Dooley tours U.S. to meet with alumni
Greg Gentile
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: News
11/13/09 - For the second year in a row, the University of Rhode Island's Big Thinkers Series hit the road, this year hoping to introduce the new president to the URI alumni community.
This year URI's new President David Dooley was selected as the "big thinker," and has already presented in Boston this year.
"We thought what better person could we bring to the market place or public square than our new `big thinker` who is the president of the university," Associate Vice President for Advancement Paul Witham said.
This year the university decided to use the Big Thinkers Series as a way of introducing the new president to the URI community who reside away from the URI campus.
Dooley has already presented in Boston this year, which was streamed live on the Internet for the first time.
Witham said the event in Boston went "extremely well."
The series plans to travel to Washington, D.C. on Nov. 19 and New York City on Dec. 1.
"The president has been incredibly well received," Witham said.
When the division for university advancement started the Big Thinkers Series, they decided to make a three-year commitment to the program. It is currently in its second year.
"There really is a nice connection for the alumni to not only meet the speaker, but staff members of the university to find out what is going on. It is a way to connect and maintain those connections," Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications David Lavallee said. "So it's like the university is showing we care about its people. We're going to them."
The three main goals of the series this year are to introduce the president, to have alumni hear the aspirations for the university and to provide an opportunity for alumni to come and spend time together.
"The sum total of all this is that we are trying to build a connection among our constituents who live outside the state to the institution and the way we do that is to bring the institution to them," Witham said.
This year URI's new President David Dooley was selected as the "big thinker," and has already presented in Boston this year.
"We thought what better person could we bring to the market place or public square than our new `big thinker` who is the president of the university," Associate Vice President for Advancement Paul Witham said.
This year the university decided to use the Big Thinkers Series as a way of introducing the new president to the URI community who reside away from the URI campus.
Dooley has already presented in Boston this year, which was streamed live on the Internet for the first time.
Witham said the event in Boston went "extremely well."
The series plans to travel to Washington, D.C. on Nov. 19 and New York City on Dec. 1.
"The president has been incredibly well received," Witham said.
When the division for university advancement started the Big Thinkers Series, they decided to make a three-year commitment to the program. It is currently in its second year.
"There really is a nice connection for the alumni to not only meet the speaker, but staff members of the university to find out what is going on. It is a way to connect and maintain those connections," Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications David Lavallee said. "So it's like the university is showing we care about its people. We're going to them."
The three main goals of the series this year are to introduce the president, to have alumni hear the aspirations for the university and to provide an opportunity for alumni to come and spend time together.
"The sum total of all this is that we are trying to build a connection among our constituents who live outside the state to the institution and the way we do that is to bring the institution to them," Witham said.
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