At its 69th annual meeting in the fall, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council honored two URI alumni for public service.

Middletown Police Chief Anthony Pesare, M.P.A. ’83, received the 2012 Robert M. Goodrich Distinguished Public Service Award for his many years of service to Rhode Island’s law enforcement community. His career began in 1974 with the Rhode Island State Police, with whom he served for 24 years in five barracks throughout the state. Between 1998 and 2004, when he joined the Middletown Police Department, Pesare served as dean of the School of Justice Studies and associate professor of criminal justice at Roger Williams University. During his tenure in Middletown, he has instituted a community policing program, worked to realign the law enforcement duties in the residential areas of Naval Station Newport, and revamped the department’s communications with the public. He has also worked to reorganize training policies and procedures for the department, making it eligible to seek accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, “the gold standard in public safety.”

House Fiscal Advisor Sharon Reynolds Ferland, M.P.A. ’95, received the Gary S. Sasse Distinguished Service Award. A native Rhode Islander, Ferland has worked for the Fiscal Advisory Staff to the Rhode Island House of Representatives since 1997, first as a budget analyst, then as deputy house fiscal advisor. In December 2009, she was appointed to her current post. During her tenure at the House Fiscal Office, she has worked extensively and become an expert on such complex issues as education funding, pension reform, and restructuring the state’s personal income tax system. In 2009, Ferland received a National Association of Legislative Fiscal Offices Achievement Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures.