Students Melanie Linden, left, Kristina Cinquegrana, and Kevin Charles, have received Simmons scholarships to help them continue their art studies.
Maitland ’25 and Antoinette Simmons ’28
The endowment was created decades before the students who will benefit from it entered college; decades before the professor whose research it will support arrived in the United States. Three art majors, a physics professor, and the Graduate School of Oceanography will all receive funds from the estate of Maitland and Antoinette Hay Simmons through a planned giving endowment set up in the 1970s.
A 1928 graduate of URI’s Home Economics program who later became a librarian, Antoinette Simmons set up the endowment in the 1970s with her husband, Maitland P. Simmons, a 1925 grad, who worked for many years as a science teacher. Maitland died in the 1990s; Antoinette in February 2004 at age 97. While information in University files about them is sketchy, the endowment’s benefits certainly aren’t.
“It’s exciting for us because this is the Art Department’s first scholarship award,”Acting Department Chair Barbara Pagh said. “I think it’s especially interesting that the scholarship is dedicated to painting students. Most students today are interested in digital art and new forms, so we’re heartened by a scholarship that rewards painting students.”
Senior Melanie Linden, of Westerly, R.I., junior Kristina Cinquegrana, of North Providence, and sophomore Kevin Charles, of Breezy Point, N.Y., will receive equal support this year. “The scholarship is very important to me,” Charles said, “not so much because of the money but the added encouragement it has given me to pursue art. I feel extremely honored and thankful to have received this award.”
“The endowments reflect visionary insight to support students and faculty by providing critically needed scholarships for talented students in art and by allowing us to recognize and provide research support for top scientists,” said Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Winifred Brownell.
Physics Professor Alexander Meyerovich, the first recipient of the Simmons research award, came to the U.S. from Russia in 1988 and has taught at URI since 1989. His research focuses on nanoscience (tens or hundreds of atomic sizes) systems, working with researchers from throughout the country in a multidisciplinary approach to examine surface anomalies (modulation in surfaces) in otherwise perfect systems.
“The main practical goal is to find a way of tailoring nanosystems with desirable properties by means of surface manipulation, which is much easier than making changes inside such a small system,” he explained. “This can give rise to a new type of nanotechnology.”
Meyerovich said he is especially grateful for the award because it comes from URI alumni. “Most often alumni want to contribute to student scholarships, which is great, but it is difficult to attract alumni support for research.”
Maitland and Antoinette Simmons lived in Springfield, N.J., for many years before retiring to Vero Beach, Fla., in the 1960s. They were contacted by University fundraisers in the 1970s, and the endowment was established with the proviso that the money would be awarded upon their passing. The Maitlands contributed approximately $70,000 for each of the awards.
By John Pantalone ‘71 Photo by Nora Lewis
