It’s Time To Give Back
Chas Chesler and Alice Pearce at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
Chas Chesler ’78 is a practical man who assesses his strengths, weighs his options, and commits to his decisions. That’s how he chose to enter the University of Rhode Island College of Engineering. It’s how he moved his career path from systems engineering to computer hardware sales to software sales.
Now, it’s why he decided this is the time to invest in his alma mater.
“Education is one of the most important things in the world,” said Chesler. “I’ve been thinking that this is the time in my life to start giving back. I had decided to make a bequest to URI, and then started working with the URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement’s gift planning office.
“After discussing it with my partner, Alice, I realized that I could also make a gift now and enjoy seeing how my gift affects current students.”
Chesler originally planned to establish an endowed scholarship in his mother’s name by leaving a bequest, but after exploring his options, he decided to make a gift over the next five years that provides scholarship funds immediately. He also committed to a five-year pledge that fully funds the endowed scholarship, and his bequest will add to that endowment.
Thinking about URI brings up many fond memories for Chesler. An electrical engineering major, he joined the Sigma Nu fraternity and lived in the house, which is now The URI Foundation building. He came back to campus regularly through the early 1990s but hadn’t been back since 2002.
“I came back last year and was given a tour of campus,” said Chesler. “The Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering is remarkable, and the physical infrastructure all over campus is amazing. I think URI is one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country, and I’ve been to a lot of colleges over the course of my career.”
Chesler started as an electrical engineer at an IBM production facility in upstate New York. It didn’t take him long to realize that his favorite part of the job was making presentations to other departments. After IBM, he went for his M.B.A. and then took a sales position with Hewlett-Packard in Boston. Over time, he moved from selling computers to selling various types of business-to-business software.
Chesler retired in 2019 and enjoys living in New Hampshire.
“I appreciate that my URI education helped drive my success,” said Chesler. “I generally like to remain anonymous, but I thought it was important to encourage others to support URI as well.”
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