2015 Tenth Annual
Distinguished Achievement 
Awards & Gala

Saturday, October 17, 2015 ⋅ Newport Marriott, Newport, R.I.

The Distinguished Achievement Awards honor
those who personify URI’s tradition of excellence
in achievement, leadership, and service.


See photos: weekend events and ceremony. Watch the video.

2015 PRESIDENT’S AWARD RECIPIENTS

BergeronDavid Bergeron ’78
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
For more than three decades, David Bergeron served in the U.S. Department of Education, most recently as acting assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Postsecondary Education, where he led work on key policy issues including the agency’s highly praised response to students and universities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Since leaving the Department in 2013, as vice president for postsecondary education policy and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, he worked on a wide range of higher education topics, from student debt and loan refinancing to alternative modes of educational delivery and quality assurance. A member of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council, he spoke about higher education issues at URI’s first Leadership Forum and at the 2013 Honors Colloquium.

DeysherCynthia Marcille Deysher ’78
Principal, Deysher 
Advisory Services
Cynthia Deysher is president of Deysher Advisory Services, an interior design company focused on residential properties. She previously served as the vice president of operations and chief financial officer for ArrowPoint Communications and held leadership positions at Shiva Corporation and Bytex Corporation. A longtime supporter of URI, she established the Cynthia and Bryon Deysher Business Scholarship and, with members of her family, the Robert Edmund Marcille Memorial Scholarship. She is a member of the Business Advisory Council for the College of Business Administration, as well as the President’s Advisory Council. She earned her master’s degree in finance from Bentley College.

GirrierRear Admiral Robert P. Girrier, M.M.A. ’90
Director, Unmanned Warfare Systems, United States Navy
Rear Adm. Girrier’s Navy ­career has included leadership positions around the world. A surface warfare officer, he recently served as deputy commander, Pacific Fleet and as director of operations for the U.S. Pacific Command, overseeing military activities throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific. He commanded two carrier strike groups, supporting operation Enduring Freedom, and disaster response for Japan during Operation Tomodachi. Earlier, he commanded USS Roosevelt, Destroyer Squadron 15 and USS Guardian operating throughout the Mediterranean and the Pacific respectively. Co-author of three professional naval books, he has served as an instructor in seamanship and navigation, and as a policy planner to NATO. In addition to his URI M.M.A., he received master’s degrees from American University and ­Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

OmarMostafa Omar, Ph.D. ’82
President, PhytoCeuticals, Inc.
Mostafa Omar has been researching and developing medicines derived from natural sources for more than 40 years. His cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical formulations—based primarily on the modern application of ancient herbal medicines—have built him a reputation as a world leader in medicinal natural product chemistry. He invented the world’s only stabilized liquid creatine and liquid vitamin C, earning him the moniker “Father of L-Ascorbic Acid.” Formerly a scientific advisor to the Ministry of Health in Egypt and to Egypt’s leading pharmaceutical company, he is the author of two books about toxic plants in Egypt. A major benefactor to the College of Pharmacy, he established the Youngken-Omar Distinguished Chair in Natural Product Chemistry and provided leadership gifts to other campus programs. He received his M.S. from Cairo University.

2015 CORPORATE AWARD

CVS HealthCVS Health
CVS Health is the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States and ranks as the 10th largest company of the Fortune 500 in 2015. It has been recognized multiple times as a Best Employer for Healthy Lifestyles, a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality, one of the Top 10 Companies for ­Veterans, and scored 100 percent on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index. The company employs more than 400 URI graduates and interns and has a long relationship with the URI Center for Career and Experiential Education. It has been extremely generous to URI through the years, with gifts totaling more than $6.3 million supporting numerous programs and colleges. CVS Health is the largest single corporate donor to the College of Pharmacy.

 

2015 DEANS’ AWARD RECIPIENTS

ALAN SHAWN FEINSTEIN COLLEGE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
Elaine A. Coderre ’89, Former Representative, District 60, Rhode Island House of Representatives

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Kathy O’Donnell-White ’90, Senior Vice President and Head of Public Affairs, Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Robert Vincent ’75, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Public Affairs, International Game Technology, PLC

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
William Eigen ’90, Managing Director, Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Absolute Return Fixed Income, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Deborah Imondi ’83, M.B.A. ’86, Executive Director, Rhode Island 4-H Club Foundation, Inc.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Brent Cunningham ’96, Managing Director, Jefferies LLC
Bill Jasper ’75, M.S. ’77, Chairman and CEO, Unifi, Inc.

COLLEGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE SCIENCES
Aram Calhoun, M.S. ’89, Professor of Wetland Ecology, University of Maine
John Grant III, M.S. ’86, Senior Geologist, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCE AND SERVICES
Susan Corning ’75, Veterinary Advisor, World Organisation for Animal Health
Steven Watterson ’79, Assistant Head Coach, Strength and Conditioning, Tennessee Titans

COLLEGE OF NURSING
Mary (Beth) Mancini, M.S. ’82, Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Education Innovation, University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation
Anne Manton, Ph.D. ’95, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Cape Cod Hospital; and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Emergency Nursing

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
Matt Leonard ’88, Executive Vice President, Pharmaceutical Contracting, Purchasing & Network Administration, CVS Health
Richard V. Piacentini ’77, Executive Director, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF OCEANOGRAPHY
Barclay P. Collins, M.S. ’74, Ph.D. ’78, General Manager, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

2015 ATHLETIC DIRECTOR’S AWARD

Anthony J. Rose Jr. ’54, Hon. ’91, Chairman, Technical Industries, Inc.

2015 RISING STAR AWARD

Robinson W. Fulweiler, M.S. ’03, Ph.D. ’07, Associate Professor, Departments of Earth and Environment, and Biology, Boston University