Charity Education

RWU Dedicates new Cummings School and Institute

(l-r): Bill and Joyce Cummings with Heidi Maes and (spouse) Ioannis N. Miaoulis / Photos courtesy of RWU

Woburn, MA – A recent celebration at Roger Williams University (RWU) formally honored the $20 million partnership between the Bristol, R.I. school and Cummings Foundation, of Woburn. The university-wide event included a dedication and naming ceremony for Cummings School of Architecture.

(l-r): RWU Dean and Professor of Architecture Stephen White, AIA; Dean of Engineering, Computing, and Construction Management Robert Griffin; and Executive Director of Real Estate Programming Richard Godfrey, with Bill and Joyce Cummings

Cummings School of Architecture’s new interdisciplinary real estate program will integrate architecture, business, law, planning, community development, construction management, and engineering with the social and natural sciences, humanities, and entrepreneurship.

The renaming coincides with the 35th anniversary of RWU’s architecture school. In addition to its nationally accredited Master of Architecture, the school offers a concentration in urban and regional planning and the country’s oldest historic preservation program. RWU will introduce a graduate certificate in real estate this fall, with undergraduate and graduate degree programs planned for the fall of 2023.

RWU is the most recent inductee to Cummings’ group of “Affiliated Colleges.” Although unconnected to each other, these five Cummings-named schools have received a pledge of at least $10 million each from Cummings Foundation. In further recognition of this new relationship, RWU president Ioannis N. Miaoulis, Ph.D has joined the foundation’s board of trustees.

RWU students donned custom shirts commemorating the event and honoring Bill Cummings’ autobiography.

Miaoulis joins five other college presidents on Cummings Foundation’s board, including Dr. Agnes Binagwaho of University of Global Health Equity; Dr. Steven DiSalvo of Endicott College; Dr. Aisha Francis of Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology; Dr. David Harris of Union College; and Dr. Anthony Monaco of Tufts University.