CEEC renamed in honor of former director, Mallon

11/25/08 - The University of Rhode Island recently named the Cooperative Extension Education Center in honor of center's Kathleen Mallon, the former director of the center.Mallon died in 2006 at age 55 of breast cancer and her presence and dedication to URI will be remembered by many.

After graduating from URI, she ran her own flower shop, but decided to come back to URI to work with plants, University's President Robert Carothers said.

"She had a television show for many years out of Providence which was mainly advice to gardeners, but she also talked a lot about sustainability, always a passion of hers," Carothers said.

Mallon was the director of outreach for cooperative extension and also became the executive assistant to the president and director of planning.

"She was a very vibrant person. I felt very blessed to have known her and worked with her," Rosanne Sherry, state Master Gardener coordinator, said.

Sherry worked with Mallon for many years and was involved in bringing the Master Gardener program to URI. The program started nationally in Washington in 1977. This was when Mallon started working on bringing the program to campus. She accomplished this in 1986, Sherry said.

The program was previously located in East Greenwich, but Mallon was able to relocate. She said that Mallon wanted a place that was not only useful to students, but also a great resource for gardeners. It became a place for students to learn about the plants and the green industry, Sherry added.

Carothers said Mallon made the program grow from 30 members to about 700.

Mallon worked two years to secure the building and was able to double its size. This allowed more room for other programs to run in the building.

Sherry said she re-worked the landscaped surrounding the buildings and the faculty loved it.

Mallon was involved with other programs, such as the Green Shore Training Program and the Learning Landscape Program, which were open to commercial industry. Sherry said school groups were also encouraged to come on field trips, and volunteers would show them around. "The programs were expanded in the last few years and we are now taking on some new projects," she said.

"This was what Kathy envisioned back in the '80s to eventually be able to name the building after her makes sense."

Mallon supervised the development of the campus master plan and worked on the construction of the buildings and road paths. She acted as the chair of the building committee for the Ryan Center and Boss Ice Arena. During this time, Mallon was getting her PhD in business, which she completed in 2004.

Carothers said he was able to work with Mallon for approximately 10 years at URI.

"Kathy worked with me on a project in Providence we called the Metro Campus, a plan to provide low - cost higher education to urban kids," he said. "It was a joint project with the Community College, and Kathy left URI to work on the project out of the Office of Higher Education and then at CCRI, where she became the executive assistant to then President Tom Sepe," Carothers said.

He added that the project was never approved or funded, but Mallon never gave up on it. (She was performing a speech in South Providence "literally two days before the breast cancer she had been fighting for a year took her from us," he said.)

"Kathy Mallon was bright, energetic, enthusiastic, passionate and committed to URI. Kathy was a community organizer, a person who believed in the power of people to create their own destiny. I was deeply saddened by her death, but proud that the Cooperative Education Center will be a memorial to her and her good work," Carothers said.