Brodner holds the keys to the SHED

When Tiffany Brodner visits her new office in the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED), she wears a bright orange hard hat with “Tiff” printed on the back. The personalized hard hat was a gift from Michael Buffalin, SHED makerspace director, in the spring when Brodner was named the inaugural executive director of the building under construction.

In only a few weeks, the SHED will open to the RIT community, and Brodner is preparing for her new role overseeing the multi-use facility. She will draw upon her prior experience managing RIT’s Campus Center and Student Alumni Union as associate director of Building Operations in RIT’s Division of Student Affairs, and her campus partnerships. Brodner will ensure the smooth operation of a complex that will house classrooms, several makerspaces, performing arts spaces, and a theater, and which will increase pedestrian traffic to the center of campus.

Plans are underway for a grand opening event on Sept. 8, to celebrate the SHED construction and the Wallace Library renovation. Below, Brodner reflects about preparing to lead the SHED.

What does the job of opening the SHED entail?

It is such an exciting undertaking to serve as the inaugural executive director and open this groundbreaking facility. One beautiful part of the SHED is that Christine Licata (RIT interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs) has done such an excellent job at involving so many partners. These partners represent the full campus.

I continue to meet with folks from these teams and better understand all the work that has already been done. We are working on the creation of standard operating procedures, hours of operations, guidelines for facility usage considering the variety of spaces in the building, developing initiatives, building support models, and so much more.

Much of my role with be maintaining policies, procedures, and processes. As the executive director, I will also work with partners across campus regularly to plan strategically for the future of the SHED and develop opportunities for students, faculty, staff, community members, and alumni.

What kinds of future programming are you considering?

At the start of the year, you can count on tours offered to check the space out and allow students, faculty, and staff to begin to imagine what can be hosted within the SHED. The maker space areas will be hosting open houses.

A key partner of ours, the School of the Performing Arts, has talked about the potential for pop-up performances and will hold many productions of the RIT/NTID 2023-2024 theatrical season in the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater.

Personally, most exciting are the possibilities we have not yet imagined. I look forward to students and groups who may not have had the opportunity to share space or even see each other’s work prior to the SHED, now working alongside each other and making new connections. It is exciting to think about what might be born out of the intersections of different worlds at RIT.