Johnson & Wales a growing force in R.I. economy

Many people in the local business community are unaware of the positive impact the higher education sector has on Rhode Island. We have a total of 11 institutions of higher education – three public and eight private. In the fall of 2010, the three public institutions enrolled 43,412 students, and the eight private institutions enrolled 41,321 students, for a total of 84,733 higher education students in this state. Of these institutions, the University of Rhode Island is the largest public, and Johnson & Wales University is the largest private, institution.
We are diverse – from our student bodies to a variety of academic offerings. Higher education brings in billions of dollars from out of state, and we provide a better-educated, more-diverse work force, including a large number of individuals from around the world.
We are charged with producing well-rounded, highly educated and experienced individuals for professional jobs.
Johnson & Wales University was started in 1914 by two women – Miss Johnson and Miss Wales. What began as a tiny secretarial school with two students and one typewriter has blossomed over the past century into a full-fledged university. We currently have four campuses, in Providence; North Miami, Fla.; Denver, Colo.; and Charlotte, N.C. We enroll more than 17,000 students, in programs from associate degrees to doctorates. In Providence alone, we have 10,849 full-time students (63 percent of our total enrollment), 2,077 of which are from Rhode Island. Of those full-time students, 1,090 (6 percent of our total enrollment) are in our graduate school.
Johnson & Wales students are from 49 states and 94 countries. Yes, 49 states. (If anyone knows a student in North Dakota, come and talk to me.) Approximately 44 percent of our students live on campus, and this year alone, we have committed more than $130 million for scholarships.
There is a common misperception I would like to address. Johnson & Wales is much more than a world-renowned culinary school. We offer degree programs in our College of Business, the Hospitality College, our School of Technology and our Graduate School, as well as our College of Culinary Arts.
Johnson & Wales has an entrepreneurial spirit, and we are constantly working with and listening to the business community for new ideas for relevant programs to offer our students. In fact, the College of Culinary Arts would never have existed if David Friedman, a prominent Rhode Island businessman, hadn’t approached the school in 1972 to ask us to consider offering culinary training as an academic program.
We are aligned with business. Over the past year, Johnson & Wales students participated in 3,700 internships at 1,600 host employers, and we sent 550 students to study at over 25 different international sites.
We are not only responsible for producing educated, experienced individuals for the professional work force: We also work hard to produce well-rounded, community-minded citizens. During our 2010-2011 academic year, our Providence-campus students performed over 160,000 hours of community service at over 100 nonprofit agencies. The university has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Roll each year since it was established in 2006. This is the highest federal recognition institutions of higher education can receive for supporting community service and service-learning. In 2001, the Providence campus also earned recognition as a National Daily Point of Light from the Points of Light Foundation, and has been named one of “81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement” in a recent edition of The Princeton Review’s Colleges with a Conscience.
Johnson & Wales has graduated more than 87,000 alumni. Our Providence-campus graduates have started more than 200 businesses in Rhode Island, including 100 in Providence, which employ over 4,200 people. Small businesses, as you all know, are the backbone of Rhode Island.
Johnson & Wales University is a great place to work. At our Providence campus, we have over 2,200 faculty and staff members and, according to Providence Business News, we are the 10th-largest employer in the state. We host annual employee-longevity awards, and the number of employees who receive recognition for service of 25, 30 and even 40 years is astounding.
We are also good neighbors. In 2009, the university’s economic impact was $327.6 million. Since 2000, JWU’s Providence campus has invested more than $200 million in new construction, and in the near future we plan to renovate a portion of the land freed by the Interstate 195 relocation project, including a $50 million building for classrooms, offices and retail space. JWU has loaned six acres on its campus for an educational and research center operated by Save The Bay, an organization dedicated to the protection of Narragansett Bay and marine life.
On our Harborside campus, which houses the university’s College of Culinary Arts and Graduate School, we continue to work to transform what was once a blighted shipyard to a beautiful campus, turning a landfill into a landmark.
There is no question that Rhode Island faces many challenges, but students of higher education can be part of the solutions. Our students often hear, “get your degree, and then get out.” We need to work together to change that perception and to convince these young, bright and talented people that Rhode Island is a great state to learn, to work and to live in. •


John J. Bowen is chancellor and CEO of Johnson & Wales University. This column is adapted from his speech at PBN’s 2011 Business Excellence Awards dinner on Nov.17.

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