RIIHEA

WHAT DO RHODE ISLAND and Michigan have in common besides the nation’s highest unemployment rates? We both are moving toward a knowledge-based economy. For two states built on manufacturing, this transition can be achieved only with the full commitment of business and education working closely together. Rhode Island is well poised to successfully execute this significant economic paradigm shift because of our greatest resource: our students.

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. (October 22, 2008) – The Providence Business News has named Bryant University President Ronald K. Machtley the winner of the publication’s Business Excellence Awards in the category of Business Leadership.

President Machtley, who became Bryant’s seventh president in June 1996, was singled out for his leadership in transforming the school from a business college to a university comprising both a College of Business and a College of Arts and Sciences, with about 3,750 undergraduate and graduate students. Among President Machtley’s accomplishments cited by the Providence Business News:

• - The institution’s revenue more than doubled from $49.1 million to $110.1 million;
• - Annual surpluses, which are reinvested in educational programs, facilities, and scholarships, have exceeded $2 million a year since 1999;
• - The University’s endowment has grown from $96.4 million in 1998 to more than $170 million in 2008.

In addition, under President Machtley’s tenure:

• - Bryant is consistently ranked among the nation’s leading universities: U.S. News & World Report ranks Bryant No. 16 in the master’s north category; for the past eight years, the University has been included in The Princeton Review’s “Best 368 Colleges and Universities”; and, for the second year in a row, the Graduate School’s MBA program has been included in “Best 296 Business Schools,” also published by The Princeton Review.
• - The number of students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences has quadrupled from 133 in 1996 to 538.
• - The University has added 144,000 square feet of new facilities.

“The vision for Bryant is not mine alone,” President Machtley said. “I am fortunate to be working with an excellent team of faculty, staff, and administrators. The award really is a reflection of the hard work of so many dedicated and distinguished people at Bryant who collectively are preparing our next generation of leaders through a superb education.”

By VINAYA SAKSENA

PAWTUCKET - Faculty, staff and administrators from Salve Regina University were joined by Mayor James Doyle and other local officials in celebrating the success of the school’s Pawtucket facility on Tuesday.

The event, which included a blessing of the facility by the Rev. Thomas O’Neil, the school’s chaplain, was intended to recognize the success of the Pawtucket learning center, located on the second floor of the Pawtucket Visitors Center. According to a statement from the school, the Pawtucket facility has grown at a remarkable rate since its beginnings as a pilot program two years ago.

By RACHEL AVIV
Published: July 27, 2008

AFTER graduating from Brown in May, David Noriega, a 21-year-old comparative literature major from Binghamton, N.Y., moved a few miles away from campus and began reading the books he didn’t have time for in college. While most of his classmates have started jobs in new cities, he is paying cheap rent, playing in a noise band, working on translating two Mexican novels — a voluntary extension of his thesis — and looking for a day job that’s “probably not motivating or career-furthering.”

“The graduation ceremony is this giant, expensive gesture telling you that you are done here,” says Mr. Noriega. “And yet I’m still wandering around the same spaces, passing the desolate main green, wondering what exactly it is that I’m doing.”

Mr. Noriega, faced with the pressure of graduation, is not alone in his decision to, more or less, ignore it. Come commencement, many linger for months or years, prolonging the intermediate stage between college and the rest of their lives.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (Oct. 7, 2008) - For the second year in a row, Bryant University’s MBA program has been named one of the best in the country, according to the 2009 edition of “Best 296 Business Schools,” released today by The Princeton Review.

“We select schools for this book based on our high regard for their academic programs and offerings, institutional data we collect from the schools, and the candid opinions of students attending them who rate and report on their campus experiences at the schools,” said Robert Franek, vice president of publishing at Princeton Review.