News

Eric Avar ’90 (industrial design), Nike’s vice president and creative guide of innovation design, has been selected as a 2021 commencement speaker on May 14 and 15. Avar, who was honored with the College of Art and Design Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, joins Andrea Ghez—a 2020 Nobel Prize winner in physics—as the university’s first-ever dual commencement speakers during a two-day celebration of the Class of 2021.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented annually by each of RIT’s nine colleges and the School of Individualized Study to alumni who have performed at the highest levels of their profession or who have contributed to the advancement and leadership of civic, philanthropic, or service organizations.

After graduating this spring, Will McCloskey '21 (New Media Design) starts a full-time job with Instrument, the creative agency he completed a co-op with last summer.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden is an award-winning, inter­nationally recognized assistant professor of photography at RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. A transformative artist, social justice advocate, and change agent, he possesses a unique vision of the Black American experience.

Louise Fili, an American graphic designer recognized for her elegant use of typography and timeless quality in her design, is the 2021 recipient of the Frederic W. Goudy Award for Excellence in Typography, given to an outstanding practitioner in type design and related fields.

Three fourth-year advertising photography majors—Jordan Hundelt from Seattle, Julia Abbonizio from Downingtown, Pa., and Bianca Ranciato from Wallingford, Conn.—won gold at the the 2021 Rochester ADDY awards, which honor the best in local advertising and cultivate the highest creative standards in the industry.

Renovation work inside RIT’s College of Art and Design—including key areas within the internationally recognized School of Photographic Arts and Sciences—is part of a five-year masterplan that has already begun to renovate, rejuvenate, and transform spaces to meet the growing demands for a college that serves as the university’s intersection of technology, art, and design.

In the classroom, Lara Goulart of Industrial Design applies her research on creative learning methods that positively impact students. 

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences Professor Gregory Halpern received the honor for the impressive breadth of his scholarly and creative work. 

Ashley Mastin '21 (Medical Illustration) spent the fall 2020 semester working for the Center for BioMedical Visualization at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies.

The class, offered in the Media Arts and Technology MS program, exposes students to all elements needed to execute media projects across different platforms.

An multidisciplinary team of students creating noir horror game “The Camera That Bleeds” was recognized at the 2021 Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) Game Challenge.