URI appoints researcher from Tennessee to lead new College of Health Sciences

Gary Liguori has been appointed inaugural dean of the University of Rhode Island’s new College of Health Sciences and will begin his duties this fall. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Gary Liguori has been appointed inaugural dean of the University of Rhode Island’s new College of Health Sciences and will begin his duties this fall. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Gary Liguori has been appointed inaugural dean of the University of Rhode Island’s new College of Health Sciences and will begin his duties this fall.

In 2012, Liguori became head of the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Chattanooga. He has been a university instructor, professor and researcher for 21 years.

The College of Health Sciences is URI’s first new college since the mid-1970s, enrolling 3,000 undergraduate and 350 graduate students. The colleges of nursing and pharmacy will work with the College of Health Sciences as a part of the school’s new Academic Health Collaborative.

Liguori, along with the deans of pharmacy and nursing, will be a member of the executive committee of URI’s Academic Health Collaborative.

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“He will play prominent roles in promoting interprofessional education and experiential learning, advancing externally funded research programs and developing the college’s reputation for excellence throughout the state, region, nation and world,” said Donald H. DeHayes, provost and vice president for academic affairs, in a statement.

Liguori will be responsible for the seven departments – Communicative Disorders, Health Studies, Human Development and Family Studies, Kinesiology, Nutrition and Food Sciences, Physical Therapy and Psychology – of the College of Health Sciences.

These departments, which used to be part of separate colleges at URI, united under the Academic Health Collaborative, which features a new Institute for Integrated Health and Innovation.

“The opportunities at URI, particularly with the new College of Health Sciences and the Academic Health Collaborative, are completely unlimited,” Liguori said in prepared remarks. “The URI administration has strategically brought together all of the key units to create a new and lasting legacy in health sciences that I am honored and humbled to lead. The partnership with the colleges of nursing and pharmacy in leading the collaborative is unprecedented, with the expectation to explore, create and implement health and health care changes that can improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders. I can’t think of a more exciting time to join URI and to see what we can collectively build.”

Liguori has a Ph.D. in wellness from the College of Human Development & Education at North Dakota State University, along with a master of science degree in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise science from East Stroudsburg University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in fitness and wellness from the University of Central Missouri.

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