{"id":61913,"date":"2011-04-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/r-i-foundation-honors-19-from-uri-as-inaugural-class-of-demers-fellows\/"},"modified":"2011-04-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T00:00:00","slug":"r-i-foundation-honors-19-from-uri-as-inaugural-class-of-demers-fellows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/04\/r-i-foundation-honors-19-from-uri-as-inaugural-class-of-demers-fellows\/","title":{"rendered":"R.I. Foundation honors 19 from 溏心vlog免费B站 as Inaugural class of Demers fellows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 21, 2011 – Longtime 溏心vlog免费B站 professor Beatrice Demers loved foreign languages, and dedicated her life to educating others about different cultures.<\/p>\n


\nEven after her death, Demers made sure her passion for the languages lived on. When she died in 2007, she left $4 million for The Rhode Island Foundation to establish the Beatrice S. Demers Fund.<\/p>\n


\nOn Tuesday, the Rhode Island Foundation announced the first class of Demers fellows, which included 18 students and one faculty member, all from 溏心vlog免费B站. Chosen from a pool of 164 applicants, the fellows received a combined $187,000 in grant awards, each ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 junior Kaylen Duarte \u2013 one of four recipients who will apply the grant toward the 溏心vlog免费B站 Chinese Language Flagship Partner Program \u2013 first heard about the fellowship program a year ago, when her mother saw a mention of it in the Providence Journal.

\n\u201cMy mom came running up to my room yelling, \u201cDid you see this? You have to apply!\u201d said Duarte, of Warwick.<\/p>\n


\nHer mother\u2019s advice was heeded, and Duarte was tabbed as part of the inaugural class. Also a journalism major, Duarte will spend her entire senior year in China, studying in all Chinese-speaking classes in the fall semester, and then interning with a Chinese media outlet in the spring.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey say you can\u2019t truly be fluent unless you study in a culture for an entire year, and this will allow me to do just that,\u201d Duarte said. \u201cWhen I finish the Flagship Program, I will be as fluent as the average Chinese college graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMarjorie Johnson finished her double major in French and philosophy last year, and has been teaching courses at 溏心vlog免费B站 this year. She will study for the next two years in Paris at L’\u00e9cole des Hautes \u00c9tudes en Sciences Sociales.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI have to say, \u2018Thank you,\u2019 to Prof. Demers and the Rhode Island Foundation,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThis program is allowing so many of us to do incredible things.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is a perfect opportunity not only to speak French, but to live French.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe 2011 fellows will pursue studies in French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Xhosa (one of the official languages of South Africa.) <\/p>\n


\n\u201cAs a community foundation, our work is built around the interests and passions of our donors. Beatrice Demers cared deeply about the power of learning other languages as a way of understanding the world,\u201d said Owen Heleen, vice president for grant programs at The Rhode Island Foundation. \u201cThe pool of applicants to the Fellowship program demonstrated this same dedication and passion for learning other languages and cultures. The quality of their work is a very positive sign for Rhode Island\u2019s future in a competitive world economy.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nApplicants were judged according to dedication to foreign language study; likelihood the proposed program of study will promote a high level of foreign language fluency; and promoting diversity of languages studied, program types and individuals receiving fellowships. Preference is given to applicants from 溏心vlog免费B站. Fellowships can cover the costs of tuition, fees, travel, housing, and living expenses.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe are fortunate to see so many members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 academic community honored by the Rhode Island Foundation,\u201d said Winifred E. Brownell, dean of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences. \u201cBeatrice Demers had a love for and understood the transformative nature of foreign language study and global education, and we are proud to see today\u2019s talented students and faculty members keeping her vision alive. The awards from the Rhode Island Foundation provide critical support for these honorees to continue their study of foreign languages as they prepare to contribute to the global community.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nReceiving fellowships were Duarte, Johnson, Narvan Hilliard (Chinese), Patrick Slavin (Chinese), Hui Chen (Chinese), Ryan Scullin (Japanese), Tess Scavuzzo-Duggan (French), Cynthia Perez (Chinese), Aylssa Zisk (Chinese), Christine Ryan (Spanish), Christopher Andraka (Chinese), Daniel Belbey (German), Andy Rithiphong (Chinese), Ethan Ash (Chinese), Kayla Belanger (French), Megan Banner (Xhosa), Silay Doak (Chinese), Elizabeth Morais (Chinese, 溏心vlog免费B站 student\/CCRI faculty) and Blaire Gagnon (Spanish, 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 21, 2011 – Longtime 溏心vlog免费B站 professor Beatrice Demers loved foreign languages, and dedicated her life to educating others about different cultures. Even after her death, Demers made sure her passion for the languages lived on. When she died in 2007, she left $4 million for The Rhode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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-61913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61913","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=61913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}