Rhode Island College

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This article is about the current institution that has used this name since 1960. For the institution that used this name from 1764 until 1804, see Brown University.
Rhode Island College
Riclogo.png
The Rhode Island College Official Seal
Former names
 The Rhode Island State Normal School (1854–1871)
Rhode Island Normal School (1871–1920)
Rhode Island College of Education (1920–1959)
Motto Reach. Inspire. Connect.
Type Public
Established 1854
Endowment $16.4 million[1]
President Dr. Frank Sánchez
Students 9,000
Undergraduates 7,518
Postgraduates 1,482
Location Providence and North Providence, Rhode Island, US
Campus Suburban, 180 acres (688,000 m²)
Newspaper The Anchor
Colours      Burgundy
     Gold
     White
Sports 19 varsity teams
Mascot Anchorman
Website www.ric.edu

Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public, coeducational college in Providence, Rhode Island, founded in 1854, making it the second oldest college in Rhode Island, after Brown University. Located on an 180-acre campus, the College has a student body of 9,000: 7,518 undergraduates and 1,482 graduate students. A member of the NCAA, Rhode Island College has 17 Division III teams.

Academics[edit]

Academic programs at Rhode Island College are divided into five colleges: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, the School of Management, the School of Nursing, and the School of Social Work. These schools offer more than 90 undergraduate and 30 graduate programs for students. Rhode Island College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Among the five colleges, individual departments have received additional accreditation from the following associations: Council on Social Work Education, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, National Association of Schools of Music, National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.Forbes magazine ranked the college 571st out of the 3,000 plus colleges and universities in the United States .

Campus life[edit]

Enrollment is predominantly from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. 67% of students are female.

The school's newspaper is The Anchor, its radio station is 90.7 WXIN Rhode Island College Radio.

Active clubs on campus include Rhode Island College Programming, Future Elementary Education Teachers, Biology Club, Harambee, Debate Council, Henry Barnard School Mentors, L.I.F.E: Live, Inspire, Fight, Educate, Feminists United, Helping Others Promote Equality, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Latin American Student Organization, NSSLHA, Anchor TV, Rhode Island College Ballroom Dance Club, American Marketing Association chapter, the Ocean State Film Society, and the English Club. There are over 78 clubs on campus. The college's Music, Theatre and Dance department has a strong presence on campus.

Student activities and clubs on campus are governed and funded by Student Community Government, Inc., a semi-autonomous organization financed by the college's student activity fee, consisting of an executive board, parliament, and several committees. Student Parliament consists of 34 student positions and a number of by-lawed positions. Those positions include seats taken by administrators, faculty, staff and alumni. All student representatives of Student Parliament represent a constituency whose concerns they are supposed to represent throughout the academic year.

The John Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in 2007. The building's facade incorporates columns and other materials from the original Normal School Building.

The James P. Adams Library is the main library, Students, faculty, staff and the community have access to a wide variety of knowledge resources including electronic reference resources, e-books, databases, audiovisual materials, and special collections. The library is also the academic, social, and intellectual center of the campus, hosting a variety of lectures, exhibits and performances to the benefit of the campus community.

RIC has six residence halls which house 1,194 undergraduate students. Penfield Hall, a new $30 million, energy efficient, LEED-certified residence hall opened in 2007. The 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) building expanded the institution's existing housing capacity by 44%.[2]

The Interfaith Center is non-denominational with many religions, ethnic groups, and academic concentrations represented.

Greek life[edit]

Rhode Island College has recently seen an increase in "Greek" life on campus. The Greek Council has been reformed, as it now consists of four fraternities and three sororities. Fraternities at Rhode Island College include national groups Kappa Delta Phi, Iota Phi Theta, Phi Mu Delta and Kappa Sigma . Sororities at Rhode Island College are Theta Phi Alpha national sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon (social) national sorority and Alpha Sigma Tau national sorority .[3] The Rhode Island College Greek Life logo was designed by Alexander Colburn in November, 2011.

Athletics[edit]

Rhode Island College teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Anchormen are a member of the Little East Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

History[edit]

Rhode Island Normal School Building, c. 1909

Rhode Island College was first established as the Rhode Island State Normal School by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1854.[4] Its creation can be attributed to the labors of Henry Barnard, the first state agent for education in Rhode Island who had established the Rhode Island Teachers Institute at Smithville Seminary in 1845, and his successor, Elisha Potter. The Rhode Island State Normal School was one of the nation's first normal schools (teacher preparatory schools), which grew out of the humanitarian groundswell of the mid-19th century spurred by educational missionaries like Horace Mann. The school attracted hard working young people who came chiefly from ordinary backgrounds.

Not yet thoroughly convinced of the school's value, the General Assembly curtailed its financial support in 1857 and the school was moved to Bristol where it lingered until 1865 before closing. However, in 1869, the newly appointed state commissioner of education, Thomas W. Bicknell, began a vigorous personal campaign to revive the school.[5] His efforts were rewarded in 1871 when the General Assembly unanimously voted a $10,000 appropriation for the school's re-opening in Providence.

Renamed the Rhode Island Normal School, the institution settled into a period of steady growth punctuated by periodic moves to larger quarters.[6] The general favor won by the school, after its first difficult years had passed, was confirmed in 1898 when it moved into a large building specially constructed for it on Providence's Capitol Hill near the State House.

In 1920, the Rhode Island Normal School was renamed Rhode Island College of Education by order of the General Assembly. The college now offered a four-year program which upon a student's completion would grant a Bachelor of Education degree. At this time the observation school, which dated back to the 1890s, was renamed the Henry Barnard School. The college's graduate program also originated in the early 1920s and the first master's degrees were conferred in 1924.

For the next three decades the college remained a small teachers' college with a student body of four to six hundred men and women, most of whom went on to teach in the elementary and junior high schools of the state. Early in the 1950s that calm was shattered by intense debate that arose over the college's role in the state system of higher education and for a time serious doubt was cast on its continued existence. There were plans to merge the institution with Rhode Island's other four-year college, the University of Rhode Island. After careful consideration, the Board of Trustees of State Colleges decided to keep the college independent and strengthen it overall.

In 1958, the college was moved to its current campus in the Mount Pleasant section of Providence. In 1959, the Rhode Island Commission to Study Higher Education recommended the development of the institution into a general college which was approved by the General Assembly. Reflecting the broadening of purpose, the institution's name was changed to its current name Rhode Island College in 1959.[4]

The East Campus includes the former grounds of the Rhode Island State Home and School, the first post-Civil War orphanage in the country. In recent years, many efforts have been undertaken by Rhode Island College and its benefactors to preserve the Yellow Cottage or Cottage C, one of the original structures from the State Home.

Notable alumni[edit]

Office of the President

Frank Sánchez is the tenth president, and 18th chief officer of Rhode Island College. The president is the chief executive officer; prior to 1920, the chief academic officer of the College was known as the principal.

Principal Years in Office
Dana P. Colburn 1854–1859
Joshua Kendall 1860–1864
James C. Greenough 1871–1883
Thomas J. Morgan 1883–1888
George A. Littlefield 1889–1892
William E. Wilson 1892–1898
Fred Gowing 1898–1901
Charles S. Chapin 1901–1907
John L. Alger 1908–1920
President Years in Office
John L. Alger[9] 1920–1938
Lucius A. Whipple[10] 1939–1950
William C. Gaige 1952–1966
Joseph Kauffman 1968–1973
Charles B. Willard 1973–1977
David E. Sweet[11] 1977–1984
Carol J. Guardo[12] 1986–1989
John Nazarian[13] 1990–2008
Nancy Carriuolo 2008–2016
Frank Sánchez 2016-

References[edit]

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2009. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009" (PDF). 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. Retrieved February 6, 2010. 
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
  3. ^ "Student Activities - Student Activities (SA) Greek Life". www.ric.edu. Retrieved 20 May 2017. 
  4. ^ a b "About RIC - College History". www.ric.edu. Retrieved 20 May 2017. 
  5. ^ "NEA: Luminaries, NEA History, Leaders". Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2017. 
  6. ^ "Rhode Island Colleges". Archived from the original on 25 January 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2017. 
  7. ^ Pezza, Kelly Sullivan (2015). Murder & Mayhem in Washington County, Rhode Island. Charleston, South Carolina: History Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 978-1-62585-383-7. 
  8. ^ Kremer, Gary R.; Mackey, Cindy M. (1996). "'Yours for the Race': The Life and Work of Josephine Silone Yates". Missouri Historical Review. 90 (2): 199–215. 
  9. ^ "Rhode Island College Sesquicentennial". www.ric.edu. Retrieved 20 May 2017. 
  10. ^ "I25511: Alva Jerome Vincent (14 Jul 1868 - 9 Mar 1905)". Retrieved 20 May 2017. [permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Dr. David E. Sweet, 51, Dies; Head of Rhode Island College". The New York Times. September 18, 1984. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
  12. ^ "College President Named". The New York Times. October 20, 1985. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
  13. ^ [1][dead link]

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 41°50′32″N 71°27′40″W / 41.842199°N 71.461161°W / 41.842199; -71.461161

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