In a victory for supporters of ballot question two, last Tuesday, 59 percent of Rhode Island voters supported a $70 million state bond for public higher education.
The approved bond will provide $25 million to Rhode Island College’s School of Education and Human Development to renovate Horace Mann Hall, and $45 million to the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography’s Narragansett Bay Campus.
This bond will authorize the Rhode Island General Assembly to borrow money from bond investors to pay for facilities upgrades.
“We are deeply grateful to the voters of Rhode Island and offer our heartfelt gratitude to all who decided to help us continue to build upon the University’s reputation as a global leader in teaching and research,” URI President David Dooley said, in a press release from the University’s Office of Communication.
The bond had the support of Dooley, RIC President Frank Sanchez and Governor Gina Raimondo.
“I think Rhode Island voters have a high regard for URI and appreciate what the University has done for the state,” Bruce Corliss, dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography said. “There is an appreciation for the work that’s done here at the Narragansett Bay campus.”
In an interview with the Good Five Cent Cigar following the approval of the ballot initiative, Dean Corliss said that voters supported bond because of the school’s contributions to the state’s economy and preservation of the Narragansett Bay.
“Our contribution to the Rhode Island workforce, and what’s called the blue economy, the economy associated with the ocean…graduates of the School of Oceanography and Ocean Engineering, have now become apart of the workforce here in Rhode Island,” Corliss said.
According to Corliss, in the last 10 years, the GSO has generated over $300 million dollars in research funding. The GSO anticipates that in the next thirty years, this figure will reach $1 billion dollars. He believes that this will significantly impact the Rhode Island economy.
The bond will help to fund the construction of a new research dock and Marine Operations building ahead of new $120 million dollar research vessel from the National Science Foundation that will be homeported in Rhode Island starting in 2021. It will help provide the infrastructure the University’s oceanography and ocean engineering students “to do new and innovative projects.”
Corliss expects the impact of the bond to help graduate as well as undergraduate oceanography and ocean engineering students. The bond will additionally help provide students with the tools and added resources to conduct research.
“[The GSO] dedicates a large portion of it’s research to understanding how the ocean and the Ocean State are intertwined,” Basia Marcks, a second-year Ph.D. student at the GSO, said. “Every resident of Rhode Island is connected to the ocean, be it through food security, weather, recreation, trade, or a variety of other avenues… By investing in infrastructure advancements to the bay campus, residents are supporting a future for themselves and generations to come…Improving infrastructure on the bay campus ensures that we are able to continue monitoring the health of Narragansett Bay and our global oceans, preserving our resources for future generations.”