From the NTID President's Office - August 2023

Submitted by Rick Postl

As of August 1, NTID Admissions is 38 new and returning student deposits ahead of last year, and 43 students above our enrolled student goal for Fall 2023. ASLIE is welcoming a class of 48 new and returning students. MSSE exceeded capacity with 42 new and returning students. We are welcoming 26 (compared to 15 last year) new deaf and hard-of-hearing students in graduate programs outside of the MSSE and Health Care Interpretation (five new students) programs. Enrollment numbers are positive for 2023-2024.

See below for a rundown of interesting statistics:

• We are welcoming 132 BIPOC undergraduate students (compared to 120 last year).
• The BS-level programs in computer science (6) and mechanical engineering (7) are welcoming the highest number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in comparison to all other majors.  
• We are welcoming 81 new baccalaureate-level students and 168 new associate degree-level students.
• New York sits at top of the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students represented, with 39 new students, and California is a close second with 33 new students.  
• The visual communication studies department has the highest number of incoming students at 32, topping all other NTID majors combined.  
• 68% of students opted to not submit ACT/SAT scores.  

Following a national search, Brittany Taylor has been selected as the new director of NTID’s Department of Access Services. She brings communication, collaboration and leadership experience to this important role. 

Brittany joined DAS in 2009 after graduating from NTID’s ASL and Interpreter Education program. She has served in a variety of progressively responsible roles, including staff interpreter, interpreting coordinator and interpreting manager. Most recently, Brittany managed interpreting services for the College of Science; the College of Health Sciences and Technology; Residence Life; the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution; Ombuds; Spirituality and Religious Life; and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Resource Center. She was a recipient of the Excellence Award for the 2022 RIT Presidential Awards for Outstanding Staff. 

Originally from Geneva, N.Y., Brittany, who holds bachelor’s degrees from RIT/NTID and Keuka College and a master’s degree from RIT, resides in Rochester with her partner, Christopher, and their dog, Maggie. 

As DAS director, Brittany provides strategic leadership to, and direction for, RIT/NTID’s access service functions, serving deaf and hard-of-hearing students, staff, faculty and visitors. Reporting to the NTID president, the primary focus of the position is to ensure that NTID continues to employ state of the art resources and techniques for the delivery of access services at RIT. Brittany is responsible for management oversight and leadership for a staff of 230 service providers and external service providers as well as developing, reviewing and implementing strategic plans for access services provision.

She began her new role on July 15, replacing Rico Peterson, who served in the role for the past 12 years. Please join me in welcoming Brittany to her new role in DAS and to the NTID Administrative Council, and thanking Rico for his many years of dedicated service. Many thanks, also, to the search committee for their work: co-chairs Cynthia Collward and Sue Stella, along with Tim Albert, Sonya Chavis, Gina Coyne, Nicole Crouse-Dickerson, Michael Donovan, Annette Fagan, Jennifer Jess, Lori Harris and Gabriel Ponte-Fleary.

Amy Stornello has been appointed NTID’s full-time deputy Title IX coordinator, responsible for matters involving sex- and gender-based harassment and discrimination related to or involving members of the NTID community. Since 2016, Amy has served in the role part-time, focusing only on student Title IX issues. In her new full-time role, which began on July 3, she has expanded her responsibilities to also include faculty and staff Title IX concerns.

Amy is a 1996 RIT criminal justice graduate and holds a master of public administration degree from SUNY Brockport. She began her RIT career as a resident director, focusing on deaf and hard-of-hearing students. In 2004, she joined NTID as a senior admissions counselor. She also has served as assistant director of NTID admissions and visitation, director of NTID’s Summer Vestibule Program, director of Freshman Seminar, interim director of Career Exploration Studies and as a senior employment advisor.

Amy reports to Bernie Hurwitz, associate vice president for NTID administration, with a dotted-line, day-to-day reporting relationship with Stacy DeRooy, RIT’s director of Title IX and Clery compliance. Amy supports Stacy’s work coordinating RIT’s compliance with federal and state sexual discrimination and sexual harassment laws, including Title IX, The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the New York Education Law Article 129-B and other related federal and state discrimination laws and guidance documents. Amy assists in the intake and coordination of cases alleging sex- and gender-based harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment, intimate partner violence, and stalking, involving NTID students, faculty and staff. Amy works with and assists RIT’s Title IX Office in coordinating prevention efforts, creating and administering training to educate the NTID community on policy, laws, regulations, reporting obligations and the university’s grievance process.  

Please join me in congratulating Amy as she takes on full-time responsibilities for this important work.

Crystal Peloquin began her new role July 5 as the ALANA staff retention specialist for the NTID Office of Diversity and Inclusion. She graduated from RIT/NTID with a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language-English Interpretation with a minor in Deaf Studies in 2013, and went on to complete her master’s at RIT in professional studies with concentrations in communication and media technology, human resource development and secondary education for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in 2016.

Outside of work, Crystal has been married to her college sweetheart for 11 years, and they have two children and two Sphynx cats together. She loves anything Disney and has been to Disney World more than 20 times. Crystal also enjoys watching hockey and supporting the Seattle Kraken.

Crystal’s office is located in LBJ-3112, and her email address is: cjpnod@rit.edu. Please stop by to welcome Crystal and introduce yourself. 

Submitted by Vicki Liggera

The NTID Counseling and Academic Advising Services team welcomes two new staff members:

• Eileen Todesco is a senior staff assistant, replacing Eileen Contestabile. Eileen comes to RIT/NTID from the Jewish Home of Rochester. She is an alumna of Rochester School for the Deaf and also worked at the school for 20 years in various roles. She volunteers with both Deaf Women of Rochester and Rochester Recreation Club for the Deaf. Eileen and her husband have two adult children. 
• Melora Brock is a counselor/academic advisor. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Gallaudet University in 2003, and two master’s degrees from Marshall University in special education (2015) and counseling (2023). Originally from West Virginia, she worked at West Virginia School for the Deaf for 11 years. In her most recent position, Melora worked as a K-12 school counselor.

Submitted by Bryan Hensel

• Congratulations to the Alumni and Constituent Relations team on hosting very successful alumni gatherings at both the Deaf Seniors of America conference in Hollywood, Florida, in late June, and at the National Black Deaf Advocates conference in Birmingham, Alabama, earlier this month. Both were important events engaging some of NTID’s strongest alumni advocates.  
• Congratulations to the entire Morpheyes Studio team. Their film, “INSPIRED,” took home the Best Short award at the Over-The-Rhine Film Festival, held in Cincinnati, Ohio. Special congratulations to Darian Slattery, the film’s director and writer. A screening of “INSPIRED” and a post-film panel is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 15, at The Little Theater during the Rochester Fringe Festival.
• Special thanks to the William Randolph Hearst Foundation for their generous gift of $150,000, which will support interpreting students of color beginning this fall. Congratulations and special thanks to Amberlee Jones and the RIT/NTID fundraising team for their work in securing this important gift.
• The Office of External Affairs is hosting “An Evening with Chris Montan,” former president of Disney Music. This moderated discussion will be in Ingle Auditorium 6:30 - 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14. This is your opportunity to meet the individual behind Disney music classics, including “Frozen,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” and more.
• NTID’s fall 2023 Edmund Lyon Memorial Lectureship Series features Dr. Andrew Manning, deaf Nobel Prize winner and climate scientist. His lecture, “Responding to the Climate Crisis: Is the Whole World Deaf?” will be in Ingle Auditorium 6:30 – 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. Dr. Manning will examine what “climate change,” an existential threat to the human race, really means by looking at the science, not social media.
• We hope you can join for two upcoming Deaf awareness events.
  • Deaf Culture Night at the Rochester Red Wings happens Friday, Sept. 15. The game starts at 6:05 p.m. and will feature a silent 7th inning stretch, special ASL jerseys, extra interpreters, and closed captioning. 
  • Deaf Awareness Day at the Rochester Museum and Science Center is Saturday, Sept. 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Museum admission is free for RIT/NTID students and employees with an RIT ID; regular admission for family members.
• NTID’s Dyer Arts Center hosts an exhibit featuring artwork by renowned deaf artist, Laurie Shapiro. Based in Los Angeles, California, Laurie’s artwork has been commissioned by various institutions, including the San Diego Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Otherworld, Weedmaps, and Walter Studios. Laurie is a visual artist whose work employs a layering technique that combines painting, screen printing, sewing, and sculpture to create all-encompassing, visually-stimulating installations and individual pieces. 
• After being temporarily housed in the Gordon Field House for the past two years, the RIT ASL and Deaf Studies Community Center will return to its permanent and newly renovated space in the Wallace Library, directly adjacent to the newly constructed Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED). Be on the lookout for information on a fall open house.

New faculty and staff, and those who wish to update an older directory photo, may sign up for a time to have their picture taken in the NTID Photo Studio (LBJ-2727) during the week of August 28 through Sept. 1. Please remember to wear solid colors, try to avoid black or white, and no logos on clothing unless they are RIT’s. If you have any questions, contact Matthew Sluka.

Due to the volume of requests the NTID President’s Office receives for emails to be sent to the NTID community, we are changing the process this year. If you have an email that you want to have sent to all NTID faculty, staff, and/or students, please send the following to Dominika Brice:

1. A Word document containing all of the text for your email
2. Any images or graphics that should be included
3. Image descriptions to ensure that any images or graphics are accessible (get more information on image descriptions)

 Dominika will send your email to your desired audience (NTID faculty, staff, and/or students) using the RITMail system.

Please note that due to the volume of requests, you should submit your email content to Dominika as far in advance as possible and specify the date you’d the email to be sent.

If you have questions, please contact Dominika for more information.

Submitted by Maria Ocasio

Please join me in welcoming new colleagues to NTID and congratulating our colleagues who have been promoted or transferred to other positions.

New hires

• Jenna Bygall, captionist I
• Lindsey Burchell, captionist I 
• Stephanie Dilcher, NTID student financial services coordinator
• Barbara Earth, postdoctoral associate, NTID Deaf Health Hub
• Amelia Hamilton, assistant director, student-alumni mentoring and special projects
• Cheri Hennessey, senior staff assistant, NTID president’s office
• Elizabeth Johnson, senior staff specialist, NTID facilities services
• Dylan Levenson, biomedical science training grants administrator
• Charles McFadden, senior director, outreach consortium
• Angela Morgano, client care specialist
• Jewel Morris, speech/language professional I
• Tharon Parsley, theater actor
• Bonnie Ratliff, audiology extern
• Julia Shields, senior staff assistant, NTID transition services
• David Strom, director, Project Fast Forward
• Lauri Williams NTID support specialist, NTID client services

Promotions

• Taylor Glister, interpreter
• Jayme Kaplan-Krutz, speech/language professional II
• Vanessa Martinez, associate interpreter
• Kara Matchett, senior counselor/academic advisor
• Izaac Ochoa, interpreter

New positions

• Emily Call, coordinator, interpreter apprentice program
• Amy Stornello, Title IX coordinator
• Brittany Taylor, director NTID Access Services

• Victoria Darcy, who retired from RIT/NTID in 2021, passed away Aug. 8, 2023. She was a member of the Enrollment Management department. 
• James E. Stangarone, who retired from RIT/NTID in 1999, passed away Aug. 1, 2023. He was the first director of interpreting services at NTID. 
• John R. Swan, SVP ’70, ’74 & ’76 CAST (computer technology-computer systems), passed away on July 28, 2023.
• Hope M. Smith, SVP ’16, passed away July 18, 2023. She was a former student in NTID’s design and imaging technology program.
• Jon Kristian Jorgensen Keach, passed away March 15, 2023. He taught in NTID’s English Department.