University of Rhode Island president outlines campus projects, housing plan and community programs

University of Rhode Island President Marc Parlange told the Narragansett Town Council on Feb. 3 that the university is pursuing several campus upgrades, a large endowed gift for scholarships and a feasibility study for new student housing that would involve a public–private partnership.

Parlange said the university is completing improvements across three main areas: academic and research facilities, community-facing arts and athletic venues, and student housing. He described the university as “not only neighbors, but we are friends,” and emphasized a goal of deeper collaboration with Narragansett.

The briefing outlined recent and planned capital work. Parlange thanked Rhode Island voters for supporting a bond to build a Biomedical Sciences Building and described a $65 million endowed gift that will create the Schilling Scholar Program, starting in fall 2025. He also described progress on the Fine Arts Center beam-signing event and a plan to make it a South County arts hub.

On the Bay Campus, Parlange described an ongoing build-out that includes a new ocean robotics building and a planned phase 2 laboratory building to replace older facilities. He highlighted URI’s ocean engineering program and said the Bay Campus hosts hands-on K–12 programs such as Science Saturday and ocean education camps that draw families to the region.

Parlange said URI currently houses about 5,500 students on campus, guarantees housing for first- and second-year students, and maintains roughly 26 residence halls plus Greek and specialty houses. He said the university is conducting a feasibility study with Gilbane Construction for a public–private partnership that would deliver roughly 1,100 additional undergraduate and graduate beds; if the study supports the plan, he said construction would begin later in 2025 and the first beds would be available in fall 2027.

Parlange also described athletic and recreation upgrades — a replaced baseball turf, plans for improved areas behind home plate, and work on an outdoor running track — and noted that recreational facilities serve local high schools and community users. He encouraged Narragansett residents to attend campus arts and sporting events, saying URI already draws more than 50,000 visitors to campus events.

Why it matters: URI’s capital projects and housing plans affect town–university relationships, local traffic and seasonal housing demand; the proposed P3 housing project and large gift are likely to change student housing capacity and campus programming in ways that will affect Narragansett.

Speakers

Marc Parlange, President, University of Rhode Island (government)

Ellen Reynolds, Vice President for Student Affairs, University of Rhode Island (government)

Abby Benson, Vice President for Administration and Finance (mentioned; government)

Council President (unnamed; town official) (government)

Context and details

- Endowed gift: $65,000,000 for the Schilling Scholar Program, announced as starting fall 2025 (Parlange). - Housing: feasibility study with Gilbane Construction for about 1,100 new beds; construction, if approved, expected to begin later in 2025 with first beds available fall 2027 (Parlange). - Bay Campus: new ocean robotics building and planned Phase 2 laboratory building to replace older Horn Building facilities (Parlange). - Community programs: Science Saturday, K–12 STEM programs, youth sports clinics and community use of Ryan Center and Aquatic Center (Parlange).

Clarifying details

- The gift amount and timeline were presented by Parlange; the transcript quoted him describing the $65 million donation and the planned start date for the Schilling Scholar Program. - Parlange described the P3 as a feasibility study only; no binding approval or contract award was recorded at the meeting.

Provenance

- topicintro: transcript excerpt beginning when the council introduced URI President Marc Parlange (s 553.45496): "it is our great honor to welcome the University of Rhode Island president, Marc Parlange..." - topfinish: transcript excerpt where Parlange closed his remarks (s 1669.4): "...I just wanna extend a warm thank you for coming out and sharing all of these wonderful initiatives with us..."

Topics

- university-operations: justification: URI presentation focused on campus projects, gifts and housing; topic_relevance 1.00, depth_score 0.85, opinionatedness 0.00, controversy 0.10, civic_salience 0.70, impactfulness 0.70, geo_relevance 1.00

Searchable_tags: ["URI","student housing","Bay Campus","Schilling gift","Fine Arts Center","Science Saturday"]