Bruce Myers to head School of Media Sciences

Bruce Myers, an associate professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been named school director of its School of Media Sciences (SMS). Serving as interim administrative chair this past academic year, Myers will continue both administrative and academic responsibilities in the program focused on trends, management practices and technologies in the evolving print media industry.

This past May, RIT announced name changes and program moves to several of its nine colleges to better reflect academic missions and improve student opportunities. One of the moves, the transition of the School of Media Sciences from the College of Art and Design to the College of Engineering Technology (CET), has been coordinated by Myers, and led by the interim deans of both colleges, to align its curriculum with advancing printing industry trends.

“The move to the College of Engineering Technology makes sense on several levels,” said Myers who joined RIT in 2011. “As SMS offers Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree programs, we will be better aligned with other engineering technology programs in CET. We will be better positioned to work more closely with the program in packaging science, which is housed in CET.”

Packaging represents a growth market in the graphic communications industry. CET’s packaging science program is an interdisciplinary degree program that prepares its students with skills in package design development, sales, purchasing and use of sustainable materials and strategies in a high growth industry. The connection between the two programs can better position students for careers and to support relevant research, Myers added.

“While package graphic design has long represented an aspect of our coursework, it will comprise a larger portion of what we are teaching. We look forward to the opportunities offered by becoming a key part of the programs offered by CET,” he said.

In addition to packaging graphics, SMS will continue to offer coursework teaching skills relevant for production in the commercial and publication sectors, with the goal of educating the next generation of industry leaders, including the printed electronics industry.

Myers has more than 25 years of industry experience, where he worked in various management, training, technical and sales positions at X-Rite Inc. and Agfa. He also taught in both graduate and undergraduate programs at New York University and Kean University. Some of his areas of expertise include color measurement and management and control, statistical process control and quality management.