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Bisola Omisore ’13
Bisola Omisore received the Martin Luther King Award for Outstanding Leadership and Contributions to the University Community. Considered admission to three prestigious graduate programs before decidingre to enroll at Northwestern University for the 2013-2014 academic year. Of Togolese and Nigerian parentage, he was born in the Bronx, N.Y., attended middle school in North Providence, and went on to boarding school in Lagos, Nigeria. A scholarship from the Ida & Chris DiCarlo Endowment at the URI Foundation helped him earn his bachelor’s in chemical engineering from URI. Under Professor Otto Gregory, Bisola was part of a research group that designed sensors for jet engines. …Read the article…
Trystan Del Tufo ’13
Trystan Del Tufo was chosen as the recipient of the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement. She received the scholarships from the Narragansett Indian School and the Nursing Foundation of Rhode Island to attend college, entered URI through the Talent Development Intensive Summer Program, and she became a resident assistant so she could live on campus. At URI, she was a nursing tutor who helped fellow students in the Pathways to Nursing Program, which support minorities in nursing. She’s worked at numerous restaurants and completed hundreds of hours of community service at the West Warwick Youth Center, Women & Infants Hospital, and URI. in her last year of college, she was a paid classroom behavior specialist at The Bradley School. …Read the article…
Eugenio Fernandez Jr. ’13
May 6, 2013- Balancing four majors would make most students wince, but Eugenio Fernandez Jr. found a way to do just that, while still enjoying his college years at the University of Rhode Island. Fernandez will graduate with a doctor of pharmacy degree, master of business administration, bachelor’s degree in biology, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Oh, and he is also fluent in Spanish. …Read the article…
Mecca Smith ’12
Mecca Smith received the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement. Along with other students, she participated in foreign travel among her many activities. Read the article…
Reudi Correia ’12
Reudi Correia said she has always had “the caring gene,” and she proved it by taking care of her family in good times and bad while she was growing up. As a nursing student at the University of Rhode Island, she continued in that role as an ambassador for prospective students and their parents, welcoming them to the University and sharing her experiences so they would feel comfortable in the next stage of their lives. Reudi Correia was inducted into the Rhode Island Onyx Honor Senior Society. Read the article…
Danielle Henderson ’11
Since October 2011, she has been writing the blog Feminist Ryan Gosling pairing images of the star of The Notebook, Crazy Stupid Love, and Blue Valentine with witty captions drawing on feminist theorists such as Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler. The blog follows a popular meme (a concept that spreads via the Internet) that features Gosling saying something cute beginning with “Hey girl.” Read the article…
Brandon Brown ’10
Brandon received the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement in 2010. He was recently featured in a Quad Angles article about his all around community service, and his dedication to supporting his former school, Central Falls High School, in the wake of last year’s firing of its teaching staff. Read the article…
Jessica Adefusika ’10
Jessica received the Benson Award for Academic Achievement in 2010. She was featured on the cover of the 2010 URI Viewbook (see page 24 for the article), after writing her Senior Honors Project about the exodus of professionally trained workers from her native Nigeria. Read about her project here.
Sara Green ’09
Sara Green was inducted into the Rhode Island Onyx Senior Honor Society. She majored in elementary education and communications at URI, and after graduation went on to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. Read more…
Martha Ofeibea-Tenkorang ’09
Martha won the Saint Elmo Brady Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science, and graduated with a Nursing degree.
She was featured in a 2009 Quad Angles article.
Kalyana Champlain ’08
Kalyana Champlain received the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement in 2008, and graduated with a degree in communication studies. She was featured in a 2008 URI news article.
Whitney Hollis ’08
Whitney Hollis received the Althea Gibson Scholar-Athlete Award in 2008. A standout basketball player, she was a double major in communications and sociology. She was featured in a 2008 URI news article.
Safi Mojidi ’08
Safi Mojidi received the Althea Gibson Scholar-Athlete Award in 2008, and was also named the Rhode Island Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year. Read the article…
Sharon Isom ’07
Sharon Isom, a cancer survivor, received the Arthur L. Hardge Award for All-Around Outstanding Community Service in 2007. Read her inspirational story in this 2007 Quad Angles article.
Destiny Woodbury ’07
Destiny Woodbury received the Saint Elmo Brady Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science in 2006. She graduated in 2007 with a B.S. and B.A. in Chemistry, a B.A. in Secondary Education and a minor in Leadership Studies. She was featured in a 2005 Pacer article.
She is currently working as a teacher in Texas, and training for the 2012 Olympics. Find out more about what Destiny is doing now.
Pascale Deluanay ’05
Pascale received both the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement and the Althea Gibson Scholar-Athlete Award in 2005, and graduated with a degree in Engineering.
She was featured in a 2005 Quad Angles article.
Freddie Shipworth ’04
Freddie received theBenson Award for Academic Achievement in 2004, and graduated with a degree in English.He was featured in a 2004 Pacer article.
Babatunde Ologun ’02
Babatunde won the Benson Award for Academic Achievement in 2002, and went on to attend Brown Medical School.
Marlon Mussington ’01
Marlon won the Harvey Robert Turner Award for Outstanding Service to the URI Black Community in 2001. A communications and psychology major, he now teaches physical education at the Paul Cuffee Charter School in Providence. Read the article…
Kimberly Anderson ’01
Kim won the Benson Award for Academic Achievement in 2001. She is now Assistant Dean of the College of Environmental and Life Sciences.
Solomon Comissiong B.A.’97, M.S.’00
Solomon won the Hardge Award for All-Around Outstanding Community Service in 1998. He is now the President and co-founder of SCMB Educational Consulting, a company that uses mediums such as Hip Hop Culture to educate poorly motivated students. Read more
Jonathan Lewis ’00
Jonathan Lewis received the Harvey Robert Turner Award for Outstanding Service to the URI Black Community in 2000. He is now a social activist, and was recently featured in a Quad Angles article.
Preston Murphy ’99
Preston Murphy received the Jackie Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award in 1999. He was a standout basketball player at URI, and he recently returned to become an assistant coach for his former team. Read the story.
Darran Simon ’98
Darran won the William Gould Award for All-Around Outstanding Achievement and the ASBS President’s Award in 1998. He is now a reporter for Newsday, and member of the Black Scholar Awards Committee.
She earned a bachelor's degree from URI in 1973, and an M.D. from Brown University Medical School in 1984. Before her death at a young age from cancer, she was a staff physician in radiation oncology at Roger Williams Medical Center and a clinical instructor at Brown University. As a recipient of the American Cancer Society's Clinical Oncology Award, she specialized in radiation therapy for locally advanced prostate cancer and in combined modality treatment with chemotherapy in locally advanced head, neck, and pancreatic cancers.
His great-grandfather (also William Gould) escaped slavery in 1862 by rowing to a Union gunboat patrolling off the coast of Wilmington, NC. William Gould IV (Class of '58), has written a book about this and other exploits. 
He was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, 
He was the first Black graduate of the University of Rhode Island in 1914. He majored in civil engineering and was a member of the football and track teams. The 1936 alumni directory listed his occupation an assistant treasurer of Prairie View State College in Texas.
Estes Arnathia Benson (1956-1997) was a cum laude graduate in the class of 1978 at the University of Rhode Island. At the University, he starred in football. He received the Fifth Quarter Club Scholar Athlete Award. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. After graduating, he studied at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Subsequently, he received a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.
Believing that work and travel were essential to his pursuit of knowledge; Estes spent a year in Israel on a kibbutz; a year in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig; and several years in various management positions in a variety of businesses, including providing affordable housing for inner-city residents.
An actor and writer, he appeared in University productions, New York City Showcase Theatre, and Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities Legacy Series. He was the author of the Legacy drama, “Fighting to be American: Rhode Islander in the Civil War." As a volunteer throughout New England, he presented educational activities on drug and alcohol abuse to young people.
