The Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights

The Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights features courageous journalists and thought leaders who have powerful stories to share.

Jim Taricani H’18, the husband of Laurie White ’81, was a veteran Rhode Island journalist and nationally respected investigative reporter for nearly four decades with WJAR-TV and a valued member of the URI family. URI honored Jim in 2018 by awarding him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Shortly after he passed away in 2019, Jim’s family announced the creation of the Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights at the University of Rhode Island to honor his memory and his work. As a champion of the news media’s First Amendment Rights, Jim was dedicated to protecting those rights, which he saw as critically important to society.

The Taricani Lecture Series is presented by the Harrington School of Communication and Media, with the cooperation of the Journalism department and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. Journalism has been the subject of so much debate over the past few years. This dialogue has intensified with issues relating to freedom of speech in our current environment. Through the Taricani Lecture series and the efforts of the Journalism department, the University of Rhode Island is poised to foster steadfast values, ethics and sense of purpose for the next generation of journalists.