Bryant University

Dorms of Distinction award: The university’s Residence Hall 17 has been selected by University Business magazine as a runner-up in the publication’s Dorms of Distinction competition. The residence hall, which opened last Sept-ember, is one of four winners and eight runners-up featured in the magazine’s August issue. The Bryant residence hall was chosen for its ability to meet students’ needs, including making students feel at home, fostering a sense of community and incorporating green elements.

Residence Hall 17 features separate social and study lounges; VoIP phones in each bedroom that can receive emergency announcements targeted to the room, suite or entire building; a main lounge that features a fireplace, food service and flat-screen television; and basketball and beach volleyball courts outside. The building was designed by ADD Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Landscaping was designed by Sasaki Associates, Boston.

The magazine, which received 76 entries, selected one winner and two runners-up in each of four categories (small private institution, medium-sized private institution, large private institution, and public institutions).

Community College of Rhode Island

Night at the PawSox: Join “Pride in CCRI Night” at the PawSox Thursday at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, starting at 5 p.m. with an all-you-can-eat barbecue under the tent. Then watch before the PawSox take on the Syracuse Chiefs, who are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays, at 7:05 p.m. Tickets cost $24 per person; children 2 and younger will be admitted free. For more information, call (401) 333-7150 or e-mail alumni@ccri.edu. This event is sponsored by the CCRI Alumni Association and the CCRI Athletic Department.

Calendar change: To make it easier for faculty and students who teach at or attend the Community College of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island simultaneously, CCRI is adjusting its spring break to match URI. The new schedule will take effect in the spring semester.

With the newly aligned calendars, students will attend eight weeks of class before spring break and finish the semester six weeks after the vacation. Classes will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Spring break will be the week of March 16 and classes will end on May 1.

“This allows faculty and students affiliated with both schools to actually have a break in their schedules before entering an extremely busy time of year,” said Lela Morgan, vice president for academic affairs. “It’s always good to go into final projects, final exams and all the commencement festivities with renewed energy and perspective. This new schedule allows for that.”

Johnson & Wales University

Going for the Gold: There’s another type of Olympics taking place this year. The Culinary Olympics will be held in Erfurt, Germany in October. Frank Terranova, associate instructor and host of NBC 10’s Cooking with Class will participate, along with Daniel Schöfisch, culinary arts senior and teaching assistant. The Culinary Olympics is the largest culinary exhibition in the world, with one of the biggest international cooking contests. This year, more than 1,000 chefs and baking and pastry experts from 40 countries will compete in team and individual competitions.

Chairman earns chef certificate: Rainer Hienerwadel, chairman of the culinary baccalaureate program in the College of Culinary Arts received Global Master Chefs certification from the World Association of Chefs Societies.

The association is a global network of chefs’ associations first founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris. At that first congress there were 65 delegates from 17 countries, representing 36 national and international associations, and the venerable August Escoffier was named the first honorary president of the association. Today, the group has 72 chefs’ associations as members.

Chef Hienerwadel oversees all aspects of the four-year degree program. Knowledgeable about world cuisines from his native Germany to Asia, where he has led student terms abroad, Hienerwadel also teaches classes in American and international menus, including Foods of the World, Classical French and Traditional European Cuisine. He has been with the university since 1992. He is the manager for the 2008 Providence Campus Culinary Olympics team.

Sox Appeal: Pawan Khawani, a 2007 graduate of Johnson & Wales University’s College of Business, was recently seen on a segment of Sox Appeal, winning that episode’s contest. This popular NESN program, in its second season, showcases blind dates at Fenway Park in Boston.

New England Institute of Technology

New Program: The college has received word that the newest associate’s degree program, Physical Therapy Assistant Technology, has been granted candidate for accreditation status by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education of the Physical Therapy Association. For more information on the program, call the college at (401) 467-7744 or go to the Web at www.neit.edu.

Meeting on safety: The college will be the host site for the kick off meeting of the Safety Alliance Furthering Educational Resources (SAFER) in coordination with the Occupational Safety and Hazards Administration (OSHA) on Sept. 3. Both organizations will sign an alliance agreement at 8 a.m. that will lead to a greater awareness of safety in the construction industry.

NEIT has assigned a partnership agreement with the New England OSHA Training Institute Center. The Sept. 3 meeting is open to the public and any organization concerned about safety in the workplace. For more information, contact Fred Santaniello at (401) 467-7744 or fsantaniello@neit.edu.

University of Rhode Island

Red Sox governor: Charles “Ted” Schmidt Jr., 73, professor emeritus of URI’s Labor Research Center, was named the first Rhode Island Governor of Red Sox Nation, the team’s official fan club. The former professor’s long experience as a Boston Red Sox fan played a major role in his selection.

He was named to the post last month after filling out an online form and going through an interview with team officials. After choosing former Boston player and current broadcaster Jerry Remy as president earlier this year, Red Sox Nation sought gubernatorial candidates for each state in the country, starting with the six New England states.

As part of his duties, Schmidt — the founding director of the Schmidt Labor Research Center on the Kingston campus — will reach out to other fans to build membership in Rhode Island’s branch of the Nation. The governors must also help plan and organize a Red Sox viewing party for their respective states.

According to www.redsox.com, there are 2,269 Rhode Islanders signed up, and more than 50,000 members worldwide.

A lifelong educator, Schmidt would like to start Red Sox study circles for fans in the state. Based on a Swedish form of education, groups would pick various baseball topics to study, and then share their findings with other fans. He’d also like to start branches of Red Sox Nation on each of the college campuses in the state.

For more information about the fan club, visit www.redsoxnation.com. To contact Schmidt, e-mail rigov@redsoxnation.com.

Compost, Recycling training: URI and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. will offer their training program again this fall for people interested in becoming experts at composting and recycling. Modeled after the URI Master Gardener program and similar programs around the country, the seven-session Master Composter & Recycler program will begin Sept. 3 and run on five consecutive Wednesday evenings through Oct. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at URI’S East Farm, off Route 108 in Kingston. Two Saturday sessions, Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, will be scheduled to visit the state landfill in Johnston and Earth Care Farm, a commercial composting facility, in Charlestown.

In addition to the general public, municipal recycling coordinators, public works staff, conservation commission members and others would benefit from the training.

The weekly sessions will discuss the importance and benefits of composting and recycling, starting a backyard compost process, compost science, worm and innovative composting methods, and community outreach. The program will combine classroom instruction with a volunteer commitment. Participants will be asked to complete 30 hours of volunteer time educating the public about composting and recycling practices.

A course fee of $50 will cover classroom materials. For more information or to register, call Sejal Harde at the College of the Environment and Life Sciences Outreach Center at (401) 874-4453 or e-mail her at sejal@uri.edu.