(Editor’s note: This is the fifth installment in an occasional series of interviews with the state’s new wave of higher education leaders.)
Marc B. Parlange has racked up his fair share of frequent flier miles during his career in higher education.
Parlange, 59, who was born in Rhode Island but only lived here a few months before his military family moved, has held academic and administrative positions at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, the University of British Columbia in Canada and Monash University in Australia. At Monash, Australia’s largest research university, he served as provost and senior vice president.
Last year, Parlange returned to the Ocean State to become the University of Rhode Island’s 12th president. On Aug. 1, he succeeded David M. Dooley, who retired after a dozen years as URI’s leader.
Along with helping the state’s only land-grant school expand its research capabilities and rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, Parlange is aiming to position URI as a significant player in shaping Rhode Island’s blue economy.
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CONNECTED: University of Rhode Island President Marc B. Parlange says he feels like he’s known URI for a long time because the research the school is known for resonates with his own research. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND/
NORA LEWIS[/caption]
You have taught at various institutions around the world. In addition to the URI presidency job, what led you back to your birthplace? When I saw the advertisement for the presidency of the University of Rhode Island, I always felt a pride and connection to the state, historically to the city of Providence where I was born. I felt that URI is a university I have known for a long time because the research URI is known for resonates with my own research. It’s a state [Rhode Island] where you can have great impact. I think at the university we can play a critical role in the state of Rhode Island. I’m feeling really good about being here. I’ve told many people, this is the best job in the world.
What have you learned from your experience around the world that you have applied at URI thus far? Over the years, one of the things I’ve found so important is to work with your friends and work together to lift the whole region, the economy, the state and the university. I think there’s a lot of interest as to how we can beef up the entrepreneurial activities of the university and how we can translate our research into practice. This was a big deal in Switzerland and in western Canada, when I was at the University of British Columbia. More recently, it was very important in Melbourne [Australia] and for Monash University. I’ve seen a lot of similarities with the benefits of public universities I’ve worked at prior, just the uplift they bring to the region and to the economy.
In your bio, you are considered a “firm believer in fostering collaboration across disciplines.” How do you plan to amplify that and make the university more attractive to students, both current and prospective? I want to enhance the experiential learning opportunities of our students. I want to see them get internships in companies, so we’re working with parents groups who have companies to help recruit our students and have the students spend four months with the companies. I really want our students to take advantage of opportunities to do research and learn about research. Even if they decide to not go to graduate school, I want them to at least have that experience [of learning research] and that opportunity to do scientific inquiries in the humanities.
We are also celebrating 50 years of Talent Development [a program supporting Rhode Island high school graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds]. It has transformed thousands of lives of people who would not have gone to the university if it had not been for the support and infrastructure to bring them to the university. I see us supporting that more and more.
I like to support also that we have more students who are members of the Narragansett [Tribe]. We’re offering, this year, scholarships to tribal members. This is important; you come to the university and meet new people from across the U.S. and around the world. But you should also meet people from the state of Rhode Island, including our first nation.
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LOOKING UP
The University of Rhode Island has seen sponsored research funds awarded to the university grow from $73.5 million in fiscal 2017 to $123 million in fiscal 2021. That’s not including COVID-19 emergency funding received by URI in the last two years – $11.2 million in 2020 and $62.5 million in 2021. / SOURCE: URI DIVISION OF RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT[/caption]
How has URI rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic? And in what areas is the university still slow in recovering from the health crisis? What has been clear, and I think why URI did so well, is everybody knew the importance of coming back, being present. We were able to mandate early vaccines and boosters for faculty, students and staff. People have been good sports about wearing masks on campus. [On March 4, URI stopped requiring people to wear masks indoors on campus in most settings.] People are so glad to be back because that was a real tough part of COVID where people were asked to leave campus and to work from home. Students are happy to be back.
State lawmakers have made the tuition-free Rhode Island Promise program permanent, but it only involves the Community College of Rhode Island. Do you feel URI should be included in that program? We would have to talk about it. We would have to have an honest appraisal of what is the support we’re seeing from the state today for the students and what would be proposed going forward. Just to [get] back to what we were [getting for state aid] in 2001, we would have to increase our funding by $45 million. I do think Rhode Island Promise is important. I hope to see the translation that those students do indeed come to the University of Rhode Island going forward. That’s an area we’re working on with [CCRI President] Meghan L. Hughes.
You previously said that offshore wind will be an important piece of the “blue economy.” What programming is URI offering or what does it plan to offer to bolster the workforce in that sector? If we were to win Phase II of the [$1 billion federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge], we would implement a combination of strategies to train a workforce that world-class blue economy companies look for. Building on the foundations of Real Jobs RI, an innovative, business-led “train and place” program, we would use investments to scale up existing programs and develop new ones, including a workforce training center in offshore wind, advanced certifications in building trades, and “earn and learn” programs in areas like aquaculture and marine trades, which make it possible for trainees to receive longer-term training necessary for upskilling into the advanced sub-industries of the blue economy while continuing to meet their own financial needs. We are also in the process of creating a 10-year strategic plan, which will set a vision, goals and priorities for future programming and research at the university.
How will URI’s Business Engagement Center play a role in supporting the blue economy? The center would be the front door for blue economy companies looking to connect into the university, whether to hire our students, sponsor research, use our labs and so forth. Examples of companies could include defense – Raytheon Corp. and General Dynamics Electric Boat; offshore wind – Orsted A/S; and startups – Jaia Robotics LLC and Flux Marine Ltd.
There are businesses certainly that are going to come in aquaculture. Maybe not in the thousands of jobs, but maybe hundreds of jobs. There are going to be opportunities in the tourism sector. There’s also going to be the marine affairs that will be extremely important. We have a lot of questions around coastal resilience. It has everything, from water management to questions about transitions that are going to happen in our smart grid because we’re going to have new sources of electricity. And a big piece is around the defense sector. We have a lot going on with underwater vehicle technology and robotics, where the university is a key player. If you go to Electric Boat, half of the engineers are URI graduates.
Along with the blue economy, what other ways will URI be an economic driver for the state? You see the excellence from our pharmaceutical college. You see the performance of our College of Nursing. Another area is agriculture and land use. We’re building an agricultural innovation center at Peckham Farm. That alone, we expect to [grow] 10% of the produce [consumed] within the state. We hope to see agricultural innovation and growth there in the state. It would be lovely down the road that we see Rhode Island become an exporter of food the same way the Netherlands is an exporter.
What is URI’s role in general workforce development? What kind of connections has URI developed with the state’s business community to ensure the university is putting emphasis on fields that need workers and that graduates are prepared to enter? Accessing our talented students is the No. 1 reason that companies in Rhode Island interact with the university through the Business Engagement center. We provide a well-educated and hard-working workforce to many Rhode Island-based, regional and national companies, both large and small. We are in constant dialogue with our industry partners to learn about their workforce and skill needs so we can be nimble in adjusting our curriculum to enable students to enter the workforce as prepared as possible. In this regard, we see ourselves as the economic and talent driver for the state.
In what areas of research should URI invest more of its resources? Certainly in pharmaceutical. We’re very involved with research in the design of medicines. We are also very involved with the University of Connecticut in underwater vehicle technology. We’re working with the Office of Naval Research on that, so we see quite a bit of growth there in materials and that interface with companies.
URI has spent at least $456 million in building new facilities on campus over the last 12 years. Where are future growth plans focused? For the Narragansett Bay campus, we have this old science building out there where we do some $25 million in research each year. It is in a terrible state of disrepair. My first priority is to replace that with what we’re calling the Ocean Frontiers building. It’s [replacing] temporary buildings that have been used for 50-60 years that are essentially rotting. We have facilities that are not at all conducive to doing research. It’s costing us in federal grants, and we don’t have the infrastructure to be able to compete anymore for some of the large grants. We also need a student health center. We’re running the center out of a series of caravans and temporary buildings. Students are basically on the floor waiting to get in, which is not good, especially in this time of COVID. We’re looking at the American Rescue Plan Act funding plan and also looking at the infrastructure bills [for possible funding options].
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MULTIPLE BENEFITS: University of Rhode Island President Marc B. Parlange goes for a run with students. An avid runner, Parlange says he enjoys the mental break it provides, as well as the opportunity to meet members of the community. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND/NORA LEWIS[/caption]
How will URI work closely with elected leaders in neighboring communities, such as South Kingstown and Narragansett, and students to help address issues surrounding limits on off-campus housing? There have been decades where our students have been important citizens in these communities. It’s very important that I have a close connection [with local officials]. I’m happy to go to town hall meetings. I’ve had discussions with the communities and gone to their nightly meetings. [Off-campus housing] is a major problem because … the rules of the game have changed for us. Essentially, the strategy of saying “we want fewer people in the house, but we’re going to charge more” will also cause difficulty for our students. Many of them also have jobs to support their way. It’s my job as the face of the university to understand their reasoning behind some of these decisions and if there are opportunities to work more closely together. It’s so fundamental.
You are an avid runner. Does running help spark new ideas for you or does it provide a brief respite from reality? It’s both. It’s definitely a wonderful mental health break, which is important for all people. It’s also fun socially because I meet members of the community, including town council members. I do get a lot of ideas while out running. When you’re working hard on a problem, it is sometimes good to step away and let your mind think about it and relax outdoors. Seeing the green trees or white snow always makes you feel good.
James Bessette is special projects editor at PBN. Contact him at Bessette@PBN.com.
