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History

The University of Rhode Island embodies the three pronged land-grant mission of education, research, and outreach focused on practical service to the state. Today, 163 years after the Morrill Act established land-grant universities—this piece asks: What does it mean to be a land-grant university today? And why does it matter?

Photos: Seth Jacobson; Nora Lewis; Courtesy URI Master Gardeners Program Summer farm crew members at the Greene H. Gardner Crops Research Center on URI’s Kingston Campus. From left, Grace Connolly ‘26, wildlife and conservation biology major; Aislin Aylward ‘26, environmental science and management major and a Cooperative Extension agriculture and food systems fellow; Tricia Lourenco Boucher ‘23, program facilitator for URI’s Boots to Bushels program, with her dog, Rosie; and Grace Chasanoff ‘25, animal science major.

SPRING | 2026 Page 39