Photo Spotlights

Assistant professor of chemical engineering Reginald Rogers received the 2016 Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The honor is given to faculty who have taught three years or less and who foster excellence in teaching and leadership in the campus community.

A devoted volunteer to numerous community agencies including the United Way, and a graduating student whose passion is helping refugees in Rochester were named winners of this year’s Alfred L. Davis Distinguished Public Service Awards. The awards were given during a public ceremony on May 11 in Ingle Auditorium. Cindee Gray ’07 (EMBA), assistant vice president of the RIT and Rochester Regional Health Alliance, received the 2016 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award. Amanda Schartau of Chili, N.Y., a fourth-year international and global studies major, received the 2016 Bruce R. James Award. From left are James Macchiano, selection committee chairperson; Gray; Schartau; RIT President Bill Destler; and M. Ann Howard, selection committee chairperson.

RIT Student Wellness collaborated with Dannon and Partnership for a Healthier America to host a yoga class outdoors. Attendees were treated to Dannon yogurt following the class.

Actors perform in a dress rehearsal for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The outdoor performances are 7:45 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (May 11-14) in RIT’s Infinity Quad. Admission and popcorn are free. This is the latest of a yearlong commemoration at RIT of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The English poet, playwright and actor wrote nearly 40 plays and more than 150 sonnets.

RIT hosted the eighth annual Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) Saunders Scholars Competition, where young high school entrepreneurs (ages 11 to 18) from across America pitched their business plans in front of a panel of judges. The entrepreneurial event is supported by philanthropist E. Philip Saunders, creator of the YEA! competition, and namesake and benefactor of RIT’s business college.

The RIT men’s lacrosse team celebrates after winning its fifth straight Liberty League Championship, 15-5 over Rensselaer Sunday from Tiger Stadium. RIT has advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season and will host John Carroll University in a first round game on Wednesday, May 11 at 4 p.m.

William W. Destler, Rochester Institute of Technology’s ninth president, announced today (May 9, 2016) that he will retire at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year. Destler accomplished his vision of turning RIT into one of the most innovative universities in the world. The Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival has attracted more than 250,000 visitors to campus since it launched in 2008, and RIT can boast about award-winning programs in a host of uncommon disciplines, including packaging science, computational astrophysics, sustainability and interactive games and media.

More than 400 exhibits were on display at the ninth annual Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival. Tens of thousands are drawn to the festival, which showcases the work of students, faculty and staff. The RIT Theme Park Enthusiasts featured their latest functioning theme park.

Hot Wheelz, RIT’s all-female race team, finished third in the electric category in its first national event, the Formula Hybrid competition that took place May 2-5 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. The team’s on and off track performance was also recognized with two additional trophies, the GM Spirit of Formula Hybrid and the Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s Gracious Professionalism awards.

Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood, a play by Paul Giovanni, adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Sign of the Four, is NTID Performing Arts program’s spring production. Directed by Jerry Argetsinger, the play features a mix of intrigue, mystery, travel to foreign lands and, of course, murders that Holmes and Watson brilliantly solve. The play is being performed at the Panara Theatre in Lyndon B. Johnson Hall May 5, 6 and 8.

The three-mile Color Run ended with a color throw on May 1. Runners were tossed with colored powders along the course of the run, now in its fifth year. The race benefited the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley and The Trevor Project.

The American University in Kosovo Foundation signed an agreement this month to officially name the Kosovo campus RIT Kosovo. From left, RIT Provost Jeremy Haefner, left, RIT Kosovo Academic Senate Chair Mimoza Mustafa, RIT President Bill Destler, RIT Kosovo Vice President for Academic Affairs Daniel Cosentino, and RIT Kosovo Public Policy faculty Dr. Robert Muharremi. International colleagues from Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo visited Rochester last week for the first Global Governance Forum.