Gifts in Action: A Donor Newsletter - October 2022
Gifts in Action:
A Donor Newsletter
October 2022
Vigorous talent acquisition and support of professorships are at the heart of acquiring and retaining RIT’s stellar faculty members. Thanks to you, our students are interacting with experts in their fields on a daily basis and are challenged to think across the boundaries of their disciplines.
More than classroom instructors, RIT professors are:
- passionate mentors who teach our students critical life and leadership skills in addition to their curriculum
- committed to student success
- helping to distinguish RIT as a renowned university with their published works and research accomplishments
Keep reading to learn about donor investment in our outstanding educators and how they make a bold impact on student learning.
Minett Professorship Program
T. Andrew Brown knows a thing or two about the law, education, and equestrians.
He is an attorney and founder and managing partner of Brown Hutchinson, LLP. In addition, Brown just completed nine years on the New York State Board of Regents, the last five as its Vice-Chancellor helping to set statewide education policy and presiding over the University of the State of New York (USNY) and the New York State Education Department.
He is the immediate past president of the New York State Bar Association, a past president of the Monroe County Bar Association and the Rochester Black Bar Association. He served as the City of Rochester’s Corporation Counsel and Chief Legal Officer among other things. His list of accomplishments is notable and long. And, he is the father of an accomplished equestrian.
Now he is adding another esteemed title as the 2022-23 RIT Frederick H. Minett Professor. He was appointed to the position by President David Munson and Keith Jenkins, vice president and associate provost for Diversity and Inclusion.
Read more
Content provided by RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion
New Endowed Professorships in the College of Science
Rochester Institute of Technology will establish two new endowed professorships in the College of Science thanks to a $2 million donation from Jeffrey Harris BS ’75 and his partner, Joyce Pratt. RIT matched their donation with $4 million in funding as part of a $20 million challenge to encourage alumni, parents, and friends of the university to support faculty recruitment, retention, and research critical to RIT’s priorities and goals.
Past Minett Professor Addresses RIT Community at Together RIT
Mary-Frances Winters, a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice consultant and one of RIT’s earliest Minett Professors, delivered the closing keynote address at the inaugural Together RIT: Day of Understanding, Solidarity, and Racial Reconciliation on October 21. The event brought hundreds of RIT students, faculty, staff, and alumni together to engage in intentional and honest dialogue about race, ethnicity, and racism.
Read more
Content provided by RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion
Future Faculty Career Exploration Program
Fourteen scholars and artists attended this year’s nationally recognized Future Faculty Career Exploration Program hosted by RIT’s Office of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment.
Read more
Content provided by RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion
You Are Making a Difference
Donors Showed Their Stripes on ROAR Day
Talk about a ROARing success! RIT’s 17th annual day of giving, ROAR Day, was a celebration of our Tiger community and the power of giving back. In just 24 hours (October 27-28), we had more than 2,000 donors make a gift to their favorite area of the university for a grand total of over $250,000. All we can say is...WOW! Thank you for believing in the value of an RIT education. We appreciate the many ways you make a difference through your philanthropy.
The RIT Fund
Did you know that gifts (of any size) made to the RIT Fund can be used to aid in the recruitment and retention of our extraordinary faculty? Donors like you who give to this area are providing direct dollars to help meet RIT’s most pressing needs and highest priorities. The RIT Fund (formerly RIT's Area of Greatest Need) helps us seize unexpected opportunities, including research and faculty development, that would otherwise not be possible. Thank you!
Endowed Professorship Challenge
RIT is in the midst of a $20 million challenge to encourage our supporters to establish endowed professorships—one of the highest honors in academia. For every $1 million gift allocated to this opportunity, RIT will match $2 million in institutional resources for a total of $3 million in funding. As part of Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness, this challenge will create ten endowed professorships each providing a permanent source of funding for the holder’s salary, scholarly activities, and research team, which may include undergraduate or graduate student fellows.
For more information about the Endowed Professorship Challenge, email givetorit@rit.edu or call 800-477-0376.
RIT students are immersed in a community that values creativity and innovation. Receiving an education at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design requires unique educators who can inspire a new generation of artists with mastery, skill, and passion. With support from the Mowris family—both mother and daughter—for endowed professorships, RIT has commissioned award-winning faculty and active artists who nurture students’ talent through traditional craftsmanship and modern technology.
Charlotte Frederick Mowris graduated in 1919 from the Mechanics Institute, the predecessor to RIT. Her zeal for the arts is what founded The Charlotte Frederick Mowris Endowed Chair in the School for American Crafts in 1984, which is currently held by sculptor and metalworker Albert Paley. Paley, who has served as an educator since the 1960s and as RIT’s Artist in Residence since 1984, has had a pivotal impact on the campus. His focus on the Studio Art Movement, decorative arts, design, sculpture, architecturally related work, and public art has been shared with generations of students and faculty. The construction of the eminent Sentinel sculpture on campus in 2003 showcases his rich, productive, and valued relationship with RIT. Currently, funding to acquire and activate Paley’s archive collection is in process.
Following her mother’s philanthropic spirit, Ann Mowris Mulligan devoted her adult life to supporting education. She established the Ann Mowris Mulligan Distinguished Professorship in the School for American Crafts in the 1990s, currently held by artist Leonard Urso. Urso teaches metals and jewelry design at RIT and his work is exhibited both nationally and internationally. His nearly 30 years as an artist and campus educator has inspired countless students to pursue their craft and stimulate conceptualization. In addition to founding this influential professorship, Ann Mowris Mulligan also served on RIT’s Board of Trustees, was a long-time member of the RIT Women’s Council, co-chaired the commission of the Sentinel sculpture, and established the Mowris-Mulligan Endowed Scholarship Fund in 1986 for students pursuing fine and applied arts.
Both Mowris professorships have had, and will continue to have, a profound impact on the education and lives of aspiring artists at RIT. The family’s legacy to support art programs, taught by world-renown designers, is a pillar of the College of Art and Design. Under the tutelage of these exceptional and accomplished faculty members, RIT remains a hub for our students' artistic, creative, and professional interests.
What the Impact of Professorships at RIT Looks Like...
Eugene H. Fram Chair
The Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking was created by an anonymous RIT alum to honor his former professor, Gene Fram, who served RIT’s Saunders College of Business from 1957–2008. The Fram Chair is unique in that it is not based in any one college. The Chair supports and increases applied critical thinking across the entire university and seeks to ensure it is a fundamental part of an RIT education.
“The ability to think critically gives us the power to consider fully and make well-rounded decisions for ourselves and for our world, and there is no more important work than that. Critical thinking is, and should be, part of the fabric of RIT. We must continue to lead by example through our teaching and scholarly efforts and by creating opportunities that encourage and support the growth of critical thinking in all we do.” – Jennifer Schneider, Ph.D., Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking
Bausch & Lomb Professor of Microsystems Engineering
With aspirations to be viewed as more than a vision care company, Bausch & Lomb created an endowed professorship in microsystems engineering to advance innovation in medical technology. Dr. David Borkholder BS ’92 is the current professor and an expert in the biology of the inner ear and auditory dysfunction, with a strong focus on therapy-directed microsystems and sensors. He holds several patents related to cell-based biosensors and DNA analysis and is a charter member of the National Institutes of Health Bioengineering of Neuroscience, Vision, and Low Vision Technologies study section. Most recently, Dr. Borkholder was charged with leading RIT’s signature research initiative in personalized healthcare technology, which seeks to develop mobile and wearable technology to directly monitor patients’ health measures. Borkholder, an RIT alum, professor, mentor, and entrepreneur, is teaching his students the difference between just making gadgets or widgets and making things that improve people’s lives.
“Holding the Bausch & Lomb Endowed Professorship gives me the time and discretionary funds to explore new areas of research. This freedom is essential in aggressively expanding research in my laboratory and also enables RIT to offer highly valuable research experiences to a broader range of graduate and undergraduate students.” – David Borkholder, Ph.D., Bausch & Lomb Endowed Professor
Caroline Werner Gannett Endowed Chair
The Caroline Werner Gannett Endowed Chair is charged with challenging students to interpret modern media and communication in ways that include critical and creative analysis of digital culture and data curation. Design visualization, geospatial technology, electronic literature, and virtual or augmented reality are part of the student experience guided by the Chair. Professor Lisa Hermsen, the current Chair, specializes in the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. She is the principal investigator for a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study “community” from many perspectives, including historical, geographical, literary, environmental, and socioeconomic.
“As students head into the world on internships and jobs, we want them to be prepared to interact with communities that have a very distinct sense of identity and place but are also dealing with myriad economic and cultural changes.” – Lisa Hermsen, Ph.D., Caroline Werner Gannett Endowed Chair
“The mentor relationship with my faculty members in the Saunders College of Business was far tighter than I would’ve imagined. Dr. Philip Tyler was a mentor during my MBA studies and remains a great professional contact and personal friend. In fact, his impact has spanned generations, as he also became a mentor to my daughter, Julie, when she attended RIT.” – Kevin Gavagan MBA '79
Ready to generate more joy? Giving Tuesday is November 29, 2022.
Every act of generosity counts; one minute is all it takes to be a part of this global movement for good. Your gift supports the achievements of a student who is the first in their family to attend college, an ambitious entrepreneur ready to make their mark on the world, a non-traditional student who is returning to school, a determined student-athlete, and so many others who find a home at RIT. More details to come.
RITReconnect in Seattle
Join fellow RIT alumni, family, and friends at The Edgewater Hotel in Seattle on Thursday, December 1. Celebrate the trajectory of RIT over complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and hear special remarks from RIT President David C. Munson Jr. about RIT’s progress and future aspirations, including an update on Transforming RIT: The Campaign for Greatness.
We are tremendously grateful for your ongoing engagement with RIT and your consistent support. Donors like you help us meet the ever-changing needs of our campus, students, and faculty. Thank you for believing in the mission of RIT and our incredible students.