A Message from Dean Marchese
It is with great sadness that Sigrid Berka and I share with you the recent loss of two of the most influential people in the founding and building of the URI International Engineering Program, Professor John Grandin and Heidi Kirk Duffy.

Prof. John Grandin passed away on November 18 after a courageous battle with Lewy Body Dementia.  Prof. Grandin was the co-founder, along with Dean Hermann Viets, of URI’s world-acclaimed and pioneering International Engineering Program (IEP).

“When John launched the IEP with Hermann, he had the foresight of doing something truly revolutionary. The idea of mixing engineering and languages in a 5 year program was a novel one, but it quickly became the program to be imitated at other universities” said URI IEP Executive Director Sigrid Berka. “The model broadens students’ horizons, internationalizes engineers, and gets non-traditional language learners in the classroom.”

Thanks to Prof. Grandin’s pioneering work, our international engineering students graduate with B.S. degrees in any of 8 engineering disciplines paired work B.A. degrees in any of six foreign languages and complete six-month global internships at for companies such as BMW, Boeing, Bosch, Boston Scientific, Continental, Mercedes Dow Chemical, Porsche, Procter & Gamble, Shimadzu, Siemens and many more.  Indeed, many students choose URI engineering specifically because of our world-renowned IEP program.

Prof. Grandin retired in 2010 after 40 years at URI and 23 years after starting the IEP program in 1987.  In 2019 he received an honorary doctorate in engineering at the University’s commencement ceremony, where he said “URI has given meaning to international and cross-disciplinary education. Our students go the extra mile, and I’m so happy to have been a part of something that has become so widely imitated at other schools.”

In lieu of a service at this time, Prof. Grandin requested a celebration of life ceremony, which will be planned this spring at URI. He is survived by his wife Carol Grandin, his son Peter with Jen, and three grandchildren. Details on his funeral will be forthcoming.

Heidi Kirk Duffy passed away on November 10, 2024 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. A long-time benefactor of URI and numerous other RI institutions, Duffy and her late husband Chester H. Kirk (‘40, Chemical Engineering and founder of Amtrol, Inc.) gave $1 million to establish a chair in chemical engineering and also generously supported the construction of the Chester H. Kirk Center for Advanced Technology.  Ms. Kirk Duffy later donated an additional $1 million to support future directors of the IEP program.

Ms. Kirk Duffy also led the creation of a 2nd International Engineering Program (IEP) residential house on the URI campus in 2007 by donating her personal yacht to help with the efforts. Both buildings were dedicated as the Heidi Kirk Duffy Center for International Education on September 28, 2007. Ms. Kirk Duffy also served for 25 years as chair of the IEP advisory council from 1992 to 2017, offering her expertise and energy to the growth of the program at URI.

“John Grandin and I were so fortunate to work with Heidi in her role as Chair of the IEP Advisory Board for over 25 years.” said Sigrid Berka. “She was such a passionate and dedicated leader, advocate, and generous supporter of the IEP.”

Ms. Kirk Duffy received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from URI in 1995 for her many years of service to higher education. In 2000, the German government honored her with its highest civilian award, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, First Class.

With deepest sympathy to their loved ones and immense gratitude of their contributions to our community,