News Stories

Darci Lane-Williams, assistant director of Title IX and Clery Compliance, has received the 2020 Edwina Award for her significant contributions to enhance gender diversity and inclusiveness at RIT. In addition, 10 graduating students were also named as “Legacy Leaders.”

RIT honored its 2020 class of Distinguished Faculty—Manuela Campanelli, Satish Kandlikar and James Perkins. The Distinguished Professor designation is given to tenured faculty who have shown continued excellence over their careers in teaching, scholarly contributions, lasting contributions in creative and professional work and service to both the university and community.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 36: The right academic major can be a pathway to a dream career. Professor Tina Lent, director of RIT’s museum studies program, talks with 2019 alumna Katherine Hensel about how her degree in museum studies led to her dream job as a U.S. national park ranger.

It’s been an eventful year for Josh Thorson. The assistant professor of photography created the live video projections for the Broadway production of Oklahoma!, which won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. He also was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Projection Design. And he is now the 2019-20 recipient of the Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

As students at RIT have successfully transitioned to temporary online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve also found ways of connecting with their peers to continue their interests with clubs, organizations and performing arts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a group of RIT students with a unique opportunity to express themselves. Missing the expanse of his dance studio at RIT, Thomas Warfield challenged his 43 dance students to stretch their bodies—and minds—using small spaces in their homes. The resulting submissions included routines performed inside closets, on treadmills, and in bathtubs.

Relay For Life was preparing for its eighth year to benefit the American Cancer Society when the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to change plans. So instead of nearly 1,000 people participating in a 12-hour walking marathon in the Gordon Field House, this year’s Relay For Life will be a five-day online event that will provide entertainment, donation challenges, celebrations of life and more.

During a 45-minute question and answer radio show, President Munson discussed the current climate and campus as well as the future, including the 2020 commencement.

Dean James Winebrake will be leaving RIT’s College of Liberal Arts to become provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Winebrake, who came to RIT in 2002 as chair of the Department of Public Policy and became dean in 2011, will leave RIT effective June 30.

RIT students and faculty have found a way to still connect for private music lessons, with video conferencing offering a unique, and some say helpful, way to teach.

Many RIT faculty, students, staff and alumni are among the collaborations here and across the nation, providing expertise to improve or create much-needed equipment and protective gear for medical personnel fighting the Coronavirus.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 33: Community partnerships are one way RIT provides its students with experiential learning opportunities. James Winebrake, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Juilee Decker, associate professor of museum studies, talk about a unique partnership between the college and one of the Finger Lakes Region’s cultural gems, the Genesee Country Village & Museum.