KINGSTON, R.I. — May 16, 2008 — People interested in watching the University of Rhode Island’s undergraduate commencement ceremony can do so from the comfort of their living room couch again this year.

URI’s ceremony on Sunday, May 18 will be broadcast live from the Kingston campus beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Rhode Island PBS on Channel 36 and Cox Cable Channel 8. The broadcast can be viewed in nearby Massachusetts Connecticut, and on Cape Cod. Listeners also have the option to tune their radio dial to WRIU, 90.3 FM to hear the excitement.

People living inside or outside the state, can catch the action by simply turning on their computer. The ceremony will be webcast live. For details, go to www.uri.edu/commencement. The link will remain active for several weeks.

Dave Lavallee of Wakefield, assistant director of URI’s Department of Communications and Marketing, and URI student Jamie Morrone of Cranston will co-host the commencement show from the University’s quadrangle, providing commentary and live interviews beginning at 12:30. In case of rain, the ceremonies will be broadcast from the Ryan Center.

Lavallee, who earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from URI in 1979, was a newspaper reporter for 13 years before joining the URI Department of Communications in 1994. He was a reporter and photographer at The Manchester Evening Herald in Connecticut and The Woonsocket Call. After earning his master’s degree at URI in 1987, he worked at The Newport Daily News as a reporter, editor and photographer where he was honored by the Associated Press and Rhode Island Press Association for breaking news coverage and news analysis. He has co-hosted the commencement show for 4 years.

Morrone, a URI broadcast journalism/ English major, has just completed her freshman year. She already has extensive broadcast experience, on URI-TV, the student-run campus television program. She wrote headlines and served as anchor and producer of the sports segments, which aired numerous times during the semesters.