Five Questions With: Gary Liguori

Gary Liguori was named dean of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Health Sciences.
Gary Liguori was named dean of the University of Rhode Island’s College of Health Sciences.

Named University of Rhode Island’s first dean of the College of Health Sciences, Gary Liguori was most recently an educator, researcher and department head at the University of Tennessee. As dean of the college, Liguori will serve as a member of the executive committee of URI’s Academic Health Collaborative, where he will work with faculty across disciplines to build robust and forward-looking educational and research programs relevant to the evolving roles of health and health care in the 21st century.

Liguori, who earned his doctorate in human development and wellness from North Dakota State University (the first graduate of that doctoral program), spoke with Providence Business News about his role as dean and the new college’s plans to expand its research, training and education capabilities.

PBN: What motivated you to take this position? What particularly appealed to you?

LIGUORI: The idea of being part of a new college, the first in nearly 40 years at URI, is tremendously exciting. In addition, the college is an integral part of the Academic Health Collaborative, which itself is unique in higher education. Further, there is tremendous support from Provost Donald DeHayes and President David Dooley, along with different key figures and groups throughout Rhode Island. Therefore, many challenges and opportunities lie ahead, which is the great appeal to me.

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PBN: In this new position, do you anticipate teaching and conducting research as well? If so, in what subject areas?

LIGUORI: I suspect my opportunities to formally engage in classroom teaching will be pretty limited, though like many in academia, that is where my initial passion and success were grounded. My background and training are in chronic disease at the intersection of public health, which is an ideal fit with both the college and the Academic Health Collaborative, so I anticipate continuing to produce meaningful research, though maybe not at the same pace as in the recent past. One of the roles I hope to play as dean is to mentor faculty in the area of research, so while my production may go down a bit, I hope that the college as a whole sees an increase in research and funding activity.

I have also been fortunate to author or edit numerous academic texts and hope those opportunities continue to be available to me and that I can open similar doors for others at URI.

PBN: You’ve come to the University of Rhode Island with more than two decades of experience in academia. Can you identify some specific accomplishments or experiences from your academic or research work that are especially relevant to your role as dean of the URI College of Health Sciences?

LIGUORI: Building community relationships is an area I have always had some success, particularly when it comes to identifying opportunities to increase health and well-being. In Tennessee, I was appointed by the chancellor to lead the Healthy Living Initiative, which is a smaller-scale version of URI’s Academic Health Collaborative. My role has often been to find common ground with corporations, community leaders and nonprofit organizations, while striking a balance with the needs and capacities of the university. Creating connections among these entities is something I am always looking for; as one recent example, I was able to connect the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s expertise in health analytics with a large, national manufacturer based in the Chattanooga area to better manage its employee health care outcomes.

I believe my past success as a faculty member, department head and leadership positions within my professional organization have prepared me well to lead the College of Health Sciences. I leave my department at the University of Tennessee in a very strong position, with higher outputs in all areas than ever before. During my time as a faculty member, I led numerous initiatives and achieved many “firsts” in research, curriculum and community partnerships. I also bring a passion for health, health care and healthy living; that will strongly resonate throughout the College of Health Sciences, the Academic Health Collaborative and, hopefully, across the state of Rhode Island.

PBN: URI created this new college to include seven health care majors, which had been wholly separate before, and to collaborate with the colleges of nursing and pharmacy. Do you envision a change in pedagogy for these majors and how do you anticipate fostering collaboration among so many faculty members teaching disparate subjects?

LIGUORI: Changing pedagogy is a process that evolves over time; however, the situation we are about to embark on at URI is unique in higher education. It’s not just the usual rhetoric about crossing disciplines. The College of Health Sciences and the Academic Health Collaborative are about to “walk the walk,” and to give our students an opportunity to be uniquely cross-trained in various aspects of health and health care as they complete their respective degree programs. There will likely be some growing pains along the way, but collectively we have a chance to do something not seen before, and to have URI stand as a national leader in cross-discipline health training. This is where fostering collaboration starts, with the conversation of wanting to be a part of something very special. Faculty are in this line of work because they have a real desire to help students learn and achieve, so I don’t think it will be a terribly hard sell to convince faculty to consider the changes necessary to make the collaboration a success. We’ll likely look for some entry points that can yield fairly quick positive outcomes, and then use that early success to keep building.

PBN: What research initiatives do you anticipate for the College of Health Sciences; what role, if any, will the college play in the collaboration of URI’s George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, Brown University, the Providence VA Medical Center, Care New England and Lifespan on Alzheimer’s research?

LIGOURI: The research possibilities are really quite extensive; however, I am not yet familiar enough with each entity to speak of specific opportunities. What I can say is that the College of Health Sciences was thoughtfully put together and, on almost any issue, each college unit can make a considerable contribution.

When talking about Alzheimer’s, we (the College of Health Sciences, the Academic Health Collaborative, URI’s George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, Brown University, the Providence VA Medical Center, Care New England and Lifespan) have a significant and important opportunity to tackle this challenging disease from a truly multidisciplinary approach. This type of collective effort is likely to lead to quicker and better research outcomes than any one group acting independently could achieve. And we have the capacity to look not only at the micro-level changes occurring in the brain, but the impact these challenges have on the macro-level, such as the individual, the family, the community, the health care system and more. So, to circle back to your initial question, this is part of the great excitement of coming to URI at this time – to be in a position to tackle real issues with a team of experts committed to finding real answers – and URI has put the pieces in place to make this happen.

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