News&Views

URI students Matt Wilkinson and Monica Reynolds in Cassis, France.

No Matter How You Say It

There are about 400 undergraduates majoring in languages at URI and more on the way!

“We’re literally adding majors every day,” says Joseph Morello, who chairs URI’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages. “This is not your grandfather’s language department. Although we maintain our traditional role of teaching language and literature, the department has also become the center for internationalizing the curriculum. Students studying engineering, business administration, government, science, education, or the social and health professions have the opportunity to develop international and intercultural communication skills at URI.”

C’est si Bon!

Alain-Philippe Durand, head of the French and Francophone Studies Program, has a mantra: “The B.A. in French—Don’t leave URI without it!” More and more students are taking his advice.

In the last seven years, the number of French majors has quadrupled from 30 students in 1999 to 123 in 2006. “If we’re not the largest program in the U.S., we’re in the top three,” says the enthusiastic associate professor, who is from Marseille. He joined the URI faculty in 1999.

Ninety-five percent of French majors are majoring in one or two other disciplines, and the majority of them graduate in four years

Students have the chance to study in various countries, including France, Morocco, Senegal, Belgium, and Quebec where they can take classes, and pursue internships—or both.

Recent graduates of the URI French program have

♦ become M.A. and Ph.D. candidates at prestigious universities;

♦ landed jobs teaching French overseas;

♦ used their knowledge of the language to work for the Peace Corps;

♦ been employed by major corporations around the world, such as General Electric, NYU in Paris, and Saint Gobain, one of the world’s leading industrial corporations.

To learn more about URI’s French program go to uri.edu/artsci/ml/programs/french.

On the Language Horizon

It won’t be too long before URI is graduating engineers who speak Chinese, textiles graduates who speak Italian, and pharmacists who speak French. Here’s the scoop:

• With strong encouragement from business and industry, John Grandin, executive director of URI’s International Engineering Program is laying the groundwork for a Chinese IEP. Currently, 200-plus students study German, French, or Spanish with engineering and earn two degrees in five years. Students in the program complete internships with more than 40 partner firms in Europe or Latin America and are recruited by top global companies.

♦ Europe is the place to be for the fashion conscious! Soon textiles, fashion merchandising, and design students will study there and earn dual degrees in Italian, French, or Spanish.

♦ URI is making it easier for more pharmacy students to earn a degree in French or Spanish.

ROTC Hall of Fame inductee Lt. Gen. Bruce Blount ’50 reviews current cadets.

A Military Salute

Two URI alumni and one military science professor who honored their country and the University in battle were inducted into the ROTC Hall of Fame last fall.

Inductee Lt. Gen. Bruce Blount ’50 won a Bronze Star for gallantry in the Korean War, a Silver Star for Heroism in the Vietnam War, testified for the Army at one of the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy hearings during the 1950s, and served as commander of NATO forces in southern Europe.

Inductee Col. William Babcock ’68, was awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in Vietnam. After 9/11, he volunteered for service in Afghanistan, spending six months there training the Afghan National Army and earning a Bronze Star. A brigade commander in the Rhode Island National Guard, he volunteered for service in Iraq and spent three months in Baghdad last year.

The late Col. Richard Schott was the third inductee into the Hall of Fame. An assistant military science professor at URI, he was killed in action in Vietnam in 1972. His remains were recovered four years ago and not identified until 2004. He was buried with full military honors in a family plot in West Virginia.

Wesley Snipes

Alton Jones Becomes Hollywood East

For four days last fall, URI’s W. Alton Jones Campus became the backdrop for a new $15.5 million action movie called Hard Luck starring Cybill Shepherd and Wesley Snipes.

Hard Luck interweaves the story of three different couples. “It’s quirky, dark and funny,” says director Mario Van Peebles who is also a writer, actor, and producer.

The movie, which was filmed entirely in Rhode Island, should be in theaters by spring.

Van Peebles said that a recent tax credit for filmmakers attracted the production to the state. He found multiple reasons to enjoy filming here: Rhode Island’s diversity of people and cultures, its diversity of landscape and restaurants, its beautiful architecture, and its close proximity to New York. “And the friendliness of the people.”

The Alton Jones Campus was perfect, offering a farm, a lake, and a swamp.

“It was easy for us to accommodate the production,” said Tom Mitchell, director of the Alton Jones Campus. “We’re used to customizing all kinds of requests, but this was our first movie. It was fun to see how they do it.”

Steven Feinberg, head of the state’s Film & Television Office, suggested the West Greenwich site to the moviemakers. “He was a camper at Alton Jones when he was a student,” says Mitchell, noting that the former camper has the 2,300-acre campus in mind for other movies.

Myles Brand

NCAA Chief Speaks

Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, kicked off the fall Honors Colloquium, “Contemporary Sport: Obsession or Healthy Pursuit,” which examined some of the important issues relating to sport and society. His on-campus comments about flexible options for student-athletes affected by Hurricane Katrina made national news. Other high profile speakers included hoop legend Bob Cousy, author Frank DeFord, and former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh.

R.I. Supreme Court ‘Rides’ to Kingston

In the days before the automobile, courts traveled throughout their jurisdiction to hear arguments. Reviving the practice, the Rhode Island Supreme Court rode to Kingston last fall to hear oral arguments in Edwards Auditorium, which was packed with attorneys, defendants, and students. Chief Justice Frank J. Williams (center) established the “riding the circuit” program to remove the mystery of the court system and thereby increase access to it. Sitting with him on the bench are Justices Maureen McKenna Goldberg and Francis X. Flaherty.

Female Squid Make Good Moms

Female squid have always been considered to be poor parents, laying their eggs on the seafloor and then abandoning them there.

But Brad Seibel, assistant professor of biological sciences, has come to their defense by making the first observation of squid maternal care. Using a remotely operated underwater vehicle in the deep sea off California, he watched five female Gonatus onyx, one of the most abundant species of squid in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, carrying thousands of eggs in their arms. The observations were reported in a December issue of the journal Nature.

Seibel’s video and photographic images show each mom transporting a tubular pouch of some 2,000 to 3,000 eggs attached to hooks under her arms. After several months, the mature eggs break away from the pouch and hatch and the larvae set out on their own. The URI biologist noted that the egg-carrying moms were unable to swim as efficiently as unencumbered ones, making them more likely to be preyed upon by whales and seals. Ah, the price of motherhood.

Seibel’s work garnered worldwide news coverage including The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Popular Science. An Associated Press wire story appeared in 50 publications and Web sites.

Residential Life to Open New Doors

During the upcoming academic year, students will walk through the doors of the first new residence halls to be built on the Kingston Campus in more than 35 years. The University’s Department of Housing and Residential Life is building new apartment- and suite-style residence halls that will house upper class students. Located to the west of both Heathman and Browning Halls, the $68 million, 800-bed project is now underway. Combined with a new $22 million dining hall, this will be the largest building project in the University’s history and is a significant step in meeting increased demand for on-campus housing. Approved by the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education and the General Assembly, these residence halls are funded entirely by revenue bonds.

Relief Effort Update

Brook Weisman-Ross ’94 took a three-month sabbatical from Citizens Bank last spring to join the worldwide effort to help Southeast Asia recover from the devastating 2004 tsunami. (See Fall ’05 QUAD ANGLES). A few months after returning home from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, the bank executive realized that he couldn’t sit in his comfortable corporate office knowing that there was more work to be done. Resigning his position, Weisman-Ross accepted a job as disaster-response coordinator for Asia with Plan International. Based in Bangkok, his responsibilities include tsunami relief efforts as well as relief efforts in Pakistan where a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit last October.

Where Red Means Run

As if we needed any more evidence, Chris Hunter’s research on the prevalence of red-light running is yet another indication that Rhode Island drivers are among the nation’s worst. The civil engineering professor recorded 1,358 hours of videotape at 20 urban, suburban, and rural intersections in the state, and counted drivers running red lights 8,597 times. That’s a statewide average of 6.3 violations per hour, matching or exceeding other locations in the country where similar studies have been conducted. During peak traffic hours at one intersection in Cranston, the professor counted a violation approximately every four minutes.

His research is playing a key role in the debate regarding the use of surveillance cameras in some communities to catch law-breaking drivers. Hunter said that the real focus of using cameras is driver and passenger safety while many communities are looking to generate revenues from traffic tickets. Most studies show considerable reductions in red-light running when cameras are deployed, thereby decreasing revenues. The good news—if you don’t mind Big Brother watching—is the tremendous potential for reducing traffic accidents and injuries.

Medication Help Still in the Bag, but on Web too!

URI’s College of Pharmacy began an outreach program in the early 1980s using a modest brown bag. The concept was simple—senior citizens could bring their multiple prescriptions to various centers around the state in a brown lunch bag. URI pharmacists would answer their questions and make recommendations.

The Brown Bag Prescription Medication Program, which has helped hundreds of thousands of elderly Rhode Islanders, is now a model for the world. Even ABC TV’s Good Morning America once featured the outstanding program.

Today, some Brown Bag programs have Spanish-speaking pharmacy students to assist patients who aren’t proficient in English.

And now the college is using 21st century tools to reach anyone who has medication questions. Its comprehensive Web site uri.edu/pharmacy/outreach provides links and toll- free phone numbers to prescription cost assistance, Medicare Part D, a Medication Information Line, Medication Education Resource Center and Pharmacy Outreach, which includes the Brown Bag program. Some links offer a Spanish alternative. The Medication Information Line, 1-800-215-9001, provides Rhode Islanders with confidential information about their medicine.

Taxing Times

Beware the Ides of April, as Shakespeare might have said if he had to pay federal income tax. While it’s too late for 2005 deductions, Joe Matoney, a professor in our College of Business Administration shares the meager 2006 energy conserving tax incentives that not only will save you some green, but help make you environmentally green.

• This year you can take a 10 percent tax credit for making your existing home more energy efficient by adding insulation, installing a heat pump or upgrading your furnace or water heater. The lifetime maximum credit per taxpayer is $500.

• Homeowners who install solar energy systems will receive a tax credit worth 30 percent of the system’s cost, up to $2,000.

• And the hybrid car? The up-to-$2,000 tax deduction for buying the fuel-efficient car has run out of gas and can’t be deducted for 2006. But the good news is the deduction has been replaced by a tax credit, which varies by vehicle. Credits, says Matoney, whose nickname is “taxman,” are more valuable than deductions. The bad news is the complicated legislation, which is based on mileage consumption, will force consumers to consult with their tax accountants or their car dealers.

Students Take Alternative Spring Break

Instead of lying on the beach or snowboarding down the slopes during spring break this month, about 20 URI students are swinging hammers and pounding nails.

The students are participating in a new, three-credit, service learning course.

Gail Faris, assistant director of the Women’s Center explains: “The course is partnering with Habitat for Humanity International, and as part of the class the students are required to spend their spring break helping to build homes in Albany, Ga.”

The semester-long course focuses on community leadership and social issues such as economics, homelessness, political action, society, and families and such practical issues as building materials. The natural progression of the course is to provide the students with purposeful civic learning that could foster a lifelong habit for each participant.

Students were required to pay insurance fees and local participant fees to Habitat for Humanity, along with the costs required for their food and transportation.

“This is a trial run for the program, but I hope to see it institutionalized,” Faris says. “I foresee this kind of program growing each year.”