News
Phil Castleberry

RIT has announced the establishment of the Mark and Maureen Davitt Endowed Scholarship, which will provide financial support to RIT students pursuing studies in STEM disciplines—particularly those who graduated from private elementary schools in the city of Rochester, N.Y.

More than $200 million has been given to Transforming RIT to support scholarships and the student experience to ensure the best and brightest minds can attend RIT regardless of their financial circumstances. The campaign, launched publicly in 2018, is bringing RIT’s strategic plan to life by investing in student success, creating world-class facilities, advancing research and discovery, and innovating careers of the future.

Nearly 300 people gathered on Friday evening at the beginning of Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend as RIT officials marked the successful conclusion of Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness. RIT’s largest-ever fundraising campaign raised $1,059,581,463 to propel the university forward in its pursuits at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design.

Christopher Collison was appointed to the Jane King Harris Endowed Professorship and Emmett Ientilucci was selected for the Gerald W. Harris Endowed Professorship by College of Science Dean Andre Hudson. RIT alumnus Jeffrey Harris ’75 (photographic science and instrumentation) and his partner, Joyce Pratt, established the professorships in 2022 with a generous gift in honor of Harris’s parents, the namesakes of the positions.

Alumnus John Dahms ’71 remembers the photo scavenger hunt of 1970, where he and a team of other photo science students were tasked with uncovering the identity of an unmarked roll of color movie film and which film processing chemistry to use. Unforgettable learning experiences like that have been the driving force behind Dahms’ desire to give back to RIT.

RIT has surpassed the $1 billion goal for Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness, the university’s blended campaign. A recent $1 million gift from John Traver ’10 (motion picture science) for an endowed professorship in the College of Art and Design “put us over the top,” according to RIT President David Munson.

Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness, the largest fundraising effort in the university’s history, has surpassed a major milestone. The $1 billion campaign has exceeded the $900 million mark.

RIT alumnus and trustee Brooks Bower ’74 (printing) has made a gift to the multi-use complex under construction that will showcase the university as a place for technology, the arts, and design.

RIT alumnus and trustee Frank Sklarsky ’78 and his wife, Ruth, have made a significant gift to the university’s one-of-a-kind maker space and performing arts complex. They have given $2.5 million to RIT’s Student Hall for Exploration and Development (the SHED) to establish the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater.

Alumni Brandy ’08 and Luiz ’07 Freitas, founding members of RIT’s Sentinel Society, are proud that they are able to give back to the university community that means so much to them. Each year, the generosity and impact of donors are honored during RIT’s Day of Thanks. Today, all RIT donors will be sent a “thank you” video message, and faculty and staff donors are encouraged to visit the Student Alumni Union until 1:30 p.m. to pick up a special chocolate bar.

The Innovative Maker and Learning Complex will be a building like no other on the RIT campus, and an alumnus who is helping make it possible wants RIT students to give it a name to remember. A contest to name the building is for current RIT undergraduate and graduate students in good standing. Deadline for submission is March 13. Voting will begin March 18.

University Advancement has formally launched RIT’s new leadership annual giving program, Sentinel Society. The program aims to build a community of donors who make meaningful annual investments of $1,000 or more to the university.