Newsletter October 2017

Bringing about culture change and retention of faculty is a topic full of opportunities and exciting challenges. Not only are administrators interested in their success, so are trustees, department chairs, faculty, staff, donors and most importantly RIT students. One way RIT has tackled this opportunity is by creating an advisory council.

The Rochester Fringe Festival opened its doors to RIT’s Diversity Theater. They brought fun and engaging theater to the audience. Ultimately, they distinguish themselves by sharing life examples of crucial topics to simultaneously build a fruitful conversation about inclusion, equity and diversity. They desire to leave each audience with a lesson learned to positively impact the audience’s lives.

As a way to commemorate Bernadette Lynch’s innate desire to help students to be prepared, polished, presentable and empowered for the RIT career fair, our 4th annual career clothing drive was renamed, Bern’s Closet. Last year, Bern was keen on sharing that “not all students have the ability to just go and buy a new outfit for an interview! We’ve created a tradition, set an expectation, but we couldn’t do it without the support of our volunteers and donors,” said with immense gratitude.

We have all heard that expression before.

However, no matter the frequency with which we hear it, faculty and staff often continue to be caught off-guard or surprised by the undercurrents of the shifting cross-cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, international (etc.) realities which are increasingly observed or experience in our offices, classrooms, and our worlds. When they occur, these experiences often leave us with a sense of being unprepared, confused or helplessness.

Many types of First-Generation celebrations are being held on campuses across the nation, as a way to commemorate the 52nd Anniversary of the Higher Education Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965.  Join us on November 8th as the Division of Diversity & Inclusion celebrates first-generation college students with a luncheon starting at 12:00 noon in the Vignelli Center.  Our distinguished speaker is Professor Joseph Williams, Lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice.