New president Dooley puts stamp on URI

Dooley /
Dooley /

For years, the University of Rhode Island’s budget process took place largely out of sight.
With some input from faculty members, departmental budget requests were hashed out by longtime President Robert Carothers, who after 18 years in the position was versed on the school’s financial needs. Robert Weygand, URI’s vice president for administration, said Carothers’ methods worked well, particularly as the state’s dwindling appropriations strained the school’s budget.
But the process has changed now that David M. Dooley replaced the retired Carothers.
Budget requests are now aired publicly by a committee of administrators, faculty and students, who then make recommendations to Dooley. “It brings the campus much more into the budget process,” Weygand said last week. “It’s a transparent, more open process.”
As URI celebrates Dooley’s inauguration this week, observers say the school’s overhauled budget procedures are an example of the initial stamp Dooley has put on his tenure here.
Those familiar with Dooley, 57, previously the provost at Montana State University, say he has strived to be accessible and open, and he has looked to solidify partnerships with the state’s business community and with other universities and colleges.
“David is so collaborative,” said Ray M. Di Pasquale, the state’s commissioner of higher education and president of the Community College of Rhode Island. “He listens, and he’s responsive. David is very engaging.”
Higher education officials say Dooley has spearheaded a proposal to construct a $60 million nursing building in Providence that would be shared by URI and Rhode Island College. Dooley has proposed that URI, RIC and CCRI collaborate on a comprehensive distance learning program online, Di Pasquale said.
In an interview with Providence Business News last year, Dooley revealed that he wanted to join forces with Brown University in allowing students to cross-register for classes.
More recently, he has reached out to the state’s corporate leaders, visiting with high-level executives at places such as Hasbro Inc. and Toray Plastics Inc. “Bob Carothers brought the university into a much more prominent place,” Di Pasquale said last week. “David wants to take it further.”
Dooley did not immediately return calls seeking comment. His inauguration will be a two-day event, with a day of academic symposia and presentations open to the public Wednesday and the inauguration ceremony at 2 p.m. the next day.
Expenses are expected to reach $75,000, a bill that will be covered with private donations, according to Linda Acciardo, director of communications and marketing.
The inauguration has stirred a bit of controversy on campus, but it has nothing to do with cost.
Dooley has invited the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, a founder of a large evangelical church in Minnesota, to be the keynote speaker at the inauguration. That choice has drawn protests from some faculty members and students in part because of the church’s rejection of homosexuality.
Some have talked of boycotting and leafleting the event.
Dooley – whose wife is a Baptist pastor – told The Chronicle of Higher Education last week that he selected Boyd because of his writings on free will and his contention that events are not preordained. It’s a message Dooley believes people should hear as the university attempts to chart a course intended to help lift the state from its lingering recession and its lack of confidence.
Michael Rice, a URI professor of fisheries and aquaculture, said he doesn’t agree with Boyd’s stance on homosexuality and would have preferred that he participate in one of the panel discussions.
That said, Rice added, “I like the idea of controversial speakers.”
And despite the hullabaloo over the keynote speaker, Rice spoke glowingly of how Dooley has handled the presidency since taking over last July.
Rice, also a state representative whose district includes URI’s South Kingstown campus, said Dooley has been more visible around the state and has expressed interest in participating in Providence’s so-called Knowledge District. Dooley has made frequent trips to the Statehouse and has appeared at various receptions in the capital city. Those efforts might go a long way to dispelling the perception that URI is the “University of South County,” Rice said. “And that will do well for the university” at the Statehouse.
Frank R. Annunziato, executive director of URI’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said Dooley’s early decisions have been well-received by most of the organization’s members, aside from the flare-up over Dooley’s choice for inaugural keynote speaker.
There was one problem, however.
“He’s doing such a great job making the university and himself more visible, but I wish we saw him on campus,” Annunziato said. “We want a greater piece of him.”
Keith W. Stokes, executive director at the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, said he has found an invaluable ally in Dooley, who was nominated to the agency’s board of directors in January.
In fact, Dooley recently invited Stokes to chat with the deans of various URI departments about the school’s role in the state’s economy.
“He believes higher ed is going to be critical for Rhode Island’s economic development,” Stokes said of Dooley. “URI is going to be a great driver.”
Dooley – who started his academic career as a chemistry professor at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass. – talks often about the need for URI to boost its research capabilities and its ties to businesses.
And that’s a difference from the previous administration, according to Rice.
While URI established a research foundation during Carothers’ tenure and made widespread improvements to the university’s infrastructure, Rice said he believed Carothers gave more attention to liberal arts studies.
As a chemist, Dooley sees the university through a different lens, Rice said. “I think he’s the right man at the right time.” •

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