News & Views

How to Improve Your Relationship With Food

Since February is the month of relationships, we asked nutritionist Kathleen Melanson, director of URI’s Energy Metabolism Lab, for some tips for improving our all too often love-hate relationship with food. Here’s what her research suggests:

Do things together: Eat and exercise. Find activities you enjoy so you will keep doing them. Savor how good food tastes and exercise feels.

Embrace your eggplant: Vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, nuts, and seeds provide lots of nutrients with few calories.

Take time for each other: Avoid eating directly out of packages. Instead, portion out a single serving and return the package to the shelf. Eat slowly, enjoying the taste, textures, and the experience.

Make a commitment: You’re in this for the long term so make friends with your biological cues that tell you when you’re hungry and when you’re full.

Take pleasure in the relationship: Avoid guilt or fear regarding food. Relish a balanced diet, valuing foods as a source of nourishment and enjoyment, to fuel your body and keep it healthy.

Added Dimension

URI art instructor Kim Salerno studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and painting at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. The Newport artist will further fuse her passion for art and design by turning her collages into an installation.

She was awarded a $15,000 Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., grant last fall to help her do just that.

“Visual art is dominated by developments that alter the way people see. Computer design programs use layering systems to isolate visual elements,” said Salerno. “This fragmentary aspect of graphics is to contemporary art what perspective was to the Renaissance. I envision this 2-D infatuation in three dimensions, integrating graphic work with the deep space of Renaissance perspective and the physical experience of contemporary installations.”

Salerno’s collages are filled with domestic images—wallpaper patterns; architectural pieces such as door handles, stairs, lamps; and silhouetted figures. The artist often adds fabric, fake fur, fringe, or tulle.

She plans to develop her collages into an installation composed of large patterned panels and other objects suspended in space to create an environment in which the viewer can move through an interrupted, layered two-dimensional space sprinkled with some three-dimensional objects. She expects the completed work will appear to come alive not as a literal representation of a room, but as a dynamic space that alludes to and reflects the contemporary home environment.

The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., was established to provide financial assistance to individual visual artists through the generosity of the late Lee Krasner, a leading abstract expressionist painter and widow of Jackson Pollock. Grants are awarded internationally on the basis of recognizable artistic merit and financial need.

URI Fisheries Nets Top Prize

A team of URI Fisheries Center researchers and local fishermen captured the World Wildlife Fund’s International Smart Gear Competition’s $30,000 grand prize last fall for its unique species-separating net for trawlers. The team beat more than 70 other contenders representing 22 countries.

The net catches haddock while releasing their swimming companions—cod and flounder. Because cod and flounder are heavily restricted by federal regulations, fishermen have to throw thousands of pounds of them back into the ocean when they are caught with the haddock. The cod and flounder rarely survive.

To eliminate the unwanted fish, or bycatch, Jon Knight ’80, ’94, partnered with fellow fishermen Phil Ruhle Sr., Phil Ruhle Jr., and Jim O’Grady to modify a net he designed for the squid industry to see if it could be applied to ground fishing. URI’s Laura Skrobe and David Beutel tested the net—aptly named The Eliminator—and it could.

The Eliminator takes advantage of haddock’s tendency to swim up—but not out of—a large mesh net while other fish swim down. The front end of the net has 8-foot mesh on the bottom that allows cod and flounder to easily escape while smaller, 6-inch mesh on the top traps haddock.

The international competition was created to make fishing smarter by encouraging scientists, engineers, and fishermen to develop technologies that reduce bycatch, both a critical economic and environmental problem.

Great Britain is currently testing The Eliminator in the North Sea, and other countries have expressed interest.

Knight and several URI scientists have received additional funding for other versions of the net for use on smaller boats.

Pharmacy 50th Anniversary Committee: First row from left, Nancy Tortolani ’81; Jane Giorgi, administrative assistant; Kathy Fisher ’71. Second row, Douglas Fisher ’71; Celia MacDonnell ’75; Ronald Jordan ’76, interim dean of the college; Henry Pedro ’76; Timothy Baker ’76.

Party With Pharmacy at 50

Join fellow alumni, friends, and faculty as the College of Pharmacy celebrates its 50th anniversary on Saturday, March 8, at the Newport Marriott. Fine dining, dancing, and fun will highlight the evening.

“This will be a celebration of our past and future. We look back at our great history and look ahead to a new building, increased enrollment, and exciting new challenges,” said Ronald P. Jordan, the college’s interim dean. “We have 3,600 graduates of our college and they have had an incredibly positive influence on health care in so many ways in our state, nation, and indeed our world. So come and celebrate the college’s many contributions, each other, and our bright future.”

Cocktail hour for the black tie optional event begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and dancing until midnight with the popular band Brass Attack. The Newport Marriott is located at 25 America’s Cup Ave.

“This is our biggest event of our anniversary year,” said Celia MacDonnell, clinical associate professor and chair of the anniversary celebration. “Come reconnect with old friends and former professors and meet some of our new professors and staff.”

Tickets are $100 per person. Contact Jane Giorgi for ticket information at 401-874-2734 or jgiorgi@uri.edu.

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Math Counts

Gerasimos “Gerry” Ladas is one of the most cited mathematicians in the world. The URI professor’s name and biography have been added to Thomson Scientific’s ISIHighlyCited.com, which honors researchers in 21 broad categories whose publications have received the highest number of citations worldwide.

His inclusion means that Ladas is among the 337 most cited mathematicians during the past 25 years. When one researcher cites another’s work, it is an acknowledgment of the relevance of the work to other studies.

Ladas joined URI’s Department of Mathematics in 1969. He is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Difference Equations and Applications and the associate editor of 13 other mathematics journals. He co-authored three undergraduate textbooks, six monographs, and more than 240 research papers. He is a referee for numerous journals and mathematics research proposals for the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Office, Research Corporation, and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Ladas focuses on the basic theory of difference equations so that other scientists can use his findings in a variety of applications. Difference equations, the professor explains, are about predicting the future state of a system in terms of the present and the past. He is currently on his third sabbatical at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, where he is consulting on biological mathematical models.

Ladas joins seven of his URI colleagues on the most-cited list: Psychologists Jim Prochaska, Joe Rossi, and Wayne Velicer; geoscientist Jean-Guy Schilling; plant and animal scientist Jeff Seemann, dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences; the late oceanographer and microbiologist John Sieburth; and electrical engineer Stephen Kay.

New Provost In the Wings

Donald H. DeHayes has been named URI’s next provost and vice president for academic affairs. He starts in April.

He succeeds M. Beverly Swan ’63, M.A. ’66, who served in the position for 17 years and who will return to the faculty.

DeHayes will serve as the chief academic officer of the University with overall supervisory responsibility for its teaching and scholarly missions. He will advise the president on policies and operations, chair the Council of Deans, and serve on the President’s Team, the Faculty Senate, and the Joint Strategic Planning Committee. He will also oversee special centers and partnerships.

“The provost is responsible for the vitality of the University’s academic life and the intellectual well-being of our students, staff, and faculty. I know that Dr. DeHayes will serve that role well and provide outstanding leadership to our innovative community of scholars,” said URI President Robert L. Carothers.

DeHayes comes to URI after a 30-year career at the University of Vermont, where he started as an assistant professor straight from graduate school and taught courses in forest biology, natural resource ecology, and conservation biology while conducting research on the genetics and physiology of forest ecosystems. He was promoted to full professor in 1989 and subsequently served as graduate program coordinator, associate dean, and interim dean before being appointed dean of the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources in 2000.

As dean, DeHayes led an effort to transform the school by recasting its mission, establishing a completely new curriculum, hiring new faculty, and building a respected interdisciplinary research enterprise that has yielded an average of $350,000 in research grants per faculty member per year. He also achieved tremendous success in fundraising.

National Survey: URI Leader in Learning Experiences

URI students like to live and learn together in learning communities, help others through community service, learn more about their fields and themselves through internships, speak foreign languages, and visit foreign countries. In fact, when compared to students at the 609 other colleges and universities that participated in the 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement, URI students led the pack in these four categories.

The national survey asks first-year and senior students about the nature and quality of their undergraduate experiences. The results were announced last fall.

Some 886 randomly selected students participated in the Web-based survey. Institutions use the information to gauge aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom to see what works and what needs improvement.

“We know that students will be more successful and more satisfied with their University experience if they get involved in and out of the classroom. Many times peer support is an important piece of this involvement. When we organize their classes and even their living arrangements as learning communities, students are more likely to get to know each other better, form study groups, and try new challenges,” explains Jayne Richmond, dean of University College, the academic home of first- and second-year students. The college offers students a broad range of services, programs, and opportunities.

• Learning Communities: Each learning community consists of 20 first year students who take three or more courses in common organized around a major as well as a URI 101 class that introduces them to the importance of community service, internships, and international study as well as diversity, learning strategies, and campus resources. Exposing students to these learning opportunities in their first semester has been proven to encourage their eventual involvement in each. URI began offering Living Learning Communities in residence halls four years ago. Each year, the number of these communities has expanded to include other majors.

• Community Service: Community service is an essential component of life at URI beginning with the freshman year. Since 1995, all freshmen (about 3,000 this year) are required to participate in a one-credit URI 101 course with a service-learning component called the Feinstein Enriching America Program. The course gives students a chance to provide help to the larger community and to relate it to their studies. URI seniors have displayed a continuing commitment to community service; in the survey 66 percent of them reported participating in community service compared to 59 percent of seniors from other institutions.

• Internships and Practicums: By their senior year, 71 percent of URI students have participated in some form of practicum, internship, field experience, or clinical assignment compared to 53 percent of students in the other schools.

• Foreign Language Courses: Seventy-two percent of URI seniors have studied a foreign language compared with 41 percent of students at the other schools. Last fall, 3,109 URI students were enrolled in various language courses, most predominantly in French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

Co-chair Ruby Roy Dholakia at a Branding Steering Committee meeting.

URI Launches Branding Initiative

As the pressure to attract new students and enhance their reputations has grown, colleges and universities across the country are facing the challenge of differentiating themselves in the minds of prospective students, alumni, business leaders, and the public. To this end, the University of Rhode Island has launched a branding initiative to begin the renewal of its cherished URI brand.

Through this initiative, URI will create a consistent and powerful identity that presents our competitive advantage. Beyond just implementing a new logo or a tagline, effective brand building takes a comprehensive view of the institution and capitalizes on its strengths and unique qualities.

“It has become evident that the University needs to approach its brand or reputation in a sophisticated way, and that is why we initiated this serious and thoughtful process,” said URI President Robert L. Carothers. “Through this, we will define our distinctiveness in the marketplace, communicate our value, and tell our story in the most compelling ways possible.”

Branding is the process of determining an organization’s core strengths and communicating those strengths to its most important audiences—in URI’s case, faculty, staff, current students, prospective students, parents, alumni, donors, and government officials.

During this past year, Linda A. Acciardo, director of communications and marketing, and Ruby Roy Dholakia, professor of marketing, co-chaired a 22-member Branding Steering Committee that has led this process through its organizational, research and exploration, and implementation phases. A Web site was created (www.uri.edu/uribrand) to facilitate the sharing of information and ideas.

Groundwork for Renewal

Last August, FORGE Worldwide, LLC, of Waltham, Mass., and Jamestown, R.I., was selected to develop the brand strategy. The agency is a strategic brand-building company with a dedicated higher education division, FORGE Academia. The firm has led successful brand campaigns at Northeastern University, Lesley University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, among others.

Last September, the firm began to gain greater insight into the URI brand and the challenges facing the institution today. The agency reviewed URI’s institutional information and its recent 10-year accreditation report as well as student, alumni, and donor perception studies and current University Web, print and broadcast communications.

The agency has met with more than 50 URI stakeholders, including members of the administration—the president, vice presidents, and deans—faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

The firm also considered findings from the brand research conducted last year by Professor Dholakia and Assistant Professor Daniel Sheinin. Through this study more than 1,400 in-state and out-of-state individuals participated in a telephone or online quantitative survey to understand beliefs about URI and perceptions and awareness of the URI brand. The participants included student applicants, alumni, opinion leaders, job recruiters, current students, faculty and staff.

After analyzing all of its research findings, FORGE presented positioning insights, brand messages, suggested theme lines, and brand architecture—how the overall brand will integrate across the institution. Though this analysis, the firm described the University’s challenges, barriers, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses. As part of that analysis, the firm also shared its audit of six URI core competitors, examining their brands, key messages, and identities in the marketplace.

Comprehensive visual identity and creative recommendations are to be made by the firm this month, and creative elements will be tested with target audiences before the official brand launch in late spring.

“Articulating our core values, mission, and voice is not a simple exercise. We need the hearts and minds of our audiences, both internal and external, unified with a compelling vision of our University,” said President Carothers.