The state’s telecommunications industry will be the focus of a public forum at the Rhode Island Convention Center October 25. Sponsored by the University of Rhode Island’s Research Institute for Telecommunications and Information Marketing (RITIM), the forum entitled “Telephone Competition in Rhode Island: When, How and Who?” will address the issue of local availability of phone services.
Panelists include: Michael Bellas, vice president of business services, Cox Communications; Donna Cupelo, president and CEO, Bell Atlantic – Rhode Island; Rob Shanahan, president, New England Voice and Date of Rhode Island (NEVD); Paul Vasington, commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy; Katherine P. White, general counsel and vice president, AT&T of New England. The moderator is Frank Prosnitz, editor of the Providence Business News.
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The program will also feature a “Presentation of Research on Rhode Island Business & Residential Customers’ Opinions regarding Local Competition by RITIM.”
Ruby Dholakia, professor of marketing and director of RITIM, which is housed at the University’s College of Business Administration, said a variety of issues will most likely be raised. Some of the topics will include: the future plans of AT&T, Cox, and NEVD; how Bell Atlantic will meet the needs of the market; and who among the competitors will offer voice and data services to the entire Rhode Island Market?
”This issue is of interest to many businesses for whom telecommunications is a key strategic input/advantage,” Dholakia said. “Residential customers are also looking for choices and want to know if the choices will come to Rhode Island soon. Political and economic development officials in the state who are trying to find out how to leverage the state’s infrastructure for economic development.”
Besides the panelists’ point of view, the program will also present findings from two surveys conducted among residential and business customers in Rhode Island conducted by the Public Utilities Commission last summer
For more information, call 874-5065.
Sirmalis recognized by American University
Dr. John Sirmalis, director of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) was awarded the Roger W. Jones award for Executive Leadership.
Presented annually by American University, the award recognizes excellence in public administration and exemplary contributions by career executives to good government.
Sirmalis, a resident of Barrington, began his career in 1957 as a mechanical engineer at the Naval Underwater Ordnance Station (NUOS), a forerunner of NUWC’s Newport Division. In 1979, Sirmalis was appointed a member of the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service, and in 1992 he was selected as Executive Director of NUWC’s Newport Division. In 1995, Sirmalis took over the position of NUWC Technical Director, planning and executing a broad range of technical program that involve more than 400 employees and a budget of $850 million.
Sirmalis earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1956, and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1958, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1975, he received a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Rhode Island.
Hassenfeld to chair event for International Scholar Athlete Games
Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman and chief executive office of Hasbro, Inc., has been named chairman of a New York dinner organized in support of the first-ever Middle East/Mediterranean Scholar-Athlete Games, to take place next summer at Tel Aviv University.
The dinner will be held Wednesday in Manhattan, and is being hosted by the American Friends of Tel Aviv University and the Institute for International Sport.
Several hundred scholar-athletes from high schools in the United States, the Middle East, Mediterranean countries and other nations will gather on the Tel Aviv University campus from June 25 through July 2, 2000, for a week-long series of athletic, cultural, and academic competition and events. The games are designed to promote understanding and friendship among young adults of high academic achievement and of different faiths, races, and ethnicities.
The games are cosponsored by the Institute for International Sport, based on the campus of the University of Rhode Island. The Middle East/Mediterranean Scholar-Athlete Games are an outgrowth of the World Scholar Athlete Games, which were first held in 1993 by the Institute for International Sport.
Hassenfeld was chairman of the second World Games in 1997, and he also chaired the 1995 and 1999 Scholar-Athlete Games for Rhode Island.
