{"id":57096,"date":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uris-memorial-union-director-to-retire-after-35-years\/"},"modified":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"uris-memorial-union-director-to-retire-after-35-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/uris-memorial-union-director-to-retire-after-35-years\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union director to retire after 35 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tCelebration to honor Bruce Hamilton set for April 29<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I.\u2013 April 28, 2015\u2013 Every morning for the past 35 years, at 7:30 a.m., Bruce Hamilton walks through the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union, gets his coffee, then greets the staff with a warm smile and cheery greeting.<\/p>\n


\nOn May 29, the Jamestown resident and Memorial Union director will perform this ritual routine one last time, as the \u201cfearless leader\u201d will be retiring. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cUnion,\u201d \u201cSelfless,\u201d and \u201cAwesome\u201d are just some of the words that have been used by his former Student Senators to describe Hamilton.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cHe is the staple of the Memorial Union,\u201d said alumnus Neil Leston, of Middletown, N.J., former Student Senate president.<\/p>\n


\nThe campus community will celebrate Hamilton\u2019s retirement, Wednesday, April 29 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. For additional information, go to the Bruce Hamilton Retirement Celebration page.<\/a><\/p>\n


\nHamilton said the best part about the Union and his job was, \u201cworking with the students and seeing their potential, no matter where they came from. I get to watch them develop. I get to see them hit that moment when they are asking intelligent and thought-out questions and that is a huge reward for me.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tDave Bedard of Waterbury, Conn., another former Student Senate president who will graduate in May, said that Hamilton, who is also director for the Center for Student Leadership Development, \u201cgoes out of his way to make everyone he meets feel important.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThomas R. Dougan, vice president for Student Affairs, said Hamilton\u2019s countless hours of service have made 溏心vlog免费B站 a better place.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cHe has always put students first,\u201d Dougan said. \u201cHe has supported student governance and knows that the way students learn about leadership is by giving students responsibility, staying out of their way and advising them when necessary. Through Bruce, our students gain incredible leadership experience and leave here with the skills necessary to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDougan said Hamilton has overseen what is essentially the University\u2019s community center.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe Memorial Union is a facility that is half the size of what it should be for a student body of 16,000. Yet Bruce, in cooperation with student leadership, has made this facility work, with more than 8,000 events scheduled annually.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tHamilton\u2019s effervescent personality and attitude made every day exciting in the Union, according to Bedard. \u201cHe was the heartbeat of the Union. He knew when to lighten the mood with a joke and when to be serious. He treated every individual the same, whether you were student body president or a young freshman looking to join your first student organization.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tHamilton cited the Rainville Student Leadership Awards, First Night, and Commencement as favorite parts of his job. Out of the three, Rainville has a special place in his heart because \u201cit is the one event that is solely focused on the students.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tHe said it was an emotionally tough week when he informed the Student Senate and his staff about his retirement. <\/p>\n


\n\tHamilton credits the students and staff members for the smooth operation of the Union. \u201c The students and the staff are incredible; their commitment, and energy level. I have been very lucky,\u201d said Hamilton.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI found that little things, like going out of your way to talk to students can have a huge impact on them. We try to really enforce that students are welcome to come in and talk to us about whatever they want with complete confidentiality.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBruce always had an open-door policy whenever any of the senators needed him. He was never too busy to stop what he was doing and provide input and guidance to the students,\u201d said Gianna Prata, of North Smithfield. <\/p>\n


\n\tSimilarly, Bedard said that, \u201cAs clich\u00e9 as it sounds, Bruce was like a father figure to many of us. He was always encouraging us but kept us grounded and played devil\u2019s advocate to make sure we considered how our decisions would impact others.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tPrata said, \u201cIn addition to being a great mentor on a day-to-day basis, he also helped me figure out my individual strengths as a person and ultimately where I wanted to go with my career.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tWhat Hamilton said he is going to miss the most is his morning coffee and walk through the building interacting with students on his way to his office. \u201cThere is always something new, that\u2019s why I am never bored, I will miss that most when I retire.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tBut Hamilton believes in a brighter future for the Memorial Union. He is looking forward to what he hopes will be a new and bigger facility to stimulate involvement, campus life, late-night activities and community involvement. <\/p>\n


\n\t \u201cWe need to be teaching all the time,\u201d said Hamilton. \t<\/p>\n


\n\u201cBruce told me, \u2018Take the high road,\u2019\u201d said Bedard about Hamilton\u2019s role in his development. \u201cHe gave me perspective. There will always be challenges, but great leaders rise above them. To this day when things are overwhelming, I remind myself, \u2018Take the high road.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThis release was written by, Rachel Smith, a graduate assistant for the Marketing and Communications Department. <\/p>\n


\nPhoto by Nora Lewis<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebration to honor Bruce Hamilton set for April 29 KINGSTON, R.I.\u2013 April 28, 2015\u2013 Every morning for the past 35 years, at 7:30 a.m., Bruce Hamilton walks through the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union, gets his coffee, then greets the staff with a warm smile and cheery greeting. On May 29, the Jamestown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}