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Twelve RIT alumni have been honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards for the 2023-2024 year. The Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented annually by each of RIT’s nine colleges, the School of Individualized Study, and the RIT Graduate School to alumni who have performed at the highest levels of their profession or who have contributed to the advancement and leadership of civic, philanthropic, or service organizations.

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.

With oversized orange scissors and an orange ribbon, the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) was officially dedicated Thursday, Oct. 12, in the center of the RIT campus. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was part of Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend, as the Board of Trustees, President’s Roundtable, and many national advisory councils and volunteer groups are on campus for the celebratory weekend.

From hockey games and performing arts presentations to receptions and reunions, RIT’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend has more than 100 events planned from Oct. 13 to 15.

Noon on Sept. 28 marks the kickoff of this year’s 18th annual ROAR Day, which provides an opportunity for members of the RIT community to support their favorite parts of the university. Gifts made during ROAR Day fund the future of RIT across every college as well as athletics, diversity and inclusion, performing arts, scholarships, and more.

Alumni brewers, winemakers, and cidermakers from 10 businesses will be on hand to answer questions and provide samples at the second annual RIT Alumni Oktoberfest on Oct. 14.

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.

Alumni from RIT’s photography programs joined forces to create a new film, Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Melissa Villaseñor and Hank Green, an internet icon, are scheduled to appear at RIT’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend in October. Villaseñor got her start as a semi-finalist on America’s Got Talent. Green began making YouTube videos about science in 2007 and now has a social media following of more than 20 million.

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.

A former top NASA administrator told graduates of RIT that their futures may seem as ambiguous as outer space. But by daring to do mighty things with hope instead of fear, untold possibilities will come into focus. Thomas Zurbuchen, astrophysicist and the longest continually serving associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate in NASA’s history, addressed the crowd during today's Academic Convocation ceremony in the Gordon Field House. More than 4,800 RIT graduates, including those attending RIT’s global campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai, and Kosovo, were recognized.