Photo Spotlights

RIT’s Department of Foreign Languages will present a series of plays, written by students, as part of the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival on May 1. Featured are Everett Brown and Carina Nyerges, two of the stars of the modern adaptation of the Italian opera L’elisir d’Amore.

Kappa Delta Rho annually provides a helping hand to commencement organizers by stuffing diploma cases. Fraternity members Stanley Adecla (left) and Rob Mancini were among those gathered on April 24 to insert a letter to the graduates from RIT President Bill Destler into each of the 4,000 cases.

Fifth-year software engineering major Alex Ford has made a temporary home for himself at RIT, specifically through his work with the Society of Software Engineers. In 2007, Ford created Voices in Software Engineering, bringing some of the most prominent and influential individuals in the field to campus.

Anthropologist Uli Linke and sociologist Danielle Taana Smith, both faculty in the Department of Sociology, suggest that the production of fear and the discourse of terror have been variously deployed as a political strategy to manipulate public opinion and to govern people, communities and nations. In the new book Cultures of Fear, Linke and Smith assemble essays from world-class scholars, each discussing different ways in which fear is produced, used and channeled toward specific sociopolitical ends.

Robert Luessen, one of RIT’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student Scholars from the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, attended the scholarship event April 22 in Gordon Field House and Activities Center. Each student honored has achieved a minimum grade point average of 3.85 out of a possible 4.0.

For his successful business efforts, William K. Pollock, founder, CEO and president of Optimation Technology, was named recipient of the 2010 Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award by RIT’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business. He was honored during a luncheon at Oak Hill Country Club on April 22.

RIT’s Community Garden, a grassroots project begun last year by RIT employees and students, kicks off its growing season today. Activities are planned until 1 p.m. near U Lot, just south of the tennis courts.

Mark Mikolajczyk, president and publisher of Florida Today, and a 1983 graduate of RIT, received the 2010 Isaiah Thomas Award on April 21. Presented by RIT’s School of Print Media, the award is named after one of America’s great patriot printers and recognizes outstanding contributions to the publishing industry. Florida Today is part of the U.S. Community Publishing Division of Gannett Co. Inc. Mikolajczyk is the 26th recipient of the award.

Neuroscientist Christopher deCharms, a pioneer in the development of real-time magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI, discussed the use of the technology in diagnosis, pain management and the treatment of disease April 19 at RIT. The presentation, “Imagine, Imaging your Own Brain,” was part of the Caroline Werner Gannett Project’s Visionaries in Motion Series.

Zeta Tau Alpha hosted a yogurt eating contest to support breast cancer education on April 20. 30 participants gobbled several containers of yogurt in a timed session. Three winners received gift cards and everyone got a pink towel to clean up with.

The building is under wraps, but construction is moving along on the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. Construction is expected to be completed on the four-story facility at the end of May, with an official dedication scheduled for September. The Vignelli Center will house the entire archive of renowned designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli, whose graphic and product designs are icons of international design.

Peter Lovenheim, author and adjunct professor of English at RIT, tried to connect more deeply with his community by sleeping over at his neighbors’ homes. A book on his experiences, In the Neighborhood, came out in April and the film rights have been optioned by Julia Roberts’ production company Red Om Films.