AlumniNews Stories

CEOs, Chief Financial Officers, and Chief Technology Officers are among the 12 RIT alumni honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards for the 2024-2025 year.

During Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend, Big Tigers on Campus interviewed RIT/NTID alums Peter and Cindy Pickering and their daughter, RIT student-athlete and CODA, Emma Pickering, a member of RIT’s Division I Women’s Hockey Team. They discussed why Emma, who is majoring in exercise science, chose to play hockey, why she picked RIT for college, and her experience being involved in the Deaf and CODA communities.

Read a recap of the NTIDAA Board fall meeting weekend, which corresponded with Brick City Homecoming. It was fantastic to have everyone on campus, and it was a super fun and busy long weekend! 

NTID President Gerard Buckley, who made history as the first RIT/NTID alumnus to become president of the college, has announced his intention to step down in summer 2025 after leading the National Technical Institute for the Deaf for 15 years. His tenure as NTID president caps a career in higher education spanning more than 40 years.

Bob Mather will forever remember the summer of 1970. He was attending a visual performance in American Sign Language at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Sue Mozzer was signing.

Valerie Horn believes accessibility should be at the forefront of entrepreneurs’ minds when developing their businesses. This belief pushed her to co-found Zestability, a consultation firm that advocates for prioritizing accessibility and inclusive business practices.

RIT/NTID alum Tara Sarkin (Beltrami), who attended SVP in 2013, earned her associate degree in 2016, and a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and service management in 2019, has always been deeply passionate about winemaking. 

Adam Stone ’04 has been named to the board of the Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s Alumni Association.

RIT trustee and alumnus Andrew Jacobson has pledged $1 million in support of Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The Andrew Jacobson Endowed Scholarship represents the largest commitment by an RIT/NTID alumnus in the college’s history.

Arooj Ajaz ’15 (laboratory science technology), ’17 (university studies) is a leader who is enthusiastic about advocating for the inclusion of deaf youth and helping people become leaders in the Deaf community on a local and global scale.

The NTID Alumni Association Board of Directors had a wonderful spring meeting in April. The meeting was retreat-style at RIT’s Tait Preserve in Penfield, along with NTID Foundation Board. Both boards came together for great discussion and collaboration.

RIT graduate Liam Coleman was looking for a way to express how it feels to be caught within one’s own thoughts about navigating identity. As a Deaf person, Coleman ’19 (individualized program) questioned the role that signing or voicing plays with how they interact with the world and their gender expression.