“Helen Schilling was a highly accomplished alumna who found an extraordinary way to leave her mark on her university. We are honored to carry on her memory at URI and excited to see this scholarship change the lives of our students.” –Margo Cook, chair of the URI Board of Trustees.
Helen Izzi Schilling graduated from URI with honors in 1954 with a degree in nutrition. Her family immigrated to the United States and settled in Rhode Island in the early 1900s and still maintains a significant presence in the state.
While at URI, Schilling was president of Kappa Omicron Nu and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, both national honor societies. She was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority and worked at Butterfield dining hall. After completing the highly competitive and rigorous combined Master of Science/Dietetic Internship Certification program at Ohio State University, she worked for five decades as a registered dietitian in various hospitals, taught at the university level, and developed her own consulting business.
Schilling met her husband, Francis (Frank) Joseph Schilling, a native of Ohio, when they both enrolled in graduate programs at Ohio State University. After completing his M.B.A., he went on to a career at GE where he became a vice president and was head of GE Medical Systems, introducing CT and MRI scanners to doctors and hospitals in the 1970s.
