PROVIDENCE – University of Rhode Island administrator John O’Leary has been honored by the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science, Central New England Chapter, with its 2008 Professional Appreciation Award.

“This honor is well deserved,” Gregory Paquette, director of biotechnology and clinical science at URI, said in a Monday statement. “Because of his significant contacts with the business, industry and public policy communities in Rhode Island, he has served as a major advocate and champion for all these efforts.”

The regional award is presented each year to an individual outside the biotechnology community who has provided significant support to the industry.

O’Leary – the director of special programs at URI’s Feinstein Providence campus – was recognized for his efforts as the leader of the re-accreditation effort for the university’s graduate program in cytotechnology as well as his efforts to grow the URI master’s degree program in clinical laboratory science and biotechnology and the bachelor’s degree program in biotechnology manufacturing. (At left, O’Leary joins Paquette and two students in the biotech manufacturing program in posing with a drug-purification device that was donated to the program by Amgen Inc. in 2006.)

“I am honored for this recognition,” the Cranston resident said. “It has been a gratifying experience to see the success of the cytotechnology and clinical laboratory science programs.

“I look forward to continued success,” O’Leary added. “Most importantly, I look forward to producing students who will best serve their chosen industries.”

For more news and information from the University of Rhode Island, visit www.uri.edu/news.