Roger Williams University is continuing to rebuild its presence in the city of Providence. The school, which was founded in Providence in 1956, moved its main campus to Bristol in the early 1970s. Since then its presence in the metropolitan area has been limited. Though the school offered night courses at the YMCA and LaSalle Academy, officials felt the programs weren’t meeting the needs of students – most of whom were already in the workforce.
As a result, six years ago, the university purchased the building at 150 Washington Street, originally the site of City Hall Hardware, which sold much more than hardware in its heyday into the ’60s, before being transformed into offices in the ’70s. The new facility became home to the school’s law clinic, a new state-of-the-art library, and classrooms. College officials hope to fill those classrooms by creating more programming for the “non-traditional” student.
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In February, university officials reached part of that goal when they created the Metropolitan College, an academic branch of the university formerly known as the Evening Division of University College. It will be run primarily from the Providence location.
“This is a revisual-zization of University College and our evening division,” said Loretta Shelton, vice president for academic affairs. “We want people to know that it’s not just a name change.”
“Clearly moving back to the city on a permanent basis was always part of our thinking,” said David A. Gingerella, newly appointed dean at the Metropolitan College. “We value the opportunity to have a significant presence in Providence. Located next to the University of Rhode Island’s College of Continuing Education and in close proximity to Johnson & Wales, we think it’s a terrific fit.”
Gingerella said the goal of the Metropolitan College is twofold.
First, the school’s programming is designed to make it attractive for Rhode Island’s current workforce to take courses by offering them in the early morning and evening hours, during lunch hours and even on weekends. In addition, he said, the college offers varied semesters, which differ from the customary sequences in which classes are offered.
”These programs are basically for anyone that doesn’t want to be a full-time day-student,” he said. “We are targeting those students who five or six years down the line after graduation from another college or high school decide that a degree, or even a new degree could make a difference for them.”
Shelton said the college hopes the programs will appeal to people who may not have had the opportunity to attend college before because of either time or financial constraints.
”The world itself has changed and the kinds of education that are needed are different from what they were in the past,” she said. “We think that our students will primarily be adults who either never began college, or who did but stopped and now want to take up their education at a time that is convenient for them. The needs of the adult are very different.”
The second goal, Gingerella said, is to build relationships with local businesses, both for employee training programs and for graduate placement. He hopes that seniors from the Bristol campus will use the Providence location as a stepping stone for their future careers.
”We are trying to service the community in which we are a part of,” he said. “The idea is to become a good corporate neighbor and a significant part of the landscape. We want people to think of us as a resource.”
Shelton said there are also plans to install new programming that directly impacts the needs of the Providence community, similar to the law clinic.
”We would really like to expand that model to offer services in other areas like architecture and business,” she said. “They are first on the agenda because there are direct connections with the programs on the Bristol campus.”
University officials said the recent changes are only the beginning stages for the Metropolitan College. Future ideas include expanding the bachelor degree programming, adding more weekend classes, and introducing some distance-based learning.
”This university has experienced a tremendous amount of change,” Gingerella said. “My job and my role here is to help people understand what we have to offer. That is going to require very aggressive policy and decision-making on a year to year basis.”
