RIT Trustee Andrew Jacobson makes largest commitment by an alumnus to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf

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. 

“Andrew is a very humble and generous individual,” said Gerry Buckley, NTID president and RIT vice president and dean. “He truly cares about our students and our college and is involved in large and small ways in making NTID the truly outstanding place it is.”

An additional gift will help NTID develop a new area in Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall, which will become the home of “The Street,” an area celebrating the college’s history.

In addition to previously making space-naming gifts in NTID’s Rosica Hall and RIT’s Saunders College of Business, Jacobson annually sponsors RIT Race Day at Monticello Motor Club, hosting more than 70 RIT students as they experience a day at the world-class car racing facility in Monticello, N.Y. Jacobson regularly visits accounting classes in the Saunders College and annually hosts students from RIT’s College of Art and Design, Syracuse University, Cornell University, Keane University, and others at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y., to create structures at the annual Build Fest architecture festival.

An RIT trustee since 2016, Jacobson spent much of his career working at Maverick Business Services, a family-owned accounting firm. In 2022, he started AJ Tiger Tax Services. His areas of expertise included individual income tax preparation, auditing and tax planning and, as an enrolled agent, he is federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service.

Jacobson earned a bachelor’s degree in hotel and resort management in 1990 and a master’s degree in service leadership and innovation in 1996 from RIT. He was a member of the RIT President’s Roundtable, a member of the NTID Foundation and the NTID Alumni Association boards of directors, and was the 2014 recipient of NTID’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I have always wanted to give back,” Jacobson said. “When the late James DeCaro, former NTID director, and Bryan Hensel, NTID Director of Development, came to my office in 2009, it was a great time to get involved with RIT/NTID. I had no idea how the campus expanded, and the upward trajectory was truly starting. Once I started to see what was happening, I felt more inclined to get involved and saw how even a small amount could help students in need.”

Jacobson is impressed with the growth and transformation of RIT’s Henrietta campus. “Night and day, from when I was a student,” he said. “There’s no comparison between when I started at RIT in 1984 and where the campus is today. Seeing all the new buildings, expansions, and the impressive SHED, it almost makes me wish I was a student again.”

In making his latest commitment to NTID, Jacobson’s goal is to ensure students are able to make it through college without overwhelming financial burden and stress.

“I understand that a significant portion of NTID students comes from disadvantaged financial backgrounds. Therefore, the more I can help anyone make it through college easier, financially speaking, the more we can hope these students will be able to pay it forward later in life.

“Being able to give back and get involved with clubs such as the RIT Formula SAE, Hot Wheelz, and Baja teams, plus bringing students to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts BuildFest event, where I’m the main sponsor, has been the most rewarding period of my life. It’s all about giving the students the opportunity for experiential learning outside of the classroom. It’s fantastic to see firsthand the talent and creativity our students have shown. I could not be prouder of my alma mater.”

This story originally appeared in RIT News.