Photo Spotlights

Nicholas Weidenbach brought back a little bit of Italy to his hospitality classes in CAST’s School of International Hospitality and Service Innovation this year. The fourth-year student received the Giacomo Bologna Scholarship and spent 10 days traveling, learning and cooking his way through the Le Marche region of the country. The scholarship is given to university students in culinary and hospitality programs by the Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani and the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation. Weidenbach and six other U.S. students visited restaurants, wineries and an olive oil mill in the countryside of Montefiore dell’Aso; made pasta with prominent local chefs; and attended educational seminars to learn about the cuisine of this part of the world.

The Fund for RIT kicked off its annual giving campaign on ROAR Day, the seventh annual Raise Our Annual Responses initiative, on Oct. 18. Camila Gomez Serrano, center, and Christopher Haluszczak, left, both second-year Kate Gleason College of Engineering students, make donations.

Nicholas Langswager ’12 (graphic design) started working at Fisher-Price Inc. in East Aurora, N.Y., full time in March. He was offered the job after working there as a student last summer in content design and this fall and winter in packaging design.

Faculty and staff members from the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences were the target of gallons of fun! They volunteered to be on the hot seat in a dunking booth set up outside of Gannett Hall. For $5, people had three chances to try and get them wet. The money raised will help pay for student travel to RIT’s 28th Big Shot next year. The site is not confirmed yet, but more details are expected to be announced soon. Here, Nanette Salvaggio, lecturer in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, gets wet.

Christye Sisson, associate professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, takes the plunge in a dunking booth to benefit RIT’s 28th Big Shot next year. CIAS faculty and staff volunteered to be in the hot seat, set up outside Gannett Hall. For $5, people had three chances to try to dunk them. Nearly $350 was raised to help pay for student travel. The site is not confirmed yet, but more details are expected to be announced soon.

Employers from throughout the country met with hundreds of students seeking co-ops or permanent jobs at the NTID Job Fair on Oct. 10. About 300 students and nearly 40 employers from across the country attended the 12th annual fair. To read more, go to www.ntid.rit.edu/news/hundreds-attend-2012-job-fair.

The Better Me Wellness Fair took place in the Global Village Wellness Center on Oct. 10. Exhibitors included Peace Partners, Breast Cancer Coalition, Excellus, RIT Dining Services and Workplace Ergonomics. Here, Michelle Seger, of Government and Community Relations, has her blood pressure checked by Susan Grace, of Wellness Coaches USA.

A recognition ceremony and dedication on Oct. 9 marked the installation of advanced switching and router system technologies donated by Frontier Corp. for the telecommunications lab in RIT’s College of Applied Science and Technology. From left, Fred Walker, dean of CAST; Ann Burr, chairman of Frontier Communications of Rochester and RIT trustee; Mark Davis, director of the northeast regional planning of Frontier Communications; and RIT President Bill Destler attended the event. Frontier and its vendor partners, Actelis, Adtran, Calix and Cisco, donated the equipment to the college’s electrical, computer and telecommunications engineering technology department. It is modeled after a telecommunications central office and will enable RIT students to be trained on today’s telecommunications networks.

RIT Crew Coach Jim Bodenstedt, left, and the crew program honored Joe Briggs for his 20 years of support and friendship at a small family gathering at the Gosnell Boathouse Oct. 5. Bodenstedt presented Briggs with a plaque highlighting his contributions in helping to establish the crew program.

RIT’s School for American Crafts sold its unique hand-blown glass pumpkins, gourds, vases and paperweights during the eighth annual Glass Pumpkin Patch fundraiser Oct. 6. More than $25,000 was raised. Proceeds from the sale benefit the School for American Crafts’ Visiting Artists Series as well as the Women’s Council scholarships. There are still pumpkins available. They will be for sale in the Student Alumni Union lobby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10.

More than 50 representatives of the food-service industry, higher education and government learned how waste cooking oil can be converted into biodiesel fuel at a workshop Oct. 5 sponsored by the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT and Monroe County. Here, David Fister, senior engineer at the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute, answered questions.

Fourth-year advertising and public relations students Jenna Deutsch, left, and Kathryn Sundiang accept an award presented to the RIT student body from United Way of Greater Rochester “in recognition and with grateful appreciation for extraordinary fundraising achievement” for the 2012 campaign. Joining them is Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Mary-Beth Cooper at a ceremony Oct. 4.