News
Museum Studies BS

When the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) opens in the fall, the multi-use facility will create an entirely new learning environment for RIT faculty and students alike.

An interdisciplinary pair of RIT students is headed to Bethesda, Md., to participate in the 2023 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Case Competition. Emma Nastro, a third-year museum studies student, and Lee Sortore, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student, will represent RIT at the competition, which is held Feb. 27 through March 1 at the Lockheed Martin Center for Leadership Excellence. This is the first time an RIT team has competed in this competition.

Fourth-year student Anna Pasquantonio has always loved National Geographic and has fond memories of collecting animal trading cards from the National Geographic Kids magazine. Pasquantonio’s summer 2022 internship experience at the organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., helped turn a life-long interest into a possible career.

A gift from the Marie Golisano Graham Fund is supporting new ways for RIT to engage the public with the life and legacy of her brother, B. Thomas Golisano—Paychex founder, philanthropist, and civic leader.

Students in the museum studies program shared their research on cultural heritage imaging, preservation, and research by participating in the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Etta Arnold, Alana Bourgeois, and Izzy Moyer presented their papers which were completed under the supervision of Dr. Juilee Decker (Director of Museum Studies) and Dr. David Messinger (Imaging Science Program).

The CHIPR conference, standing for cultural heritage imaging, preservation, and research, was held on the RIT campus on August 15, 2022. It was a free learning opportunity open to anyone in the region based at museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies interested in preservation, access, and research.

Scientists from RIT are turning studio photography technology on its head to help museums and other cultural heritage institutions preserve historically significant artifacts.

Libraries and museums across the country have begun recapturing lost and obscured text on historically significant documents thanks to low-cost spectral imaging systems developed by faculty and students at RIT.

Starting on June 3, the exhibit “Clarissa Uprooted: Unearthing Stories of Our Village (1940s-early 1970s)” will open in the RIT City Art Space. This show, created through a partnership between the Center for Teen Empowerment in Rochester and the Clarissa Street Reunion Committee, has involved a number of collaborators including RIT faculty and students from the College of Art and Design and the College of Liberal Arts.

The field of museum studies is changing. Not only are the people working in nationwide cultural institutions becoming more diverse, but the narratives told within those institutions are more inclusive and equity-focused. RIT’s museum studies program, led by Program Director Juilee Decker, aims to accelerate this momentum.

The Tina Lent Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Museum Studies was given on Friday, March 18, 2022 as part of the College’s 42^nd Annual Writing Awards Ceremony. The award followed in the tradition of awards named in honor of other College of Liberal Arts faculty, including Stan McKenzie and Mary C. Sullivan, both esteemed former deans of the College of Liberal Arts. The inaugural recipient was Hannah Rachel Riley, a third-year student from Buffalo, NY who is undertaking her thesis this semester and will graduate in May 2022.

“Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster” will be on view at RIT’s University Gallery March 14 through April 8. This is a satellite companion exhibition to the main exhibition of AIDS posters at the Memorial Art Gallery, March 6 through June 19.