Office of the President

Message from the President

Headshot of David Munson Jr.
President David C. Munson Jr.
munson@rit.edu
@RITPresident

Headshot of Nancy Munson
Dr. Munson is married to Nancy Munson, a nurse, avid runner, and community and campus volunteer.

Welcome to RIT, where we advance the exceptional!

Our university isn’t like any other. We do things in our own way by embracing the unconventional to be truly distinctive. That mentality of uniqueness is baked into our university, as we have no interest in the status quo.

RIT, founded in the 19th century, is today one of the top universities in the nation working at the intersection of technology, the arts and design. We are a university that is shaping the future and improving the world through creativity and innovation.

RIT is moving forward with unique offerings and new ways to reach students, reflecting the university’s belief that creativity and critical thinking are essential life tools. The university is leveraging its strengths to build cutting-edge programs in a variety of disciplines, such as color science, imaging, new media design, and digital humanities, to name a few. We continue to develop academic programs at all degree levels that are the first of their kind while we seek to anticipate the majors and careers of the future.

How are we doing this?

We are supplementing our classroom and online teaching with experiential and interdisciplinary learning, which ranges from paid cooperative education positions with startup and Fortune 500 companies, to international experiences. On the global front, we are expanding our influence with strategic partnerships and overseas learning opportunities at our campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo.

RIT prides itself in preparing our graduates to be citizens of the world. That means preparing our students not just for jobs and careers, but also for life. In the RIT context, “innovation” takes on a rich meaning; it is not just about novelty or originality; it is about creating the tools, processes, and systems that will make things better than they are.

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Headshot of Nancy Munson
Dr. Munson is married to Nancy Munson, a nurse, avid runner, and community and campus volunteer.

Biography

Dr. David C. Munson Jr. became Rochester Institute of Technology’s 10th president in 2017.

As RIT’s president, Dr. Munson is responsible for one of the nation’s leading creative and innovative universities that leverages the power of technology, the arts, and design for the greater good.

Founded in 1829, the university is home to 20,570 students from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries. This includes campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo. More than 150,000 RIT Tiger alumni are shaping and improving the world.

RIT is the third largest producer of undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math among all private universities in the U.S. RIT also is home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and has one of the oldest and largest cooperative education programs in the country. In 2024, sponsored research reached $102 million, while the university’s endowment now stands at more than $1 billion.

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Speeches and Communications

Our Next President

RIT President David Munson will retire in June 2025 after leading the university for eight years and capping an illustrious 40-plus-year career in higher education.

The search for RIT’s 11th president began in summer of 2024, and impressive candidates from across the nation immediately expressed interest in becoming the next leader of the university. A 25-member search committee narrowed the pool of candidates before the final selection by the Board of Trustees in December. National search firm Isaacson, Miller of Boston managed the search for the next President.

The trustees ultimately selected William H. Sanders, the current Dr. William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Dean of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. With 37 years of experience in higher education, Sanders is an internationally respected researcher, high-tech innovator, successful entrepreneur, and proven collaborator across the globe. He takes office on July 1, 2025.

Learn more about Bill Sanders

University Leadership

President Munson is counseled by a team of senior leaders. His advisory team meets with him regularly as a group, as well as one-on-one, to discuss issues in their disciplines. Meet his leadership team.

President’s Roundtable

President’s Roundtable was formed in 2001 to provide a means by which RIT’s executive leadership and the President can benefit from the advice and counsel of a select group of RIT’s most successful alumni and friends. Participation in the Roundtable is by invitation. The Roundtable meets twice annually, once in the spring and once in the fall.

Learn more about the President’s Roundtable

President in the News

Photos

  • Four honorary degrees were conferred during the Academic Convocation ceremony on May 10. Among those recognized was Garth Fagan, celebrated choreographer, dancer, and founder of Garth Fagan Dance Company.

  • RIT President David Munson stands in the SHED, a multi-use building that opened last fall. Munson proposed the SHED as a place to display student creativity.

  • In “Raiders of the Golden Brick,” the most anticipated trailer of the fall, President David Munson and his wife, Nancy, face a series of daunting challenges in which they discover that the pursuit of creative excellence is no easy task.

Videos

  • R I T President, David Munson, walks arm in arm with his wife, Nancy, and students dressed as the Wizard of Oz characters of the Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow, and Lion.

    Caption

    An amazing campus was placed in a Henrietta cornfield in 1968, and now it celebrates another new class of Tigers in this five-minute epic video.

  • R I T President, David Munson, walking with his wife, Nancy, on a brick road.

    Caption

    Join RIT President David Munson and wife Nancy in their adventure that discovers RIT's unique creativity and spirit in Indiana Jones-inspired video.

Past Presidents

RIT’s roots date back to 1829. But it wasn’t until 1910 that the university’s predecessor—Mechanics Institute—named its first president, Carleton Gibson.

  1. Portrait of Carleton B. Gibson

    Carleton B. Gibson

    1910 – 1916

    Carleton Gibson was chosen as the first president of the Mechanics Institute in 1910. He placed emphasis on industrial education and did not propose any immediate or drastic changes to the institute upon his arrival. By 1912, however, he had managed to have the institute adopt a policy of allowing students to work half their time of study in industry and spend half their time attending classes. This method of study would later be referred to as a “co‑op.”

  2. Portrait of James F. Barker

    James F. Barker

    1916 – 1919

    James Barker was asked to be the Mechanics Institute’s second president in 1916. He was an engineering graduate from Cornell University and believed in emphasizing technical training. Barker’s main interest was the promotion of secondary education. He remained in the position until 1919, when he resigned in order to take a position with the Rochester City School System.

  3. Portrait of Royal B. Farnum

    Royal B. Farnum

    1919 – 1921

    Royal B. Farnum assumed the presidency of the institute in 1919. Between 1919 and 1921, more students enrolled at the institute than ever before. This was primarily due to the school’s appeal as an intermediary place of instruction between high school and college-level education. Fundraising efforts carried out during his term allowed the school to remain financially stable.

  4. Portrait of John A. Randall

    John A. Randall

    1922 – 1936

    The institute waited for a period of nine months before appointing John Randall as Farnum’s successor. Randall was invited to be president in 1922. He had served as the undersecretary to the secretary of war for the United States. He had taught at Pratt Institute, where he was head of the physics department, and at Cheltenham Military School in Pennsylvania. Randall and Carl Lomb engaged in a series of conferences that would benefit the institute’s future. It was eventually decided that the role of the institute was to provide short, intensive courses and not to award degrees.

  5. Portrait of Mark W. Ellingson

    Mark W. Ellingson

    1936 – 1969

    Mark Ellingson’s career at the institute began as a teacher. During his term as president, the institute was able to increase the endowment from $1.5 million in 1937 to $20.8 million three years later. An important merger between the Empire School of Printing and the Mechanics Institute took place in 1937. In 1944, the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute was renamed Rochester Institute of Technology. During Ellingson’s presidency, RIT revised its decision regarding awarding degrees. Under Ellingson’s direction, the university began planning for the Henrietta campus in 1961.

  6. Portrait of Paul A. Miller

    Paul A. Miller

    1969 – 1978

    When Paul Miller began his term in 1969, the campus had just moved to Henrietta. Miller introduced a budgeting procedure to RIT that focused on simply not spending more money than the university had available and allocating funds as they were deemed necessary. Enrollment increased at a steady pace from 1969 to 1981 due to the increasing likelihood of college-level studies leading to a professional job.

  7. Portrait of M. Richard Rose

    M. Richard Rose

    1979 – 1992

    M. Richard Rose assumed the presidency on January 1, 1979. Miller and Rose shared the belief that students in a technical school should be exposed to more art, literature, philosophy, and culture. Partially out of this interest, and partially due to financial difficulties, Eisenhower College became a part of RIT. The university had made attempts to increase the liberal arts and humanities curriculum. Rose helped launch RIT’s first Ph.D. program, in imaging science, in 1988.

  8. Portrait of Albert J. Simone

    Albert J. Simone

    1992 – 2007

    Albert Simone was inaugurated president in 1992. Under his direction, partnerships with business, industry, and other professions have led to RIT’s continued success. Simone helped launch Ph.D. programs in microsystems engineering (2002), computing and information sciences (2005), and color science (2007). He also spearheaded the addition of the Gordon Field House and Activities Center and approved RIT’s move to Division I men’s hockey.

  9. Portrait of William W. Destler

    William W. Destler

    2007 – 2017

    William W. Destler became RIT’s 9th president on July 1. He was formerly senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of the University of Maryland at College Park. He had a vision to take RIT to the next level by transforming it into the nation’s first “Innovation University.” RIT’s annual Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival was also Destler's idea.

  10. Portrait of David C. Munson Jr.

    David C. Munson Jr.

    2017 – 2025

    David C. Munson Jr. became RIT’s 10th president on July 1, 2017. He was formerly dean of the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He has a vision to build RIT’s research and graduate programs; focus on the intersection of technology, the arts and design; and produce graduates who lead lives of consequence and purpose.

Contact

David Munson
President
585-475-2394
Karen Barrows
Chief of Staff
585-475-2396
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