Cover Story

GREETING STUDENTS: Salve Regina University President Kelli J. Armstrong stops to talk with students as they return to campus recently in Newport. Armstrong says she enjoys getting to know students and soon after she arrived at the school in 2019, she implemented “Pizza with the President” gatherings, in which she would invite cohorts of students to her house for pizza. / PBN PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN

MISSION FOCUSED: Salve’s first lay president is determined to uphold school’s...

Cover Story 10/29/2021

(Editor's note: This is the third installment in an occasional series of interviews with the state’s new wave of higher education leaders.) When Kelli J....

DECISION PAYING DIVIDENDS: Manny Tampella, manager of La Masseria restaurant in East Greenwich, says the Main Street eatery is experiencing its “best year ever,” helped in part by the traditionally dine-in restaurant’s decision to start offering takeout meals. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

R.I.’s resilient downtowns: Main Streets across the state scarred but ready...

Cover Story 10/15/2021

In downtown Pawtucket, a bookstore reinvented itself by beefing up its online presence and ramping up services for fledgling authors looking to self-publish their...

EXPANDED OFFERINGS: John Nunes Jr., owner of Newport Vineyards and Winery LLC in Middletown, said the business has fared much better in weathering the COVID-19 pandemic than it did the 2008 financial crisis due to its diversification into “agritainment,” offering customers a full experience of wining, dining and touring the 100-acre farm beyond just selling bottled wine. / PBN PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN

PBN survey: Rebound under way, but repercussions from pandemic not making...

Cover Story 10/01/2021

Rhode Island businesses are climbing out of the crater caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but many are finding that the lingering fallout is dampening...

STEADY GROWTH: Cole DeSanty, right, director of client development for The Hire LLC, speaks with his colleagues, from left, CEO Tyler Wentworth; Bryan Soderberg, manager of candidate success; and Chief Operating Officer Erin Pavane. The Providence job placement firm has seen steady revenue growth since offering unlimited PTO from its inception in 2017. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

THE ULTIMATE PERK: More companies consider offering unlimited vacation time. Others...

Cover Story 09/17/2021

When Erin Pavane landed a job at a tech startup in Massachusetts eight years ago, she was shocked about one of the perks: Pavane...

LAB VISIT: Roger Williams University President Ioannis Miaoulis visits with Emma Place, left, and Alicia Schickle, who are examining the Northern Star Coral being raised in the university’s wet lab. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

AN ENGINEER’S ATTITUDE: At RWU, Miaoulis revels in opportunities to solve...

Cover Story 09/03/2021

(Editor’s note: This is the second installment in an occasional series of interviews with the state’s new wave of higher education leaders. You can...

COVID CASUALTY: Stephanie lgoe stands in front of the former Hallworth House building in Providence, a nonprofit nursing home where she served as administrator before it closed in the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. / PBN PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI

UNCLEAR CARNAGE: Just how badly has pandemic hurt R.I.’s small businesses?

Cover Story 08/20/2021

Heather Wall still gets emotional when she drives past the empty storefront on Frenchtown Road in North Kingstown. The darkened space in Hunt River Commons...

TRAINING HUB: Jennifer Menard, left, interim vice president of economic and business development at Bristol Community College, and Laura Douglas, college president, stand outside the future home of the school’s National Offshore Wind Institute on the New Bedford waterfront. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Unchartered training: How does region build workforce for new wind sector?

Cover Story 08/06/2021

Toiling hundreds of feet above the open ocean, sometimes amid stormy weather and battering waves, technicians in the offshore wind industry need not only...

JOYFUL ENDEAVOR: Providence College President the Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard remembers being impressed with the Dominican friars when he was a PC student. It drew him to their community. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PC president looks to market Friars’ brand on national level

Cover Story 07/23/2021

(Editor’s note: This is the first installment in an occasional series of interviews with the state’s new wave of higher education leaders.) The Rev. Kenneth...

A PATIENT HOST: Erin Umbdenstock held out hope she’d get her job back when she was laid off from the Providence Marriott Downtown when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It turned out better than that for her. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Hospitality’s headache: How to attract, keep workers

Cover Story 07/09/2021

Erin Umbdenstock spent her four-month stint of unemployment trying to keep busy. She cooked and cleaned her Coventry apartment and took up several new hobbies....