From the NTID President's Office

All faculty and staff who are or will be working on campus during spring semester must submit proof of a negative COVID test. For more information, visit the RIT Ready website and be sure to check the site frequently for updates. Provost Granberg recommends having a plan in place for remote instruction in the event it is needed.

NTID’s updated Antiracism and Social Justice Plan now is available online. This revised version incorporates feedback from students, including members of Asian Deaf Club, Ebony Club, and Latin American Deaf Club; faculty and staff, individually and through NTID governance groups and organizations, including NTID Faculty Congress, NTID Staff Senate, and the NTID Diversity Group; the NTID Alumni Association Board; the NTID Foundation Board; and the NTID National Advisory Group.

This updated version of the plan identifies who is responsible for each action item and provides timelines. As we move forward, we will post to the website regular updates regarding progress on each action item.

Many thanks to everyone who provided feedback on development of the plan. Success of the plan will require on-going commitment and support from everyone in our campus community. Working together, we will accomplish the goals we have established for ourselves to eliminate systemic racism and inequity in our community and ensure a better future for NTID and the students we serve.

RIT has released additional information on COVID-19 vaccine eligibility based on the most recent New York State guidelines.

As I announced in late December, Congress passed an omnibus budget bill for FY 2021 and an additional COVID-19 stimulus package. The FY 2021 budget appropriation for NTID is $81,500,000, an increase of $2 million over FY 2020.  Of that amount, $6.5 million is designated for our regional outreach efforts, leaving $75 million for NTID’s operations. 

In addition, NTID will receive an additional $11 million in the stimulus package to assist us with responding to the myriad issues caused by COVID-19. We are awaiting additional information from the federal government related to how this funding can be used, and we will share this information when we receive it. In the meantime, if you have questions, please contact Bernie Hurwitz.

There is a short time left to submit applications for the OADR’s annual intramural grant competition, the Scholarship Portfolio Development Initiative (SPDI). Applications are due Jan. 29. NTID faculty have been sent detailed instructions regarding the SPDI program. Send any questions to Laurie Furibondo.

Bob Pollard extend his sincere thanks to the NTID faculty, and especially OADR staff members Nancy Starr and Laurie Furibondo, for assistance in submitting data for, and compiling, the legally mandated annual research report to the U.S. Department of Education. Congratulations to Jason Nordhaus for securing competitive, extramural support for his astronomical research. from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) organization for a project entitled, “3D Simulations of Planetary Disruption of Red Giant Interiors.” Jason will have access to SXEDE’s high-end computational and visualization resources, among other resources, to continue his research. NTID student involvement in Jason’s research is a particular benefit of his ongoing extramural support success.

Rachel Mazique  participated in the 2020 National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)’s Faculty Success Program, which resulted in a new publication in Human Rights Quarterly entitled, “Deaf rights as human rights: Delimiting the human with literatures of ‘the hearing line.” Rachel says the NCFDD’s program helped her to be a productive researcher and writer, while also navigating her journey as a new mother. She would be happy to communicate with other NTID faculty regarding her experiences with NCFDD and the Faculty Success Program. Learn more about NCFDD and their programs on their website.

Rain Bosworth’s Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) laboratory has been launched on the grounds of the Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD). The broad goal of the PLAY lab is to study development of cognition, perception, and language in deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing children. Using behavioral, cognitive, eye tracking, and non-invasive neuroimaging techniques, Rain’s research examines how sign language expertise and perceptual skills emerge in children. She and her team, including NTID students, will study how cognitive skills, gaze behavior, and neural activity emerge during human development; investigating how these outcome measures are impacted by the viewer’s language and educational history. The PLAY laboratory space will be a resource for RIT-affiliated researchers to conduct psychological research, primarily with children, and sometimes with adults, recruited from RSD, RIT, and the broader Rochester community.

It’s time to prepare your proposal to exhibit at the Annual Imagine RIT Festival, Saturday, May 1, 2021. The submission system is open now through March 15.

Only current RIT students, faculty and staff are eligible to submit a proposal for Imagine RIT. Before submitting, review the exhibitor guidelines. If you would like to be considered for placement in the Gordon Field House, submit your proposal by Feb. 1. All other submissions should be completed by March 15.

In addition to exhibiting in person, this year exhibitors also can submit a video of their exhibit to be posted on the Imagine website. More details can be found here. Contact NTID’s point of contact Nancy Popolizio for more information.

Past Workshops – PowerPoints and Recordings
Presentation materials from fall workshops are available here. New posts include:

• 21 Day Racial Equity Challenge Wrap Up (PDF)
• Creative Commons – Public Copyright Licenses (PDF and video)
• Effective Public Presentation in ASL and Deaf Culture (video)
• Vocal Health and Fatigue Explained: Voice Care Tips for Tired Voices (PDF and video)

Professional Development Funds
Due to COVID-19, conference travel remains prohibited by the university. However, virtual conference attendance is permissible as a means of augmenting your professional development. Please contact your department chairperson for more information. Mini grant information is available here.

Staff Council is pleased to announce the results of their annual Donation Drive for the RIT FoodShare Center. Through your efforts, we made 95 monetary donations to the FoodShare Fund (including ROAR day donations), totaling $7,418—more than any other year. With 53 donors who purchased items from the FoodShare Center’s Amazon Wish List amounting to 185 items, many of which were multi-packs, your caring made a big difference. Staff Council is grateful to all who donated, especially during this challenging year for many in our community. Thank you!

NSS will have an open meeting in February with Ashley Meyer from the Ombuds Office. More information to follow. As always, reach out to any of our seven NSS Senators with any questions, concerns, or ideas. The seven senators are Jenna Stein (chair), Tabitha Jacques (vice chair), Kara Matchett (secretary), Cheryl Bovard, Sarah Schneckenberger, Reena Banerjee, and TJ Sanger.

• Evelyn Hernandez, third year student in Architectural and Civil Drafting Technology, got a co-op with LaBella Associates. She will be assisting in the drafting of the 38,000-square foot addition to RIT’s Lowenthal Hall, home of the Saunder’s College of Business.

• NCE staffers attended a webinar “Inaugural Virtual Career Fair Season: Lessons Learned from the Employer & College Perspective” Dec. 11. 
• Cleveland State University (CSU) has been approved for REU programming for this summer. CSU is very motivated to recruit deaf and hard-of-hearing students in engineering, computing, and science.
• U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are seeking students to apply for their summer internship programs.
• Class of 2020 – Mirna Shamoon, Accounting Technology, has been working at Dealerdocx in Victor, New York.
• Stephanie Woodward, a former colleague of Beth Noworatzky, reached out about hiring an RIT/NTID student to create ASL translation videos of spoken English videos with Out of the Margins that was launched this year
• NTID, CSD, Gallaudet University, and NAD hosted a webinar Dec. 3, “Hiring Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Employees Now and Beyond.” Panelists included Regina Kiperman-Kiselgof, NTID; Anjali Desai-Margolin – Career Center consultant, Gallaudet University; Angel Enriquez – senior manager, Amazon Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion; Samantha Moreno – recruiter, HEB Disability Bridges.
• NCE staff attended Disability: IN’s NextGen Leaders Program Info Session, a six-month mentorship and career development program for college students and recent graduates. There are 16 RIT/NTID applicants.
• Two Saunders College of Business graduates have secured employment: Morgan Brenon, copywriter, Virtucom Group, Watertown, New York; and Gregory Schmidt, account manager, Swagelok of Western New York.
• Established new partnership with Pacific Gas & Electric. Michael Coyle, Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager, is interested in providing employment opportunities for NTID deaf and hard-of-hearing students, recent graduates, and alumni. 
• Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) connects federal and private sector employers with college students and recent graduates with disabilities for summer or permanent jobs. More than 40 NTID students have interviewed for positions.
• Charles Hem, alumnus from RIT’s Biomedical Engineering major, is a PhD student at Harvard, part of their Graduate Program in Speech and Hearing & Bioscience and Technology. The program continues to seek applicants with diverse undergraduate backgrounds in biology, physics, engineering, and computer science to apply for PhD programs. 

• Math Competition Lite ended Nov. 18 with 120 participants. Planning is underway for the 2021 national competition.
• FutureQuest programming for 2020-21 includes:
  • October—Montana
  • November—New Hampshire  
  • December—New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma
  • January—Ohio (four-day training with Ohio VR and Hands & Voices) 
  • February—Colorado
  • March—Kentucky
  • April—Utah
  • May—TBD

• NTID regional representatives, Theresa Johnson and Sharaine Rawlinson, are assisting with FutureQuest.

• Virtual Science Fair schedule included a Solar Energy Competition, and will host a Paper Plane Competition kickoff webinar with Vicki Garcia from NASA Jan. 28, 2021. 

• Career Exploration Series hosted the following virtual events:
  • Nov. 12:  The Science behind Clean Water, with Camille Ouellette
  • Nov. 17: Internet of Things/Paper Circuits, with Joseph Stanislow
  • Dec. 3: Printmaking, with Laural Hartman
  • Dec. 18: Virtual Reality, with Tiandre’ Turner
• Sorenson will gift $5,000 for Career Exploration Presentation Series for student kits.
• ZVRS $40,000 gift for The Next Big Idea: NTID and The Next Big Idea: High School
• NTID is partnering with CSD Learns on STEM curriculum for BIPOC students.
• At this time, we are planning virtual outreach programs for summer 2021.

• Sunshine 2.0 events in December and January

  • December 2020: Participated in a virtual panel discussion and performed for 90 attendees on “Parent Involvement in Black Deaf Children’s Education” hosted by the Eastern Region BLM Team under National Black Deaf Advocates. 

  • January 2021: Fred Beam moderated a panel discussion “Educating Black Deaf Children During a Pandemic: How do we keep them from falling behind?” hosted by the Eastern Region BLM Team under National Black Deaf Advocates

The Audiology Center now has a cell phone number for calls or TEXT for appointments, the number is 585-469-2329. The old Audiology Center number, 585-475-6473, continues to be available for calls only.

We are grateful to our recent retirees for their dedication to our students: Ken Finton, Lynn Finton, Paula Grcevic, Marianne Gustafson, Ila Parasnis, Peter Reeb, John Sweeney, Thomas Weymann. Check out a presentation with details and photos recapping their time at RIT/NTID.

Jason Nordhaus and Kim Kurz join Lisa Johnston and Jennifer Swartzenberg in receiving NTID’s Faculty and Scholarship Awards.

I encourage you to remind graduating students that the RIT Master Plan scholarship has been extended. The RIT Master Plan includes a special scholarship covering 55% of graduate tuition. It has been extended to include RIT students who graduated in December 2020 and those anticipating graduation in May 2021 and August 2021. This offer also applies to alumni who graduated in December 2019, May 2020, and August 2020. The master plan scholarship extends to more than 65 qualifying master’s degree programs offered on the RIT campus and select online RIT master’s degrees. Many of these degrees can be completed in 12 months, while others run 18-24 months. Students who enroll and matriculate in graduate school at least half time may be able to defer their student loan payments. The RIT Master Plan gives students a fast track to a graduate degree, with an application fee waiver and one-step application, no GMAT or GRE required, and an admission decision in a week. Students can apply using the RIT Graduate online application. Additional details and a list of graduate programs are available at The RIT Master Plan website.

• To Luane Davis Haggerty, who will receive RIT’s Four Presidents Award for service to the community in a ceremony in April.
• To Kristi Love, who was appointed to serve on the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education (CCIE) as a commissioner.
• To alumna Christine Sun Kim, who was named a 2020 Breakout Star in the New York Times.

Faculty/staff

• Paul Taylor passed away Jan. 11 2021. He began working at NTID as chair of the Engineering Support Team in 1975 and retired as a professor of computer technology after 30 years of service. He was inducted into the RIT Innovation Hall of Fame in 2013 for his work on the first telecommunications devices for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Arrangements are incomplete at this time.
• K. Dean Santos passed away Dec. 28, 2020. He was associate professor and chairperson of the Social Work program and NTID Liberal Studies instructional/support faculty.

• https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/KSantos/.

• Fred Hamil passed away Dec. 15, 2020. During his 30+ years at RIT, Fred developed and instructed science and medical programs for NTID. He received the NTID National Advisory Group’s Outstanding Service award as being the longest tenured chair of NTID’s Applied Science/Allied Health and Computer Integrated Machining Technology (CIMT) departments.

• https://www.newcomerrochester.com/Obituary/193208/Frederic-Hamil/Rochester-NY

Alumni

• James E. Boardman, SVP ’76, ’80 NTID (Applied Computer Technology), ’82 Engineering Technology (Computer Technology-Computer Systems), passed away Dec. 21, 2020.
• Roger R. Claybourne, SVP ’83, 1987 NTID (Industrial Drafting), passed away on Nov. 24, 2020.https://www.altmeyerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/roger-ray-claybourne/
• Grace Ann Netti, SVP ’83, ’90 Business (Management), ’86 Business (Business Administration-Human Resource Management, passed away on Dec. 26, 2020. https://www.pettigrassfuneralhome.com/obituary/Grace-Netti
• Randy B. Olmstead, SVP ’75, ’77 NTID (Applied Computer Technology), passed away on Dec. 10, 2020. https://lindfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/7576/Randy-Olmstead/obituary.html
• Norma Irene (Jefferson) Thompson, ’72 Fine & Applied Arts (Art & Design) of NTID’s Pioneer Class passed away Dec. 19, 2020. https://www.piercefh.com/obituaries/Norma-Thompson-15/#!/Obituary
• Guy Wonder passed away on Nov. 27, 2020. A member of the NTID Pioneer Class, Wonder graduated in 1971 from Fine & Applied Arts (Visual Communication – Applied Art). He was an artist, artistic director, furniture designer/maker, sculptor, display and set builder, and was one of the signatories of the De’VIA manifesto. His works are part of Dyer Arts Center’s permanent collection.