From the NTID President's Office: May 2020

President Buckley signing to a group of students
 

From the NTID President's Office

Welcome to the May edition of my update. I hope this finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy. Even though the academic year is over, we continue to stay busy planning for the future. Thank you all for your contributions to making this very unusual semester successful.  

- Gerry
 

Archives

Portrait of President Buckley

Thank you

We virtually celebrated our graduating students on Friday, May 8, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your great work this semester. Certainly, when our students moved in last August, we could never have predicted how the academic year would end. It was your hard work and dedication to our students that kept education happening. You have my lasting thanks and admiration.

Summer online

I have convened a summer planning committee, which includes Denise Kavin, Mary Karol Matchett and Pam Carmichael. They are working on plans for hosting EYF virtually this summer, which will include a one-day Health Care Careers virtual event. We will not be hosting our TechBoyz or TechGirlz programs this summer. Pam also leads the committee responsible for planning the biennial Best Practice in Mainstream Education Conference, which was scheduled to be held on campus this summer. The on-campus event has been postponed until summer 2021, but the committee is planning a virtual mini conference for July 31 this year.  

Fall planning

With the NAC fully engaged in helping NTID focus on moving on line and complete the Spring Semester, I asked a team of colleagues to begin to think about the fall and beyond. This team was led by Donna Lange and included Linda Bryant, Jessica Cuculick, Peter Hauser, and Kim Kurz.

The committee reported their recommendations to the NAC in mid-May. I have asked the associate deans group under our associate vice president to review these recommendations in depth and develop a proposed plan of action in consultation with the department chairs and faculty. This plan will need to be consistent with RIT while also recognizing the unique opportunities that NTID might seize given the present situation. The immediate focus is on preparing for the fall as has been announced by the president and provost in recent university-wide communications. I appreciate the efforts of the Fall and Beyond planning committee and look forward to further discussions as their ideas are vetted. 

Length of service

Thank you to all of the members of our NTID community who have been recognized for their years of service:

  • Five years: Alesia Allen, Emily Call, Rebecca Carpenter, Nisha Cerame, Timothy Chisholm, Nicole Chow, Erin Clegg, Danielle Cohen, Shannon Connell, Stephanie DiLaura,  Matthew Dye, Elizabeth Hanks, Laural Hartman, Joseph Hill, Jessica Hurd, Tabitha Jacques,  Lisa Johnston, Rebecca Kingman, Millicent Kirk, Viet Le, Nicole Lupinetti, Rachel Mazique, James McCarthy, David Monahan, Dale Moore, Cynthia Niziurski, Susan Rizzo, Timothy Sanger II, Melissa Skyer, Tyler Swob, Jennifer Taylor, Jessica Trussell, Adam Young, Emily Zaleski
  • 10 years: Rachel Abbett, Christopher Campbell, Heather Eaggleston, Maureen Gallagher, Austin Gehret, Scott Hooker, Bonnie Jacob, Christopher Knigga, Kim Kurz, Karyssa Martin, Deirdre Schlehofer, Christy Smith, Erwin Smith, Kristen Starin, Karen Tobin, Stephanie Tolan, Jennifer Verbakel, Stacey Weiss, Jeremy Zehr
  • 15 years: Judith Baldwin, Sarah Cannon, Pamela Christopher, Brenna Cialini, Beth Harris, Paula Hellaby, Firoza Kavanagh, Kristi Love-Cooper, Melisa Loysen, John Mannara, Laurie Mousley, Lori Poole-Clement, Nicole Ribis, Michael Stanko, Sharon Vandezande
  • 20 years: Anne Alepoudakis, Scott Bellinger, Cynthia Cappa, Judith Ferguson, Melinda Hopper, Pamela Kincheloe, Kelli McIntee-Shaw, Misty Nabewaniec, Franklin Polvino, Sheila Ryan, Joseph Stanislow, Amy Stornello, Dawn Swanson
  • 25 years: Loriann Macko, Mary Pat Magde, Cheryl Reminder, Jeannette Vargas  
  • 30 years: Leisa Boling, Patricia Durr, Sarah Jacobs, Catherine Lyon-Wilson, Amanda Mothersell, John “Troy” Olivier, John Reid, Hope Williams
  • 35 years: William Anilosky, Gerald Bateman, Jennifer Kelly, David Krohn, William LaVigne, Sydney Long
  • 40 years: Stephen Aldersley, David Cohn, Cecelia Dorn, Joyce Pemberton

Retirements

A fond farewell to the following colleagues who are retiring at the end of the fiscal year. We appreciate all of their dedication to RIT, NTID and our students:

  • John Sweeney (June/2020), 46 years
  • Paula Grcevic  (6/30/20), 41 years
  •  Lynn Finton (6/30/2020), 39 years
  • Marianne Gustafson (June/2020), 37 years
  • Ken Finton (7/1/2020), 34 years

From the Office of the Associate Dean of Research

The OADR continues its work remotely, of course; we're as busy as ever. We wish to thank the faculty, staff, and administration for the added patience that is sometimes necessary for us to accomplish things remotely.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of this year's Scholarship Portfolio Development Initiative (SPDI) competition. As a reminder, this is an annual intramural grant competition, funded by OADR, intended to promote research that will enhance faculty members' careers and, frequently, yield pilot data useful for pursuing extramural grants. This year, applications were invited from "established investigators" as well as "new investigators" (those who have never received extramural funding before). New investigators are required to work with a faculty mentor on their project. Similar to last year, the "base" SPDI award amount was capped at $12,000, unless a proposal included collaborators outside NTID, in which case an additional $3,000 was allowed to support collaboration expenses. This year's awardees and their projects are:

  • Bonnie Jacob, "Applying Reconfiguration to Power Domination in Graphs"
  • Jason Listman (PI) and Geo Kartheiser (Co-PI), "Exploring the Relationship Between Shadowing Technique and L2/M2 ASL Learners' Mirror Neuron System" (Matthew Dye, Mentor)
  • Jason Nordhaus, "A Novel Observational Constraint on a Critical Phase of Stellar Evolution"
  • Corinne Occhino (PI) and Tiffany Panko (Co-PI), "Reproductive Health Experiences of Deaf Women: A Mixed-Methods Study" (Jess Cuculick, Mentor)

Congratulations to Matthew Dye and Joseph Hill for securing a significant amount of funding from the National Science Foundation for their project, "Translanguaging Science: Assessment of Language Proficiency and Processing Across Languages and Modalities. 

Sunshine 2.0

On May 1-2, Sunshine 2.0 group performed at, and participated in, a #FeelTheMusic Conference via Zoom by Columbia University, New York City (Teacher College). The event was open to the public.

NTID Center on Employment activities

The NTID Center on Employment, along with Gallaudet University, NAD and CSD, are hosting a webinar for employers on May 21. The topic will be: Strategies for working from home: Deaf and Hearing People.

Here is a list of NCE programming and activities from April through the summer. While the primary focus has been on the Class of 2020, alumni and employer partners also are interested in being involved. More activities will be added as the spring/summer progresses. 

  • Remote Mock Interview sessions conducted by RIT/NTID alumni took place in April.
  • In collaboration with the Starkloff Disability Institute, NCE referred students and alumni to the organization’s Resume Roundtable event in April.
  • Two NCE Spotlight AMA “Ask Me Anything” sessions—one designed for current students and one for graduating seniors and alumni took place in April.
  • NCE and students participated in the Bender Consulting Services Virtual Career Fair in April.
  • NCE hosted a presentation in May on preparing for online/remote Interviews via Zoom or other technology. Topics included accessibility, environment, technology, attire, and preparedness.  NCE hosted presentation.
  • In May, NCE created a video for graduates and students seeking employment in a post-COVID -19 environment. Information includes adjusting expectations and job search strategies to effectively navigate the changing workplace.  

Future events include:

  • Webinar on COVID-19 related employment issues; how it has changed recruitment, interviewing, and on-boarding of new staff and how job seekers can best prepare for these new processes in recruitment and the changing workplace post COVID-19. 
  • Career Readiness or Essential Skills for Employment (AKA Soft skills). Dow Chemical human resources representatives and RIT/NTID alumni currently working at Dow will host a roundtable discussion on this topic to share information on essential skills. The focus will be “What I Wish I Knew Before… How to Develop Skills NOW that Will Help Create the Pathway to Career Success.”
  • Creating a LinkedIn Profile with Impact. Co-hosted by NCE and RIT/NTID alumni in the human resource/accessibility field. 
  • Business Communication: Written communication practice and professional email etiquette. NCE will host a demonstration/presentation with examples of effective professional email communication, and will share resources and connect students and alumni with NCE advisors for on-going practice to improve their professional email correspondence.

NCE designed these offerings with feedback from employer partners, the NCE Employer Advisory Group, local and national career services centers and organizations such as RIT’s Office of Career Services and Cooperative Education, the Rochester Area Career Development Association, National Association of Colleges and Employers Resources, higher education and employment publications and resources, and finally, faculty, students, and alumni.

Tiger Wisdom project

RIT Alumni Relations started the “Tiger Wisdom” project, which has been collecting advice and encouragement from alumni to share with the Class of 2020, including:

Kudos

  • To student-athlete, now graduate, Mia White, who was named RIT Athletics Senior Female Athlete of the Year.
  • To JayShaud Potter, whose SmartPillow creation won second place for RIT’s Tiger Tank 2020. He also was the second place winner for NTID’s Next Big Idea 2020.
  • To ASLIE student Amy Parr, who received the Isaac L. Jordan, Sr. Freshman Scholarship for 2020.
  • To Ruiying Gao, a computer science major, who was elected to RIT’s Student Government as the cross-registered senator and elected to the ALANA Collegiate Association for the next academic year.
  • To Jacob Custer, an economics major, who was elected the College of Liberal Arts senator for RIT Student Government.
  • To Sunshine 2.0 for creating a heartfelt version of the RIT Alma Mater. If you haven’t seen it, take a look: https://youtu.be/1XhFF6HUhNs.
  • To Dylan Panarra, who used his 3D printer to create more than 100 pieces of personal protection equipment for health care workers at Highland Hospital https://www.rit.edu/ntid/news/ritntid-alumnus-and-staffer-uses-3d-printing-create-ppe-local-hospitals.
  • To Linda Bryant, who completed all of the requirements for the year-long Online Learning Consortium’s Online Teaching Certificate program and received an Award of Completion.

Passings

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