The URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace congratulates Dr. Sean Rogers, the Dean of URI College of Business, and Jean D. Nsabumuremyi, the Director of the URI Multicultural Student Services Center, for winning the 2026 Human Rights Award.
Dr. Sean Edmund Rogers is the Dean of the URI College of Business and the Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro Inc. Leadership Chair in Business. He is also a Professor of Management. Prior to being named Dean, he served as URI’s Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Community, Equity, and Diversity. Dr. Rogers joined the College of Business in 2018. According to his nominator, “Dr. Rogers does not simply talk about equity, fairness, and respect; he lives these principles daily through his actions, decisions, and advocacy for others. His leadership has had a strong impact on many staff, students, and communities we serve.” When he sees someone not being given a fair opportunity, he intervenes, she added.
Before joining URI, he held faculty appointments at Cornell University, New Mexico State University, and the University of New Mexico, and before that, worked at several Fortune 500 firms. He is a US Army veteran and currently serves as an Air Force Reserve officer. An engaged scholar and community leader, Dean Rogers has authored more than 30 articles and books, delivered more than 80 keynote addresses and workshops, and serves on multiple boards, including as a Vice Chair on the United Way of Rhode Island Board of Directors. His current research interests include unions and labor-management relations, employment discrimination and workplace diversity, and volunteerism.
He earned a Ph.D. in industrial relations and human resources from Rutgers University and master’s degrees from Brown University, Wake Forest, Illinois, and others. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a Society for Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). For 28 years, he has been an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the country’s first Black intercollegiate fraternity and the college fraternity to which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. belonged. Dr. Rogers is also a Prince Hall Freemason and member of Martin Luther King Jr. Lodge in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dr. Rogers traveled internationally to better understand the challenges international students face when seeking to study at an American university. This willingness to listen, learn, and act exhibits a deep respect for human dignity and global equity. Dr. Rogers’ devotion to human rights is equally evident in his support for fairness and access. He continues to uphold and promote peace and human rights through justice, advocacy, and empowerment.
Jean D. Nsabumuremyi is the Director of the Multicultural Student Services Center at the University of Rhode Island, where he supports students from diverse cultural backgrounds through programming, advocacy, and community-building that strengthen a sense of belonging and student success. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. According to his nominator, “Jean’s work powerfully reflects the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by centering compassion, dialogue, and solidarity especially during moments of collective grief, injustice, and global crisis.”
Born in Rwanda and resettled in Rhode Island as a refugee in 2006, Jean brings a lived commitment to human rights, coexistence, and nonviolence to his work in higher education. Over the past decade, he has worked to expand access and opportunity for students and foster inclusive environments grounded in dignity, respect, and cross-cultural understanding.
Jean previously served as TRIO Educational Opportunity Center Program Director at Idaho State University and began his career at the Community College of Rhode Island. He holds a B.S. in Development Sociology (now Global Development) and a master’s degree from Cornell University in International Development Studies, where he was recognized among Cornell’s top ten successful students in the Class of 2011.
Jean has consistently created spaces for remembrance, healing, and ethical reflection, helping the campus community respond to pain with humanity rather than division. He continues to make a significant contribution toward promoting human rights through education, leadership, and practice.