Photo Spotlights

A small number of tickets remain for stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend performance. Gaffigan, who is most famous for his one-hour Comedy Central specials and his “Hot Pocket” routine, takes the Gordon Field House and Activities Center stage at 9 p.m. Friday. Tickets can be purchased at the field house box office.

Internationally known graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, the 2009-2010 capstone speaker for the Caroline Werner Gannett Project, views designs created in response to a challenge he issued to RIT students. Sagmeister called on participants to create projects that “touch someone’s heart with design.” The Grammy-winning designer’s visit to campus on Oct. 5 included a talk and presentation of some of his most well known designs.

RIT communication majors volunteered to organize, sort, arrange and set-up some of the thousands of donations—filling more than 16 tractor-trailers—for the annual Ronald McDonald House charity sale of household goods, collectibles and antiques. Sorting and folding clothing are, from left, advertising and public relations majors Jenna Deutsch and Marlana Yacci; Lauren Hittinger, advertising and public relations alumna and MBA student; and Ali Bird, advertising and public relations major. Last year’s sale generated $250,000 benefiting local children with serious ailments and their families. This year’s sale runs Oct. 15–17 at the former Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Henrietta.

A Los Angeles-based film crew is in Rochester to make a movie based on Matt Hamill, the RIT/NTID championship wrestler who has since gained fame in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Hamill was on the set during filming on Sept. 29.

Global Village, a $54.5 million campus centerpiece, will be situated between Crossroads and the campus’ new Student Services Building near the Center for Student Innovation. It will be home to cultural residences representing regions from around the world and will have 414 beds for upper-class students. Global Village is moving along according to plan with the site under development.

The grand opening of Artesano Bakery & Café, Bytes on the Run and the Digital Den took place on Sept. 29. Lance Strasser, supervisor for Artesano’s, and Jill VanDuyne, pastry chef for RIT Dining Services, passed out some sweet samples during the celebration.

The brothers of Phi Kappa Psi and sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha hosted the annual Mud Tug on Sept. 26. The proceeds from the tug-of-war contest went to the Fisher House Foundation, an organization supporting injured troops and their families.

RIT officially launched its Center for Student Innovation during a Sept. 25 ceremony. Ian Gatley, the center’s director, hopes the facility will be a place where students can collaborate on cross-disciplinary projects.

Alexander Rosenberg, artist in residence in RIT’s School for American Crafts’ glass program, works with students in their new and expanded facility.

Louverture Film’s creative vision of film in support of economic and social justice was the focus of a presentation by activist filmmaker Joslyn Barnes, who opened the 2009-2010 Caroline Werner Gannett Project’s “Visionaries in Motion III” Sept. 21. Barnes, the co-founder—with actor Danny Glover—of Louverture, has earned prominence for her social-issue fiction and documentary films, which include the Academy Award nominated Trouble the Water and the drama Bamako.

RIT is offering a significant scholarship program for graduates of the Rochester City School District who are admitted as freshmen to full-time study in baccalaureate programs at the university. The scholarship, for those meeting eligibility requirements, will cover full tuition at RIT for city students admitted to the freshman class starting in fall 2010. Here, RIT President Bill Destler (center) joined City School Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard (left) and RIT Senior Vice President Jim Miller to deliver the news.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at RIT celebrated a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept.17 at its new custom designed classroom facility in the Riparian Independent Living Complex at Rivers Run. Osher is an academic-based and membership-led organization that stimulates minds and forges friendships among people ages 50 and older who live in Greater Rochester.