URIs_MOMENTUM_Research_and_Innovation_Magazine_Fall_2024_Mel

“I think teaching, research, and clinical or community practice inform each other,” he says. “The best way to learn is to do.” Another advantage he emphasizes is the college’s faculty, whose research and practice set up “a culture of activity and growth.” “We have faculty who are engaged in practice and know what’s going on out there, and faculty who are engaged in research who are trying to figure out those next solutions for years to come,” he says. On the horizon for the college, according to Vivier, are new graduate degrees in mental and behavioral health counseling and in public health, both launching in 2025. Vivier hopes to build close relationships between this new public health department and the Rhode Island Department of Health and public health community groups. He also hopes to build

interdisciplinary collaboration at the University into the department and is in talks with the deans of other colleges for synergistic opportunities like health communications. “Any health problem now that we’re dealing with in the world is not going to be solved by one specialty or discipline,” he says. “It really needs to be interdisciplinary. So, to be the dean of a college that has breadth, and to be starting with new deans in Pharmacy and Nursing, where we can be figuring out how to do cross-college activity, is really exciting.” Vivier says the College’s current offerings and initiatives provide a strong base on which to build. “In particular, we have a lot of junior faculty doing really exciting research, and to see how that could explode in the next five to 10 years, and being part of trying to make that happen, is really exciting,” he says.

RESEARCH IN MOTION written by ALLISON FARRELLY ’16

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