Strategic Opportunities
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
“Comprehensive research universities like ours have a full array of academic research and scholarship. It cuts across the sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts. And that is an asset and a value not only to the institution, not only to our students, but also to the quality of life as citizens.” PROVOST DONALD H. DEHAYES
$250M Campaign goal
135,000+ Alumni
6,600 Annual opportunities in experiential learning
B
ig Ideas. Bold Plans. The Campaign for the University of Rhode Island is comprehensive in scope and ambitious in its goals. It positions URI for long-term success through aspirational vision, careful planning, and near-term agility. Achieving new levels of support for key strategic priorities will make that possible. In this rapidly changing, competitive higher education landscape, URI must respond to immediate needs, build for sustained growth, and enhance the technology and programming that inspire student and faculty success. This campaign has identified an array of projects that will make URI a destination for students and faculty and a recognized source of knowledge locally and globally. Now is the time to enhance and develop the resources that will support these ambitions.
Establishing the URI Opportunity Fund
$902M Invested in capital projects over 12 years
We are seeking to build the URI Opportunity Fund as an endowed fund that invests in academic programs, research, student success, faculty recruitment and retention, athletics, and technology. It can provide URI with the essential flexibility to identify, develop, and expand projects now and in the future. Projects for support: • Industry-specific technology that prepares students to work in professional environments
$104M Earned through competitive research grants annually
425 Full-time faculty hired since 2010 (53% of the full-time faculty)
• Expanded interdisciplinary research and innovation projects • Greater support for experiential learning whether it is off-campus internships, on-campus research opportunities, or presenting research at prestigious conferences • Facilities and programs for students who participate in intercollegiate club and intramural sports, and wellness resources that benefit the entire URI community
“ URI provides the hands-on opportunities to get that extra knowledge I might not have otherwise gained by sitting in a classroom. And you can get such opportunities early on in your academic career.” ADELAIDE LEVENSON ’21, CHEMISTRY
Expanding Immediate-Use Resources
$2.56M For immediate student and campus needs in 2019-2020
Immediate-use resources, such as those titled with RhodyNow, allow the University to respond quickly to pressing needs. As URI addresses the needs of our students and the evolving landscape of higher education, increased immediate-use funds are essential. Each year, immediate-use resources cover: • Annual scholarships for talented and dedicated students, including just-in-time funds for unexpected situations
5,100 RhodyNow donors in 2019-20
• Renovations to academic, research, and community facilities • Subscriptions to academic journals, research databases, and rare collections • Students First Fund, which responds to student emergencies that put their well-being and education at risk
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Growing the URI Endowment The campaign seeks to build the URI endowment so the University can invest in learning,
Please contact:
research, scholarship, and creative work. Gifts to the endowment are invested so that
URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement
the principal earns interest and the investment income supports the designated purpose
401.874.7900 or
in perpetuity.
foundation@uri.edu
Endowed funds support critical areas: • URI community of scholars. Additional funding can increase scholarships and fellowships as well as the activities that attract stellar undergraduates and graduate students. • Endowed professorships. Each of the colleges can benefit from endowed funds that enable them to attract and retain outstanding faculty who enrich the educational environment and research productivity. • Non-traditional programs. The J-Term, international dual degree programs, and the Finish What You Started Program have expanded learning opportunities and the University’s reputation. We must continue to develop these initiatives and fund important academic trends.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
“My husband Thomas and I both feel very grateful for the support we received to go to college. In 2007 we offered to match gifts that would create new endowments for nursing, which resulted in seven new endowed funds. Recently we established the Cynthia and Thomas Sculco Graduate Nursing Research Scholars Fund to recruit exceptional Ph.D. candidates.” CYNTHIA SCULCO ’65
THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
foundation & alumni engagement
79 Upper College Road | Kingston, RI 02881 | campaign.uri.edu