News

All David Spindel wants to do in life is create works of art that bring smiles to people’s faces. So, he turned that into a career.

More than a dozen RIT alumni have tapped into the craft-beer boom that has swept across the country. In the past 12 years, the number of craft breweries has more than quadrupled.

Since Chris Edwards ’97 (film and video production) graduated, you could say the sky has been the limit when it comes to his meteoric success over the last two decades.

Move over, Silicon Valley. Rochester, N.Y., can be the next great American technology hub.

After a year’s hiatus due to COVID-19, the popular Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival returns virtually on Saturday, May 1, with more than 250 exhibits of projects, research and performing arts of students, faculty, and staff at RIT.

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.