FROM THE DIRECTOR

Greetings!

As we launch into the 2022–23 academic year, I am happy to share this overview of student success in external award competitions from the 2021–22 academic year cycle.

We already know that we have remarkable, hardworking, big-thinking students at URI, but it is gratifying to see them recognized beyond our campus. For that to happen, though, these students must take on yet another challenge by applying big. It is only by articulating their dreams and aspirations in writing, and in some cases before an interview panel, that their big goals can be supported with externally funded high-impact opportunities that bring them closer to realizing their full potential. This requires an already ambitiously busy student to take on even more, to step back and reflect, to invest in themselves, and to be open to feedback and critiques of their ideas and writing—when the chance of “winning” some of these awards is less than 5 percent. What they often do not realize until the end, is that this process itself has value, and they will reap its rewards regardless of the outcome of any given competition.

I hope you will join me in celebrating these students and alumni. I look forward to your contributions to future successes, whether that be through mentorship, recommendations, offering campus opportunities which serve as launching pads for these external awards, serving on committees, referring students to the office, or by donating to the new Donald H. DeHayes Provost Honors Excellence Endowment fund to support our most promising students.

As with most things, it takes a village. The research experiences, special programs, leadership development opportunities, and other high-impact opportunities that students have access to here on campus are what makes them such strong applicants to external awards.

It all starts here, and you all play a role in these successes. Thank you!

Director, Office of National Fellowships and Academic Opportunities