KINGSTON, RI – October 3, 2016 – The University of Rhode Island recently inducted 12 faculty and staff members with at least 40 years of service into its Lifetime Service Society during ceremonies outside the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons. Each recipient received a certificate and a commemorative brick, inscribed with their name and years of service, which will be placed in the courtyard of the library.
Raymond A. Beauregard, professor emeritus of mathematics, of Exeter, RI
He joined the faculty in mathematics at URI in 1968 as part of the department expansion to support the new doctoral program. Although teaching was his first love, he enjoyed researching topics ranging from pure math in abstract algebra (noncommutative ring theory) to those of a more general interest (including geometry, number theory, Fibonacci applications and generating functions). He has collaborated with mathematicians, including Richard Johnson, David Dobbs, John Fraleigh, E. R. Suryanaryan, and Vladimir Dobrushkin and produced more than 40 publications including two textbooks. Beauregard received his bachelor’s degree from Providence College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of New Hampshire.
Frank Budnick, professor emeritus of finance and decision sciences, of Anthem, AZ
Budnick was a member of the faculty of the College of Business Administration for 44 years. He served as interim dean of the college from 1994 to 1998. During that period, he took a leadership role in the rebuilding and transformation of Ballentine Hall into a state-of-the-art facility. Budnick published four editions of Applied Mathematics for Business, Economics and the Social Sciences, Finite Mathematics with Applications and he co-authored two editions of Principles of Operations Research for Management. Professor Budnick is a three-time recipient of the College of Business Administration Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Paul S. Cohen, professor emeritus of cell and molecular biologies, of Narragansett, RI
Cohen’s original research has resulted in 120 publications, much of it on the nutritional basis of E.coli colonization of the mouse intestine. In 1989, he was the recipient of the University of Rhode Island Scholarly Achievement Award; in 2002, he was the recipient of the College of Environment and Life Sciences Research Scientist Excellence Award; and in 2013 was inducted into the CELS Hall of Fame. Professor Cohen co-edited Metabolism and Bacterial Pathogenesis, published by ASM Press in 2015. He received his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Boston University.
Joel A. Dain, professor emeritus of chemistry, of Kingston, RI
Dain received his doctorate from Cornell University and joined the faculty at URI in 1962 after research and post-doctoral positions at Tufts and Columbia University. He taught courses in biochemistry and chemistry. During his career, he served as a visiting professor at the Romanian Institute of Biochemistry in Bucharest, the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the University of California at San Francisco, and as an Institute Fellow at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. He maintained an active research laboratory and published extensively on brain biochemistry and advanced glycation end products that have important implications for diabetes, aging, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s. He was active in the American Chemical Society and the American Association of University Professors.
Margaret “Mimi” Keefe*, faculty librarian emerita, formerly of Kingston, RI
Keefe served for more than 50 years as a faculty librarian in the University Libraries and was promoted to full professor in 2007. She served the University library and community and taught religious education at Christ the King Church. Keefe’s roles in the University included reference librarian, head of reference, head of instruction from 1969-1982, chair of public services, and special assistant to the dean and the provost. She had numerous publications, including the annual URI Faculty Publication Bibliographies, URI Serials List, and co-authored a book chapter in Writing Across the Curriculum and the Academic Library (1995). She served as editor for more than 16 library and association publications and produced numerous reference subject guides and articles. Mimi Keefe died June 3, 2015 after a long, courageous battle with cancer. The University Libraries honored her with a plaque for her more than 50 years of dedicated service and now the University honors her with a brick in front of her beloved library.
Spencer J. Martin, professor emeritus of accounting, of Saunderstown, RI
Martin joined the University of Rhode Island as a professor of accounting in 1970. In 1973, he was appointed chairman of the College of Business Accounting Department, where he served from 1973–1981, and again from 1984–1990. A lifelong Rhode Islander, Martin has enjoyed much success during his 45-year career. He received his master’s degree in accounting from URI in 1967 and his doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1970. For the next 20 years, Martin spent his summers teaching accounting programs for Arthur Andersen & Co. at the University of Illinois. He also taught at the University of Braunschweig in Germany in the summers of 1999 and 2000. He has presented various accounting seminars to national and international companies such as AT&T, Lucent, and Foxwoods Casino. He has served as an expert witness in several cases for the U.S. Department of Justice. His research has been published in the Journal of Taxation, Taxes – The Tax Magazine, The CPA Journal, and other academic journals.
Joseph P. Matoney, professor emeritus of accounting, of Wakefield, RI
Matoney, a certified public accountant, has taught Intermediate Accounting I at URI for 37 consecutive years. Intermediate Accounting I is the prerequisite course for students choosing accounting as a major. This course, along with Beta Alpha Psi activities, is the way students learn about the accounting profession. Matoney also served as the advisor to Beta Alpha Psi, the national honor society, for more than 25 years. In addition to Intermediate Accounting I, he developed and regularly taught tax courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. He completed a post-Ph.D. second master’s degree in taxation in the late 1970s and has worked as a tax consultant to individuals and businesses in the URI community. His consulting work has provided him a lab in which to experience real-world problems that can be shared with students in his courses. It has also provided ideas for tax research that have led to numerous publications in the area of taxation. Matoney frequently comments on recent changes in the tax law in The Providence Journal. He is also known for offering tax tips on radio and TV and for presenting tax-planning opportunities to various professional groups.
Candace A. Oviatt, professor emerita of oceanography, of West Kingston, RI
Oviatt earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Bates College in 1961 and her doctorate in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island in 1967. Her first position was with the Harvard School of Public Health, and included several bottom surveys southeast of Block Island. Oviatt returned to the GSO and met Professor Scott Nixon the first day he arrived in Rhode Island. With Nixon she conducted over many years cutting edge research on Narragansett Bay. She initiated studies with mesocosms at the Marine Ecosystems Research Laboratory designed to mimic the ecology of Narragansett Bay and its response to various pollutants from hydrocarbons to nutrients. She has taught the graduate core course in biological oceanography and currently teaches an oceans and climate course on Narragansett Bay. Oviatt received a number of notable honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from Save the Bay, and she was the 16th recipient of the Bostwick H. Ketchum Award from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
William J. Palm, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, of Kingston, RI
Palm started as an assistant professor at URI in January 1971. He has a bachelor’s degree from Loyola College and a doctorate in mechanical engineering and astronautical sciences from Northwestern University. During his 44 years at URI, he taught 18 different courses ranging from freshman to graduate level. He is the sole author of five textbooks and the co-author of one. These texts deal with system dynamics, control systems, mechanical vibrations, computer programming, and differential equations. Some of these have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Italian, Turkish, and Hindu. His research and industrial experience dealt with the application of system dynamics and control to solar energy systems, fisheries management, naval underwater systems, and robotics. He helped create and manage the URI Robotics Research Center from 1980 to 1993, first serving as associate director and then as director.
Sheldon D. Pratt, professor emeritus of biology, of Wakefield, RI
Pratt graduated from Tufts University with a degree in biology and came to URI’s Narragansett Marine Lab in 1960 before it became the Graduate School of Oceanography. He is a benthic ecologist with broad interests in natural history and the history of South County. During his 56 years at URI, generations of students, staff and faculty at GSO have learned from Pratt about the natural history of benthic (bottom) species and how to identify them. Pratt was a research scientist on several cruises of GSO’s first research vessel, the Trident, and studied deep water benthos off the coast of Africa and sailed on the Endeavor’s first cruise in response to the 1976 Argo Merchant Oil Spill off Salem, Mass. Pratt is a longtime member of the New England Estuarine Research Society and The Benthic Society.
William Rosen, professor emeritus of chemistry, of Kingston, RI
Rosen earned his doctorate from the University of California and received post-doctoral education at Ohio State University and the National Institutes of Health. He was a visiting scholar at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Institute of Mental Health, Washington State University and Sydney University. Rosen taught courses at URI in organic chemistry to thousands of students. He had an active program of research that engaged in synthetic organic chemistry targeting molecules that could be used for drug applications, oil remediation and useful material properties. He chaired the Faculty Senate and was very active in the American Association of University Professors, serving as its president and on the Board of Academe. He also served on the boards of the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority and the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority.
Lawrence Rothstein, professor emeritus of political science of Wakefield, RI
Rothstein received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts and his law degree from the University of Illinois. A lawyer and political scientist, he has researched ethics regulating collection and use of genetic information under a Department of Energy Human Genome Grant. He worked on privacy issues related to employment and medical practice and research. A former chair of the Department of Political Science, he served as chair of the Ethics Committee of the Rhode Island Biobank. He has conducted workshops on research ethics and taught courses on the ethics of genetic testing and research. As a fellow of the John Hazen White Sr. Center for Ethics and Public Service, he is conducting international research on privacy and genetic information. Professor Rothstein has taught constitutional law, civil liberties, political theory, comparative labor relations and American legal system courses for more than 40 years, and coordinated pre-law advising for the University.