Rhode Island College

Academics

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

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

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 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%.

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

Greek life

Rhode Island College has recently seen an increase in "Greek" life on campus. The Greek Council has been reformed, as it now consists of three fraternities and three sororities. Fraternities at Rhode Island College include national groups Kappa Delta Phi , Iota Phi Theta 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 . The Rhode Island College Greek Life logo was designed by Alexander Colburn in November, 2011.

Athletics

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

Rhode Island College was first established as the Rhode Island State Normal School by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1854. 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. 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. 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.

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

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.