Kelly Norris Martin named dean of RIT’s College of Liberal Arts

Kelly Norris Martin has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Martin, who has been a faculty member in the college for over a decade, has served as interim dean of the college since April 2023. She was selected as dean after a national search and will assume the role on Dec. 1.

“I am delighted that Dr. Martin will serve as the next dean of the College of Liberal Arts,” said Prabu David, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs. “She has strengthened the college during her tenure as interim dean and with a clear vision championed for the humanities, social sciences, and performing arts at RIT.”

Since joining RIT’s faculty in 2011, Martin has served in several roles within the college including as the associate dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs, the director of the School of Communication, and the co-founder of RIT’s Expressive Communication Center. Martin received the Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013 and, in 2019, she received the RIT Innovative Teaching with Technology Award.

“Watching my colleagues and our students grow, explore, and find their passions during my time at RIT has been incredibly rewarding. Serving as interim dean gave me even greater insight to the power, creativity, and capability of our talented community,” said Martin. “It’s an honor to lead a community like ours. I look forward to continuing to support and uplift the work of our faculty, staff, and students so they can continue to drive change and our liberal arts mission both on campus and beyond.”

Martin studies workforce and communication education and visual communication methods. She is currently a principal investigator (PI) on a Teagle Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities Cornerstone Implementation grant and has a served as PI on an Engineering Information Foundation grant and co-PI on two National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded projects examining the skills that help U.S. college students succeed and increase employer competitiveness. She also served as a mentor for an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program for eight years.

Martin currently serves as editor of the Graphic Design Archives Chapbook Series with RIT Press and she has published work in leading journals in her field including Communication Education, American Educational Research Journal, Visual Communication Quarterly, Physical Review Physics Education Research, and Design Issues.

Martin earned her Ph.D. in communication, rhetoric, and digital media at North Carolina State University, where she developed a schema that graphically maps hierarchical relationships of visual research methods. Her program also awarded her the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2017.