William Flanagan (1984)

Dr. Flanagan was the founding President of Rhode Island Junior College.  He oversaw the college’s enrollment growth from 300 to 9,000 at his retirement in 1978. During his 14 years as president, he incorporated the Blackstone Valley Campus, which is now renamed to his name, “Flanagan Campus”.  On the athletic side, he encouraged the development of the athletic department and always supported every effort to improve and make it bigger.  He believed that athletics is an important part of a complete education.  Dr. Flanagan had always made sure that there was enough funding available and that lead him to be the driving force behind one of the first collegiate fieldhouses in the North East; he also wanted to make sure that the Lincoln Campus had an equal fieldhouse.  Because of his encouragement, CCRI had a successful debut in the athletic world.