University of Rhode Island

Latest Articles

URI’s Marat/Sade finds pleasure in pain

Musical madness
To compare a crazed society to a madhouse is a trite observation. But it became an astute metaphor and powerful theatrical experience when playwright Peter Weiss created Marat/Sade , as URI Theatre is robustly demonstrating (through October 23).
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 18, 2011

A few great places to go when you want to look great

Altered images
You're new to town and you want to get all dolled up for that lecture on cognitive linguistics. What to do?
By ELIZABETH RAU | September 27, 2011

Dark side of the future

Utopia or the end of humankind? A URI forum explores “the Singularity”
When the University of Rhode Island kicked off its invigorating "Are You Ready For the Future?" speakers series a few weeks back, there was only one man for the job: inventor and provocateur Ray Kurzweil.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 28, 2011

URI’s ''Are You Ready For the Future?'' colloquium in brief

Robots and lab-grown bladders
The future is about more than the singularity, of course. It's about robots, lab-grown organs, and watching hopelessly as the Chinese pilfer our military secrets.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 28, 2011

You don’t need an education to spell ‘hate’

More misplaced outrage; Monstrous behavior; viva literacy!
OK, Phillipe and Jorge are going to need a little help on this one.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | September 28, 2011

Sexy Period's panty raid

Department of Defense
Stepping into Sexy Period's one-room office, I leave the imposing bricks of One Davol Square behind and enter a world of whimsy.
By NICOLE FRIEDMAN | August 12, 2011

Review: 'Crossing Currents: Feminism Now' at URI

Showcase sans statements
One of the cool developments of the past decade has been the reassessment and historical embrace of the founding feminist art of the 1960s and '70s.
By GREG COOK | March 09, 2011

Chafee makes his mark on education reform

Boardrooms
The State House was mostly empty Tuesday afternoon, as the snow dropped cold and wet outside. So the crowd was rather modest as Governor Lincoln Chafee walked into the ornate State Room, just outside his office, to announce four new picks for the nine-member Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 02, 2011

Providence's mapmaker goes digital

Geography Dept.
Eddie Grant, veteran mapmaker for the city of Providence, sits at the back of an otherwise colorless planning department office, a large cardboard cutout of the Three Stooges looking over his shoulder.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 08, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

At URI, Booker challenges a generation

Callings
"Gun shots rang out," said Cory Booker, Newark's charismatic mayor, during a talk at the University of Rhode Island's Edwards Hall this week.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 10, 2010

URI's Spinning Into Butter looks at racism

Interracial harmony, good. Racism, bad. One-to-one, honest communication between people with differences is healthy and necessary.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 27, 2010

Learning lost

Letters to the Portland Editor, September 10, 2010
I read Deirdre Fulton's recent article in the Phoenix about the impact of technology and "learner-centered" education on the college experience with a mixture of admiration, because I think she got most things correct, and dread, because I think she got most things correct.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | September 09, 2010

An angry electorate? Eh, whatever

Dud Dept.
Whither the rage? Rhode Island's Great Recession — greater, even, than the national model — was supposed to conjure a once-in-a-generation anti-incumbent fever. But so far, it's looking more like a modest headache.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 18, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

The horror

‘The Armenian Genocide: 95 Years Later’
In April 1915, Turks of the Ottoman Empire began killing the Armenians in their midst.
By GREG COOK | April 22, 2010

A black leadership silent on abortion fabrications

Choice
Last month, controversial anti-abortion-rights billboards appeared in Georgia hinting that abortion is a tool of black genocide.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | March 24, 2010

Amid the gloom, a one-man optimism offense

Chins Up Dept.
Seven or eight years ago, with the state's economy aflutter and Providence in ascendance, Scott Wolf thought Rhode Island was finally starting to shed its inferiority complex.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 24, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Chafee and the hazards of a bold politics

Tax Dept.
By the time a candidate for major office steps up to the microphone to officially declare for the seat, everyone already knows his intentions.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 06, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Worth the gamble?

A push for full-scale Vegas-style casinos is in the cards again. Can poker and craps save a state in freefall?
Just three years after Rhode Island voters killed plans for a full-scale, Vegas-style casino, big-time gambling is in the cards again.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 16, 2009

Spelling-bound

URI’s makes Putnam County worth visiting
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a harmless enough little confection for, say, when you've had enough high-protein Shakespeare.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 08, 2009

Paging Queequeg

Patrick and the Bishop go another round. Plus, farewell to Mary and Art.
Like Captain Ahab with Moby-Dick, it appears Providence Bishop Tommy Tobin has his own obsession with Rep. Patrick Kennedy.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 25, 2009

Will Caprio’s early ad spree work?

Is a $100,000-per-month advertising campaign a wise use of campaign cash at this early stage?
A couple of weeks ago, political insiders were beginning to wonder if Treasurer Frank Caprio would run for governor after all.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 24, 2009