Mike Rice is the endorsed Democratic Party candidate for the General Assembly District from the Town of South Kingstown. He has been married 25 years to Rufina Delizo (Ping) Rice and they have one daughter, Maria Isabel, who graduated in May 2008 from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in Natural Resources Economics. Mike has been a resident of the town for 21 years and has been serving the town since 1992 when he was first appointed to the Conservation Commission. He has been serving as chairman of that municipal body since 1998. During his tenure on the commission, they have advised the Town Council and other town bodies on a number of issues. Their work led to an ordinance to create a recycling system at the Rose Hill Transfer Station. They protected trees on town lands and street rights-of-way through the municipal Tree Board, and they protected coastal water quality by the creation of a town Wastewater Management District to control failing and inadequate septic systems. In addition to his work on the Conservation Commission, he has taken an interest in the preservation of South Kingstown’s architectural and cultural resources by serving as the president of the century-old Tavern Hall Club in Kingston, the caretakers of one of the oldest buildings in Kingston and sponsors of Troop 1 Kingston, one of the oldest Boy Scout troops in America. This is apropos as he earned his Eagle Rank in 1972. He brings considerable local service to his candidacy for State Representative.
Mike was born and raised in California and graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in Philosophy. After completing his master’s degree at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), he served from 1981 to 1985 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of the Philippines working with oyster farmers and assisting in the establishment of the first commercially successful farm for sea bass and groupers in that country. After completing his PhD in Environmental Physiology at UCI in 1987, he joined the faculty of the University of Rhode Island in the Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science where he has spent his entire professional career since. Highlights of his career at URI include being awarded three Fulbright grants for lecturing or research in the Philippines and Indonesia, most recently in 2006. He has three citations from the RI House of Representatives in recognition of his service to the State, as well as citations from the Philippine Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service for excellence in service rendered to those agencies. In the last three years, he has been engaged in projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tanzania and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia; in Georgia he assisted local farmers in establishing the first commercial sea farm for mussels in Black Sea coastal waters. He brings considerable global experience to the local problems and needs of South Kingstown.
He has served four years as chairman of his academic department, and in recent years, he has been twice elected (2005 & 2006) to serve as Chairman of the URI Faculty Senate, where he provided leadership in guiding curricular and academic policy matters for the entire University. On several occasions he has worked with disparate groups of URI faculty and administrators with widely divergent points of view to forge legislation and policy resolutions to satisfy most all concerned. He brings the analytical, collaborative and cooperative type of leadership skills necessary for successful problem solving in this uncertain period of changing times and modest means for our State.
We, the Friends of Michael Rice, respectfully ask for your vote for Mike on November fourth of this year. He will support you, and he will work hard for all the people of District 35. We invite you to join our campaign or contact Mike at rice35ri@gmail.com, or by phone at 401-783-9602. Prepared and paid for by Friends of Michael Rice, 201 Old Post Rd., Wakefield, RI, 02879.