Panhia Lee

Nassim publishes research on ‘Holistic Approach to Helping Minority Students Succeed in College’

NEWPORT, R.I. (Aug. 23, 2016) – Dr. Sami Nassim, director of multicultural programs and retention at Salve Regina University, has published an article, “A Holistic Approach to Helping Minority Students Succeed in College.” His work appears on Rhode Island’s College & University Research Collaborative website at http://www.collaborativeri.org/research/.

“One of the most important challenges in higher education is to close the achievement gap between racial majority and minority students,” Nassim writes. “At non-profit private four-year institutions, the share of white students who graduate within either four or six years is at least 10 percentage points higher than the share of minority students. In Rhode Island, the disparity in graduation rates between white and minority students is even larger.”

Nassim focused his study on research and programs developed at Salve Regina with the hope that the information garnered may hold lessons for other institutions interested in increasing minority student retention and for policy makers seeking to improve the educational attainment and economic status of minorities in the state.

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R.I. Department of Health, Brown School of Public Health launch partnership

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Rhode Island’s two accredited public health entities — the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Brown University School of Public Health — launched a new academic partnership.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Brown University School of Public Health have launched a new academic partnership aimed at building healthy communities and creating a hub of public health research and innovation in Rhode Island. This alliance makes RIDOH an “academic health department” or a teaching health department — the public health equivalent of “teaching hospital” affiliations that formalize the relationship between medical schools and hospitals.

Both institutions have received formal accreditations in the past year. The School of Public Health, which launched in 2013, earned accreditation in June by the Council on Education for Public Health, to join with RIDOH, which was accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board in November 2015, to become the state’s public health-accredited entities.

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Coral Reef Scientists Hope Local Coral Holds Key to Tropical Reef Conservation Strategies

Roger Williams University sponsors workshop aimed at applying latest research on local corals toward solutions for declining tropical coral reef health around the globe. 

BRISTOL, R.I. – With Roger Williams University’s marine scientist Koty Sharp at the helm, 20 leading coral reef scientists from around the United States met at RWU last week to explore ways research on non-tropical corals in New England waters can lead to solutions for tropical coral reef health across the globe.

When imagining the depths along Rhode Island’s coasts, not many realize it is home to temperate corals including Astrangia poculata, the Northern Star Coral which inhabits waters along the entire East Coast. Sharp has been researching this coral’s microbiome for several years, bringing her work to the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Honolulu, Hawaii, last month where she shared her latest science with more than 3,000 coral reef scientists and practitioners discussing coral reef health status, tools and solutions geared towards conservation strategies.

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The Dialogue of Teaching

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Newly hired Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Keetra Dixon is thrilled to join the RISD community, almost star-struck at the notion of working side by side with some of her all-time favorite designers. Despite many years of experience as a practicing professional, she sees herself as a novice when it comes to “blending learning, making and teaching into a unified studio practice.”

Dixon traveled to RISD from Alaska last year to lead Urging Osmosis, a graduate workshop in Graphic Design that encouraged students to focus on methods rather than results. “It was all about process,” she explains, “taking on methods used by designers they emulate and learning by openly exploring those methods.”

The experience was as educational for Dixon as it was for students. “I’m not looking for a lot of nodding when I’m teaching a class,” she says. “I’m looking for a conversation. Students at RISD are phenomenal: hardworking, on point, willing, smart and engaged in active dialogue. That’s a community I want to be a part of.”

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