News Stories

RIT Dubai held a grand opening ceremony to dedicate its state-of-the-art new campus in the Dubai Silicon Oasis on Nov. 28. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, toured the facilities and inaugurated RIT Dubai’s new home designed for interactive learning along with RIT President David Munson, RIT Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration James Watters, and RIT Dubai President Yousef al Assaf.

Now that the first snowflakes have graced the region, colder temperatures will enable the RIT community to enjoy outdoor ice skating as weather permits at the start of the spring semester in January.

MAGIC Spell Studios, RIT’s world-class digital media research and production facility, is bringing the latest in virtual production (VP) technology to RIT students. VP blends filmmaking, 3D graphics, computational photography, and real-time game engine rendering to produce in-camera visual effects similar to those seen in the groundbreaking work on Disney’s The Mandalorian and Marvel’s Avenger films.

The APEX apartment community that opened this fall adjacent to RIT’s campus—and four others like it—are part of a changing housing landscape near RIT. In fact, more than 4,000 RIT students now live in large off-campus housing communities that have recently popped up close to the university.

In 2001, the dot-com bubble was bursting and investors had lost confidence in internet companies. Twenty years later, data has become a new currency, and people can access just about anything from their smartphones. Throughout all these changes, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences has evolved into the largest college at RIT, with more than 4,600 students this year. Since its creation 20 years ago, GCCIS has awarded more than 14,000 degrees—in a growing number of computing disciplines.

All eyes were on international pharmaceutical giant Pfizer this past year as it raced to produce needed COVID-19 vaccines. Staff across the company—including Christopher Vollaro ’21 MS—played a role in the development and distribution process.

Tisa Zito ’09 (film and animation) is making her directorial debut with her film, ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project. The film is a character study on Los Angeles native Angelo Moore, lead singer of the band Fishbone, and asks questions about the legacy and process of an artist.

Megan Baldwin ’07 (MBA) supported all aspects of New York’s response to COVID-19 as assistant secretary of health. Now, she is special advisor to the chancellor for public health policy for the State University of New York system.

Executive MBA alumna Deborah Stamps ’18 was named president of Rochester Regional Health’s (RRH) new College of Health Careers. Stamps led the charge to establish the college, which welcomed its first cohort of nursing students in March 2021.

The Baileys, an RIT legacy family, have dreamed of opening a restaurant in the Rochester area for more than 11 years. In 2020, when their youngest child graduated from high school, they decided it was finally time.

The Bay Area Reporter features Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster, published by RIT Press.