Rhode Island College
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- This article is about the current institution that has used this name since its founding in 1854. For the institution that was founded in 1764 and which continued to use this name until 1804, see Brown University.
| Established | 1854 |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Students | 9,100 |
| Location | Providence, Rhode Island, United States |
| Campus | Suburban, 170 acres (688,000 m²) |
| Website | http://www.ric.edu/ |
Rhode Island College is a state-supported comprehensive college founded in 1854, located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Rhode Island College is the oldest of the three public institutions of higher education that operate under the aegis of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. The board consists of 13 individuals appointed by the governor and two members of the Rhode Island General Assembly.
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[edit] History
Rhode Island College traces its origins to the Rhode Island State Normal School, established by the act of the General Assembly in 1854. Its founding was the result of labor by Henry Barnard, the first state agent for education in Rhode Island, and his successor, Elisha A. Potter.
Rhode Island College's ancestor, one of the nation's first teacher schools, grew out of the great humanitarian groundswell of the mid-1800's spurred by educational missionaries like Horace Mann. The school attracted hard working young people who came chiefly from ordinary backgrounds, who wanted to teach and who had no other way of preparing themselves.
Not yet thoroughly convinced of the school's value, the General Assembly curtailed its financial support in 1857 and the school was moved to Bristol, where it lingered until 1865 before closing. In 1869, however, a newly appointed state commissioner of education, Thomas W. Bicknell, began a vigorous personal campaign to revive the normal school. His efforts were rewarded in 1871 when the General Assembly unanimously voted a $10,000 appropriation for the school's re-opening in Providence.
Now called the Rhode Island Normal School (RINS), the institution settled into a period of steady growth punctuated by periodic moves to larger quarters. The general favor won by the school after its first difficult years had passed was confirmed in 1898 when it moved into a large building specially constructed for it on Providence's Capital Hill near the State House (the space is now occupied by the Providence Place Mall). In 1928, another new building was constructed nearby for the observation and demonstration school operated by the institution since the 1890's.
At first the Rhode Island Normal School offered admission to both high school graduates and non-graduates, with high school graduates expected to complete their studies in one year. By 1908, however, the program had been lengthened to two and a half years and restricted to high school graduates.
In 1920 the normal school became, by act of the General Assembly, the Rhode Island College of Education (RICE), offering a four year program leading to the degree of Bachelor of Education. At this time the normal observation school, which dated back to the 1890's, was renamed the Henry Barnard School. The college's graduate program also originated in the early 1920's and the first master's degrees were conferred in 1924.
For the next three decades the college remained a small, stable teachers' college with a student body of four to six hundred men and women, most of whom went on to teach in the elementary and junior high schools of the state. Early in the 1950's that calm was shattered by intense debate that arose over the college's role in the state system of higher education, and for a time serious doubt was cast on its continued existence. There were plans to merge the institution with Rhode Island's other four year public institution, The University of Rhode Island (URI). After a long study, the Board of Trustees of State Colleges decided to retain the college and strengthen it.
In 1958, the college moved to its current campus between Providence's Mount Pleaseant section and North Providence. In 1959 the Rhode Island Commission to Study Higher Education, appointed by Gov. Dennis J. Roberts, recommended, and the General Assembly approved, the development of RICE into a general college. Reflecting the broadening of purpose, the institution's name was changed for the final time to Rhode Island College (RIC) in 1960.
With an enrollment predominantly from Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut, the institution historically has served as a "College of Opportunity" for first-generation college students.
[edit] Programs
Major Programs: Accounting, African/Afro-American Studies, Anthropology, Art (Ceramics, Fiber, Graphic Design, Manufacturing Jewelry Design, Metals, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Media Studies), Art Education, Art History, Biology, Career and Technical Education, Chemistry, Clinical Laboratory Science, Communications (Public and Professional Communication, Public Relations, Speech and Hearing Sciences, Telecommunications), Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Criminal Justice (see Justice Studies), Dance, Economics, Elementary Education, English, English as a Second Language, Film Studies, Finance, French, General Education, General Studies, Geography, Health Education, History, Honors Program, Justice Studies, Labor Studies, Latin American Studies, Management, Marketing, Mathematics, Music, Music Education, Nonprofit Studies, Nursing, Philosophy, Physical Education, Physical Sciences, Physics, Political Science, Political Science/Public Administration, Pre-Professional Programs (Dental, Law, Medical, Optometry, Veterinary), Psychology, Radiologic Technology (open to certified radiologic technologists), School Psychology, Secondary Education (Biology, Chemistry, English, French, General Science, History, Mathematics, Physics, Social Studies, Spanish), Social Work, Sociology, Spanish, Special Education, Student-designed Major, Theatre (Performance, Design and Technical Theatre, General Theatre, Musical Theatre), Women's Studies
Minor Programs: Minors are available in many of the above disciplines, as well as in dance, gerontology, jazz, Portuguese, and writing. A specialization in bilingual-bicultural education is also available.
[edit] Students and Faculty
66% of the student body are full-time students. 67% of the students are female.
[edit] President
John Nazarian is the eighth president of Rhode Island College. The president is the chief executive officer of the College and is responsible for the success of the College's mission in providing superior academic programs and research.
[edit] Campus life
There are 19 varsity sports, 6 in the fall, 6 in the winter, and 7 in the spring. Campus has five residence halls housing 828 students. Housing is very scarce on campus, with very few students living on campus past their sophomore year. RIC is generally known as a commuter school and one of the main student complaints is about parking on campus.
Student activities and clubs on campus are governed and funded by Student Community Government, Inc., a semi-autonomous organization financed and partially overseen by the college administration, consisting of an executive board, parliament, and several committees. Notable amongst several dozen organizations are the campus's student run and operated radio station, 90.7 WXIN, which has been on air since 1979[1], and The Anchor newspaper, a weekly student run and operated 20 page paper published since 1928[2].
As of Spring 2006, construction has begun on a $30 million dormitory, set to open for the fall semester of 2007, and hopefully solving RIC's chronic housing problem by expanding the existing housing capacity by 44%.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Colleges and Universities in Rhode Island |
|---|
| Brown • Bryant • Johnson & Wales • Naval War College • New England Institute of Technology Providence College • Rhode Island College • RISD • Roger Williams • Salve Regina • URI |
