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A pediatrician by training, Vivier has spent much of his career focused on kids, their families, and related health disparities both clinically and through research. He comes to URI from Tufts University, and prior to that, Brown University. here, he helped develop Brown’s School of Public Health and was a founding director of the university’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. URI’s College of Health Sciences houses eight undergraduate majors, eight graduate programs, three interdepartmental minors, and four certificate programs including a prevention and family sciences graduate certificate launched in April. “We are providing an excellent educational experience across a broad range of degrees,” Vivier says. “There is a long tradition here that the faculty value education, value their students, and are invested in them.” One of the ways URI stands out to Vivier is its opportunities for students to learn through practice. Not only are students heavily embedded in faculty research, but the college also offers two working preschools and clinics for audiology, speech therapy, physical therapy, psychology, and human development.

ON THE HORIZON FOR URI’S COLLEGE

PATRICK VIVIER Dean College of Health Sciences

OF HEALTH SCIENCES

written by ALLISON FARRELLY ‘16

“We are providing an excellent educational experience across a broad range of degrees. There is a long tradition here that the faculty value education, value their students, and are invested in them.”

Vivier says. “Every day I walk to my office I think ‘Oh my goodness, this is an amazing place to be.’” So far, Vivier’s has been impressed by URI’s combination of service in the community and cutting-edge applied and fundamental research, plus the University’s focus on interdisciplinary work and inter-college collaboration.

The University of Rhode Island’s (URI) College of Health Sciences has new leadership this year. Since his arrival on campus in January, Dean Patrick Vivier says he’s been struck by the vision and energy of the state’s land-grant research institution. “The college is doing lots of things that are excellent, and has the potential to get even further,”

- Patrick Vivier

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