If you have any questions, please contact:

Kristen Cyr
Public Relations Officer
klcyr@ccri.edu

Dennis Moore
Director of Marketing & Communications
dwmoore@ccri.edu
Search News Releases


Marketing and Communications

News Releases 2009

November

CCRI hosts OIC of Rhode Island relaunch celebration

Warwick, R.I. – Nov. 10, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island will host a celebration from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Liston Campus in Providence honoring the rebirth of the OIC of Rhode Island – the training and community development center that built the facility that now houses the CCRI campus at One Hilton St. in the city’s Southside.

The OIC of Rhode Island responded to the state’s pressing urban needs from 1967 until its closure in 1991, providing thousands of underserved Rhode Islanders with comprehensive employment, youth and community development services. The General Assembly recently reactivated its charter.

Michael S. Van Leesten, who served as executive director of OIC, is a member of the steering committee that has been organized to bring the OIC of Rhode Island back to Providence.

“The OIC of Rhode Island was much more than a program – it was a movement that captured the imagination and involvement of the broad community,” said Van Leesten. “It was more than a service organization, but a strong advocate for the poor and for re-entry programs and economic development. Today’s economic conditions, housing foreclosures, high unemployment rates, alarming incarceration trends for black youth, and the growing anxiety and despair in Rhode Island’s poorest neighborhoods give rise to the need to restore this mission-driven institution.”

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale said the Liston Campus, which OIC built and opened as its headquarters in May 1980, is the natural place for the organization to celebrate its rebirth and to reintroduce itself to the community.

“We are proud to collaborate with the OIC steering committee and board of directors to celebrate this occasion,” he said. “This event is just the beginning of the college’s partnership with OIC. Its mission to create opportunity and to encourage self-sufficiency complements CCRI’s mission, and we will join in OIC’s efforts to help members of inner-city populations meet their educational and employment goals.”

The new OIC will focus on program areas that relate to the changing needs of the state’s urban populations and complement broader community and economic development strategic planning.
Among its initiatives will be minority business development, prison re-entry programming, a focus on environmental and green jobs, development of an urban policy institute, and outreach, training and employment.

The Nov. 15 launch event will feature music and the unveiling of a plaque that recognizes OIC’s role in the creation of the building that now houses the CCRI Liston Campus. Several local and regional leaders, as well as many OIC alumni, also have been invited.

October

‘Mythos + Pathos’ to be exhibited at CCRI gallery

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 25, 2009: Wakefield artist Claudia Flynn will exhibit “Mythos + Pathos” at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus Art Gallery from Nov 4. to 28. An opening reception, featuring a projection of short experimental films by Maya Deren (1917–1961)will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Flynn often works with ordinary objects and materials, transforming their use and meaning into a broader context, providing a linkage to our ancestral past and giving us a mirror to consider the fragility of our humanness. “I recycle objects, ideas and metaphors,” she said.

In “Mythos + Pathos,” she presents the rich diversity of both her material and subject matter as she displays a unique artistic sensibility. Portrait paintings made from nail polish hang on the walls of the gallery while an array of mixed-media objects are prominently placed. The objects of her sculptures range from tree branches, vintage keys and gold leaf-encrusted wishbones to bronze castings. One of the largest works is an slate chalkboard resting on a wooden easel, where she obsessively has written her own name as mantra.

For Flynn, “making art comes from a primal need for creative expression in a modern world, the integration of self in a fractured society and a need for a resurgence of storytelling among our contemporaries.” Her stories come from an internal mythical realm, connected to what may be intrinsically feminine, that offers an archetypal resonance within a larger universal realm – one with feelings, compassion, struggle, sorrow and sympathy.

Both Flynn and Deren, whose films will be projected during the opening, share an appreciation for mythical time as well as for the role of women in being able to both reveal and transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. One of America’s most influential experimental filmmakers of the 1940s and ’50s, Deren wrote, directed, edited and performed in many of her films. She was a poet, dancer, choreographer, photographer and, through a Guggenheim grant, studied and filmed voodoo ritual in Haiti.

Flynn holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Southeast Asia and North Africa, combining her artistic pursuits with environmental and social concerns. In 2002, Kashi Art Gallery in Kochi, India, invited her to create a site-specific installation for an international environmental art exhibition, and she completed a collection of poems reflecting on her experiential four months living and exploring India. She has been the recipient of several grants from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and most recently received the Innovators’ Program Award for Original Art in a Publication from the John Hopkins University Press

The gallery is located in Room 3500, on the third floor of the round building at the Warwick campus, 400 East Ave. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. For more information, e-mail gallery director Viera Levitt at knightgallery@ccri.edu.

Mobile Art Project coming to CCRI Oct. 27

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 19, 2009: Viera Levitt, director of the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus Art Gallery, and Hera Gallery in Wakefield will bring their Mobile Art Project to the Warwick campus from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. All are invited.

The Mobile Art Project presents contemporary artwork within the space of a 16-foot box truck. Its inaugural trip in August brought it to various destinations in South County and Providence. The response was positive and enthusiastic, so Levitt and Hera Gallery are taking the Mobile Art Project to different neighborhoods in Rhode Island, with the focus on schools and other educational venues, starting on Oct. 22 and culminating with the CCRI visit on Oct. 27, when it will be parked outside of the Knight Campus megastructure. Admission is free.

Visitors to this mobile gallery can experience a sound installation entitled “Aqua Alta” by internationally exhibiting artist China Blue. Her recordings are made with specialized audio equipment including hydrophone arrays and seismic microphones. The work captures the unique sounds of the water and the creatures of Providence’s canals and Narragansett Bay and was inspired by the effects of global warming on the environment, both under and above the surface of the water. Save The Bay has provided text for a free leaflet available to all visitors.

“The Mobile Art Project can be useful both as a contemporary art gallery and as a teaching tool to help students understand how flexible art exhibiting can be, as well as reflect on various issues concerning the health of our water resources,” Levitt said. “We look forward to working with teachers, scientists and educators to help us expand upon the project.”

At the end of the day, Levitt said, visitors can attend “Follow the Water!” – a presentation on streamflow and water availability in Rhode Island – at 4 p.m. in Room 4080 at the Warwick campus. Register and learn more at www.coalitionforwatersecurity.org.

The Mobile Art Project is presented with partial support from The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, The Puffin Foundation, Hera Educational Foundation and The Friends of Hera.

For more information, images, audio and video, visit www.vieralevitt.com/mobileartproject.htm. Anyone interested in working with the Mobile Art Project should contact Hera Gallery, www.heragallery.org.

R.I. author to discuss Italo-American culture

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 9, 2009: The public is invited to celebrate National Italian Heritage Month with the Rhode Island Teachers of Italian and the Community College of Rhode Island Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures in a lecture featuring Rhode Island author Peter Pezzelli at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, at the college’s Warwick campus.

Pezzelli has written several books that have gained national recognition including “Home to Italy,” “Every Sunday,” “Francesca’s Kitchen” and “Italian Lessons.” He will discuss some of the themes in his books as they relate to the Italo-American culture and take questions from the audience.

The discussion will take place in Room 4080 at CCRI’s Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

Exhibition features art created from found material

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 13, 2009: Saunderstown artist Michele C. Leavitt and Newport sculptor Jeff Soderbergh will exhibit “Circles, Cycles and Squares” – found materials recycled into new works of art – in the gallery at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Flanagan Campus in Lincoln through Nov. 5.

The exhibition features Leavitt’s fiber, collage and works on paper. Soderbergh, who creates fine home furnishings using reclaimed antique architectural structures, will exhibit square bowls and sculpture.

An opening reception with refreshments will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22. Leavitt will host a gallery talk at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, focusing on the development of an idea and its relationship to artistic problem-solving.

“Because there is so much to learn through the arts, I began to question the possibilities for my exhibition in respect to education,” said Leavitt, a foundation and figure drawing instructor for CCRI and the Rhode Island School of Design’s Pre-College Program. While pondering the upcoming exhibition, Leavitt realized she could trace her current body of work back to its initial inspirations. “I have gained an exciting and energizing insight from this discovery. The unique and powerful recognition of how educational and non-verbal experiences which we absorb become mirrored back to us in works of art, often takes place without our conscious awareness of it. Yet, the imprinting becomes established and grows as a result of an educational process.”

The gallery is located in Room 2420 on the first floor at CCRI’s Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. For more information, e-mail flanagangallery@ccri.edu. Gallery talks also can be arranged by appointment by calling Leavitt at (401) 419-9076.

Author to visit CCRI for National Day on Writing

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 13, 2009: Urbanologist, speaker, writer and educator Max Grinnell will help the Community College of Rhode Island celebrate the National Day on Writing on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Knight Campus in Warwick.

The college’s Writing Center will host an open house from 10 a.m. to noon in Room 6532, and Grinnell will give a short presentation, answer questions and discuss writing from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. A faculty member at Boston University and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Grinnell’s publications include “Hyde Park, Illinois” in the Images of America Series and Frommer’s “24 Great Walks in Chicago.”

As a part of this celebration, the Writing Center is offering opportunities for everyone to write and respond to writing. A handout with interesting topics will be available that day and posted on the Writing Center’s WebCT discussion board. Refreshments also will be available during the open house.

All are invited to contribute writing for publication consideration at the National Gallery of Writing by visiting www.ncte.org/dayonwriting. Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Gallery is collecting and displaying many kinds of writing, including fiction, recipes and blogs as well as audio, video and art.

For more information about the Writing Center, visit ccri.edu/writingcenter. For more information about Grinnell, visit www.theurbanologist.com.

Public invited to jazz master class Oct. 15

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 9, 2009: Jazz guitarist Steve DeConti and trombonist George Masso will present a master class at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in Room 0540 at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus in Warwick. The event is free and open to the public.

DeConti teaches jazz guitar at CCRI and is a popular local performer. Masso played in the Jimmy Dorsey Band and went on to play with Bobby Hackett and Benny Goodman. He continues to have an active performing career.

CCRI Players present local premiere of off-Broadway hit

Warwick, R.I. – Oct. 8, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island Players will open their 2009-10 season with the first local production of Liz Flahive’s dramatic comedy “From Up Here” from Oct. 15 to 18 at the college’s Flanagan Campus in Lincoln.

Rarely does a first play by a previously unknown playwright receive the critical acclaim bestowed upon Flahive when “From Up Here” premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York in spring 2008. It shares the subject matter common to a vast array of contemporary plays – a dysfunctional family – but Flahive’s approach provides what the New York Times described as “a breath of fresh air to a subject more often accompanied by torrents of the hot kind.”

Central to the storyline is Kenny, a misfit high school senior, who returns to school after a suspension for a serious offense some months earlier. He wishes he could just make it through the rest of the year unnoticed, but he has to publicly apologize to the entire school. Other family members are his younger sister, Lauren, a sophomore, who has adopted a tough, brittle exterior to obscure a more sensitive side; their high-strung mother, Grace, trying too hard to be a hip mom without much success; Grace’s second husband, Daniel, a well-meaning guy who has to cope with two stepchildren who don't take to him and a wife with a fragile psyche; and the mother's estranged younger sister, Caroline, who turns up unexpectedly from traveling the world as a member of the Peace Corps. Other characters include two high school seniors: Charlie, a nice, albeit weird, boy who has a huge crush on Lauren; and Kate, a high-achieving girl who becomes Kenny’s “mentor,” but whose motives may not be entirely altruistic; a high school guidance counselor; and a policeman.

The CCRI Players’ production is directed by Bert Silverberg with set design by Luke J. Sutherland, costume design by Jeffrey A. Butterworth, and lighting and sound design by Mick Jones. The student cast features Ethan Jaymes of Tiverton as Kenny; Amanda Contildes of North Smithfield as Lauren; Laura Minadeo of Warwick as Grace; Adam M. Florio of Coventry as Daniel; Kim Hashway of Seekonk, Mass., as Caroline; Conner Pertain of Warwick as Charlie; Elizabeth Almeida of West Warwick as Kate; and Michael James Shaw of Smithfield as Goldberger and Stevens. William Flynn of Providence is the stage manager, and Samantha Nicodemus of Charlestown is assistant stage manager.

Performances will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15; at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16 and 17; and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18. Tickets cost $9 for the general public and $7 for students and senior citizens. For reservations, call (401) 825-2219.

September

Fall enrollment is second-highest in history

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 29, 2009: Enrollment at the Community College of Rhode Island is the second-highest of any semester and the college’s full-time equivalency, or FTE, is the highest in the college’s 45-year history, President Ray Di Pasquale announced today.

According to final enrollment numbers, 17,760 students are taking classes at CCRI’s four campuses in Warwick, Lincoln, Providence and Newport and at two satellite locations in Downcity Providence and Westerly this fall. That number is a gain of 148 students over last fall.

In fact, the enrollment was surpassed only by the Fall 1992 semester, when the state instituted a special tuition waver with no income qualifications for senior citizens and the unemployed (see chart at right.)

CCRI students also are taking more credit hours, 153,511 this fall as compared with 151,110 last fall. The FTE is 11,134, or 165 more than last fall.

Traditionally, in times of economic downturn, enrollment at community colleges increases, and Di Pasquale pointed to Rhode Island’s high unemployment rate as a direct correlation.

“I am not surprised that we are experiencing the growth that we have seen this fall semester,” he said. “We continue our work to provide Rhode Islanders with the degree, certificate or skills they need to gain or retain employment, and we are actively listening to the needs of employers in our state to offer the kinds of programs that will produce the workers they are seeking.”

In these difficult economic times, he said, the college is trying to assist students who are coping with the increased cost of living by offering more options to take classes closer to home or online. Over the past year, the college has increased the number of online courses available to students by 24 percent to support greater participation in higher education by those who may not be able to make it to campus at a specified time each week. Distance learning enrollment increased by 39 percent this fall; more than 1,200 students will take one or more of their courses from home this semester.

Di Pasquale also applauded the work of staff members in the Office of Enrollment Services, Advising and Counseling Student Services and the Bursar’s Office who, with many frozen, unfilled positions due to budget cuts, served thousands of students in the weeks before the start of the semester.

“We are still facing difficult budgetary challenges in the year ahead, but we continue to see opportunities and we’re going to keep moving ahead to serve the residents of Rhode Island,” he said.

FEMA to debut Web site CCRI students created

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 24, 2009: The Federal Emergency Management Agency will launch a Web site created to educate and energize youths to lead their families in implementing key emergency preparedness strategies at an event next week at the Community College of Rhode Island, where three students who created the site attend classes.

FEMA will launch its Student Tools for Emergency Planning, or STEP, Web site, www.riema.ri.gov/step, at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in Room 4090 at CCRI’s Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

Under the direction of CCRI Computer Studies Professor Sandra Sneesby, the three Computer Studies students – Cara Blaine of Providence, Brendalee Peckham-Bell of West Warwick and Manny Rebello of Johnston – each played key roles in fulfilling this summer project for FEMA.

FEMA plans to implement the STEP program for 20,000 students in New England this school year and estimates that at least 10,000 students, teachers, administrators and family members likely will use the site throughout the year.

“Special thanks go to the students for their many hours of hard work and dedication to design and program this Web site,” said Sneesby. “Their talents were quickly apparent and are now evident in the excellent site that they have created.”

Rebello, who has been an application developer of financial software for a small computer firm in Rhode Island for 10 years, served as the main Web programmer for the project. Blaine incorporated her design skills into the STEP project and Peckham-Bell contributed her skills in design, composition and typography to create the look and feel of the Web site. The three worked closely with Michelle Collins of FEMA and Steve Kass of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.

The Sept. 30 kickoff event will include remarks from CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale, presentations by FEM

CCRI golf classic raises funds for scholarships

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 24, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island raised more than $30,000 for student scholarships through its 2009 CCRI Golf Classic held at the Warwick Country Club on Sept. 21. On one of the most spectacular days of late summer, 134 golfers played in the tournament and raised more than $30,000 for student assistance for the Ferland/DiMaria Student Assistance Fund. The fund provides the scholarships as well as financial assistance to students with special needs such as child care and medical problems.

Key sponsors of the tournament included Honeywell, Independent Insurance Agents of Rhode Island, Ikon Office Systems, Lifespan, National Grid and Pare Corporation. Nearly 20 corporate foursome sponsors and 29 tee and green sponsors also provided key contributions. The event concluded with a raffle and an auction with prizes provided by nearly 50 companies and individuals that raised $6,000.

The annual tournament was established by Joe DiMaria and Ray Ferland, two former college administrators, 15 years ago. Since its inception, proceeds from the tournament have provided nearly $300,000 for deserving students, who have benefited from scholarship and financial assistance in order to help them attain their college degree and to become part of the economic vitality of the state of Rhode Island. CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale and Tournament Director Dennis Moore honored DiMaria and Ferland as for their leadership and accomplishments.

See photos of the event.

‘Reclaim/Reseed’ on display at Flanagan gallery

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 11, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island’s Flanagan Campus Art Gallery in Lincoln will exhibit “Reclaim/Reseed,” paintings by North Kingstown artist Sandra Aarons Krupp, through Oct. 2.

The title of the exhibition refers to both the content and process of the work, which the artist began during a period of questioning her work’s direction. In the process of incorporating the waste products of her usual painting process – paint chips, dried-out brushes, palette scraps and paint rags among others – she challenged herself to reclaim the meaning of making art in her life.

“Making this work reminded me that in cultures with limited resources, human beings have always made objects out of whatever they had at hand, and invested those objects with meaning,” said Krupp.

Krupp studied painting as a nonmatriculating student at the Rhode Island School of Design and maintains a studio where she paints and teaches at Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown. She has developed and taught classes in which students learn to generate imagery in the process of art- making, rather than working from life or planned images.

Her work has been shown throughout New England and in Ireland and Scotland and she is represented by Eveline Luppi Gallery in Wickford. She has also developed several collaborative public art projects including “The Commonplace Project” and “Shelf Life: A Celebration of Poetry and Art.”

The gallery is located in Room 2420 on the first floor at CCRI’s Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. For information, e-mail flanagangallery@ccri.edu.

Matsumoto to exhibit photographs at CCRI gallery

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 21, 2009: “Darrell Matsumoto: Constructed Photographs (1989-2009),” the first exhibition of the 2009-10 academic year at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus Art Gallery, will open with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, with an artist talk at 6 p.m. The show will run from Oct. 2 to 29.

In the exhibition, South Kingstown resident Matsumoto presents both color and black-and-white photographs. His colorful images balance on the edge of painting and photography, using found objects and composing them into often ironic or witty juxtapositions, occasionally adding text to explain the meaning – or perhaps to confuse the viewer. Matsumoto constructs and photographs these often-surreal works, outbursts of color and metaphor in his studio.

His recent series of black-and-white photographs, “White” has a different feeling. Although the playfulness of constructing the images is still present, it is manifested in a simple and direct way: There is just one found object photographed on a white background. Much white space is available for the viewer’s imagination; whiteness is used like a silence, surrounding and emphasizing each object, found, bought or received.

“I attempt to make work that can engage and seduce, to report, to explicate. I am interested in making metaphors,” Matsumoto said. “I admire the elegance of haiku, however I am drawn to opera. If it were possible, the synthesis of haiku and opera is the work I aspire to make.” This exhibition shows both elements, simplicity and color extravaganza, through carefully constructed photographs.

Born in Hilo, Hawaii, Matsumoto earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and his Master of Fine Arts in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has taught at RISD, Roger Williams University and Hamilton College and is now associate professor and chairman of the Department of Photography, Media Arts and Design at Chester College of New England. His work is in collections such as RISD Museum of Art, William Benton Museum of Art and Franklin Furnace Archive at MoMA.

The gallery is located in Room 3500, on the third floor of the round building at the Warwick campus, 400 East Ave. Gallery hours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. For more information, e-mail gallery director Viera Levitt at knightgallery@ccri.edu.

CCRI to host ‘Hello Broadway’ cabaret encore

Warwick, R.I. – Sept. 11, 2009: Community College of Rhode Island vocal students and the cast of “Lullabye of Broadway III” at the Granite Theatre in Westerly will perform songs from Broadway musicals both old and new in two encore performances of “Hello Broadway” this month.

Under the direction of Dr. Audrey Kaiser, the show debuted in June and will be staged again on Friday, Sept. 25, in the auditorium at the Newport County Campus, One John H. Chafee Blvd., and Saturday, Sept. 26, in the Bobby Hackett Theater at the Warwick campus, 400 East Ave. Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets cost $15 for adults and $10 for students and children. For ticket reservations and further information, please call 825-2310, Ext. 2.

August

CCRI Players to hold auditions for “From Up Here”

Warwick, R.I. – Aug. 18, 2009: The CCRI Players will hold auditions for its first production of the 2009-10 season in September. The group is seeking talent for October performances of “From Up Here,” a comedy-drama by Liz Flahive that tells the story of a high school senior who faces the pressures of high school and home life. It was nominated for the 2008 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards.

The play has an eight-member cast of four men and four women. Auditions are open to all CCRI students, regardless of experience, who are enrolled for the fall semester. Candidates are advised to prepare a one- to two-minute monologue of their choice or one selected from those that will be available at the Flanagan and Knight Campus Scene Shops. While memorization is not required, it is encouraged. Copies of the play are available at the libraries of the Knight, Flanagan and Liston campuses.

Auditions will be held:

See Perseids at Aug. 12 observatory open house

Warwick, R.I. – Aug. 7, 2009: The human eye, at seven millimeters wide, can see the moon, dozens of stars, constellations and even the pinpoint light of our solar system’s distant neighboring planets in the night sky. Imagine what could be seen with 16 inches.

This is the size of a new telescope at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Margaret M. Jacoby Observatory, which is open to the public every Wednesday night this summer, weather permitting. And if the weather cooperates next Wednesday, Aug. 12, visitors will see the Perseid meteor shower when the observatory opens from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. During its peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour.

During open houses, visitors are given a constellation tour and learn how to identify points of interest in the night sky such as constellations, stars and sometimes planets that can be seen with the unaided eye. But the main attraction is the chance to look through the college’s research-grade telescope at the surface of the moon, the rings of Saturn, star clusters, nebulae and other celestial bodies.

“Very few people have the option or the opportunity to look at these things using a telescope and there’s a real sense of discovery and enjoyment to that,” said CCRI Physics Professor Brendan Britton, who runs the open houses. “Some of the views are much more beautiful than anything you’ve seen in a photograph.”

When the sky is clear on Wednesday night, Britton will be in the observatory from nightfall until the last guests leave at 11 p.m. or midnight. He maps out constellations with a laser pointer and aims the telescope at whatever is visible – the waxing gibbous phase of the moon and Saturn on its edge one recent night – while answering questions and giving impromptu lectures about whatever can be seen through the eyepiece.

One of Britton’s favorite things to look at are globular clusters, “which are basically beehives of stars,” he said.

Celestial bodies such as these are things that visitors often will see for the first time. Even ordinary stars appear different through the telescope because, as Britton explained, most stars are binary, or double, with single stars such as the sun being relatively rare. Looking at a binary star through a telescope reveals two distinct points of light.

The telescope even can make things visible that are hiding in plain sight. A misconception about astronomical telescopes is that they function solely by magnifying distant objects.

While this is possible, Britton said most of a telescope’s job is to collect more light for the eye. For example, the Andromeda galaxy appears in the sky three times larger than the moon, but it radiates such dim light that it cannot be seen by the unaided eye.

“Magnification isn’t what’s useful with a telescope,” Britton said. “Many of the interesting astronomical objects are comparable to the size of the moon, and the reason you don’t see them is these objects emit such a low amount of light. So what a telescope does is not magnify the size of the object so much as it provides you with more light for your eyes to be able to see it.”

Britton compared this process to looking up in a rain storm. A relatively small human eye would only be hit by a few raindrops, but a lens of 16 inches would be hit by quite a few. Imagine that the raindrops are photons of light and you have the basic function of a telescope.

Bruce Herrick, technical staff assistant for the Physics Department, is quite familiar with this technology. He has maintained the college’s physics, astronomy, geology and oceanography equipment since 1995 and is a regular volunteer at the observatory open house nights.

“It’s a beautiful machine,” he said of the telescope, pointing out its computer controls and unique base. Every telescope has a mounting that is built specifically for its precise location, he said, pointing toward the North Star to mimic the orientation of the night sky as the Earth turns. CCRI was fortunate to be able to keep its old base.

Installation of the new telescope closed the observatory for several months, but it has been open since June. The open houses become less frequent during the school year because of class schedules and winter temperatures.

Britton said he would like to use the improved telescope for research projects and to give the public a better view of the cosmos than they have likely ever had – and a better one than the college has been able to offer before.

“I like to think of it as the community’s telescope,” he said, “and everyone should get a peek at the stars.”

Visit the CCRI Physics Department Web site at www.ccri.edu/physics/observ.shtml for scheduled events at the observatory and weather cancellation information.

CCRI to hold walk-in registration at Westerly satellite

Warwick, R.I. – Aug. 7, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island will host walk-in registration nights at the Westerly satellite campus from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, Aug. 16 to 18, at Westerly Middle School, 10 Sandy Hill Road.

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, an adviser will be on hand to administer the ACCUPLACER test, which is required of all students admitted into a degree or certificate program at the college to ensure proper placement in classes. He also will be available to help students choose their fall courses.

The college will offer 22 courses this fall, including for the first time HEAL 1060, Dosage and Calculations. Other popular courses include Introduction to Fire Science and Officership as well as classes in reading, business, education, math, computer science and more.

The two nearest campuses to the middle school are the Knight Campus in Warwick at 38 miles and Newport County Campus in Newport at about 35 miles away, so the savings in time and gasoline could be significant for someone who otherwise would travel to one of these campuses one or two nights each week.

For more information about the Westerly satellite, visit www.ccri.edu/westerly or call (401) 825-2320.

July

CCRI student studying antibiotic resistance

Warwick, R.I. – July 31, 2009: While many college students spend their summer break relaxing or working a job for some vacation spending money, Jamieson Mellor of North Kingstown grows E. coli bacteria. The Community College of Rhode Island student is doing extracurricular laboratory work, studying an enzyme that can make the common bacteria immune to the antibiotic medicine ampicillin, which complicates medical treatment for infected patients.

His work will be on display, along with that of more than 80 fellow students from throughout the state, at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Conference on Aug. 3 at the University of Rhode Island’s Ryan Center. Students will display the research and experiments they have been conducting in biomedicine and the life sciences as part of the R.I .Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, a career-based program giving them the opportunity to get laboratory and research experience.

Mellor’s research involves cell biology and evolution. He said that as medical science develops new treatments for bacterial infection, the bacteria evolve new immunities and defenses. By scrutinizing cells of immune bacteria, he said, scientists have learned that the immunity is brought on by a particular enzyme in each bacterial cell that destroys ampicillin.

“Every organism wants to live no matter what, and these bacteria are developing all these specific genes that allow them to live in environments where they shouldn’t,” Mellor said.

Mellor is working with a small group to find a method to study this specific enzyme and its gene sequence. In time, being able to scrutinize this tiny fragment of a single cell of E. coli bacteria in depth should help researchers find a way to prevent or counteract this type of ampicillin immunity and thereby help cure patients with infections.

Mellor’s mentor on this project is Dr. Daniel Weinreich, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University. Their work on the project is part of Rhode Island EPSCOR, or Educational Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which encourages scientific laboratory work by undergraduate and graduate students.

Mellor receives a $3,500 stipend and invaluable hands-on experience in the Brown University laboratory. Students from any institution can apply to the program and, if chosen, work with a faculty mentor for 10 weeks on an existing research project. After being selected, Mellor was asked to choose his three favorite research projects to be assigned to from a list of those available.

“I actually wound up getting my third choice, so I thought I was just fortunate to get in, but this wound up being better than anything I could have imagined,” he said. “For a quick10-week program you learn so much so fast, and it was great for me because I get to deal with antibiotic resistance, which is something I’m interested in.”

This interest comes from Mellor’s passion for all disciplines of medical science. When he completes his CCRI coursework, he will transfer to the University of Rhode Island through the Joint Admissions Agreement program to work on a degree in kinesiology – studying the movement of the human body. From there, he is considering attending medical school.

One of Mellor’s CCRI professors, Dr. Patricia Brady Wilhelm, encouraged him to apply for the EPSCOR program, which he said is a great opportunity for students.

“Hopefully they can get more students doing this. I want people to know about this opportunity,” he said.

Preschools at CCRI selected for state prekindergarten project

Warwick, R.I. – July 29, 2009: Two preschool centers at CCRI campuses will serve as demonstration projects that could set the trend statewide for pre-kindergarten programs. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE) chose a total of seven programs, including Imagine Preschool at the Knight Campus in Warwick and Ready to Learn at the Liston Campus in Providence, that will be the sites for the Rhode Island Prekindergarten Demonstration Project this fall.

The project, which RIDE will run in partnership with Rhode Island Kids Count, will be the first state-supported program offering high-quality early-childhood education for 4-year-old children.

“We know that providing a quality prekindergarten education improves academic performance amongst children, especially in urban areas,” said Gov. Donald L. Carcieri. “This innovative program is an important step in our commitment to close the achievement gap in our urban areas by providing our children early on with the resources to succeed.”

Imagine Preschool, which is aligned with the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards and guided by Creative Curriculum, is affiliated with The Providence Center, a nonprofit that provides treatment and support services for adults and children. Ready to Learn Providence was created to help families who have lost all or part of their state-funded child care subsidies and to serve as a professional development site for early-care educators. Both centers opened at the CCRI campuses in 2008.

The current education budget for fiscal year 2010 includes $700,000 in funding for the project. In addition, the Central Falls School Department is funding one classroom and the Providence School Department is funding two classrooms, at a total cost of about $300,000.

“The lack of high-quality early-childhood education is a ‘preparation gap’ that, if uncorrected, can lead to achievement gaps when children enter school,” said Deborah A. Gist, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “RIDE will ensure that, during the pilot phase and beyond, these Pre-K programs maintain high standards.”

The other sites for the project are: Central Falls School Department at Progreso Latino; Beautiful Beginnings, Providence; Highlander Charter School, Providence; Westbay Community Action Children’s Center, Warwick; and Woonsocket Head Start.

The seven programs will enroll children through a lottery process. Children must be 4 years old by Sept. 1 to enter the Pre-K programs. Families in Central Falls, Providence, Warwick, and Woonsocket, where the seven programs are located, may apply for admission of their children beginning Aug. 5. Applications will be available at each individual location as well as on the Rhode Island Department of Education Web site at www.ride.ri.gov.

June

Orientations set for fall pharmacy tech program

Warwick, R.I. – June 22, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island will hold orientation sessions for those interested in the college’s Comprehensive Pharmacy Technician program from 1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, in Room 4080 at the college’s Knight Campus in Warwick.

CCRI’s Center for Workforce and Community Education will offer the 155-hour introductory program, which aims to quell the recent shortage of pharmacy technicians while giving future pharmacists a taste of the profession. Classes will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Sept. 1 to Dec. 17.

Pharmacy technicians assist pharmacists, including filling, packaging and distributing medications as well as maintaining patient records and inventory. They work in retail pharmacies, hospitals and home health care pharmacies.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, job opportunities for pharmacy technicians are expected to be good for full-time and part-time work, especially for those with certification or previous work experience. The technicians start earning about $10 to $15 an hour but certified technicians can earn 20 percent to 30 percent more.

Health care workers who want to enhance their knowledge of prescription drugs also can benefit from the program, which includes training in pharmacy math, generics, pharmacy law, insurance and interpreting prescriptions.

Contact Sue Caressimo at 825-2399 for more information about the program, to R.S.V.P. for an orientation session or to enroll.

CCRI to host ‘Hello Broadway’ cabaret fundraiser

Warwick, R.I. – June 11, 2009: Community College of Rhode Island vocal students and the cast of “Lullabye of Broadway III” at the Granite Theatre in Westerly will combine their talents for “Hello Broadway,” a cabaret fundraiser, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, in the Bobby Hackett Theatre at CCRI’s Warwick Campus, 400 East Ave.

Under the direction of Dr. Audrey Kaiser with choreography by Lisa Clough, the night will open with a medley of “Comedy Tonight” from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Tonight” from “West Side Story” and “Company” from the musical of the same name and will end with all performers singing “The Rhythm of Life” from “Sweet Charity.”

In between, Act I will feature students from the voice studio of Amanda Santo at CCRI performing favorites from “A Chorus Line,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Chicago,” “Grease,” “Ain’t Misbehaving,” “The King and I,” “Kiss Me Kate” and many more. Act II will feature the “Lullabye” cast performing works from “42nd Street,” “Mame,” “The Wiz,” “Gypsy,” “The Producers,” “La Cage Aux Folles,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Hairspray,” “The Lion King,” “Babes in Arms” and a medley from “South Pacific.”

The admission price of $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and $10 for children younger than 12 will benefit the college’s Deborah Y. Griffin Vocal Scholarship in memory of Griffin, a CCRI music alumna who died with four of her children in a house fire in December 2000. She first attended CCRI to complete her Associate in Fine Arts degree in art, then stayed on to pursue the Associate in Fine Arts in music, which she received with honors. Griffin is remembered as an outstanding role model in all arenas: mother, friend, student, musician and team member and as a supporter and encourager to her fellow students.

The scholarship in Griffin’s memory is awarded to students enrolled in the music program who have successfully completed one semester of applied voice for credit at CCRI, have a 3.0 or better grade point average and have career goals in vocal music education or vocal music performance.

Doors will open at 7 p.m. and a reception will be held after the performance. For reservations, please call 825-2310, Ext. 2.

Charitable gift will provide nursing students experience in using electronic patient records

Warwick, R.I. – June 4, 2009: The Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust has awarded the Community College of Rhode Island $50,000 to purchase wireless laptop computers and carts to integrate informatics into the existing health sciences curriculum at the Newport County Campus.

Informatics is the science of information and the practice of information processing. Health care informatics connotes much more, as lives are saved and operating costs are reduced when nurses and health care professionals are trained to operate efficiently in modern, high-tech health care environments.

The federal government plans for most Americans to have an electronic health care record by 2014. In facilitating interaction and information-sharing among different health care institutions and providers, electronic health records will vastly improve the quality and efficiency of health care.

As phase one of the informatics implementation process progresses, the college has begun requiring all nursing and health science students to sit for electronic, Web-based examinations. The college also is shifting from paper patient care plans to electronic, e-mail-ready versions similar to those utilized in the clinical setting. Phase two will include instruction and experience with tutorial patient management software.

“The Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust has been a generous and longtime supporter of the college and clearly recognizes the importance and significance of the equipment necessary for the immediate and unilateral implementation of informatics for our nursing and health sciences students,” said CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale. “I am truly grateful for their support.”

The gift counts toward the college’s $5.5 million “Imagine: The Campaign for Endless Possibilities.” This capital campaign is raising funds to support CCRI’s Allied Health programs, build new state-of-the-art facilities, establish scholarships and enhance its athletics programs. To date, the college has raised more than $3 million of its goal.

CCRI releases illustrative history of the college

Warwick, R.I. – June 10, 2009: In celebration of its 45th anniversary, the Community College of Rhode Island announces the release of a new book, an illustrative history of the state’s only community college. Called, “Community College of Rhode Island: An Illustrated History, The Rhode Island Junior College Years,” the book chronicles the development of the college from its foundation in 1964 as Rhode Island Junior College through the institution’s name change in 1980 to Community College of Rhode Island. Today the community college boasts 54,000 alumni, many of whom were students during the Rhode Island Junior College years and helped establish the community college as New England’s largest.

The 48-page book, which includes biographies of founding faculty and administrators, was written and produced by Julie A. Novak of East Greenwich and Richard H. Coren of Cranston, staff members in the college’s Marketing and Communications Department. Novak, who has experience in the fields of journalism and higher education, joined the college in 2007 and works as a public relations officer. Coren, a graphic designer, operated his own graphic design studio for 19 years prior to joining the college staff in 2007. The authors produced the book as part of a CCRI Professional Staff Association (CCRIPSA) bonus project where, pending approval, funding is given to employees who submit a proposal to tackle a special project outside of their assigned duties and regular work hours.

“It is rare for a book about a history of a college to evoke so much emotion,” said CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale. “This book tells the compelling story of our history and highlights the pioneers, both students and administrators, who were at the forefront of our development. A book like this will be around long after everyone at the college who remembers our historical events and milestones firsthand are gone.”

Only 500 copies of the book were printed and are for sale. Books are available at all CCRI bookstores for $19.95 per copy plus $3 shipping per copy, and can be purchased by check, cash or credit card. For ordering information, go to www.ccri.edu/illustratedhistory. The book also can be purchased directly from the Marketing and Communications Department by check, which should be made out to “CCRI Foundation.” To order from the department, visit the Web site for an order form or call (401) 825-1045. Proceeds from all book sales will support a scholarship for a student studying the arts at the college.

CCRI Education Expo geared toward adult learners

Warwick, R.I. – June 9, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island will host “CCRI Education Expo: Showcasing the Tools to Change Your Life,” designed to give adults an opportunity to learn more about the college and its programs, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 27, at the Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

With an average student age of 26, the college is an inviting place for adults who are looking to re-enter the work force, jump-start their education, or change or advance their careers. The college offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs as well as dozens of noncredit training and development courses and programs through its Center for Workforce and Community Education.

Attendees are welcome to browse the Great Hall area on the first floor of the campus and speak with college representatives who can answer questions about admissions, financial aid, scholarships, payment options, transferring previous college credit, obtaining credit for work experience, student services, programs of study and the Joint Admissions Agreement, which allows students to transfer seamlessly to the University of Rhode Island or Rhode Island College.

Attendees can speak with faculty members from Administrative Office Technology, English, Health Sciences, Legal Studies, Biotechnology, Distance Learning and more. Several adults enrolled at CCRI or who recently graduated also will be on hand to share their experiences. Representatives from Imagine Preschool, which is located on the Warwick campus, also will be available to discuss the preschool’s program for 3- to 5-year-olds.

Additionally, five workshops will be offered on the topics of admission and financial aid; student services; workforce and community education programs; and career search with the cooperative education team.

Other agencies also will attend the event and provide information about programs and services available to adult learners. They include the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, the College Planning Center of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Education, the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, Rhode Island Regional Adult Learning and the Educational Opportunity Center, which is a federally funded TRiO program based at CCRI.

“Adult learners should rely on their community college to help them in difficult economic times like these. CCRI is committed to running the kinds of programs that will help Rhode Islanders gain or retain meaningful employment,” said President Ray Di Pasquale. “This Education Expo will connect adult learners with programs that will help better position themselves to move back into the workplace or find training to gain new skills to advance in their current jobs.”

Registration is not necessary and all are welcome. Light refreshments will be served. For more information about the Expo, visit http://www.ccri.edu/expo or call 401-825-2190.

Golfers sought for annual alumni tournament

Warwick, R.I. – June 4, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island Alumni Association’s seventh annual Alumni Golf Tournament will be held on June 17 at the Foster Country Club. Registration for the Texas scramble format tournament will begin at 7:30 a.m. with an 8:15 shotgun start.

Proceeds from the tournament are used to sponsor scholarships, text book purchases and other activities that directly benefit CCRI students and alumni. James C. LeShane ’08, who received a $250 book award funded with a portion of the proceeds from the tournament, said the assistance he received eased the burden of coming up with the money to pay for his books so he could focus on his studies.

“My education means the world to me, not just for better employment opportunities, but also so that I may set a good example for my daughter,” he wrote in a thank-you note to the Alumni Association. “I want her to know the value of a college education, and that getting good grades in school is of major importance, especially with the highly competitive global marketplace.”

The day includes a continental breakfast and a steak lunch at 2 p.m. Sponsorships are available. For information and registration, visit www.ccri.edu/alum or call 401-333-7150

CCRI announces spring 2009 dean’s list

Warwick, R.I. – June 2, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island announces that 1,044 students have been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2009 semester.

Students enrolled in a degree program who completed 12 credits this spring with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher with no grade lower than “C” are eligible for this scholastic honor.

Those honored are:

May

Astronomy open house gives public a chance to see the stars

Warwick, R.I. – Members of the public will have an opportunity to see the moon, constellations, distant galaxies and neighboring planets as they have likely never seen them before. The Community College of Rhode Island is unveiling a new 16-inch telescope during a free “First Light Party” in the Margaret Jacoby Observatory on the Knight Campus in Warwick. The observatory will be open from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.

Visitors will be able to put their eye to the telescope and take part in an outdoor “constellation tour.” Professors from the CCRI Physics Department and student volunteers from the college’s Astronomy Club will be on hand to show visitors points of interest in the night sky including the Andromeda Galaxy, the rings of Saturn and if conditions permit, a conjunction of Neptune and Jupiter during which the two planets will appear very close to each other in the night sky.

Guests are free to come at any time during the open house hours, but viewing conditions will be better as the night grows darker. The observatory is located a short walk from the main building on the Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick. It is the first turn on the right when approaching the building from the main road.

The First Light Party is dependent on clear skies and the event will be postponed until the following Wednesday, June 9, in the event of inclement weather. There will be similar viewings every Wednesday evening throughout the summer. For scheduling information, visit www.ccri.edu/physics/observ.shtml.

CCRI to hold E-Waste Collection Day May 30

Warwick, R.I. – May 20, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island is partnering with Cartridge World Rhode Island and Office Recycling Solutions to host a computer and electronics collection from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 30, at the Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln.

Most electronic products used in the workplace and homes contain hazardous substances such as lead and mercury and cannot be discarded with your regular trash. Bring these items to CCRI’s E-Waste Collection Day instead and you’ll help the environment, cut your community’s dumping costs at the Central Landfill and assist the college’s green initiatives.

Most items will be collected for a $3 fee. These include CPUs, servers, keyboards, spare computer parts, monitors, laptops, network equipment, mouse devices, laser printers, routers, radios, scanners, fax machines, window unit air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies, cables and wires, aluminum, copper, cell phones and telephones. Some items will require an additional disposal fee: $15 for televisions; $25 for televisions in wood casing; and $17 for large copy machines. No alkaline batteries or white goods will be accepted.

Paper shredding also will be available for 35 cents per pound.

CCRI’s E-Waste Collection Day represents a grass-roots effort among several employees to bring attention to environmental issues. For more information about the event, contact Mary Pecchia at 333-7135.

CCRI Class of 2009 graduates
Rhode Island cities, towns and villages

*** Highest honors   ** High honors    * Honors

CCRI Class of 2009 graduates

Massachusetts, Connecticut and other states

Massachusetts
Connecticut
Other states

*** Highest honors   ** High honors    * Honors

CCRI graduates 1,546 at 44th commencement

Warwick, R.I. – May 20, 2009: More than 1,500 associate degrees and certificates were conferred on Friday, May 15, as the college celebrated its 44th commencement in the Vincent A. Cullen Field House at the Knight Campus in Warwick.

Several dignitaries – among them Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Gov. Donald Carcieri, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts and General Treasurer Frank Caprio – were on hand to give congratulations to the Class of 2009.

Retired Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, an author, educator and Abraham Lincoln scholar, delivered the commencement address. He encouraged graduates to have the courage that Lincoln did. “When most Americans think about Abraham Lincoln they think of his presidency, his efforts to preserve the nation during the Civil War and emancipation,” he said. “But seldom do we think about Lincoln’s underlying attributes, like his political courage, leadership and compassion. These characteristics are undoubtedly what makes Lincoln so revered today and they are the characteristics that I would like to encourage you to develop.”

He encouraged the graduates to serve their communities. “Even though there is no community service requirement in the real world, it is still your obligation to give back to our democracy that has given us so much,” he told them.

“What will be asked of you is hard work. What will be expected is your best effort. Nothing will be handed to you. Life is a continuous challenge to achieve your goals. It is not how you enter the stage, but how you exit it that people will remember. Embrace the challenge. You have the ‘right to rise.’ But remember, change will not come easily,” he said.

Williams also encouraged the graduates to be civil and cooperate, to reflect before reacting so they can avoid knee-jerk responses and to be positive, even in the darkest of days. He left them with one final piece of advice – to have fire in the belly.

“In choosing a career, make sure you select one that will leave you with endless curiosity, optimism, and hope. Listen not only to your head but also to your heart – it is the best career counselor,” he said.

Representing her class as student speaker was 23-year-old Reham Ali of Cranston, who came to the United States from Jordan only three years ago. She graduated with a 3.86 GPA in General Studies and will attend the University of Rhode Island in the fall to study pharmaceutical engineering with the eventual goal of entering URI’s pharmacy program.

“My story began three years ago when I came to the United States as a young girl with a big dream,” she said. “I came here to make a difference, to have my own identity; I didn’t want to become anybody’s wife or mother, but I wanted to be an independent woman. The road was never easy and I second-guessed myself many times, but deep inside my heart I had faith that I would make it.”

At CCRI, she found small classes, many other students for whom English is a second language and caring teachers who were willing to provide extra help. Ali recently received the St. Dunstan’s Scholarship and was recognized for not only her academic success, but also for helping her fellow students achieve their own goals by serving as a peer tutor in chemistry.

“I just want to say to never give up on your dream. I was supposed to come to the United States when I was 6 years old, but I couldn’t come until I was 20. I came here as a young girl right away from high school with her broken English, but with determination and faith that, yes, I would make my dream come true. With the help and support I got from my family friends and great teachers at CCRI, I could finally finish the first chapter and move on to the next.”

In his commencement address, CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale provided a snapshot of this year’s graduating class by highlighting several stories of outstanding students.

“Wherever I go in the community, I talk about all of your successes. I talk about the accomplishments of our faculty and staff. I talk about the community spirit we have among our campuses,” he told the graduates. “Even in these trying economic times, you have persevered by acquiring new knowledge and valuable skills at CCRI that will prepare you for your future. Indeed, this is a place where you can change your life and achieve your dreams.

“Wherever you go or whatever you do, you will always be connected to CCRI. But for now, before you take the next step in your future, take a moment to reflect on your achievements. They are truly incredible, and we are so proud of you,” he said.

The commencement exercise was the culmination of two weeks of events honoring members of the Class of 2009 including pinning ceremonies for graduates in the radiography, dental assisting, dental hygiene, diagnostic medical sonography, physical therapist assistant and nursing programs. The college also held an Access Recognition Luncheon, an athletic awards event, a Graduation Awards Luncheon and a Phi Theta Kappa Golden Tassel Luncheon in the days leading up to commencement.

CCRI celebrates 44th commencement today

Warwick, R.I. – May 15, 2009: More than 1,500 associate degrees and certificates will be conferred as the college celebrates its 44th commencement starting at 4:30 p.m. today in the Vincent A. Cullen Field House at the Knight Campus in Warwick.

Several dignitaries – among them Gov. Donald Carcieri, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts and General Treasurer Frank Caprio – will be on hand to give congratulations to the Class of 2009.

Retired Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, an author, educator and Abraham Lincoln scholar, will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth when he delivers the commencement address. As one of the nation’s leading scholars on the life and times of Lincoln, Williams has served on the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission since Congress appointed him in 2000.

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale will provide a snapshot of this year’s graduating class during his remarks by highlighting several stories of outstanding students.

Representing her class as student speaker will be 23-year-old Reham Ali of Cranston, who came to the United States from Jordan only three years ago. She is graduating with a 3.86 GPA in General Studies and will attend the University of Rhode Island in the fall to study pharmaceutical engineering with the eventual goal of entering URI’s pharmacy program.

The commencement exercise will be the culmination of two weeks of events honoring members of the Class of 2009 including pinning ceremonies for graduates in the radiography, dental assisting, dental hygiene, diagnostic medical sonography, physical therapist assistant and nursing programs. The college also held an Access Recognition Luncheon, an athletic awards event, a Graduation Awards Luncheon and a Phi Theta Kappa Golden Tassel Luncheon in the days leading up to commencement.

For more information about commencement, visit http://www.ccri.edu/web/commencement/2009/.

Helping others is Hubert’s passion

Warwick, R.I. – May 19, 2009: Kelley Hubert of Woonsocket, is dedicating her life to helping special needs children. The 36-year-old is a school bus driver for students with disabilities, a job she has held for five years. She refers to her passengers as “my kids.”

“The way I look at it is, they’re on my bus and I treat them as if they’re my own,” she said.

Hubert wants to expand her work with special needs children. She graduated from the Community College of Rhode Island with a degree in psychology and a 3.7 GPA and will attend Rhode Island College with a double major in psychology and mental health counseling. She eventually plans to pursue a certificate of advanced graduate study – essentially a Ph.D. program without a thesis – and work in an early intervention program.

“I just think sometimes children need someone to fight for them because they can’t do it themselves,” she said.

Unfortunately, Hubert learned this lesson personally. Her daughter Dakota, now 16, has a learning disability from lead poisoning at age 3. When her daughter first went to school, Hubert said, she was on the phone with her teachers and principal almost every day and came to be on a first-name basis with them. The attention that Dakota received seems to be paying off.

“Today she has every intention of attending college,” Hubert said about her daughter. She has a strong example to follow.

Hubert has attended CCRI several times; the first time was in the radiography program in 1998. The most recent attempt began in 2007. Hubert said her family was the reason she was able to stay on the path to education this time around.

“I have a much better support group,” she said, having been married in 2007. “[My husband] is my own personal cheering system. I’m not much different than other students here. I get frustrated and overwhelmed. He just keeps telling me ‘You can do it, you can do it.’”

She also wants to set an example for her children. “I’m very proud of all of them,” she said. They were my main reason for coming back to school. I wanted to show them how important an education is.”

The message seems to have been received. Hubert’s oldest daughter, Angelica, 18, plans to follow her mother to CCRI after high school. Her youngest daughter, Autumn, 12, wants to be a trauma room doctor.

“They are my driving force in life,” Hubert said.

Another motivator during Hubert’s time in college, she said, has been the college itself.

“The support system here is phenomenal,” she said.

Kingston woman finds success in second chance

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: The most important thing Rebecca Schauer of Kingston learned in college was how to give herself a second chance.

The 31-year-old dropped out of the Community College of Rhode Island with failing grades in 1996. It took her 10 years to find a career she truly wanted and to go back to school to learn how to get into that field. This month, she graduated with a 4.0 GPA in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality certificate program.

“I wanted to move on to something bigger and better,” she said, “I wanted to feel like I accomplished something. Nobody was putting pressure on me; I wanted to come back.”

This fall, Schauer will begin an internship in the hospitality program at Disney World, working with celebrities and VIPs. In the fall, she will attend Johnson & Wales University in North Carolina in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in event planning. Her ultimate goal is to turn her Disney internship into a job, working for the company as a travel agent and helping vacationers plan a Disney cruise or theme park vacation.

Her own journey to this point has been a long one. When Schauer first enrolled at CCRI, it was simply because she thought it was expected of her after high school. Without her own motivation, Schauer rarely attended classes and dropped out after two semesters.

“I didn’t want to be here. I was really young,” she said. “I think attitude has a lot to do with success.”

After leaving college, Schauer began work as a teacher’s assistant, working with children in preschool through elementary school. Schauer said she enjoyed working with children, but was frequently sick and wanted to make a change after 10 years on the job. An avid traveler, Schauer booked a vacation to Disney World in 2006 and was impressed with the travel agent’s work. She decided that the career of a travel agent, helping different people every day and researching exotic locations, was the career change she had been looking for.

Schauer re-enrolled at CCRI in January 2007 as a sociology major. Her goal was to earn good grades this time around and then enroll at Johnson & Wales University to pursue her dream. However, she soon learned that CCRI offered her desired major and immediately transferred into it.

She also discovered that many of her professors also teach at Johnson & Wales. “You get their experience for half the price,” she said.

In her second attempt at college, Schauer was a model student. The difference this time, she said, was motivation. “I had a goal that I was going toward instead of just aimlessly taking classes,” she said. “I found it really easy to study something I was passionate about.”

Schauer said this is a lesson that any student can follow. “Find something you really want to do and study hard,” she said.

Pratt’s goal is to help others like him

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Sergio Pratt of Pawtucket believes that we are all destined to meet the right people at the right time. It’s a feeling that comes from experience.

When Pratt was growing up, without a bed to sleep in or enough food to eat, he met a social worker who removed him from his situation. When he was putting himself through the Community College of Rhode Island, working full time and barely making ends meet, he wanted to give up, but met educators who inspired him to keep trying.

Pratt, 22, graduated May 15 from CCRI with a degree in law enforcement, a 3.2 GPA and as president of the student government at the college’s Lincoln campus, which he attended for five semesters. He will continue his education at Roger Williams University and plans to become a lawyer. The odds were against him getting here.

Until age 13, before he became a ward of the state of Rhode Island, Pratt lived in Providence with his extended family. They were in a desperate situation: eight people sharing a two-bedroom apartment without enough beds or even furniture for everyone. Pratt remembers sleeping on the floor.

There was not enough food. Pratt went to sleep hungry and cold, with his clothes on underneath as many blankets as he could get, never warm enough. He and his cousins did whatever they could for a meal. “The average kid is at a family barbecue or out there learning to ride a bike,” Pratt said. “I’m out there shoveling snow for food.”

One night the apartment was hit with stray bullets. No one in Pratt’s family had a job that could make ends meet and, with limited education, there was little hope they could find better ones. Things were not going to improve. Pratt felt trapped and often shared these feelings with Nancy Krahe, a social worker at his middle school.

“I told her if I stayed where I was staying I was going to die,” he said. “I really felt like that in the sixth grade.”

Krahe arranged for Pratt to have an interview with the state Department of Children Youth and Families and Pratt was asked if he wanted to be removed from his home. He did. Pratt remembers the morning it happened.

“I got on the school bus like normal. I got to Esek Hopkins [Middle School] and the police were waiting for me,” Pratt said. “They took me back to my house and we got my stuff.” Pratt never returned or looked back, but at the same time he said he doesn’t blame his family.

“I could never understand when I was little why things with my family were the way they were,” he said. “But now that I’m older I know my family was trying to do the best they could but they were a product of our environment.”

After he left middle school, Pratt never saw Krahe again, but said he would like to find her and let her know what her intervention meant to him. “That lady, Nancy, she really did save my life,” Pratt said.

For Pratt, being removed from his home was the start of two lonely years without roots. With no foster home available at first, Pratt spent his nights after school in group homes throughout Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, being moved every 30 or 60 days.

At age 15, he was put into foster care with Beth Chambers, a woman whom Pratt never met until the day he moved into her home.

He stayed there until he was 18 years old, when a shortage in state funding forced him and many other foster children out on their own.

Pratt was encouraged to get a job, which he did, working as a cook to pay for his own apartment. After a few years, Pratt realized that he needed to take his life in a different direction.

“I started to realize, going from dead-end job to dead-end job, this isn’t what I want for myself in the future, so I decided to come to CCRI,” he said.

Pratt enrolled at CCRI in 2007 as a law enforcement major. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do, but he knew he wanted to contribute to the community. “The more time I spent in the classroom the more I figured out my path and where I wanted to go,” he said.

Staying in the classroom was a financial struggle that sometimes left Pratt without enough money to eat. There were times when he wanted to quit, he said, but his professors inspired him to keep trying.

Among them, he said he is grateful to Gerard Brousseau, Ron Schertz, Jonathan Steele, Monica Lee, Mark Zellers and Rebecca Yount.

“I think that without these people, I wouldn’t be graduating,” he said. “Every single interaction [I’ve had] at CCRI will be cherished.”

CCRI graduate heading to Cornell in the fall

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: At age 12, Jean Nsabumuremyi of Providence was on the run for his life. He was alone in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1994, the year of genocide in that country. When the killing suddenly began in April, he fled with his family and many others into the panic on the streets, joining a crowd of refugees looking for a safe way out of the city. He quickly lost his way.

“I remember when I left my home we were all separated,” he said. “I remember I saw some of my classmates die. It was a very painful thing. Right now I can tell you I have very few classmates still alive.”

After a day on his own, Nsabumuremyi found his mother and his four brothers and two sisters, who were able to escape because his father, who was out of the country at the time, had friends in the government.

The family fled to the Congo to escape the violence in their country, worrying on the journey – each night in a different hiding place – that they would be discovered and killed by roving militias.

A politically unstable environment in the Congo forced the family to move again, this time to Zambia. They spent one and a half years in a United Nations refugee camp before being resettled in the United States in 1996.

“It was very beautiful but very different,” Nsabumuremyi said about coming to America. “Everything’s new; you have to relearn everything.”

Nsabumuremyi got a job and struggled at first to learn English, but he knew he wanted to make something of himself.

“I definitely wanted to get somewhere. My plan was to go to a college to at least get a good job,” he said. “I wanted to help myself and help the community.”

He chose the Community College of Rhode Island, starting classes in fall 2006. On May 15, he graduated with a degree in General Studies and a 3.6 GPA.

“It’s a wonderful place, I’ve met great people here,” he said. “I could never have made it without the people around here.”

Nsabumuremyi, 27, became involved on campus and in the community, all according to his plan. This year, he was president of the student government at the Liston Campus in Providence, where he attended classes. Nsabumuremyi said he is proud of the student government, which worked to get students involved on the campus while they often juggled full-time job obligations.

“If you work with a team and you are in charge, you learn a lot of things,” he said.

Nsabumuremyi is also a math tutor for students at Dorcas Place Adult and Family Learning Center in Providence, which promotes literacy and job skills for low-income adults. Nsabumuremyi’s ultimate goal is to work with the United Nations Development Program in Africa.

At the end of April he found out that he is one step closer to that goal. He has been accepted to Cornell University, where he will major in international development.

No matter where he goes, Nsabumuremyi said he will always be grateful to CCRI.

“I could never have managed without the people [at CCRI],” Nsabumuremyi said. “It’s a wonderful place.”

Mansue realizes his potential as a leader

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Menlee Mansue, 22, of Providence has always had a desire to do the right thing and help other people.

“Even when I was young, I felt it was my responsibility to stick up for someone who couldn’t defend himself,” he said. “I still feel that way. Maybe I can make a difference.”

Mansue came here with his parents at age 4 during civil war and genocide in his native Liberia. His father worked for an airline and the family had planned a trip to the United States. During their visit, they received word the airport at home had been closed and they couldn’t return. They received asylum and settled in Providence, where Menlee said he was an underperforming student.

“I was trying to find out how to navigate American culture,” he said. “I just wanted to get along, but in getting along I was not being a scholar.”

He was told he was a natural leader, but he didn’t see it. Going to college was expected of him, but after he graduated from Classical High School, he took a year off and worked three jobs.

He enrolled at Rhode Island College, but left because he couldn’t afford the cost. He had attained U.S. citizenship, but not until after the financial aid deadline. He returned to work.

“A friend told me, ‘You have to go to school. You have to enroll.’ That changed my whole life,” he said. “I was really depressed about having to leave school and he encouraged me to just take some classes.”

Then he met Cristian Potter, a 2007 CCRI graduate who is now attending Brown University on a full scholarship, through a mutual friend. Potter told Mansue about the many programs at the college, and he enrolled. “I was surprised at how many opportunities the college offered. I kept saying I didn’t know they had that program or that program.”

Mansue wants to share what he has learned about college with others. “Now I speak to anyone I can about college because what I say could stick with them the way what my friend said inspired me,” he said. “It is better for me to try to be a light. I always wanted to have some positive influence.”

And he’s certainly done that at his alma mater, Classical, where he and other alumni visit and speak with students, encouraging them and inviting them to ask him questions about going to college.

Mansue said along the way, he realized that his family back in Liberia never will have the opportunities he has and that he should make the best of it. He has graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts and a 3.85 GPA and hopes to follow in Potter’s footsteps to Brown, where he wants to study economics and political science with hopes of attaining a law degree in the future.

Not only is he a scholar, including membership in Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for two-year colleges, but he has proven right all of those who said he was a natural leader: Mansue recently received the Edward and Lucy D. Medeiros Scholarship, which recognizes graduating students who have given their time, talent and energy and demonstrated leadership in the promotion of student activities at the college.

Reflecting on his educational journey, Mansue realizes it could have gone a different route. “I see people who went down a different path – a path that I could have gone down,” he said. “Education is the way to really uplift the community. Your hard work might not take you where you dreamed you’d be, but it will always pay off.”

CCRI nursing graduate follows her dream

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Rosanna Boucher of Hope Valley is becoming a registered nurse this month, but she has already been a nurse to some of the most important patients she will ever have.

In 2002, Boucher had to have an emergency caesarean section, giving birth to premature twins who spent nine weeks in the hospital fighting for their lives. When Boucher and her husband brought the twins home, the medical consequences lingered.

Daughter Allie had seizures that were so violent that she would stop breathing, and son Konnor was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old.

The Boucher family’s medical problems were not over. In 2005, Boucher’s husband, Ray, was diagnosed with melanoma. Should the worst happen, the Bouchers knew that Rosanna could not support herself and the twins alone on her salary.

“We really had to re-evaluate us as a family, looking at ‘what if?’” Boucher said.

She had always wanted to become a nurse and her husband suggested that now may be the time.

“He encouraged me to follow my dream and that’s how I came to be in the nursing program,” Boucher said. She added, “God bless my husband, I can’t tell you how supportive he’s been. My husband has carried us through financially and psychologically.”

Her husband’s melanoma was removed, but Boucher stayed in the nursing program, surprising herself with her abilities. “I’ve been drawn to nursing my whole life but I never thought I was smart enough to get into a program,” she said.

With focus and hard work, Boucher found that she belonged in the nursing program after all. “I was close to a straight-A student and it was shocking,” she said.

Boucher’s fears that she could not succeed academically were deep-seated. Before she came to America in 1987, she lived as one of nine siblings in a small town in Ireland. She said she did not apply herself in high school and didn’t consider herself to be college material. She was pressured to get married young and start a family rather than pursue an education.

When two of Boucher’s sisters had children outside of marriage, a strict taboo in their close-knit and devoutly Catholic community, Boucher found that she was a sort of pariah in her town – guilty by association. “I was branded and I needed a new fresh start,” she said.

She found it in a newspaper ad placed by a Jamestown family with partial ownership of an Irish shellfishing company. The family was looking for a nanny to work at their home in America and Boucher jumped at the chance for a new start. “I hopped on a plane with 40 bucks and a suitcase,” she said.

Now 40 years old, with a family and about to become a registered nurse, Boucher seems to have made the right decision. Allie and Konnor’s medical problems have subsided, with Konnor having received early intervention treatment in time to make a significant difference with his autism. “You would never know it; he looks like a normal 6-year-old boy,” Boucher said.

Boucher said she has enjoyed her time at CCRI, from which she graduated on May 15 with a 3.4 GPA and is looking forward to starting her new career.

“It’s been a wonderful experience in general,” she said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have the best instructors that CCRI can offer, so I’m very lucky that happened to me.”

Boucher said she is planning to continue her education and receive a bachelor’s degree. She would be interested in many paths in nursing, from hospital care to training other nurses in new technology. Her dream job is to work in end-of-life care for terminal patients, making the patients comfortable and helping families to let go.

She doesn’t have a job lined up yet, but said she will bring her résumé to one health care institution every day until she is hired.

Almeida’s mother set example for success at CCRI

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Ilca Almeida of Pawtucket is between two worlds, but on her way to conquering both.

She was born in Cape Verde and came to the United States with her family in 1990, at age 6. “We just wanted a better life with a better education system,” Almeida said.

Her family settled in Pawtucket, where Almeida learned English and graduated from high school. She makes regular visits to Cape Verde. “I don’t have an accent; you can’t tell I’m an immigrant, but I’m between two worlds,” she said.

Soon, one of Almeida’s worlds will be the field of professional medicine. She graduated from the Community College of Rhode Island this month with a degree in General Studies and has been accepted into the University of Rhode Island nursing program. Her first attempt at completing CCRI was in 2003, and it was short-lived, Almeida said, because she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Her mother has set an example for her since then.

Almeida’s mother, who came to America without a high school diploma, graduated from CCRI in 2007 with a degree in the Medical Administrative Assistant program. “Going to her graduation really inspired me, knowing that she came this far,” Almeida said. “Her actions said more than words could ever say to me.”

Almeida enrolled in CCRI’s next available semester, fall 2008. Her chosen career of nursing also comes from her mother’s experiences.

In 1993, Almeida’s mother almost died after complications from surgery. She was a poor English speaker at the time and had difficulty understanding what was happening to her.

“Nobody did her justice in that situation,” Almeida said.

Almeida said she wants to work with patients like her mother, those who are at a disadvantage in the medical system. She hopes to eventually become a medical lawyer for a hospital.

This is not the only way Almeida is working to help people break down language barriers. She is the co-founder of Hope RI, a tutoring group that meets twice a week with students who speak English as a second language in danger of failing. Students with strong math skills are partnered with students who are doing well with English, so they can help each other by complementing their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Almeida said she is amazed that some people can live in the United States for many years without developing necessary English skills, falling through the cracks.

“Sometimes you see an immigrant, they don’t speak English [and] people perceive them to be dumb but it’s just the language barrier that’s the problem,” she said.

Almeida hopes to expand the program to Cape Verde, donating school supplies to poor neighborhoods.

The last thing Almeida needed to become a nurse was educators who believed in her.

“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse but no one showed me that I could,” she said.

When she first came back to CCRI, Almeida found a job in the dental hygiene clinic on the Lincoln campus. After working there and taking some courses in the hygiene program, Almeida found that she had an affinity for science and medicine. She decided to pursue nursing, a decision her professors vigorously supported.

“Every time they saw me they would say, ‘Look at the future doctor,’” Almeida said. “These people have been essential in me being who I am right now.”

Barbosa finds new beginning at CCRI

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Being a failed businessman might bring a person down, but for Frederick Barbosa, 23, of West Warwick, it was a chance for a new beginning.

In 2006, after staying back in high school an extra two years – a setback he chalks up to lack of motivation – Barbosa went with his cousin and a mutual friend on a cross-country trip to California. The trio didn’t have much of a plan, just a desire to start something new.

“Pretty much it was one of those things where I felt like I had to start all over,” Barbosa said. “It’s like a distant dream now but it was a really good experience”

Barbosa and his companions moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Northbridge, Calif., outside of Los Angeles.

Barbosa worked odd jobs, such as giving ballroom dancing lessons, to pay the rent. In one job, he was the manager of a company that supplied photocopier toner to offices. A friend in California with financial backing pointed out that he was the most hard-working and knowledgeable employee at his company yet, for every $4,000 he made for the company, he received a $400 check. Why couldn’t he do the same work for himself?

This is how Barbosa’s company, Service and Shipment Center, was born. Like many startup companies, it failed in its first few months and closed in August 2006. “I quit both my jobs to start that company,” Barbosa said, “so once it failed I had no backup support whatsoever.”

At the end of August, Barbosa returned to his parents’ home in West Warwick, but he had learned a lot in California.

“I knew I wasn’t ready to go back to school right after high school,” Barbosa said. “I would have just done the same thing, settling for C’s. I just needed time to mature, realize I can do something with myself.”

He started taking courses at the Community College of Rhode Island in spring 2008, and earned an associate degree in General Studies in just three semesters, finishing this month with a GPA of 3.8, brought down from a 3.9 by a B in a class he took here to finish high school.

To finish CCRI on time to transfer to a four-year college, Barbosa took extra classes, including seven this semester. On top of his high course load, he also interned with Rhode Island Legal Services and volunteered with Brown University’s Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, or HOPE, group working in soup kitchens and playing chess with the homeless.

In his legal internship, he works with a law firm for low-income people, collecting data on foreclosures and evictions in Providence. “Any statistics help with what people are trying to do to build a better Providence,” Barbosa said.

He hopes to attend Brown University for political science and then go on to law school and possibly public office. “If you’re actually in elected office you can do a whole lot more for the community,” he said.

Barbosa is waiting to hear about the status of his application to Brown, but said that a rejection won’t stop him in the continuing pursuit of his education. “I’m 23 and I feel like I was slow to get everything started,” he said. “It’s time for me to get involved.”

CCRI gave her a ‘path to keep going on’

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Asraa AlFatlawi, 20, of Blackstone, Mass., was 2 years old the last time she was in her native country, Iraq. Although she can’t remember it, her parents were carrying her across the desert in a desperate trek to survive.

It was 1991 and Iraq had just been defeated in the first Persian Gulf War. Alfatlawi’s father, a veteran of Iraq’s devastating war with Iran in the 1980s, had taken part in an uprising against Saddam Hussein that was meant to overthrow the dictator. Iraq’s recent defeat had shaken Hussein’s grasp on power, but it proved unbroken and the uprising failed. Now AlFatlawi’s entire family was in grave danger from the dictator’s brutal reprisal and had no choice but to flee the country.

AlFatlawi’s parents were forced to walk much of the way with seven children to neighboring Saudi Arabia. When they arrived, they spent two years living in a refugee camp in the desert, where AlFatlawi’s brother was born. In 1993, the family was finally able to immigrate to the United States, living in New Mexico, Chicago and Maine before settling in Blackstone, Mass.

The AlFatlawis settled into American life, having another son, their ninth child. She did well in high school but the prospect of going to college seemed as distant as her home country. “It’s difficult if your parents haven’t gone to college,” she said, “It’s a faraway dream, kind of.”

Her older sister had attended the Community College of Rhode Island but didn’t finish. AlFatlawi decided to follow her.

The transition was difficult at first, AlFatlawi said, because no one had really prepared her about what to expect. She was shy and didn’t get involved in campus activities until she met Monica Lee, a counselor with the Access program, which serves those who meet low-income guidelines, are first-generation college students or who are disabled, at the CCRI Lincoln campus.

“It was a difficult first semester for me,” AlFatlawi said. “But Monica was very helpful and college life started to get easier.”

AlFatlawi began to fit in. She is fluent in Arabic and wears a hijab, a traditional Muslim head scarf. This made her stand out in her high school, where she was the only Muslim, but she said she enjoys CCRI’s more diverse environment.

“That’s why I like this school very much, because of the different ethnicities and cultures,” she said.

Her interest in culture extends to her studies. She has applied for admission to Boston University, UMass and Northeastern and plans to study history and anthropology in pursuit of a Ph.D.

Her ultimate goal is to return to Iraq, one of the cradles of civilization, to research its ancient history.

“I haven’t had the pleasure of really knowing about my culture,” she said. “I want to go back to my country and work in the national museum there.”

AlFatlawi graduated May 15 with a degree in General Studies and a GPA of 3.8. At 20 years old, she is the first member of her family to graduate from college, which has inspired her older sister to return to school.

“I’m very happy with [CCRI],” she said. “It gave me a path to keep going on.”

Kopec found her calling to nursing in Hungary

Warwick, R.I. – May 18, 2009: Arabia Kopec of North Smithfield is an American citizen who did not see the United States until she was 21 years old. Growing up, she was a member of a unique group known as the third culture kids, a name for children raised internationally with no particular roots.

“That was normal to me. It was an awesome life moving around,” Kopec said.

Kopec, 34, is one of 12 siblings born to American missionaries who traveled the world working for international aid organizations. She was born in Greece, raised mostly in India, attended school in Austria, and did humanitarian and missionary work in Hungary, Bosnia and many other countries. She was at one time fluent in Arabic, German and Turkish, but has forgotten much of these languages from lack of practice.

It was while working in Hungary with the Red Cross in 1989 that she found her calling. Under communism, medicine was socialized to such an extent that women in this part of the world didn’t have a choice about how they gave birth. All pregnant women were automatically given drugs to induce labor or had an unnecessary cesarean section.

Kopec educated pregnant Hungarian women about natural childbirth and taught them Lamaze techniques.

“When you think about natural childbirth, if you’re not ready, it’s tough,” Kopec said. “It’s the hardest work you’ll ever do.”

Her work in Hungary inspired Kopec to become a midwife, a goal she is one step closer to achieving now that she has completed the nursing program at the Community College of Rhode Island.

“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse but it was something I couldn’t find a way to do,” Kopec said.

It was her own pregnancy that put her on a long path to finding a way. Kopec married a fellow student from her Austrian boarding school and, when she became pregnant, she decided it was time to settle down.

In 1995, a few days after her 21st birthday, Kopec arrived in her home country for the first time and the seasoned world traveler experienced something she rarely felt: culture shock.

“One of the perceptions I had coming to the United States was everyone was going to speak English,” Kopec said. “I went to Fall River and everyone spoke Portuguese. It shocked me so much!”

Kopec quickly became used to this diversity and found many positive surprises, such as the friendliness of Americans compared to the Asian “hands-off” cultures she grew up in, and the vast availability of everything she could ever need in America’s all-encompassing department stores.

“I remember how available everything was, you could walk into any store and get anything,” Kopec said.

Now that she was in the United States, Kopec decided she needed a job that could support her children, further deferring her dream of attending school to become a nurse.

Kopec is a marketing manager for a merchandising company traveling the Northeast on frequent business trips.

On top of this demanding job and travel schedule, she started taking night classes at CCRI in 2004 in the Nursing program. She graduated on May 15 with a 3.86 GPA.

She said she had support from her children, Janette, 16, and Aidan, 13, and help from her large family, whom she jokingly called her “babysitting club.” She also said CCRI’s flexibility and dedicated staff were a great help to her.

“CCRI’s strongest selling point is they have a night and weekend program,” Kopec said. “It’s allowed me to still support my family and live a dream.”

Kopec is planning to gather experience as a registered nurse before applying for a master’s program, a certification she needs to become a midwife. “I am looking forward to starting work as a nurse,” she said.

Language no barrier to education for Hasukic

Warwick, R.I. – May 19, 2009: In pursuing her education, Community College of Rhode Island student Fatima Hasukic of Woonsocket overcame a war, a language barrier and a toothache.

When Hasukic, 39, immigrated to the United States from Bosnia with her family in 2000, she could not speak a word of English. “I couldn’t even count to 10,” she said.

Having developed a severe toothache on the journey, some of the first words she had to learn when she arrived in America were about dentistry.

Inspired by this experience, Hasukic graduated from CCRI in May with an associate degree in General Studies and a 3.6 GPA and will enter the school’s dental hygiene program in the fall.

Hasukic said she is looking forward to a career in which she can help people but, before she could start studying for it, she had to help herself by overcoming problems most students don’t have to face.

Hasukic was born in Bosnia, where she lived with her husband and three boys, who are now age 18, 17 and 10. Formerly part of the Republic of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, Bosnia experienced years of warfare and ethnic cleansing in the chaos caused by the Yugoslavia’s breakup in the early 1990s. Warfare between ethnic Croats, Bosnians and Serbs culminated with a Serbian genocide against the Bosnian people.

Hasukic’s family survived four years of warfare, during which her husband was imprisoned in a Serbian detention camp with many other men to keep them from fighting in the war against Serbia. The prisoners faced torture while Hasukic and her children were not allowed to leave their village or visit him.

Student speaker on path to pursing dream

Warwick, R.I. – May 15, 2009: Growing up in Jordan, Reham Ali of Cranston, the youngest of 10 children, dreamed of becoming a pharmacist.

Her mother had tried to bring her to this country for years. “It was a dream to go to the United States and get a degree,” she said. Then, when she was 20 and had just about given up, the embassy called.

“I was so scared when I came here. In Jordan, you don’t get to experience real life until you get your degree,” she said. Here, she got a job at a gas station to earn money.

Relying on the basic English she studied as a second language in high school, she said she sometimes didn’t understand customers. “If they wanted cigarettes I’d have to ask what color the package was or ask them to point,” she said. “I was ashamed for my accent. I was afraid they were going to look at me and say, ‘She’s dark, she has an accent.’”

Now, she said, she doesn’t worry about those things. “Three years ago, I would have stood here shaking,” she told attendees at a recent luncheon for the Access program, which serves students who are either low-income, the first in their family to go to college or disabled. “Now I’m not scared. I don’t care about my accent. I know that you don’t look at me like that. I made myself here.”

That confidence is just one reason why she was named Student Speaker at the college’s 44th commencement on May 15, an honor bestowed to only one of the more than 1,400 graduates each year.

Ali, 23, said she used to be a quiet person in Jordan. “I did not speak a lot, but I decided when I came here that I want to speak with you,” she said. “I wasn’t comfortable for the first six months, but now I still go to malls and speak with people.”

As her skills grew, she enrolled in school. “I decided to take the challenge of college,” she said. “I don’t want to be a wife for someone or a mother for someone. I want my identity. This is why I wanted to become a pharmacist, because it’s a very hard thing to do and I want to help people.”

She found CCRI was the perfect place to start her American educational career.“I came with nothing and then I started my journey here at CCRI,” she said. “It’s a very warm, wonderful place.” She said was comfortable in the small classes. Her professors would ask her after class if she was having difficulty understanding the material. “The teachers are my best friends here. They taught me English words and really cared for me as a student.”

As she excelled, her confidence grew. “I didn’t just pass the classes, I aced the classes and I thank my teachers for that. This place has prepared me well.”

Ali graduated with a degree in General Studies and a 3.86 GPA and, this fall, she will enter the University of Rhode Island’s new pharmaceutical engineering program – another step on the path to one day realizing her dream of becoming a pharmacist.

“Not many women have gone into the field,” she said. “I want to visit Jordan and tell them what I have accomplished.”

She told her fellow Access students at the recent awards luncheon: “Back in Jordan, I would have never been able to do this. I came here to become Reham Ali. I am so proud of myself.” That afternoon, Ali received the St. Dunstan’s Scholarship and was recognized for not only her academic success, but also for helping her fellow students achieve their own goals by serving as a peer tutor in chemistry.

She knows her journey is just beginning. “Hopefully, three or four years from now I’ll come back and tell you, ‘This is what I achieved.’”

CCRI honors three students at commencement rehearsal

Warwick, R.I. – May 14, 2009: As part of the rehearsal ceremony today for the Community College of Rhode Island’s 44th commencement, Alumni Association President Sondra Pitts presented awards for “superlatives” to members of the Class of 2009 – the longest attending member; the oldest class member and the member with the most children. The awards went to:

Winners received CCRI Alumni T-shirts, courtesy of the bookstore.

Area students designated Honors Program grads

Warwick, R.I. – May 12, 2009: Several students at the Community College of Rhode Island will be honored as Honors Program graduates at the college’s 44th commencement ceremonies on May 15 and received medallions to wear at commencement during the annual Graduate Awards Luncheon this afternoon.

The Honors Program allows students to enhance their educational experience while at CCRI by studying topics of their choosing in more depth. Students participate in the program by completing honors projects within courses they are taking. Students who complete four projects at CCRI are designated as Honors Program graduates and receive a special designation in the commencement program.

This year’s Honors Program graduates are:

Students inducted into Psi Beta Honor Society

Warwick, R.I. – May 5, 2009: Several Community College of Rhode Island students were inducted Friday into the Psi Beta Honor Society, the national honor society in psychology for two-year colleges, for the 2008-09 academic year. The mission of Psi Beta is to promote professional development of psychology students through promotion and recognition of excellence in scholarship, leadership, research and community service.

The inductees are:

April

CCRI Players to present ‘Moonchildren’

Warwick, R.I. – April 9, 2009: The CCRI Players will present “Moonchildren,” which chronicles a year in the life of eight college students living communally in an off-campus apartment in the turbulent 1960s, from April 16 to 19 at the Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln.

Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16; at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 19. Tickets cost $9 for general admission and $7 for students and senior citizens. Call 825-2219 for reservations.

Despite its initial Broadway run of a mere 28 Broadway performances in 1972, Michael Weller’s comic drama is now viewed as a seminal work. In the academic year 1965-66, the eight “moonchildren” are at most nascent rebels, pursuing the eternal run of collegiate activities even as they worry about how they can be more “relevant” and how they might better “relate.” There are demonstrations against U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia and vaguely socialist principles of household bookkeeping. But everyone still has some concern for grades, and the women, while growing suspicious of traditional paths to marriage and motherhood, are still beholden to their less-than-giving men.

For various reasons, these characters never fully allow one another into their worlds. Mike and Cootie are emotionally absent from their mates and above the metaphorical fray. Like court jesters, they cover true pain and comprehension in jokes and pranks. Norman has no idea what he stands for and fights to find the definition of what it means to immortalize yourself for justice. Kathy is looking for love in places where she finds only sex and shallow affection. Ruth is helpless to the plight of her friends and unsure of how to define herself as a “new woman.” Shelly, pained by life, spends much of her time sitting under the table, blowing bubbles.

The play’s key is the character of Bob. Having received a notification of a draft physical, Bob declares himself already “dead.” When the pain of loss finally breaks through the hip façade, the split between Bob the “boy-man” and Bob the conscience-striken citizen of the Vietnam era seems the dark crevice into which so much of a generation’s idealism disappeared.

One reviewer has described Moonchildren as “a stunning work, one that has weathered the years to become that rarity, a contemporary play that, while rooted in the era in which it was written, remains contemporary because its underlying themes are universal and unchanging.”

Weller studied music composition at Brandeis University and then worked as a jazz pianist. In the late 1960s, he moved to London, where he hoped to continue working as a musician but found himself drawn to the theater and began writing, earning a graduate degree in theater at the University of Manchester. Alan Schneider, an American director who championed the work of Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee, saw a run-through of his first play, “Cancer,” at the Royal Court and subsequently staged it, under its new title, “Moonchildren,” at the Arena Stage in Washington and on Broadway. Weller is writing the book for a Broadway musical “Rumors” about the making of Fleetwood Mac’s two legendary breakthrough albums.

Theodore R. Clement is directing the CCRI Players production, with set design and technical direction by Luke Sutherland, costume design by Jeffrey A. Butterworth, and lighting and sound design by Mick Jones The student cast includes Ryan Boudreau of Johnston; Gabriela Farias of East Providence; Adam M. Florio of Coventry; Alex Nichols and Billy Flynn of Providence; Kim Hashway of Seekonk, Mass.; Ethan Jaymes of Tiverton; Courtney Jones of West Warwick; Zachary Mansuetti of West Greenwich; Laura Minadeo of Warwick; Danielle Parisee of Dartmouth, Mass.; Chris Pelletier of Cumberland; Alex Rotella and Rachel Rodi of Cranston; and Michael Shaw of North Attleboro, Mass. Lauren Bambera of Attleboro, Mass., is the stage manager.

March

CCRI presents two films by David Eliet

Warwick, R.I. – March 30, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island departments of Art, Social Sciences and English will present two short films, “Holodomor” and “Congregation Vienna” by David Eliet from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, in Room 4080 at the Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

The event is free and open to the public. Eliet will give a brief talk before the presentation of each film and will be available at a reception following the event.

“Congregation Vienna” is a visual poem that tells the story of Jewish Vienna prior to the Holocaust by traveling through the ruins of the Old Jewish Cemetery. From the smallest and simplest stones to the grandiose and sometimes ostentatious sepulchers, they bear silent witness to a once-thriving and vibrant community. This film has been made possible in part by a grant from The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Running time is 28 minutes.

“Holodomor,” or “The Great Hunger,” is about the manmade famine of 1932-33 when nearly seven million peasants were starved to death as Stalin and the Communist Party sought to break the back of Ukrainian nationalism. The film was produced at the Kirovohrad Social-Pedagogical Institute in Ukraine and features actors from The Little Globe Theatre. It was included in the Kirovohrad City archives, presented by the Rhode Island Film Collaborative and shown last fall as part of CCRI’s commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor. Running time is 25 minutes.

Eliet, writer, director and filmmaker, is the founder of The Perishable Theatre in Providence and was one of the founders of the Trinity Rep Conservatory, now the Brown/Trinity Consortium. He has won several awards for his work including a Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices Award, an Edward F. Albee Playwriting Fellowship, an Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship and a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Kirovohrad, Ukraine from 2005-07 teaching, directing and filmmaking. His plays have been published and produced both in this country and abroad.

His film work includes, “Katinka,” which was presented at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, “The Sixth Age, Suicide Among The Elderly,” for the Rhode Island Department of Elderly Affairs and broadcast on Rhode Island PBS, “The Children of Terezin,” “Congregation Vienna in Winter,” “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Water Music.”

Children can spend vacation at Kids’ College

Warwick, R.I. – March 18, 2009: This April vacation, children ages 8 to 12 can learn self-defense, make a trebuchet, conduct crime scene investigation, paint like the masters and much more at Community College of Rhode Island’s Kids’ College.

Students can register for one or two 90-minute classes that meet each morning Monday through Friday from April 13 to 17 at the William M. Davies Career & Technical School in Lincoln. These hands-on enrichment courses are taught by creative, caring professionals.

Sessions will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Participants will have an introduction to martial arts in “The Art of Self-Defense”; build a medieval-era catapult-like device in “Bombs Away, it’s a Trebuchet”; turn trash to treasure in “Funky Junk Art Class”; paint in the style of five well-known artists in “Let’s Make Art History”; examine fingerprints and more in “The Science of Crime Scene Investigation”; and make slime, lava, crystals and more in “Science Wizardry.”

The fee for a half-day program with two classes is $130 plus a $5 registration fee (registrations made by April 3 are discounted by $10.) The fee for a single class is $70 plus a $5 registration fee. To view the brochure online, visit http://www.ccri.edu/cwce/personal/kidscollege.shtml. Call 825-2033 for registration information.

Chin exhibits ceramics, metal sculptures at CCRI

Warwick, R.I. – March 18, 2009: “Metal and Clay: Work by Larry Chin” will be on display at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Flanagan Campus Art Gallery in Lincoln from March 23 to April 26. An opening reception is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24.

Chin’s exhibition of ceramics and metal sculptures captures the essence of a career in the arts that has spanned more than half a century. Most recently, he has been a visiting artist and continuing his studies as an independent study student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island College and the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. This semester, he is sharing his experiences as an independent study student in ceramics at CCRI’s Flanagan Campus.

Chin, a 1963 graduate of the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, was awarded the Boston Museum Traveling Scholar award in 1966-67, during which he studied and researched Japanese ceramic arts in arts centers such as Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and other cultural heritage cities throughout Japan. His focus was on the folk traditions that have for centuries set these works of art apart from the rest of the world.

The gallery is located in Room 2420 on the first floor of the Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln. Gallery hours are 3 to 5:30 p.m. Monday; 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday; 2 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday; 8 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday; and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Friday. For information contact Gallery Director Professor Thomas Morrissey at tmorrissey@ccri.edu.

Learn about CCRI’s new Opticianry program

Warwick, R.I. – March 16, 2009: Information sessions for the Community College of Rhode Island’s new online Opticianry program, which will begin in September, will be held on all four campuses this spring.

The Opticianry program was designed to provide applicants for licensure in Rhode Island with the two-year degree they need, and is one of only four in New England. It also is one of the first in the area to be offered in a distance learning format, giving students the opportunity to train for a new career while maintaining their other work and personal commitments.

The 50-minute information sessions will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, in Room 218 at the Newport County Campus, One John H. Chafee Blvd., Newport; at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, in Room 6002 at the Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick; at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, in Room 2317 at the Liston Campus, One Hilton St., Providence; and at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, in Room 2302 at the Flanagan Campus, 1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln. To register, call 825-2003. Sessions are limited to 20 participants.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training’s 2007 Occupational Wage Report, dispensing opticians earn a median salary of about $21 per hour, which translates to more than $43,000 pear year for a full-time position.

Those who successfully complete the program, designed around the National Federation of Opticianry Schools program used in many colleges around the country, will receive an Associate in Applied Science degree. All of the core lecture and lab courses will be offered online with labs and clinical education courses offered at the Newport County Campus. Students also will come to the campus three to four times for each course for advising, reinforcement of key concepts and testing.

The general education courses in biology, math, English, business and psychology support the core courses for the program. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the structure and function of the eye, the behavior of light as it is reflected and refracted by different surfaces, written and verbal communication, business concepts and practices, and ethical and legal implications for practicing opticianry. The instruction for psychomotor competencies will be conducted in labs and during the clinical education portion of the curriculum under the direction and supervision of qualified opticians, optometrists or ophthalmologists.

To apply for licensure in Rhode Island, candidates must graduate from a two-year Opticianry program, complete a one-year internship with an ophthalmologist, optometrist or optician and successfully complete the National Opticianry Competency Examination administered by the American Board of Opticianry as well as successfully completing a regional practical examination.

CCRI presents free play examining self-injury

Warwick, R.I. – March 10, 2009: The public is invited to a special, free presentation of “From the Inside, Out” at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 23, in the Bobby Hackett Theater at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

Sponsored by the Charles Sullivan Arts and Humanities Fund and the CCRI Players, this professional production of a play written by and featuring Maggie Keenan-Bolger presents a patchwork of true stories that delve into what it really means to be a self-injurer – one who is involved with smoking, drinking or cutting. In the performance, one young woman sits in an empty restaurant with her dad, revealing her secret.

A talkback session about the production and the topics it deals with will follow the 50-minute performance.

CCRI music, theater highlighted in Salute to the Arts

Warwick, R.I. – March 17, 2009: The cast of the CCRI Players 1997 production of “Once Upon a Mattress” will reunite to perform “Swamps of Home” during A Salute to the Arts, a night of music and theater at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, at the Bobby Hackett Theater at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus in Warwick.

The reunion is one of many performances planned for the event, which is part of “All College Week 2009 – Celebrating the CCRI Experience” from March 27 to April 3.

The evening will include musical performances highlighting the talents of CCRI’s faculty and staff including “Kitten on the Keys”; “Java Jive”; “Lily’s Eyes” from “The Secret Garden”; a scene from Donizetti’s opera “L’Elisir d’Amour”; “Get Some Cash For Your Trash” with performers from the cast of “Hello Broadway”; and “Aria” featuring an alto saxophone and piano.

Theatrical performances will include a dramatic reading of “Albatross”; a performance of Shel Silverstein’s short play “The Best Daddy”; scenes from “The Rope Dancers,” “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad” and “St. Joan”; and more.

A reception with refreshments will follow at the Knight Campus Art Gallery, Room 3500. Printmaker Joan Hausrath, whose exhibition “Monotypes from the Travel Series” is on display in the gallery, will attend the post-performance reception.

Admission to the event is free and members of the public are welcome. For reservations, call 825-2190. For more information about All College Week, visit www.ccri.edu/acw.

Applicants sought for hospitality training program

Warwick, R.I. – March 10, 2009: The Newport Skill Alliance’s On-Ramp Training Program is seeking unemployed and underemployed applicants for its second skills training program, which will begin on March 30.

The Community College of Rhode Island’s Newport County Campus is the hub for the five-week program, which will provide workforce education and training to prepare 20 participants for entry-level positions in the hospitality field on Aquidneck Island and to access post-secondary education.

The program will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Aquidneck Island Adult Learning Center, 437 Broadway, Newport.

Attendance- and performance-based stipends will be available to pay for any out-of-pocket costs associated with participation. The program will provide information about and assist with access to further training and job matching.

Applicants must have academic skills at the eighth-grade level, as determined by TABE test results. A careful intake process, including a BCI background check, an interview, an intake sheet and a writing sample, will be used to select motivated participants for this program. Participants must arrange child care and transportation to and from the site.

To learn more and to apply for the program, contact Mark DeMoranville at 401-851-1656.

Hausrath displays prints from travel series

Warwick, R.I. – March 2, 2009: Printmaker Joan Hausrath will display “Monotypes from the Travel Series” at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus Art Gallery from March 9 to April 3. The public is invited to an opening reception from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, at the gallery.

Hausrath has shown her prints throughout New England in juried and invitational exhibitions. She creates her hand-pulled prints by using recently developed materials and processes that are safer than those used in traditional printmaking. She teaches workshops in these nontoxic processes in her live/work loft in a renovated mill building in Pawtucket.

In her most recent prints, Hausrath uses drawings from her travel journals. The images are conceptual records of her activities and perceptions recorded using a personal vocabulary of symbols and marks. When the images are layered one upon another, they become a blended composite of memories. The prints are trace monotypes and chine colle on Oriental and BFK papers.

Hausrath grew up in Ohio and earned a bachelor’s degree in art education and master’s in fine arts in printmaking from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in art history from Ohio State University. She recently retired from teaching at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.

She is a member of the Monotype Guild of New England, serving on its Board of Directors for six years, the Pawtucket Artists Collaborative, 19 on Paper and the Fuller Craft Museum, where she serves on the Exhibitions Committee and is a guest curator.

Learn more about joint admissions at JAA Days

Warwick, R.I. – March 5, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island invites all to learn more about the Joint Admissions Agreement, which enables students to move efficiently from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree program at the University of Rhode Island or Rhode Island College, at several events this spring.

Through JAA, students graduate from CCRI with an associate degree in general studies and 60 credits that will apply directly to a specified bachelor’s degree program at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. Those CCRI graduates who have a GPA of 3.0 or better qualify for tuition reduction of up to 30 percent as they pursue their bachelor’s degrees.

JAA Days, an opportunity for interested students to learn about the program and meet with advisers from all three institutions, will be held:

For more information, call 825-2384 or e-mail jaa@ccri.edu.

February

Public invited to CCRI information session

Warwick, R.I. – Feb. 20, 2009: “Consider the Community College of Rhode Island,” an information session about how to make a college education more affordable during difficult economic times, will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, in the Bishop Hendricken High School Theater, 2615 Warwick Ave., Warwick.

Bishop Hendricken has invited juniors, seniors and parents from the other eight Catholic high schools in Rhode Island to learn more about a local, affordable educational resource, CCRI. The general public is invited to join them as they:

Those sharing their CCRI experiences during this event include two student-athletes from Warwick, one who plans to transfer to a Division I college to complete a four-year degree and another who plans to earn a CCRI nursing degree; a General Studies major from North Smithfield who is enrolled in the JAA program and plans to transfer to URI and a mother of a former student who now attends Southern New Hampshire University.

Those who attend also will receive information about CCRI’s programs, campuses and faculty as well as tuition, fees and financial aid.

Navy Band Northeast quintet to perform free show

Warwick, R.I. – Feb. 17, 2009: Navy Band Northeast’s Top Brass Quintet will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, in the auditorium at the Newport County Campus, One John H. Chafee Blvd., Newport.

This highly requested ensemble performs throughout the Northeast in a variety of military functions and public concerts. The ensemble consists of two trumpets, a trombone, a French horn and a tuba and plays a variety of musical styles from traditional and modern brass literature to patriotic marches and jazz.

For more information, please contact Matt Leder, an adjunct faculty member at CCRI, at lederjazz@aol.com or visit www.mattleder.com.

Subsidized tuition available for lead abatement programs

Warwick, R.I. – Feb. 10, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island is offering subsidized tuition rates for students wishing to enter the lead abatement field as a lead abatement worker, supervisor or contractor.

The college’s Center for Workforce and Community Education will offer the 40-hour Lead Supervisor/Contractor Initial Training at a cost of $75 per student and the 24-hour Lead Worker Initial Training at a cost of $60 per student for unemployed or low-income individuals who are receiving state assistance. These classes are offered at a significant discount – 84 percent and 80 percent, respectively – from the regular registration fee.

This opportunity, as a result of the Healthy Kids Collaborative partnership, will provide individuals with valuable skills and certifications to advance their careers while helping fulfill the state’s need for qualified workers and contractors to undertake lead abatement at Rhode Island homes and schools.

The Lead Worker Initial Training will be offered in Spanish from March 2 to 14 in Providence and in English from March 23 to April 4 in Warwick. The Lead Supervisor/Contractor Initial Training will be offered April 7 to 23 in Providence.

For more information on eligibility requirements and schedules, please call 825-2416 or 455-6129.

January

Solo mixed media exhibition to open at CCRI

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 30, 2008: East Providence resident Jacqueline Sylvia will display “The Shape of Things,” an exhibition of mixed media, sculpture and paintings, from Feb. 5 to 27 at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus Art Gallery.

An opening reception will be held from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5.

In her artist’s statement, Sylvia said she is investigating the idea of sculpture through the use of paint and the expansion of painting as a defined practice. “The work presents compositions that are both formal and psychological. Narratives form through the use of shapes, arrangements and colors, all of which [are] acting as a means to communicate,” she wrote. “Additionally, the work investigates vulnerabilities of humanness. Some such themes include the uncanny, environments of sarcasm and the fleeting need to escape. … Above all else, I am interested in the use of invention, phenomena and risk.”

Sylvia earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and holds bachelor’s degrees in painting and art history from Rhode Island College as well as associate degrees in culinary arts and liberal arts from New Hampshire College. She has taught painting and printmaking at Wickford Art Association and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

This is her second solo exhibition; her work previously has been featured at galleries and museums in New York, Pennsylvania, Boston, Providence and Warwick, among others. She is a member of the Prolific Arts Association in Providence and the Wickford Art Association.

The gallery, which is located in room 3500 in the round building at CCRI’s Warwick campus, 400 East Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, e-mail knightgallery@ccri.edu.

CCRI Summer in Italy presentation is Feb. 5

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 29, 2009: CCRI Italian Professor Maria Mansella will host a cultural presentation about the college’s Summer in Italy Program at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Cranston Public Library Main Branch, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston.

Chandra Rodrigues, a 2008 program participant, will present a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the most important aspects of the program.

For more information, e-mail mmansella@ccri.edu.

Top jazz vibraphonist to give master class at CCRI

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 29, 2009: Warren Chiasson, whom The New York Times called “one of the six top vibraphonists of the last half century,” will give a master class from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, in Room 0540 at CCRI’s Knight Campus, 400 East Ave., Warwick.

The Canadian vibist has collaborated with some of the finest musicians in jazz, including Paul Bley, Ron Carter, Roland Hanna and the late Jimmy Garrison from the original John Coltrane Quintet.

Chiasson will illustrate the noted four-mallet system he developed for playing vibes and will discuss how to get a good sound, proper pedaling, choice of mallets and transcribing piano music for the vibraphone. He also will perform with some jazz students.

This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Cheri Markward at cmarkward@ccri.edu.

Children can spend vacation at Kids’ College

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 26, 2009: This February vacation, children ages 8 to 12 can explore space, discover France, go back to the old West and much more at Community College of Rhode Island’s Kids’ College.

Students can register for one or two 90-minute classes that meet each morning Monday through Friday from Feb. 16 to 20 at the William M. Davies Career & Technical School in Lincoln. These hands-on enrichment courses are taught by creative, caring professionals.

Sessions will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Participants can explore the winged creatures of the night in “Animal Grossology: Owls & Bats,” learn about what children in France eat, play and see around them in “Discover France,” re-enact the first steps on the moon and more in “Explore Space,” experience the life of American pioneers in the West in “Go Back to the Future,” design a mural and more in “Larger than Life,” and put science to work to build various projects in “Let’s Build It.”

The fee for a half-day program with two classes is $130 plus a $5 registration fee. The fee for a single class is $70 plus a $5 registration fee. To view the brochure online, visit http://www.ccri.edu/cwce/personal/kidscollege.shtml. Call 825-2033 for registration information. Another session of Kids’ College will run during spring vacation week, April 13 to 17.

CCRI to celebrate Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 16

The Community College of Rhode Island will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln with a presentation and discussion at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, in Room 4080 at the Knight Campus in Warwick.

Lifelong Lincoln scholar and historian Thomas Turner from Bridgewater State College will be the featured speaker and will talk about the relationships that Lincoln had with southern New Englanders, especially Rhode Islanders, before and during the Civil War. Preceding Turner’s presentation, CCRI history professor Jack Every will talk about the connections that linked the lives of Lincoln and George Washington.

The event, which is sponsored by the CCRI Foundation and endorsed by the Rhode Island Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, is open to the public. There is no fee to attend.

For more information, contact Jack Every at 825-2454 or jevery@ccri.edu.

CCRI announces fall 2008 dean’s list

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 15, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island announces that 1,059 students have been named to the dean’s list for the fall 2008 semester.

Students who have accumulated at least 12 credits and have achieved a quality point average of 3.25 or higher with no grade lower than “C” are eligible for this scholastic honor.

Those honored are:

CCRI to set up TVs for viewing inaugural events

Warwick, R.I. – Jan. 9, 2009: The Community College of Rhode Island will set up televisions at each of its four campuses during its first day of spring classes on Tuesday, Jan. 20, so that students and others can observe coverage of the history-making inauguration of Barack Obama and other inaugural events.

Inaugural events will begin at 10 a.m. Televisions will be located:

College officials also are looking at locating TVs in additional areas. Students and other members of the CCRI community can stop by during breaks in their schedules to view the inaugural events; televisions will be available between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

December

Vieira named CCRI’s chief information officer

Warwick, R.I. – Dec. 2, 2008: Stephen Vieira of Fairhaven, Mass., has been named chief information officer at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Vieira comes to CCRI from Red Deer College in Alberta, Canada, where he was the senior IT executive. With more than 16 years of experience in higher education, he is an expert in planning, business process review and management of projects that involve enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as Banner, which the college uses.

Vieira was selected for the position from a pool of more than 157 candidates reviewed by an 11-member search committee. In the CIO role, Vieira will join the college’s executive management team and be responsible for leading an information technology department that continues to positively impact the day-to-day life of the college’s students, faculty and staff. He will oversee the management of the Pipeline portal, the Banner ERP system and the WebCT learning management system as well as recommend and evaluate technology solutions that support our institutional goals.

Part of Vieira’s higher education experience includes establishing and leading the implementation of information technology systems at Middlesex Community College, Bristol Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Boston College and Clark University. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State, a master’s degree from The Citadel and has taken graduate courses at Boston College.

New course focuses on Italian for business and travel

Warwick, R.I. – Dec. 29, 2008: The Community College of Rhode Island is offering a new course “Italian for Business and Travel” this spring designed particularly for employees of travel agencies, those in wholesale/retail or import/export businesses and those who are planning a cultural trip to Italy.

Emphasis is placed on common verbal expressions for basic communication such as greetings, lodging, shopping, food and transportation as well as cultural information about Italian cities, customs and traditions. Participants also will learn to write familiar, formal and business letters and learn about the most important monuments in cities such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Perugia, Assisi and other cities and regions of Italy.

No prerequisites are required for this one-credit course, which will be held on Wednesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. from March 23 to April 22 at the Knight Campus in Warwick. Registration is under way. For more information, visit www.ccri.edu/foreignlang/newcourses.shtml.

Spaces remain for first-ever On-Ramp training

Warwick, R.I. – Dec. 1, 2008: A few spaces remain for the launch of The Newport Skill Alliance’s 12-week On-Ramp Training Program, which will begin on Monday, Dec. 8.

Employers, industry associations, state agencies, and education and training providers on Aquidneck Island have aligned to create a program that combines work readiness, customer service and teamwork training with professional skills development toward certification in a specific field such as certified nursing assistant.

Community College of Rhode Island’s Newport County Campus will be the hub for this initiative, and the program will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Aquidneck Island Adult Learning Center.

Participants who complete the program will be ready for entry-level employment opportunities in critical sectors of the Aquidneck Island economy. The program will provide further training and job matching assistance.

Participants must be Newport County residents who are unemployed or underemployed, can read above a ninth-grade level and do math at a seventh-grade level. A multi-stage process will be used to select motivated participants for this program, including a BCI background check, an interview, an intake sheet and a writing sample. A demonstrated interest in the health care field, and specifically long-term care, is preferred.

Attendance- and performance-based individual grants of up to $1,500 will be available for all participants to pay for any tuition, fees and out-of-pocket costs associated with participation, and a group or cohort stipend will be paid if participants as a cohort meet critical participation milestones.

Go to top of page