News
Department of Psychology

Connecticut residents are heading to their local libraries for pro bono legal assistance through a new program called Lawyers in Libraries, founded by RIT alumnus Kyle LaBuff ’06 (psychology). 

Study International features RIT's College of Liberal Arts and talks to Dean Anna Stenport.

Sophia Wozniak, a first-year psychology student with a concentration in neuroscience, was recently awarded a scholarship for her tennis skills through HearStrong and the NFL Players Association’s Professional Athletes Foundation.

Cadet Haleigh Freiner-Mess is a squadron commander in RIT’s Arnold Air Society, which is an Air Force ROTC cadet service organization. The third-year psychology student from Canaseraga, N.Y., recently became a member of the Professional Officer Course and is responsible for training and teaching the newer cadets in RIT’s Air Force ROTC program.

Kaitlin Gunther, a fourth-year psychology and computer science double major from Webster, N.Y., is trying to better understand how fish view the world. Gunther will present her research, Visual Discrimination of Rotated 3D Unicolor Objects in Goldfish, at RIT’s virtual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Stenport is currently a professor of global studies and chair of the School of Modern Languages at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. She was selected as the RIT dean following a nationwide search and will begin her new leadership role Sept. 1.

RIT faculty-researchers will develop a game-design training system that could help astronauts maintain balance, motor skills, and other cognitive functions while in space. NASA, in partnership with the National Space Grant Foundation, has selected six university teams, including RIT, to develop innovative design ideas that will help NASA advance and execute its Moon to Mars exploration objectives.

RIT's College of Liberal Arts honored student achievements in writing with 15 writing awards on Friday, March 19. This year marks the 41st year the awards were presented, though the first time the ceremony was held virtually.

RIT had its best year ever for sponsored research funding. For fiscal year 2020, which ended June 30, RIT received 382 new awards totaling $82 million. The record funding follows almost $58 million in research expenditures in fiscal year 2019, also a record.

More than 80 first-year RIT students from underrepresented populations began their college careers early and from home this summer. The students participated in the Division of Diversity and Inclusion (DDI) Summer Experience, a five-week program held virtually for the first time this year to help students successfully transition to college.

RIT has partnered with Syracuse University College of Law to establish a “3+3” program for students interested in earning a law degree. A memorandum of understanding between the two universities was recently signed to allow students to complete three years of liberal arts and other studies at RIT, then transfer to the College of Law for three years to complete their doctorate in law.

LaVerne McQuiller Williams, senior associate dean of RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, has been named interim COLA dean effective June 1. McQuiller Williams succeeds Dean James Winebrake, who is leaving RIT on June 30 to become provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.