From the NTID President's Office - December 2023

Submitted by Rick Postl

Admissions counselors are entering the thick of the 2024 recruitment cycle. Demographic trends make creating a robust student pipeline at a younger age a critical activity for any institution,  especially RIT/NTID as we work with a niche student population. Many of our students became known to us through pre-college outreach programs such as TechTigers, Explore Your Future and Project Fast Forward dual-credit programs. Their interactions with faculty, staff and student leaders help to cement the deal. The NTID Office of Admissions relies on the campus community to support pipeline programs and the pipeline canvassing work you do through your professional affiliations and activities. We have an acute need to connect with students when they are younger, so they may visualize wearing Tiger orange throughout their postsecondary years. The greater your footprint in these activities, the better advantage we have to continue our collective work.

Submitted by John Macko

Here are some of NC3’s recent key accomplishments:

• We hired Sophie Powellas as a full-time senior employment advisor. She has more than seven years of professional experience, including work at NTID, Empire Interpreting Service, DePaul WorkGuide, Hornell City School District, and St. James Mercy Hospital. We are happy to have Sophie on our team.
• As part of our LinkedIn Photoshoot effort, 32 students had their professional portraits taken by NTID photographer Matthew Sluka, to update their LinkedIn or Indeed profiles.
• Employer Partnerships:
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) connected with 25 students to provide an overview of positions for which they are recruiting, touched on their accommodations process, and shared what they look for in resumes/applicants.
  • CIA had a “Meet and Greet” event with 20 students, focusing on facts vs myths and what jobs are available.
  • Tobyhanna Army Depot talked with 45 students from various engineering programs (AS and BS) to explain what it is like to work there and what positions are available.
  • As part of Coffee Chat, Jessica Leung from World Wildlife Fund met with 15 students to discuss various employment opportunities.
  • During another “Meet and Greet,” 20 students learned about the various openings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 
  • Dawn Lucas and Erica Roethel had an employer engagement meeting with Carlos Terrazas and Zakia Eastling-Stewart from McDonald’s Corp. to discuss summer internships and development program hiring.
• Presentations:
  • John Macko traveled to Hartford, Connecticut, to serve on a panel with Greg Pollock from CSD and Heidi Henaire from the Connecticut State Bureau of Rehabilitation Services to discuss “Navigating Hearing Disabilities in the Workplace” to 248 employees from The Hartford. 
  • Pam Christopher and Miranda Harms facilitated a virtual “Working Together” presentation for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to 533 participants. We received excellent feedback, and Aleesha from USDA asked if she could connect us to another agency within USDA to discuss doing a second presentation.
  • John Macko presented “Preparing Students for Successful Employment” to 36 participants at the National Deaf Center Virtual Conference.
  • Regina Kiperman-Kiselgof and Erica Roethel presented “Barriers to Employment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Students—Finding Solutions through College Career Services and VR Counselor Collaboration” to 18 attendees at the SERID conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Thirty-four employees from the New York State Department of Labor attended a virtual presentation by Erica Roethel and John Macko. We discussed key findings from the Deaf Employment Summit, workplace inclusion, and resources related to accommodations. 
• Karen Beiter, Marcus Holmes, Hailey Snodgrass (mechanical engineering technology), Dana Matthews, (mechatronics engineering technology), and Alex Aguiar (applied mechanical technology) went to San Diego, California, to participate in the Solar Turbines Training Academy. 
  • Students gained valuable engineering experience through an assigned case study project, which represents an example of a real-world problem. The day consisted of presentations, mock interviews, and a case study. The students worked together in teams and presented their case study solutions to a managerial panel at the end of the day.
• Pam Christopher coordinated the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) .
  • WRP is a recruitment and referral program that connects federal and private sector employers nationwide with highly motivated college students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workplace through summer or permanent jobs.
  • 45 applications completed
  • WRP recruiters interviewed 36 students. It was optional for the students to be interviewed. 

Submitted by Maria Ocasio

Join me in welcoming our new hires and congratulating our colleagues who received promotions and title changes:

New hires:

• Ryan Bash, PMT lab technician, engineering studies department
• Panji Sahetapy, non-tenure track faculty, MSSE

Title changes:

• Theresa Close, product development captionist
• Kathleen Darroch, interim manager, interpreting team for COS and CHST
• George Kartheiser, research scientist
• Alex Mitrovits, captioning development specialist/team lead
• Patrick Smith, manager of media technology operations
• Katherine Vernon, captioning development specialist/team lead
• Corey Wright, captioning development specialist/team lead

Promotions:

• Chelsea Clutter, captionist II
• Michael Donovan, real-time captioning coordinator III
• Christopher Ertel, captionist II
• Matthew Gerber, captioning development specialist/team lead
• Madeleine Grandon, captionist II
• Amanda Hagstrom, captionist III
• Anna Howland, captionist II
• Cynthia Hunt, captionist III
• Elizabeth Jackson Machmer, audiologist II
• Patrick Michael, real-time captioning coordinator II
• Nicholas Mitrovits, captionist II
• Jessica Overmoyer, captionist II
• Emily Pruden, captionist II
• Naomi Ruetz, captioning development specialist/team lead
• Leah Secor, captionist II
• Olivia Shamon, captionist II
• Anthony Spall, captionist II
• Rika Stoller, captionist II
• Annika Temp, captionist II
• Amanda Tillapaugh, captionist III
• Katherine Varga, captionist III
• Sara Villa, captionist III

• Jill Bradbury, professor and chair of NTID’s Department of Performing Arts, published “Disability Embodiment and Inclusive Aesthetics” in the book Inclusive Shakespeare: Identity, Pedagogy, Performance (Palgrave, 2023).
• Scott Gentzke ’96 (illustration), ’98 MST (visual arts – all grades), visiting assistant professor in the Master of Science in secondary education program and NTID Faculty Fellow, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “The Impact of Deaf Adolescents’ Educational Settings and Preferred Communication Modes on Their Sense of School Belonging,” on Sept.15. Gentzke was a Ph.D. candidate in the Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners program at Gallaudet University and will graduate in May 2024.
• A new textbook for teachers and teacher candidates contains text by a number of RIT/NTID faculty, staff, alumni, and students: Christopher Kurz is one of “58-In-Mind,” with content from Fred Michael Beam, Scott Gentzke, Julie Steward (MSSE graduate), Samantha Braidi (MSSE graduate), Scott Cohen (MSSE graduate), along with two illustrators: Malavana Ramborger (RIT/NTID graduate) and Laura Sanchez (former NTID VCS student). The e-book will be available in December, and the physical book, in January 2024.
• NTID Counseling and Academic Advising Services is pleased to share that all department members (aside from the new hires) have completed the Cultural Humility Certificate and continues to practice anti-racism and social justice efforts in their work together with students, staff, and faculty.
• From Brittany Comegna of NTID’s Project Fast Forward: “A group of us traveled to Alabama School for Deaf and Blind and Texas School for the Deaf to film content for Project Fast Forward. The trip consisted of early mornings and nightly meetings. Joshua Bloodworth was an excellent videographer. He brought four pieces of luggage with him for the shoot and reset for the dozen interviews we had in a week! His ASL skills and receptive skills have improved astronomically, showing his commitment to inclusion. Matthew Sluka for being an excellent model for Josh when setting up for our shoots, helping us with setting up the lights, radiating positive energy to our talent, so they felt comfortable, and for taking incredible photos of the trip. Thank you to Ilene Avallone for coordinating the entire trip, which took months to coordinate. The trip was a resounding success and wonderful footage and images were captured. Also, thanks go to David Strom for driving us around and making sure our needs were met, so we could execute the filming process, and Denise Kavin for her unyielding support of Project Fast Forward.
• RIT/NTID-supported students, faculty and staff attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists, Nov. 15-18, in Phoenix, Arizona. Those attending were:
  • Students
    • Hannah DeFelice
    • Adrita Arefin
    • Maameyaa Asiamah
    • Morgan Singleton
    • Nicole Taboada
    • Ulysses Hampton
    • Anna Nack
    • Manjot Kaur Sidhu
    • Hayden Orr
    • Rhiannon Wagner
    • Adedotun Adeyemi
    • Grace Phelan
    • Emma Kane
    • Chase Martin (Virtual)
  • Faculty/Staff
    • Krystina Ho
    • Jessica Contreras
    • Deirdre Schlehofer
    • Dyl Levenson
    • Elizabeth Ayers
    • Jordan Wright
    • Mariam Paracha
    • Nikki Cherry
    • Kat Womack
    • Sydney Roy
    • Emily Young
• Laural Hartman’s artwork exhibition, “Situation Awareness,” is featured at the Geisel Gallery in the Legacy Tower through Feb. 29, 2024. For more on the exhibit, visit the gallery website.
• ASLIE Career Fair was a huge success with the following employers seeking out our students and graduates:
  • Interpretek
  • RIT/ NTID Randleman Program
  • NTID Department of Access Services
  • Access Interpreting, Inc.
  • Service Bridges, Inc.
  • Partners Interpreting
  • Keystone Interpreting Solutions of NY
  • Monroe One BOCES
  • Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES
  • Sorenson
  • Riækt Consulting
  • Genesee Valley Region Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
  • Deaf Access Services, A Program of People Inc.
  • OCM BOCES
  • Cirrus Inc.
  • Myaslteacherrocks
  • University of Rochester Medical Center
  • Sign Language Connection
  • Aurora
  • ASLI

• RIT announced Distinguished Alumni Award Winners for 2023-2024
• RIT offers early look at the SHED
  • Additional stories on this by other news outlets
• “What did you say?” (navigating holidays with hearing family members)
• NTID’s DeafTEC receives $1.6 million grant renewal
• Rochester artist Lee Hoag returns to his roots
• Deaf community finds holiday warmth at Golden Harvest Bakery gathering
• Dance Review: “The Nutcracker”
• Addressing the national cybersecurity workforce shortage
• Accessible travel
• Artist Christine Sun Kim rewrites closed captions
• Breaking barriers in the footwear industry
• Astrophysicist uses NSF funding to grow the number of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and Hispanic researchers
• NTID researchers receive $1 million grant
• Rochester Bridges to the Doctorate partnership continues with grant to increase the number of deaf, hard-of-hearing scientists
• RIT researchers earn $1 million civic innovation challenge grant to empower the deaf community
• Scientists receive grant to develop sign language lexicon for chemistry

• Adel Henen, retired member of the FMS custodial staff who worked in LBJ Hall for several years, passed away Dec. 2, 2023.