BRISTOL, R.I. -- On Saturday, May 18, another class of Roger Williams University students will cross the Commencement stage to receive their hard-earned degrees and officially become college graduates. Joining them will be honorary degree recipient and keynote speaker, John M. Barry, an historian and author whose recent book details the work of university namesake Roger Williams. A day earlier, preeminent civil rights attorney and founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center Morris Dees will address the RWU Law graduating class in a separate ceremony on the Bristol campus.
This year, both Commencement ceremonies will be livestreamed on the web for those unable to join us on campus. The ceremonies will only be streamed in real time, and an archived version of the events will be made available via YouTube at a later date. Click here to watch Commencement 2013.
BRISTOL, R.I. – It’s the question that nearly every undergraduate is asked at least a hundred times before they graduate: “What’s your major?”
Less often are they asked what their passion is. Perhaps because, for many of them, it’s much more challenging to determine what it is they want to dedicate their life to than what they want to study for four years. Such was the case for Emily D’Iorio ’13, who spent the first three years of college searching for a way to join her passion for service with her academic interests in anthropology and sociology. As a member of the Roger Williams University chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and eventually a member of it’s executive board, D’Iorio saw firsthand the impact of inadequate housing on families in low-income communities – still, halfway through her junior year she struggled to find that intersection. It wasn’t until last spring, when she took the Essentials of Public Health course with Associate Professor of Biology Kerri Warren, that D’Iorio found her calling.
Providence, R.I. — As an assistant superintendent at Gilbane Building Company, one of the nation’s largest building contractors, Elsch Maisoh is no stranger to managing big projects.
He’s tackled assignments like a $250 million Fidelity Investments project and the T.F. Green Airport InterLink, at times the sole Gilbane representative on site. Two projects he worked on even earned Gilbane’s New England Builder of the Year award.
For a construction management major who won’t officially possess a college degree until Commencement 2013 at Roger Williams University, those are no small accomplishments.
This May, Maisoh will become the first graduate of the Learn-Apply-Build Scholarship Program, a one-of-a-kind work/study partnership launched in 2007 by Roger Williams, Gilbane, the Community College of Rhode Island and the MET Center in Providence.
BRISTOL, R.I. – With federal student loan interest rates set to double on July 1, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) held a news conference at Roger Williams University this morning to call for bipartisan support of developing legislation that will stabilize interest rates and develop a long-term strategy to address college affordability and a healthy American economy.
“The reality is that young people today are graduating with enormous debt,” Reed said to a packed room of students, staff and faculty. “It is inhibiting their ability to do what they want to do; it’s inhibiting their ability to participate in the economy. It’s something that is not only affecting us from an educational standpoint, but also from a macroeconomic standpoint.”
Bristol, R.I. — “I’m ready to feast,” George Hoermann ’13 proclaims loudly above a chorus of growling stomachs owned by students in line at the Upper Commons last week for a veritable banquet of gustatory delights.
Students can’t help flashing hungry smiles as they walk through the cafeteria doors and have wait staff ask them, “Lobster or steak?” How many other college students get to answer that question at their dining hall?
Bon Appétit’s Lobster-Steak Dinner is a celebrated annual tradition on campus that most students make sure not to miss. Now a graduating senior, I think back fondly to my very first authentic New England lobster feast that RWU offered me four fun-packed years ago as a Cedar-dwelling freshman.
BRISTOL, R.I. – FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) and Roger Williams University are proud to present the eighth annual Roving Eye International Film Festival™. The popular and acclaimed event, celebrating global cinema and artists, will take place April 14 to 19 and April 28, where more than 40 international films will be showcased – many United States premieres. All screenings are free to the general public. Screenings will take place on the RWU campus in the Global Heritage Hall building and the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center.
BRISTOL, R.I. -- Public health is the most interdisciplinary of fields, encompassing everything from biology, anthropology and statistics to environmental science, communications and more. And it’s a field that finds itself at the center of contemporary public discourse as the nation debates how to keep people healthy, how to deliver care when they fall ill and how to cope with costs.
This fall, Roger Williams University launched an interdisciplinary public health minor for students interested in exploring ways to protect and improve the health of individuals and communities. The minor includes a new course titled Public Health Essentials, which touches on such topics as public health assessment, policy development and health promotion education.
Ever wonder what it might be like to stnad atop one of the wind turbines that dot the New England syline these days?Take an inside look into a 660kW wind turbine with Roger Williams University senior Kathleen Kiely, who climbed to the summit of the 164-foot-tall Vestas turbine at Portsmouth Abbey as part of a senior thesis on wind energy.
After telling highlights of the climb to RWU Magazine, the media communication major shares here more photos and video of her experience and her research paper.
BRISTOL, R.I. -- The biannual Roger Williams University Conference on Religion and kicked off today, hosting scholars from across the globe to investigate “Narratives and Negotiation: Agency, Religion and the State.
For the first time, this year’s conference opened with an undergraduate research panel featuring Roger Williams University students from across the disciplines.
“One of the core values at Roger Williams is student/faculty research, and that happens a lot in the sciences, and some of the other areas of the school,” said Assistant Professor of American Studies Jennifer Stevens, a moderator for this year’s conference.
NEWPORT, R.I., April 10, 2013 – Nearly 200 advocates, activists and supporters united in Newport this week to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and the forging of a new partnership between Roger Williams University, the Roger Williams University School of Law and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. RWU Law is just the second law school to join the National Fair Housing Collegiate Partnership, and RWU is the only university in Rhode Island to join HUD’s campaign to cultivate a new generation of fair housing experts.
“Our work today defines our tomorrow, and I can think of no better way to show that commitment than to work with Roger Williams University in identifying the fair housing leaders of tomorrow,” said HUD General Deputy Assistant Secretary Bryan Greene.
