|
Scholarships established to honor retired professorsA women's advocate and a social activist, both retired faculty members of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be remembered by their students - both past and future. That's because endowed scholarships have been established for both by their friends, colleagues, former students, and business associates. The combined scholarships are valued at approximately $41,000. One scholarship, named for Phyllis Brown who retired this year from URI's Chemistry Dept., will enhance fellowship stipends for chemistry graduate students. The other scholarship, in honor of Elton Rayack, who retired from the Economics Dept. in 1990, will help an economics student who has a strong commitment to social justice. "I never thought of myself as a women's libber until I was working at another University and discovered that I wasn't ever going to get promoted despite the fact that I did my job well, stayed out of trouble, got published, and did cutting-edge research. I was a woman," said Brown who retired in July. "Forget about the glass ceiling. I was bumping into the (entry) door." Brown University originally rejected her application to graduate school shortly after World War II ended and returning veterans were given preference. Eighteen years later, Brown gave Brown another try, was accepted, and earned her Ph.D. Hired by URI in 1973, Brown soon developed an international reputation in the still-young field of using liquid chromatography to solve problems in medicine. The nucleotide assays she developed were the basis for genomic studies and helped make the human genome project possible. At her retirement party in June, Brown was presented a book packed with notes from former students. "It was so gratifying," she said. "I always think of my students as an extended family. The mother in me didn't just disappear when I became a professor." When Rayack began at URI in 1958, he quickly gained a reputation of being a rebel with many causes. His activism got fired-up during the Depression years and his light has steadily illuminated social and civil injustices ever since. The most oft-repeated Rayack story is what happened when President Lyndon B. Johnson came to campus in 1966 to receive an honorary degree. While Rayack planned to walk out in protest of Johnson's policies in Vietnam, he instead found himself being escorted out by URI student nurses planted in the audience by the Secret Service, making it look as if he were ill. It was a clever ploy, Rayack admitted, but frightening to think how far the government will go to silence opposition. A strong advocate of civil rights, Rayack marched in Washington, was among the first to oppose the Vietnam War, fought for academic freedoms, and battled to keep the book, The Tropic of Cancer, away from the censors. Even now, when asked to list today's pressing issues, Rayack quickly said, "Civil Rights, President Bush's foreign policy of dismantling antiballistic missile treaties, and the redistribution of wealth in the country where the top five percent of the population have the largest share of pie while welfare recipients are left with crumbs." For more information about either scholarship contact Tom Zorabedian, senior development officer for the College of Arts and Sciences, at 401-874-2853 or zman@advance.uri.edu. By Jan Wenzel |
|
