Our Team

AdvanceRIT’s mission is to enable all faculty at RIT, particularly women, to contribute their full potential, to increase their representation and retention, and to advance their careers. AdvanceRIT main programmatic efforts include the Connectivity series professional development workshops and the Connect grants program.

In 2020, a Women of Color (WoC) Advisory Board to the Office of AdvanceRIT was established.  This group advises AdvanceRIT on initiatives to support the recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty of color at RIT. The WoC Advisory Board is currently developing a series of programmatic activities and establishing an evaluation plan to measure success. The work of this group builds upon initiatives that started during the NSF Advance grant that included a Women of Color research study and a workshop series.

Through National Science Foundation funding, in 2012, AdvanceRIT (NSF ADVANCE 1209115) program began with a goal to increase the representation, retention, and career advancement of women faculty in STEM. The research team examined the unique challenges experienced by women faculty of color and Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing faculty, and refined interventions to address the needs of these key sub-populations. The AdvanceRIT program influences long-term changes that transform RIT’s culture, promote inclusion, and expand the representation of women on campus and among leadership. This project is based on the findings of an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Catalyst project entitled Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform at RIT or simply EFFORT@RIT (NSF ADVANCE 0811076) [4]. The three-year self-study included a climate study at RIT, objective data review, and benchmarking, all of which informed the development of the AdvanceRIT project.  At the end of the NSF funding in late 2018, RIT established a permanent ADVANCE office within the Office of the Provost.

Leadership team of the NSF Advance Institutional Transformation grant

Senior personnel who contributed to the social science research conducted during the grant