Alumna Leaves Gift to Benefit Portuguese Institute at RIC

A $55,000 gift from the late Carmen Augusto ’61 was bequeathed to the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies (IPLWS) at RIC.

The funds, which will be administered by the RIC Foundation, will allow more Rhode Island College students to major in Portuguese. It will also provide professional development for educators and pre-service teachers and advance research on Portuguese language and culture. Augusto also gifted several $10,000 scholarships designated for students graduating from Cumberland and Lincoln high schools who meet the scholarship criteria. 

Augusto, whose parents immigrated from Portugal in the 1930s, died in 2018 at age 78. She grew up in the Valley Falls area of Central Falls and Cumberland, a town where at least 10 percent of its residents are of Portuguese descent, according to a 2022 American Community Survey. Rhode Island has the densest concentration of people of Portuguese descent in the nation.

Her parents attended Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church of Cumberland, which has long been considered a landmark of the town’s Portuguese community. They were also members of Clube Juventude Lusitana, a vibrant hub of Portuguese cultural and philanthropic activities in Cumberland.

Augusto graduated from RIC with a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in social studies. She worked for 32 years as a history and geography teacher in the Cumberland Schools before retiring in 1993.

IPLWS Director and Professor of Portuguese Studies Silvia Oliveira and IPLWS’ community board members stated:

“Carmen Augusto’s generous gift allows us to continue our mission of bridging the connection between Rhode Island College and the Portuguese-speaking community and promotes opportunities for RIC students to graduate with a Portuguese major, which wasn’t available to Ms. Augusto in 1957.”

For more information, visit the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies.