URI inducts 13 retirees into Lifetime Service Society

December 19, 2023
Lifetime Service Society inductees, from left, Gene Pollart, Peter Cornillon, Joyce Winn, Robert Schwegler, Patricia Burbank, William Ohley, Cindy Moreau and Deborah Gardiner attended the induction ceremony on Dec. 1, along with Michael Honhart (not pictured). (URI Photo/Michael Salerno)

Recipients honors for serving the University for at least 40 years

Dec. 15, 2023 

The University of Rhode Island inducted 13 former employees into the Lifetime Service Society recognizing their decades of service to the University in ceremonies Dec. 1 at the Higgins Welcome Center.

URI has held an annual ceremony to honor and recognize longtime staff members for their dedication to the URI community since 2013. Eligible staff members and retirees must be or have been employed at the University for at least 40 years before they can be considered as a recipient. 

Nine of 13 inductees attended the ceremony. Each recipient received certificates of appreciation from the University, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner and Gov. Dan McKee. A commemorative brick engraved with each inductee’s name and years of service will be placed at the entrance to the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons.

“What a fantastic group of honorees we are recognizing today and what a special tradition we have here at URI,” said President Marc Parlange. “This was one of my first events I attended as president and certainly one of my favorites because we are celebrating one of the greatest things about URI—our people. Today, we are celebrating those members of our community who, much like the bricks we are unveiling in their name, serve as keystones in the URI foundation, helping to build this vibrant, welcoming, diverse and extraordinary university.”

During the ceremony, each honoree was introduced by a University colleague. Those from the GSO community honored at the ceremony were:

Peter Cornillon, of Saunderstown, professor of oceanography, 47 years.

In his tribute to Cornillon, Randolph Watts, research professor of oceanography, said Cornillon’s research was pivotal in his time at the Graduate School of Oceanography, calling his work on satellite data products, particularly sea surface temperature, world class. Cornillon also co-led the development of OpeNDAP, which provides the “gold standard” for open sharing of data, used globally in earth sciences, Watts said.

In the late 1980s, Cornillon helped organize the “SURFO” program, an intensive summer research fellowship for graduate students in math and physics. Several of his former students went on to find careers at NASA after graduation, Watts said.

Cindy Moreau, of Jamestown, coordinator of Coastal Resources Center, 43 years.

In introducing Moreau, Elin Torell, director of the Coastal Institute, said Moreau was the “heart and soul” of the Coastal Resources Center’s international team for more than 35 years. Moreau was instrumental in running the center’s overseas projects, coordinating with URI, funding agencies and local partners to facilitate the expansion of URI-backed projects in nations such as Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Mexico, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ghana, Senegal and more.

“As the international business manager, Cindy was well known and loved by our overseas staff,” said Torell. “She provided invaluable mentoring to our local partners. Her capacity building support helped local partners, such as the TRY Oysters Association in Gambia, develop the capacity and systems needed to receive and manage donor funding on their own.”

Joyce Winn, of Exeter, marine research assistant at GSO, 47 years.

Cynthia Murray, who worked alongside Winn for 39 years, wrote a tribute to Winn, which was read by Malia L. Schwartz, assistant director for research at the GSO. “I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish at the National Sea Grant library,” Murray wrote. “We were trendsetters in the early days of the internet and gained national recognition as being one of the first federal libraries to digitize its collection and make it available to the public.”

Murray praised Winn’s ability to navigate the increasingly complex technological issues, and was always amazed by Winn’s ability to locate an obscure document when no one else could. “No one knew the collection better than you,” Murray wrote.

Judith Swift, director of the Coastal Institute, 51 years.

Judith was unable to attend the ceremony.