go longer at uri.edu/magazine. sions about the realms of man and nature. tions. We crashed. The next day, we FBI guy showed up and we somehow sumption, fluid intake, gear and faster, the distances One discussion was about recent discov- explored our immediate surroundings convinced him that we were not bank selection, risk analysis, timing, quickly went to a marathon eries of animals previously considered and mapped out potential woodpecker robbers. He drove us back to the field and logistics that may have and beyond. The exhilaration extinct. We held a lofty debate on the habitat. That evening, completely out station to retrieve our stuff and then out been very challenging for me you feel at the finish line, status of the mysterious ghost bird, the of food, we hoofed it to a rural village to the county line, with this departing without a technical education. knowing you’ve given it your ivory-billed woodpecker. Recent uncon- in the nearby outskirts of Aiken, where advice: “Now, you boys don’t come back, all, is indescribable. It brings Why did you decide firmed sightings in the forested wetlands we found a few houses, one streetlight, ya hear?” me back time and time again. to write about being an of South Carolina had piqued the interest a phone booth, and a police substation Somewhere in the dusty archives of the ultramarathoner? of ornithologists worldwide. To satisfy the size of a large closet. Aiken, South Carolina, police station is What would people When I was planning for the our curiosity—and seeking an opportu- A brawny policeman stepped out of my mug shot with the caption, “suspected be surprised to know Marathon des Sables across nity to make a grand contribution to the closet and asked, “What you boys bank robber.” • about you? the Moroccan Sahara Desert, science—we decided on a class field doin’ here in Aiken?” We told him we — Stephen Hopkins ’72 People think that I am strong I couldn’t find much informa- trip to the swamps over spring break. were students from URI and that we were and confident and that I know tion about preparation, gear, The University would provide transporta- there looking for the ivory-billed wood- Editor’s Note: After they were sprung from exactly what I want out of life. and what to expect, so I kept tion and the prof arranged for us to stay pecker. He invited us in and said he would jail and relocated to the county line, Hopkins But I wouldn’t run 160 miles a journal, which I intended to in a biological field station just outside make a call to someone who might just be and his classmate spent the rest of their through the Sahara Desert if publish as a guide. That became of Aiken. able to help us. With the large cop and an spring break mucking around in the bot- I weren’t looking for answers. a book, Ultramarathon Mom: At 5 a.m. on the appointed day, I was oversized desk, the substation was a tight tomlands of the Savannah River ecosystem. I don’t do these races to prove From the Sahara to the Arctic. one of 10 students ready to travel and squeeze for the three of us. He spoke to He reports that they never found any something to other people, I My second book, Running make ornithological history. Then the bad his friend: “We got a couple of Yankees evidence of the woodpecker, but since do them to find my true self, Everest, is the story of my news: The professor’s wife became ill the here in my station looking for a bird. Y’all unconfirmed sightings of the bird persist, and that grounds me and 10-day trek to Base Camp night before and was in the hospital. Field get over here ASAP.” We were impressed. he still ponders the possibility of returning gives me self-confidence. Mount Everest and running trip canceled. My lab partner and I looked Here was a guy who could call an orni- to the scene of his “crime” in search of the the highest marathon in the at one another: “To hell it’s cancelled.” thologist and have them show up at a ghost bird—and that loot the police were world. Both books are based Despite the setback, we would make the trip. moment’s notice. looking for. on running, but can be enjoyed Without the professor, URI would not Moments later, two police cars—lights by anyone, athlete or not. provide transportation and neither of us and sirens blazing—skidded into the dirt Read Stephen Hopkins' Class Note on owned a car. We would thumb our way parking lot. Two of South Carolina’s finest page 46. south, find the bird, and report back to entered the station. Now it was really Zimmermann, who lives with her family in our classmates. crowded. One of the newly arrived stated Germany, ran the Marathon des Sables in 2016. URI’s proximity to Interstate 95 and it first, and they all agreed: Yep, we fit the The race is a 160-mile, seven-day race across some good luck got us to Aiken, South description of the bank robbers. the Moroccan Sahara Desert. Carolina, in about 14 hours. Arriving at My buddy and I looked at one another.

52 FALL 2020 PHOTO: ARTHUR A. ALLEN PHOTO: COURTESY HOLLY ZIMMERMANN UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 53 NETWORK

= IN MEMORIAM =

Alvin Noss ’35 Cynthia (Feller) Duffek ’59 Roberta (Celona) Dickenson ’87 Gloria (Montella) Comiskey ’44 Leonard Forcier ’59 JIM NORMAN ’57 Marie Moore ’87 Robert Jacobson ’88 Beatrice (Browning) Parker ’45, David Fishlock ’60 Legendary “Voice of the Rams” and longtime URI sports infor- James Ross, M.B.A. ’88, ’04, M.L.I.S. ’69 Lois Hackett ’60 mation director, Jim Norman ’57, died on July 28, 2020. = BOOKSHELF = Richard Tashian ’46 Francis Perry '60, M.S. ’67 Norman was on the air for 34 years, M.A. ’07, ’11 Evelyn (Shapiro) Saltzman ’47 Michael Rooney ’60, M.B.A. ’65 calling 1,286 consecutive radio broad- Janet (Johnson) Joyce ’89 Check out the latest books by alumni authors—and share Dominick Berardi ’48 Patricia (Rainone) Vollendorf ’60 casts for URI football and men's basket- Lori Mello ’89 your recently published book at uri.edu/magazine. Or send a George Geisser ’48 Carolyn (Cartier) Caparco ’61 ball. He was a mentor and friend to stu- Declan Connolly, M.S. ’91 cover image, along with author, URI grad year, book title, Domenic Mainelli ’48 Carlo Sabetti ’61 dent-athletes, journalism students, and Carolyn (Pickett) Erwin, M.S. ’92 Helene (Sylvander) Pritchard ’48, Claire Andrews, M.S. ’62 sportswriters and broadcasters around Eric Christensen ’93 and year published, to [email protected]. M.S. ’74 Nancy (Miller) Cyr-Larson ’62 the country. He was a member of the Annie Duncan-Ponvert ’93 Cosimo Serio ’48 Daniel King ’62 Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame Barry Watson ’93 Gordon Johnson ’49 Elizabeth (Colavecchio) Walker ’62 and the Rhode Island Broadcasters Hall Raymond Brennan, M.L.I.S. ’94, Irving Johnson ’49 Donna (Forte) DiIorio ’63 of Fame. In 1995, The Providence Journal M.P.A. ’96 Marguerite (Mansolillo) Lischio ’49 Linda (Dworetz) Baron ’64 honored him as one of Rhode Island's "Top 40 Most Influential James Compton, M.A. ’95 Andrew Engilis ’50 Evans Carter ’64 Persons in Sports for the Past 40 Years." Christian Pedrazzoli ’01 Sally (Keleher) Goodwin ’50 Madhukar Chaubal, Ph.D. ’64 Norman was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Rams Sharon Colby Camara, M.P.A. ’02 Arlene (Eisenberg) Kelman ’50 Theo Kazamias ’64 athletics and his smooth voice as he opened football broad- Steven Connor ’03 Ernest LaPorte ’50 Edward Oliveira ’64, M.S. ’74 casts: "Hello everyone and welcome to Meade Stadium in Daniel Flyntz ’03 Kingston on this beautiful fall afternoon for today's game. I am Howard Nicholson ’50 Joseph Abi-Hashim, M.P.A. ’65 Daniel Schnebly ’05 Jim Norman and we're happy to have you with us today." His Robert Smith ’50 Richard Mills ’65 John Oberle '07 men’s basketball broadcasts were energized by the standing- Francis Spilecki ’50 Paul Read ’65 Marissa Murphy ’08 room-only crowds at Keaney Gymnasium on cold winter nights. William Lally ’10 Frank DeSantis ’51 William Stafford ’66 Norman is remembered fondly by his wife, Roberta Homan Kenneth Buteau ’12, M.S. ’13 Dolores (Lovett) Lustig ’51 Richard Testa ’66 Norman, his children and family members, and countless Harry Onoyan ’51 James Twaddle, M.B.A. ’66 members of Rhody Nation. • Eugenia Tsantinis, M.L.I.S. ’12 Running Everest: World War II: The Mood Prep 101: Dream, Reach, Con- Forrest Sprague ’51 William Adams ’67 Adventures at the Top Letters That Brought A Parent's Guide to tribute: An Intimate Gordon Dey ’52 Lena (Azar) Dame, M.L.I.S. ’67 FACULTY AND STAFF of the World (2020) Him Home: Fighting Preventing Story of Survival, Dark James Leslie ’52 Carl De Simone ’67 Anthony Allen, professor Holly Zimmermann, with the 83rd Infantry Depression and Family Secrets and a Walter Vargas ’52 Robert Nelson, M.B.A. ’67 Michael Saddow ’71 Patricia (Barker) Habif ’78 emeritus of education M.S. ’93 Division (2020) Anxiety in College- Quest for Truth and John Bagdovitz ’53 Marcia (Fortin) Carman ’68 Robert Cohen ’72 Stephen Hoitt ’78 Gary Boden ’74, former senior Michael S. Caprio ’78 Bound Teens (2020) Purpose (2020) Mario Casinelli ’53 Elizabeth Schumann, M.L.I.S. ’68 Joyce (Goodwin) Duerr, M.A. ’72 Steven Luciano ’78 information technologist in Carol Landau, Peter Van Schuyler ’65 Francis Jarvis ’53 Thomas Shevlin ’68 Albert Hazard ’72 Cheryl (Marcucci) Maine ’78, ’97 the Office of Institutional Ph.D. ’76 Russell Knibb ’53 Valton Wood, M.P.A. ’68 Barry Siegel, M.A. ’72 Vincent Marcaccio ’78 Research Robert Williamson ’53 Evelyn (Koury) Armfield ’69, M.A. ’76 Barbara Yuells ’72 Robert Nesbitt ’78 Robert Chapman ’54 Dominic Desnoyers ’69 Bruce Birmingham ’73, M.S. ’77, Eric Rosenberg ’78 Richard Gelles, former dean Carolyn (Joly) Johnson ’54 Robert Ise, M.B.A. ’69 Ph.D. ’81 Bruce Ellefsen ’79 of the College of Arts and Jeremiah Kelliher ’54 Karl Johnson, M.L.I.S. ’69 Frederick Howayeck ’73 David Goldberg ’79 Sciences John Morse ’54 Richard Lagasse ’69 James Sullivan ’73 Marilyn Gralnik ’79 Elaine Hall, former janitor Lois (Grinnell) Pearson ’54 Grace Lemon ’69 Henry Antoni ’74 Lynn Hamel ’79 Alfred Hanson, Ph.D. ’82, former William Ritzau ’54 David Pellett, M.B.A. ’69 Gary Boden ’74 Lucile McDonald ’79 marine researcher, Graduate Helen (Izzi) Schilling ’54 Becky (Rhawn) Renner ’69 Heather Crumbaker ’74 Sharon (Medici) Moskwa ’79 School of Oceanography Burton Staugaard, M.S. ’54 Donald Arabian ’70 Carole (Frandsen) Driver, Jo-Ann (Lapolla) Ragosta ’79 William Whitaker ’54 Anne Burns ’70 M.L.I.S. ’74 Herbert Wax, Ph.D. ’79 James McGovern, former laborer Stanley Smith ’55 John DeCataldo, M.A. ’70 Ronald Hammersley ’74 Marjorie (Thomas) Adamcewicz, Steven Moricas, former Edmund D'Amario ’56 Mary Fermanian ’70 Harriet (Murdock) Pepper ’74 M.L.I.S. ’80 housekeeper Marilyn (Gould) Schwan ’56 James Salinger ’70 Richard Tuoni, M.L.I.S. ’74 Laurence Butler ’81 Yardley Norman, former Norman Sefton ’56 Janet (Mitchell) Schade ’70 Dolores Dorsey ’75 Dana (Galin) Dubois ’81 groundskeeper John Hatch ’57 Mary Chartier ’71, M.L.I.S. ’73 John Holtkamp ’75 Barbara Hackey ’81 John Oberle ’07, former George McLaughlin ’57 William Clautice, M.S. ’71 Noreen (Jerzylo) Lilja, M.S. ’75 Daniel Lekas ’81 houskeeper James Norman ’57 Adam Komisarcik ’71 Grace (McDonald) Sowa ’75 Adam Nisbet ’81 Young Love: Computing Possible Is Where the Heart Homeschool Happily: Edward Salzillo ’57 Donna Loomis ’71, M.A. ’73 Eric Nickerson, M.B.A. ’76 Gilda Resnick ’81 Alfred Pascale, professor An Adoptee's Memoir Futures: Model-Based (2019) Yes, You Can! (2020) Kenneth Theroux ’57 Joan Monticone ’71 Eleanor (DeBlasio) Oddo ’76 Alfred Hanson, Ph.D. ’82 emeritus of human develop- (2020) Explorations of Laurence J. Sasso Jr. Laura Kronen ’92 Donald Yarlas '57 Judith Mosher ’71 Diane (Jobin) Roper ’76 Michael Keefe ’82 ment and family studies Bonnie Parsons, M.A. ’74 “What If?” (2019) ’64, M.A. ’67 Richard Carvalho ’58 Nils Nilsen ’71 Raymond Clark ’77 John Mallinson ’82 Charles Schifino, former William B. Rouse ’69 Robert Goodman ’58 Joan Pilson, M.S. ’71 Clinton Salisbury, M.P.A. ’77 Beatrice Choiniere ’83 director, Information John Piacitelli ’58 Robert Richardson, M.L.I.S. ’71 William Simmons ’77 David Correira, M.P.A. ’84 Technology Services Alfred Budnick ’59, H. ’97 Angel Rodriguez ’71 Lars Vidaeus, Ph.D. ’77 Brian Mulvey, M.L.I.S. ’85

54 FALL 2020 UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 55 NETWORK

= CAPTION THIS = This is the time Photo Caption RhodyNow: Scholarship Contest Do you have a funny idea for a caption for this photo from Students are reporting increased need this year the URI Archives? Email your due to COVID-19. The RhodyNow: Scholarship is a caption to [email protected] or respond at uri.edu/magazine. new effort to provide them with immediate-use financial aid. Submit entries by January 15, 2021

SUMMER WINNERS: CLIMBING THE WALLS

ell, readers, there must have been a lot of wall-climbing Wgoing on in URI residence halls in the 1970s. The photo in the summer issue was sent to us by a reader who said it was a photo of him with his roommate and another student who lived down the hall in Fayerweather in 1973. Another reader wrote to say her sister was the one in the back, with only legs visible, and that it was Heathman Hall, 1973. One reader said it was definitely a photo of her husband outside his room on the fourth floor of Fayerweather, but that it must have been after 1973, since he wasn’t at URI until a couple years later. Yet another said Heathman Hall, 1977. So it’s a mystery. But a fun one. Further clues and guesses Gifts to RhodyNow: Scholarship will help students are always welcome! • stay enrolled during this challenging situation. Winning Caption Your gift will double its value with a 1:1 match up to “This COVID-19 quarantine is driving us up the wall!!!” Tom Mulvey, M.A. ’67 the first $190,000. Runner-Up Go Rhody! “The floor is lava!!” Nancy Ryan ’00 #RhodyNOW Scholarship Honorable Mention “Why didn’t you tell me they painted the floor?” Sheila Whalen Masson ’63

THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND URI.EDU/GIVE 56 FALL 2020 PHOTOS: COURTESY URI DIGITAL ARCHIVES foundation & alumni engagement UNIVERSITY401.874.7900 OF RHODE ISLAND MAGAZINE 57 Nonprofit Org. Alumni Center U.S. Postage 73 Upper College Road PAID Kingston, RI 02881 USA Permit No. 1214 Providence, RI

= EPILOGUE = Art of the Ocean With the ocean as his muse, Eric Lutes ’91 embraces his first love, painting. Eric Lutes ’91 likes to paint “grungy, well-used marine items.” His paintings of weathered docks and boats bear that out. He also skillfully depicts the play of light in seashells and ocean waves. Lutes grew up in Charlestown, R.I., and his dad was a well-known marine painter. But Lutes found his own path. With a B.F.A. in theater from URI, he built a successful acting career with roles on Caroline in the City and Frasier, and guest appearances on hit shows including Mad About You, Desperate Housewives, and CSI: Miami. These days, Lutes devotes himself to painting in his quiet South County studio. He says his style is looser and more free than his dad’s. “But,” he says, “when you paint boats, you have to get the details right.” •

Rose Bud, Eric Lutes, 24” x 36”, oil on canvas, 2020 • ericlutesart.com PHOTO: COURTESY ERIC LUTES