The Department of Alumni Affairs evolved out of the University of Rhode Island's Division of Public Affairs. The Division was established in the 1930s to fulfill the university's obligation to acquaint the public with its activities. A major part of the department's responsibilities included forging strong relationships with new and existing university alumni and keeping up steady communication. Because of numerous other responsibilities of the department, rapid growth within university and an increase in the number of alumni, the Division of Public Affairs endured a period of expansion and reorganization in the late 1940s. By 1951, the Division was separated into several departments, including the Department of Public Information, the Publications Office, the Placement Office, the Office of Television and Radio News, and finally the Alumni Office.
The Alumni Office, and its first director, George A. Gilbert, inherited the responsibilities of working with the university's alumni community as well as working in collaboration with the URI Alumni Association, the university's largest volunteer organization. In 1955, George Gilbert stepped down as director and the position went to his former assistant, Thomas V. Falciglia. Under new direction, the Alumni Office developed several new alumni programs including the Century Club, the Annual Alumni Weekend and the Alumni Vacation College.
Two of Assistant Directors of the Alumni Office had specific and unique roles. The Assistant Director of Programming and Events was in charge of planning special alumni and university events such as Homecoming and class reunions, while the Assistant Director of Communications was in charge of the publishing and distribution of the semi-annual Alumni Bulletin, which is distributed to all contributing and participating alumni.
For a significant amount of time from the mid 1950s to the 1970s, the Alumni Office was involved in campaigning for a series of state referenda involving university bonds. The Office was responsible for running television and radio ads as well as distributing flyers and pamphlets arguing reasons to vote yes on bond issue referenda. The Alumni Office also organized several campaign rallies over the years in support of university advancement.
Also during this period of time from 1955 to 1975, the university expanded rapidly. Under Thomas Falciglia's direction, the number of alumni that the Alumni Office catered to increased from 7,000 to 30,000. However, in the spring of 1976, Thomas Falciglia was reassigned to the University of Rhode Island's Community Relations Department and left his position vacant. The Alumni Office entered a transition period where it searched for a new director. James W. Eastwood was interim director for a year, as was Dennis C. Macro. However, the position wasn't permanently filled until Thomas Falciglia's Assistant Director, William Bowers, assumed the role in 1979.
For the next few years, as University of Rhode Island continued to increase in size and in number of students, so did the alumni community. This growth put stress on the Alumni Office in addition to its growing range of responsibilities and insufficient staff. In 1986, William Bowers stepped down and Karen Davis assumed the role as interim director. In 1982, to meet the demands of a growing university, the Division of Public Affairs began to reorganize into the University of Rhode Island's Department of University Relations. The Alumni Office was divided into the Department of Alumni Affairs, headed by newly appointed Director Patricia Lombardi, and the Department of Communications, led by Director Jeane Moore, which took over the publishing and distribution the Alumni Office's publications like the biweekly alumni newspaper
As of 2009, the Department of Alumni Affairs, led by Executive Director Michele Nota, continues to plan and participate in alumni and university events, provide clerical support to the URI Alumni Association and publish the semi-annual
Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Department of Alumni Affairs, Rec. Gr. 106, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
The Subject Files series contains records kept by the Department of Alumni Affairs for reference from 1958-1999. The Bond Issue series is comprised of records related to the campaign to pass state education bonds between the years of 1982-1996. The Budget Task Force Series contains the memos distributed in 1975 to various university departments containing financial recommendations on changes that need to be made to re-evaluate and re-structure the university's budget. The Anthony Leone Papers contain records kept by the Department of Alumni Affairs for reference while Anthony R. Leone was acting director. The Special Events files contain correspondence, printed materials, and files kept for general reference relating to special events occurring both on and off campus. The Centennial series contains printed material related to the celebration of the University's centennial anniversary, as well as correspondence and congratulations from other universities. Finally, the Memorabilia and Oversized series contains oversized material from the other series in the collection as well as miscellaneous memorabilia from the Department of Alumni Affairs.
The collection is arranged in seven series as follows:
The records were obtained in numerous small accessions from 1980 to 1992. The records were transferred in sixteen boxes from the Department of Alumni Affairs, then known as the Department of University Relations. The remainder of the records were transferred to University Archives when the department moved to its current location at the Alumni Office in 2006.
The records were transferred from Davis Hall to the University Archives, where they remained until they were processed in 2009.
The numerous accessions, a total of 28 boxes, were processed together. The files were transferred into new folders and arranged chronologically within each folder. They were then organized into seven series, arranged alphabetically within each series.
The Subject Files series contains records kept by the Department of Alumni Affairs for reference from 1958-1999. The records do not concern the day to day activity of the office. These files contain correspondence letters, memos, press releases and other miscellaneous files from the Department of Alumni Affairs, the W. Alton Jones Campus and from other various committees.
The series is arranged alphabetically by folder title, then arranged chronologically by date.
The Bond Issue series is comprised of departmental records, printed distribution material, correspondence, phone and mailing lists, new clips and press releases related to the campaign to pass state education bonds.
The records are arranged chronologically.
This series contains the memos distributed by the Budget Task force in 1975 to various university departments. In these memos are financial recommendations to specific departments on changes that need to be made to re-evaluate and re-structure the university's budget.
The recommendations are arranged sequentially according to their initially given number.
This series contains records kept by the Department of Alumni Affairs while Anthony R. Leone was the acting interim director in the late 80s before he became the Director of Public Affairs. The records include correspondence letters, budget and payroll details, press releases, mailing lists and other files concerning special events and conferences attended by Anthony Leone while working in Alumni Affairs and in Public Affairs.
The records are arranged alphabetically.
The Special Events files contain correspondence, printed materials, and files kept for general reference relating to special events occurring both on and off campus. Many of the files relate to centennial events, like the education summit, and the champagne campaign. The files also contain invitations to the President’s box for various athletic events on the campus, and files from local alumni events in Boston, New York, and etc...
The records are arrange alphabetically
The Centennial series contains printed material related to the celebration of the University’s centennial anniversary, as well as correspondence and congratulations from other universities. There are also examples of centennial packets from other universities for reference purposes. Most files are from 1992, the centennial year, though some related to Providence Business News’ 15th anniversary celebration are from later, 2001.
The records are arranged alphabetically.
The series contains oversized material from the other series in the collection as well as miscellaneous memorabilia from the Department of Alumni Affairs. This includes large bond issue banners and posters, large framed photographs, original artwork for posters, commemorative plates and various awards or acknowledgements.
The first two boxes contain folio records and lie flat. There are numerous large framed pictures that remain outside of the box but can be found with the other oversized materials. The third and fourth boxes contain memorabilia which are described, dated and numbered on the finding aid.