the institution of first choice for students and faculty with a passion for inquiry a premier learning-centered research university innovation and interdisciplinary learning and discovery that can change the world an ethic of stewardship, community, and intellectual and economic vitality a culture of inclusion, respect, understanding, and global citizenry a legacy of self-sufficiency, accountability, achievement, and pride
Fall has arrived and classes are underway. The University has enrolled one of its largest classes of new students this fall – 3,650 students including more than 3,150 freshmen and 500 transfer students. These new first-year students are high achieving, with top-notch academic scores with a record number of them eligible for honors programs. Together with incoming transfer students this group also has the greatest diversity with a selfidentified reporting 22 percent students of color. We are thrilled to welcome all of these students and our new faculty this year. It is indeed an exciting time and opportunity for the entire community to come together with renewed energy and enthusiasm. It is our hope that we all give our best efforts to these students in terms of our teaching, advising, and mentoring. The Provost’s Office is committed to supporting faculty and staff in these efforts and has new initiatives underway to do so. The enclosed news provides just a few highlights of some essential progress initiatives in helping students succeed at URI and a few updates and announcements. Also, check out progress reports on the Academic Plan at: http://web.uri.edu/academic-planning/progress/
URI is working with Complete College America and continuing to adopt proven strategies and practices that address issues that impede students in achieving graduation goals. Our first step was to identify our own institutional barriers; from the most common practices of registration and credit articulation agreements to the most complex matriculation issues and cultural myths. Our journey began with understanding our data and as a result, several exciting initiatives are happening now:
Finish What you Started (FWS), was implemented for students who left the University, over the years before completing their degrees, shy of just a few credits without completing their degrees. Students who enroll are connected with a degree completion advisor, on-the-spot readmission, and the potential to earn credit for out of classroom experiences. There have been over 800 inquiries and 200 students have enrolled. Over 60 FWS students have now completed their degrees. The program has brought local, regional, and national visibility to URI for creating an integrative and innovative approach to advancing student degree completions.
Take 5, Finish in 4 is a campaign with new and returning students to remind and encourage them to take full time credits (15) each semester. Professional Advisors are being deployed through University College to work more intrusively with advisees and within colleges.
by student class are improving steadily per year, which should positively impact degree completion and other factors (student indebtedness, retention, etc). In 2013-14, nearly 71% of first-year students completed at least 30 credits as compared to just 45% in 2005. This substantial increase in credit completion reflects increasing student academic success.
URI’s Gateway to Completion (G2C) provides focused support in high failure courses – STEM and others while assisting faculty in using the most current and effective teaching strategies to support student success. Degree Maps provide a term-by-term course requirement sequence and milestones for each semester and have now been developed for every major at URI. These maps better ensure a clear path to fulfilling academic requirements, where students can better plan their courses and choices of major in conjunction with their career goals. Maps allow students to easily view requirements and understand and plan their coursework, relative to a major they may be transferring from or in conjunction with any courses they have already completed. The website is easily navigable at http://web.uri.edu/advising
After receiving feedback from faculty, staff and administrators, this new office will integrate the Instructional Development Program, the Online Learning Office, and the Student Learning, Outcomes Assessment, and Accreditation Office in providing an integrated network of faculty support for the advancement of teaching and learning at URI. In addition, the office will work closely with Media and Technology Services. It will provide professional development, research, scholarship opportunities, and support for all members of the teaching community at URI, at all stages in their careers. Diane Goldsmith oversees the new office.
Over the next academic year, a new active learning classroom will be constructed near the Learning Commons of the Carothers Library. The classroom will accommodate over 50 students at nine workstations that will support collaboration on projects and assignments. The instructor will be able to facilitate learning by developing opportunities for student interaction through use of the technology. In the spring 2015 semester, training will be available for faculty who would like to incorporate active learning strategies in their classes and use the new classroom. To learn more about the research behind active learning classrooms and their effectiveness in promoting learning in today’s environment, click here.
The Distinguished Visiting Artists Program at URI hosts one Visiting Artist per academic year to engage with students and faculty on a deeper level of understanding and appreciation of the arts in contemporary culture. This year’s Visiting Artist is Martin Keil, who with his collaborator Henryk Mayer from REINIGUNGSGESELLSCHAFT based in Germany, will develop a participatory project with students that is at the intersection of art, social action, and sustainability. Prof. Norbert Mundorf from the Communication Studies Department will host the visit.
More than 200 faculty received new laptops this summer. A series of workshops was offered over the summer to assist faculty in Sakai integration, Google Docs collaboration, video usage, flipped classroom techniques, and other pedagogical techniques. Forty faculty participated in the training. The Office for Advancement of Teaching and Learning will be offering additional workshops on using technology in the classroom this coming academic year. Watch for announcements so that you can participate!
New Cluster Hiring Proposals being accepted now! A new opportunity as part of the interdisciplinary faculty cluster hiring initiative will fund one new cluster proposal. Any and all interested faculty are encouraged to work with other faculty to submit a proposal for a new cluster topic - all topics must fall within a specific strategic theme area of the Academic Plan (listed below). Cluster topics should help position the University for excellence in areas of existing or emerging societal importance and potential for URI contributions relevant to learning and discovery. Multiple proposals for each theme area are encouraged and expected, although funding only exists to support one compelling new proposal. The deadline for submission is Friday, October 17, 2014 to uriofficeofprovost@gmail.com. A panel of URI faculty & staff will be formed to review the submissions and make recommendations in regard to the newest cluster.
A reorganization integrating the Offices of International Education, directed by Dania Brandford-Calvo and Global Strategies and Academic Partnerships, directed by Nancy Stricklin, has occurred, which will allow greater visibility and synergy in support of URI’s broad-based global agenda. The offices seek to enhance global learning opportunities, expand opportunities for international students, international partnerships, and globally focused faculty research. Both of these areas will now report directly to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs in the Provost Office. The Global Steering Committee will continue to provide guidance on global initiatives and strategy.
Four Scholars will visit URI this coming year, two in the fall and two in the spring
of the Institute of Philosophy in Cuba and from the Group for the Comprehensive Development of Havana will discuss economic reforms in Cuba as well as the sustainability of economic, urban, and social strategies being created and implemented in Cuba. Prof. Richard McIntyre in Economics will host their visit.
, Chair and Professor of International Business and Political Economy at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School in the United Kingdom will share his interdisciplinary research and teaching on economic reform and political stability in the Arab world, as well as his work investigating new approaches for countering terrorism. Prof. Katrin Jomaa in Political Science will host Dr. El-Said’s visit.
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, Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal, will share his interdisciplinary research in marine science and engineering and his ecosystem approach to the management of marine systems. Profs. Marta Chiarri-Gomez and David Bengtson in Fisheries, Animal, and Veterinary Sciences and Mercedes Hudec Rivero in Chemical Engineering will host Dr. Ferreira’s visit.
, Director of the Center for Coastal and Marine Resources at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in Bogor, Indonesia, will discuss his trans-disciplinary research on the sustainability of inland waters fisheries in Indonesia. Prof. Laura Meyerson in Natural Resources Science will host Dr. Adrianto’s visit.
URI welcomed the first 7 out of 25 staff members from the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, who are enrolled at URI to get Master’s or PhD’s. This is the result of a 5-year partnership that URI signed this year with the Indonesian government to help train future marine and fisheries leaders for their country. Five more will arrive in January 2015. URI faculty are continuing to visit Indonesia to set up future field sites for students in fisheries, water resource management, coastal management and environmental sciences. Three CELS faculty traveled in June, and three will be going in the fall. One of URI’s partner universities in Indonesia, Universitas Paramadina, hosted faculty member Katrin Jomaa for a summer of research on political thought and the Islamic religion.
URI is a host institution for this program and in the second year of hosting students from all over Brazil. The numbers of Brazilians coming to URI to study for a year is continuing to increase, with 51 Brazilian students here this year. Some study intensive English for a few months, others go directly into classes.
In its third year, this fall the most diverse group of students yet, representing China, India, Syria, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil and Libya, is being hosted at URI. Undergraduate international student enrollment continues to increase. URI is expecting approximately 51 freshmen and transfers for fall 2014.
URI has begun it first partnership with Education Service Providers to internationally assist with international recruitment of undergraduate students. This will enhance our ability to reach out to students in more countries.
URI is hosting its first Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant. She is from Egypt and will be a TA in the Arabic program. With expanding interest in Arabic classes, URI students will benefit from her assistance with their cultural and language development.
URI’s J-Term offer students the chance to experience another culture, explore a new subject, engage in a service project, or catch up on credits towards helping students graduate on time. The courses offered provide you a full spectrum of academic opportunities, and at a lower cost than regular semester-long courses. The Winter JTerm is URIšs academic mini-semester that runs each January over the winter break. With a diverse list of course offerings and travel opportunities, J-Term provides students with a concentrated period between the fall and spring semesters to focus, explore, and accelerate their path to graduation. The 2015 Winter J-Term will offer 18 faculty-led travel courses. These include travel to Belize, Bonaire, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic (2), France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, and the Philippines. Domestics travel courses include trips to Washington DC, Florida, Hawaii and Indonesia. New this year to J-Term: "Winternships" - intense experiential opportunities for students. The three Winternship locations will be held in New York City, Boston and Rhode Island. In addition, the University anticipates offering over 30 in-person courses at the Kingston and Providence Campuses. A sampling of the courses being offered includes Communications 100, Film 101, Statics, Mediation, Marketing Principles, Career & Major Exploration Seminar, Sociology 100 and many more. There is still time to add in-person courses. For details, please contact John Olerio at jolerio@mail.uri.edu.
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A statewide biomedical research initiative based at the University of Rhode Island has received another $18.8 million in federal funding to expand the program over the next five years. The Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) was established to make the state’s colleges and universities more competitive in biomedical science. The partnership began in 2001 with an $8-million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The new NIH funding will enable the institutions to expand into the areas of cancer research, neuroscience and molecular toxicology. The University of Rhode Island partners with Brown University, Rhode Island College, Providence College, Bryant University, Roger Williams University and Salve Regina University. The grant will finance 27 projects at the institutions, including using nanoparticles to deliver anti-cancer drugs to lung cancer patients, investigating the efficacy of using plant materials to combat stomach cancer and studying risk behaviors in teenagers. Since 2001, the partnership has financially supported and mentored more than 100 faculty members at the various colleges and universities. In addition, the program has paid for a $4-million lab at URI’s College of Pharmacy to enable the network of colleges and universities to carry out biomedical research. So far, researchers at the colleges have obtained an additional $47 million in independent grants to increase biomedical research. Since the Rhode Island partnership was formed, several URI professors have received grants totaling nearly 3 million dollars to study a new treatment for alcoholism, to fight cancer with nanoparticles, and also to research a rare form of anemia.
The George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience is in the final stages of hiring a director. A search committee will be providing its recommendations soon to the President. The new URI neuroscience research institute, named for the parents of Thomas M Ryan, is being funded by the largest private donation in the University’s history - $15 million dollars from Tom and Cathy Ryan. The Ryan Institute will focus its research, teaching, and outreach on neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, like Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons’ and ALS. It will draw on the expertise of more than 30 scientists from across the University who have been studying brain disorders and diseases from multiple perspectives and disciplines. The faculty – from pharmacy, engineering, psychology, chemistry, communicative disorders and more – participate in the University’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, established in 2011 to conduct innovative neuroscience research and offer master’s and doctoral degrees. The Ryan Institute will be a magnet to attract people and engage them in solving some of the most pressing health care challenges we face in society – neurodegenerative diseases. This gift enables the University to attract leading researchers and train new generations of scientists to work on these problems. The Institute will collaborate with other state, regional and national entities to develop and deliver treatments for central nervous system disorders.
The University will make a significant investment of nearly 6 million dollars over the next four years to hire 40 tenure-track positions and 15 lecturers. These new positions would be in addition to replacements of faculty retirements or departures, which will continue to be allocated based on strategic priorities identified by the colleges. The faculty positions will be allocated across colleges and disciplines with an emphasis on strategic allocation in response primarily to student demand evidenced by growth in majors and/or program student credit hour production, contributions to innovation and excellence in general education, transformation of existing programs or majors to new high demand areas, potential to enhance research, scholarship and creative contributions of the University, and with attention to increasing diversity. New faculty positions will need to contribute critical and important teaching across levels within the University --- including introductory, general education, honors courses, advanced undergraduate, and/or graduate courses --depending on programmatic and institutional needs. This initiative is a significant investment of resources and demonstrates the University’s commitment to a quality learning environment and to its teaching, research, and outreach mission
web.uri.edu/provost