URI receives 100K gift for Oceanography

KINGSTON, R.I. (WPRI) - The University of Rhode Island has received a generous gift to help benefit the Graduate School of Oceanography.

The donation was made by longtime friends and oceanographers, Dr. Robert Ballard and Dr. James Austin.

“I am very pleased to assist in the creation of a substantial fellowship endowment to support a graduate student in the Center in the field of geological oceanography,” said Ballard of the challenge that he and Austin have mounted.

“My commitment is made in hopes that others will join with Jamie and me in assuring that the Graduate School of Oceanography will continue to remain on the exciting forefront of discovery and knowledge about the oceans that cover 70 percent of our planet.”

Austin said, “Like Bob, I want to challenge the other friends of GSO to support this fellowship. I hope and expect that this effort will be the first in a succession of initiatives geared to build a sizeable endowment for GSO. I have used GSO’s research vessel for my own research, and have had productive relationships with GSO scientific staff for many years.

But the Inner Space Center marks a wonderful enhancement to the excellence that GSO already represents, and this graduate fellowship will help to make the potential of the ISC a reality. I am also pleased that it marks a long-standing friendship that goes back to Bob’s and my days as graduate students.”

Ballard/Austin will match every donor contribution to this fund on a 3:1 basis, until December 31, 2010.

The donation is part of the University’s Making a Difference capital campaign, which seeks to raise $100 million to support the people and programs that distinguish the University of Rhode Island.

For more information about this Challenge, contact Dr. Eugene Lyman , Associate Dean for Development at the GSO, at 401.874.6131.