URI Board of Trustees reappoints President Marc Parlange to new five-year term
KINGSTON, R.I.—FEB. 28, 2024—The University of Rhode Island Board of Trustees unanimously approved a new five-year contract for President Marc Parlange at its regular board meeting on Feb. 16, 2024.
“I am pleased to share that, through the findings of the comprehensive review, the board on Friday unanimously approved the reappointment of President Parlange to a new five-year term,” said board chair Margo Cook. “The board found that the president’s performance far exceeds the standard of satisfactory.”
The additional five-year term, from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2029, is subject to a contract being negotiated and finalized.
“In his first three years, President Parlange has introduced a comprehensive, forward-looking strategic vision for URI,” Cook said. “He has tirelessly engaged in campus and community life, cultivating an inclusive culture. He has strategically and aggressively pursued increased and much-needed state support. And he has, through the new strategic plan, charted a path to make URI a more fiscally sound and agile university.”
“I am deeply grateful to the board for their support, and I look forward to continuing to serve the University of Rhode Island,” Parlange said. “Our students, staff, faculty, and alumni make URI one of the best places to live, learn, and work and I am excited to lead the University into this exciting next chapter, together.”
The reappointment follows a comprehensive review by the board, initiated in early November. The review is required under board bylaws before the renewal of any presidential contract. As part of the review, the board surveyed a broad selection of URI stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, and external partners. The board indicated robust participation and reported that more than 230 community members completed the anonymous survey.
Cook said the board received very positive feedback across all constituencies, sharing that among the responses were comments that President Parlange has done a “great job articulating his strategic vision” and describing him as an “authentic, effective leader” with “energy and optimism” and who “makes everyone around him feel supported and seen.”
Parlange is the University of Rhode Island’s 12th president. He began his role at URI in August 2021 after a successful tenure as provost at Monash University, Australia’s largest research university. Over his more than 30year higher education career, Parlange has held academic leadership, research, and faculty positions at several notable institutions, including Monash; the University of British Columbia; the Swiss public research institute École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Johns Hopkins University; and the University of California, Davis. Parlange was born in Providence, Rhode Island.
“The Board of Trustees is incredibly enthusiastic about President Parlange’s strong and compassionate leadership and URI’S exciting forward trajectory,” Cook noted. “We are a university that thinks big—but more than that, we are an inclusive community that contributes significantly to the social, cultural, and economic ecosystems of Rhode Island, the nation, and the world.”