Making a Difference

“My wife, Beth,and I are delighted to be able to give this gift. It will benefit the school and honor my mother, Anna Fascitelli, who was an extraordinary person.”
—Michael Fascitelli ’78

Student Wellness Center Lands Healthy Donation

Michael Fascitelli, Class of ’78 and his wife, Beth, have donated $1 million to URI’s Making A Difference campaign to help create a student wellness center on campus, a facility designed to foster personal health and promote community. The former two-story Roger Williams Dining Hall will undergo a $5.5 million conversion into a wellness center located in the heart of the residential life community.

“It is always a proud day for the University when a gift of this size is received,” said President Robert L. Carothers. “Our new wellness center will be a centerpiece in our growing living-learning experience. We are grateful to Mike and Beth for recognizing the importance of such a center.”

Wellness centers, a growing trend on college campuses, help to retain and engage students. When URI surveyed students about their priorities, they placed a wellness center at the top of their list. The new center will include cardio-vascular equipment, aerobics and dance studio space, and will offer wellness workshops.

Fascitelli grew up in North Providence, the son of a tailor and a seamstress. He was the first in his Italian-American family to attend college. He earned an industrial engineering degree from URI and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1982.

He worked at McKinsey and was a partner at Goldman Sachs before joining Vornado Realty Trust as president in 1996. Today, Vornado owns and manages more than 60 million square feet of office space nationwide, most notably in New York City and Washington, D.C.

“My wife, Beth, and I are delighted to be able to give this gift. It will benefit the school and honor my mother, Anna Fascitelli, who was an extraordinary person” says the alumnus. “URI was a terrific experience for me, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

“To give back to URI, honor my mother and underscore our family’s commitment to education is a unique opportunity. With the new wellness center, students will be better prepared to build fuller lives for themselves and their communities.”

“We believe it is important to support our alma mater and its mission so that others may have the same advantages and opportunities that we were granted.”—Wesley ’70 and Dianne Card ’69

Now the Cards Have Dealt the University Another Winning Hand

Wesley ’70 and Dianne Card ’69 have been leading members of the University community for many years: they co-chaired the annual giving campaign and the Alumni Winter Gala and generously supported the Ballentine Hall renovation project and the Vangermeersch Endowed Professorship. Wes served on the College of Business Administration Advisory Council.

The couple has pledged $500,000 to the Making a Difference campaign, half as an outright gift over 5 years and half in the form of a bequest through their estate. They have designated that the funds be allocated in equal parts: 1) to the Fund for URI (formerly the Annual Fund) and 2) to establish an unrestricted endowment to be used by the president of the University.

“Dianne and I are native Rhode Islanders and have benefited greatly from the education we were provided at URI,” said Wes, president and CEO of Jones Apparel Group in New York. “We believe it is important to support our alma mater and its mission so that others may have the same advantages and opportunities that we were granted. The new capital campaign is critical to the University’s future, and we are pleased to be able to assume a leadership role at this time.”

Wes, who met Dianne on a blind date at URI, received an alumni scholarship in his senior year, which was part of the reason the couple has been such generous supporters over the years. But rather than restrict their campaign donation to a particular purpose, the Cards sought to allow the University to decide how the funds should be spent.

“Our feeling is that the administration has a keen understanding of the needs of the University, its students, and the faculty, and that unrestricted funds allow them the flexibility to use their resources in the most effective manner over time,” Wes said.

“Wes and Dianne have a strong interest in unrestricted giving. While it’s not a route taken by many major donors, it is critical to the operation of the University. Their on-going support for our annual giving program, and now for an endowment to support annual University priorities, is of immense benefit in helping us address current but changing needs,” said Robert Beagle, vice president for University Advancement. “The Cards exemplify that philanthropy means many things—in their case, they are generous donors who also provide outstanding volunteer leadership.”

—By Todd McLeish

“URI is one of the few universities in the country to offer both a pharmacy program and an engineering program.”—Professor Arijit Bose, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering

Gift Launches Pharmaceutical Engineering Program

Students interested in pursuing careers in the biopharmaceutical industry have a unique new educational option—one of the nation’s first undergraduate programs in pharmaceutical engineering.

The program was launched this fall with the support of a $75,000 gift from FOUGERA, a New York-based specialty pharmaceutical company, to the Making a Difference campaign. FOUGERA’s chief executive officer, Paul McGarty ’82, requested that $50,000 of the gift be used to develop and implement cross-disciplinary courses in pharmaceutical engineering and the remaining $25,000 be used to establish a scholarship fund to reward outstanding students pursuing the program.

“Our specialty is developing topical pharmaceutical preparations such as creams, ointments, and gels, that requires an understanding of both pharmaceutical and engineering principles,” said McGarty. “We hope this new program will provide a unique opportunity for students interested in our—and other—specialty pharmaceutical companies.“

“URI is one of the few universities in the country to offer both a pharmacy program and an engineering program; this has enabled us to create this new track within our chemical engineering major,” explained Professor Arijit Bose, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, who has spearheaded development of the program with Pharmacy Professor Clinton Chichester.

Bose noted that many chemical engineering students go to work for biopharmaceutical companies like Amgen and Pfizer after graduation, but they require additional training about sterile work environments, FDA regulations, and other topics that are taught in the College of Pharmacy. Students enrolled in the pharmaceutical engineering track will now receive the necessary training as part of their undergraduate education.

Engineering students won’t be the only students to benefit from the new program, however.

“Demand is very high for the 100 openings in our pharmacy program each year, so now students interested in pharmacy will have another educational option at URI that will lead them to a career in the pharmaceutical industry,” Chichester said.

“We appreciate the tremendous generosity and commitment of Paul McGarty and FOUGERA in helping us develop this program,” said Bose. “Their gift, and our proximity to a number of other biopharmaceutical companies in the region, will help us to grow and mature our program to benefit our students and the industry.”

—By Todd McLeish