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A message from your university ...Dear Alumni and Friends, During the next several years, the University will be involved in more building projects than we have seen since the 1960s. This period of dramatic activity helps us to overcome some thirty years of deferred maintenance, but it also enables us to move forward with facilities for a new time and new student expectations. Here is a brief overview of the work you will likely be reading more about and seeing in the near future. This overview is not intended to be comprehensive, nor are the dates cast in concrete, but it may help you to conceptualize the scope and scheduling complexity of the work being undertaken. A critical first step in all of this was the completion of the Campus Master Plan, approved by the Board of Governors for Higher Education in May. The plan gives us a framework for planning, and establishes the connection between the academic program and the physical plant. Starting on Upper College Road, early this fall the buildings that formerly housed Sigma Nu and Sigma Chi fraternities will be demolished to make way for a new home for the URI Foundation, and one for the Division of University Advancement next door. Major renovations to Green Hall, home to our Admissions Office, will begin in January. During construction, Admissions will move to the former Theta Chi building on Upper College Road. Upon returning to Green Hall 18 months later, they will be joined by the URI Enrollment Services group (now housed in Roosevelt Hall) to form a comprehensive student services center. Other important changes include the movement of the Women's Center into the former Phi Sigma Kappa house in the next year and of our School of Education research programs into the former Theta Chi, once Admissions is re-settled. Groundbreaking will be held on Nov. 17 for the transformative work to begin on Ballentine Hall. A temporary facility will be constructed to house College of Business faculty members displaced when Ballentine is closed for 18-months. As Ballentine's doors close in December, we will welcome the opening of the newest building on campus, the 50,000 square-foot, three-story Coastal Institute for marine and environmental teaching and research. Of course, our commitment to the renovation of our Residence Halls is now being realized, just as the critical financing for the latter stages of this important project is sought on the November ballot (RI referendum No. 4). This project alone will determine our ability to remain competitive with other institutions in providing appropriate on-campus living for our students. The Residence Hall renovations coincide with an increase in enrollment, and a rise in demand for on-campus housing from upperclassmen. To accommodate these demands, we are exploring options for private development of apartment-style housing on or near campus. Groundbreaking for the project that has received the most public attention, the Convocation Center, will be held during Homecoming on Oct. 14. Both the Center and the ice skating facility are scheduled to be complete in the fall 2002. On the horizon are a federally-funded, Sustainable Communities project, and plans with Paideia (a Greek-American organization dedicated to higher learning), to build a Hellenic Center behind the Fine Arts Center, which would house the URI Center for the Humanities. All of these projects are being made possible through the generous support of thousands of Alumni, the Board of Governors for Higher Education, the Governor of Rhode Island, the General Assembly, our faculty, staff, and students, and the people of Rhode Island - all of whom take pride in their University, The University of Rhode Island. Robert L. Carothers President |
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