Dean Maling Ebrahimpour reflects on URI’s 125th Anniversary (1892-2017) and our founding purpose to provide equal opportunity to higher education as the pathway to success.

1892-2017 – Our 125th anniversary milestone presents an opportunity to reflect on the University’s purpose, then and now. In his recent blog post, titled, “Inequality and the American Dream,” URI President David M. Dooley reminds us of URI’s founding purpose, which was to provide equal opportunity in pursuing higher education as the pathway to success. In 1892, the opportunity to go to college was the exclusive privilege of the wealthy. The creation of land grant universities in every state enabled higher education for the “industrial classes” — the sons and daughters of farmers and factory workers.

In the modern era, President Dooley noted that “Our tasks of mitigating inequality and creating equal opportunity are far from complete,” but reassured us that progress towards this goal is constant and evident in our work at URI. Through the stories we share in each issue of Business@URI, you have seen evidence of our progress with the successes of our changing and diverse pool of College of Business Administration students, faculty, and staff. We proudly continue our mission in higher education to expand access, inspire the next generation of innovators, and develop tomorrow’s business leaders. And we are very thankful that our strong business alumni network is with us on this journey!

We hope you enjoy this 7th edition of our college newsletter.  I invite you to reply and stay connected! Please send your own achievements, news and comments directly to me at: mebrahimpour@uri.edu.