Newsmakers | College of Liberal Arts

Highlighting the professional and academic accomplishments of College of Liberal Arts students, faculty, and staff.

Newsmakers are a quick and easy way to acknowledge the professional and academic accomplishments of RIT students, faculty, and staff, such as publishing an article in a scholarly journal, presenting research at a conference, serving on a panel discussion, earning a scholarship, or winning an award. Newsmakers appear in News and Events as well as the "In the News" section on faculty/staff directory profile pages.

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April 2025

April 11, 2025

Silvia Benso, professor of philosophy, presented “Metaphysical Longings, Violence, and the Power(lessness) of the Voice” on the panel Is One Born a Woman? Reflections on Sex, (Anti-)Gender, and Difference at the annual meeting of the Society for Italian Philosophy April 3-5 at Stony Brook University. Her talk explored implications of feminist philosopher Adriana Cavarero's book on the themes of sexual difference, being a woman, maternity, and other related topics such as patriarchy, binarism, and transfeminism.
April 11, 2025

Divya Ramjee, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, and Evan Selinger, professor in the Department of Philosophy, co-authored “How the U.S. Can Achieve Sustainable AI Leadership,” which proposes various policy recommendations for the United States’ leadership in AI. The chapter is part of New Lines Institute’s compendium Future-Proofing U.S. Technology: Strategic Priorities Amid Chinese Tech Advancement.
April 11, 2025

Igor Polotai, a third-year game design and development and history double major, was named to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge's 2025 Student Voting Honor Roll. Polotai is one of only 232 students nationwide to receive this distinction and was recognized as a Voter Engagement Leadership Scholar with RIT’s Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement. The distinction highlights college student leaders for committing to nonpartisan democratic engagement and contributions to their local communities.
April 11, 2025

RIT students working with faculty mentors in the Department of Psychology presented their research at the Western New York Undergraduate Psychology Conference on April 5 at the University at Buffalo. Presenters included Tobi Fadipe, Katherine Shomper, Jamison Fick, Briana Pabon, Kai Foust, Matt Barbaro, Janie Yearwood, Willow Rose, Haylee Webb, and Bella Ciardi.
April 9, 2025

The Cultural Heritage Imaging & Innovation Conference, co-organized by RIT and RIT Croatia, was held March 25-28 at the Dubrovnik campus. Organized by Fulbright Scholar Izzy Moyer '24 (museum studies), David Messinger, professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Juilee Decker, director of the museum studies program, and Roger Easton Jr., professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, together with Francis Brassard, senior lecturer, and Irena Guszak, president and dean of RIT Croatia, the conference sparked insightful discussions on how emerging technologies can transform the way we preserve, study, and share cultural heritage.
April 9, 2025

Shay Ryan Olmstead, lecturer in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, was presented with the John D’Emilio LGBTQ History Dissertation Award by the Organization of American Historians. Olmstead's dissertation, entitled “Refuse to Run Away: Transsexual Workers Fight for Civil Rights, 1969-1992,” argues that employment discrimination claims brought by transsexual workers fundamentally shaped the legal definitions of sex and disability.
April 4, 2025

Anna Sofia Hege, a second-year experimental psychology MS student, and Logan Brownell ’24 (psychology), presented research at the International Conference on Comparative Cognition in Albuquerque, N.M. Their studies, conducted with Professor Caroline DeLong at RIT’s Comparative Cognition and Perception Lab, were carried out at Rochester’s Seneca Park Zoo.
April 4, 2025

Danielle Pafunda, associate professor of English, released her 10th poetry collection, Along the Road Everyone Must Travel, which was selected by poet Hoa Nguyen to win the Saturnalia Poetry Prize.
April 4, 2025

Evelyn Brister and Evan Selinger, both professors in the Department of Philosophy, were selected as 2025 Marc Anderson Foundation Philosophy in Media Fellows. The international fellowship supports academically-trained philosophers who produce public-facing work. They will also participate in the Trade Books and Publication Workshop this summer.
April 4, 2025

John Edlund, professor in the Department of Psychology, co-authored “Predicting the Replicability of Social and Behavioral Science Claims in COVID-19 Preprints,” published in Human Nature Behavior. He also co-authored “Can Swearing Improve Persuasion in Advertising Contexts” with experimental psychology MS student Jeremy Marshall and Paul Wiele ’16 (experimental psychology), which was published in Social Influence.