From the NTID President's Office - November 2022

November 2022

As we approach the November break, like many of you, I will be reflecting on the things for which I am most grateful. This year, that list includes the easing of the COVID pandemic and a return to more normal campus life. Our students are participating in clubs and organizations, enjoying sports as both participants and Tiger super fans, and studying late into the night, if the line for caffeine at the College Grind every morning is any indication! You have helped make all of this happen through your work with our students, giving them the tools they need to prepare themselves for the world that awaits them. I hope each of you has a restful, enjoyable, and safe break, and I look forward to the push to finals and the end of the semester in December.

Gerry

Archives

Submitted by Rick Postl

RIT/NTID continues to be a fan favorite around the country, based on the positive reception to our counselors’ school visits. So far this year, we have visited 110 schools, with many more planned. This compares to 162 total visits last year due ongoing pandemic restrictions imposed by schools. We also have a slightly higher number of early decision (Nov. 1 deadline) applications from both the deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduate and ASLIE student populations. We seem to be favored among academically strong students from schools for the deaf, based on rate of attendance. We continue to work to connect with itinerant programs and under-the-radar students without IEP/504s to highlight the growing number of listening and spoken language RIT/NTID students and our welcoming environment for this population.

Submitted by Heather Eaggleston

RIT’s United Way 2023 campaign will start in March. However, as we enter the holiday season, please keep in mind the Silent Auction held in NTID Academic Affairs each year. If you find a great deal on a gift, but aren’t sure who to give it to, or you receive a gift you don’t want or need, please consider donating those items for the Silent Auction in March. It’s a great way to participate in the United Way campaign and contribute to NTID’s signature event.

In December, each NTID division/department will receive an email from RIT’s United Way team asking for a Key Captain to be designated for that area. Key Captains share campaign updates and instructions with their colleagues for the few weeks that the United Way campaign runs. It’s an important role that can fit within most schedules. In the past few years, more than 20 NTID areas have been covered by RIT staff because those areas would not identify a Key Captain. This year, all areas should designate a Key Captain, if at all possible. Thank you for your participation in this important university- and community-wide effort.

Submitted by John Macko

NCCC was pleased to host the NTID Career Fair on Thursday, Oct. 6, for the first time in-person since October 2019. Many thanks to Erica Roethel for leading and coordinating the event. We were pleased to welcome 34 employers from private companies, government, non-profit and educational sectors, and they met with more than 200 students during the event. Among the employer representatives at the fair were 23 RIT/NTID alumni, representing 18 employers. We were pleased to honor PNC Financial Services and University of Tennessee – Knoxville as recipients of the NTID Outstanding Partnership Award.

In other NCCC news:

• Amy Stornello and Dawn Lucas traveled to Orlando, Florida, to present “Creating a Culture of Employment” to 58 participants at the Southeast Regional Institute on Deafness (SERID) conference Friday, Oct. 14. Responses from the audience were very positive.

• Department of Engineering Studies Interim Chair Karen Beiter and Lecturer David Monahan, along with students Esmond Lau (mechanical engineering), JT Reed (pre-bachelor’s engineering), and Evan Strickland (mechanical engineering) went to San Diego, California, to participate in the Solar Turbines Training Academy on Friday, Oct. 14. The students gained valuable engineering experience through an assigned case study project, which represented 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. Senior Employment Advisor Miranda Harms worked closely with Natalie Torres from Solar Turbines to organize this trip.

• Miranda Harms and Amy Stornello presented “Working Together” to 58 participants from L3Harris for National Employment Disability Awareness Month on Thursday, Oct. 20. They received enthusiastic and positive feedback!

• John Macko and Maria Richart, director of Career Services and Cooperative Education at RIT, attended the fall 2022 NYS Directors’ Summit at SUNY Oswego Syracuse Campus on Friday, Oct. 21, networking with 23 career center representatives and sharing ideas and strategies for serving students, alumni, employers, and the campus community.

• Senior Employment Advisors Sophie Powell, Miranda Harms, and Pam Christopher exhibited, attended, and connected with more than 30 employer representatives at the SHRM Inclusion Conference in San Diego, California, Oct. 23-26. 

• Dawn Lucas and Regina Kiperman-Kiselgof participated in an HDI LIVE chat Oct. 26 to a group of individuals from technical organizations. They educated participants about RIT/NTID, students, alumni, and the services that NC3 offers. 

• Successfully completed the 7th Deaf Employment Summit webinar “Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Contractors in the Workplace” Oct. 27 with 62 participants. Panelists included:

  • Sacha Klein, lead associate at Booz Allen Hamilton

  • Katherine Lees, chief of business development and operations at Dozanu Innovations

  • Douglas Grady, stress analysis engineer and an RIT/NTID alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering

  • Dominic Lacy, chief operating officer at Gallaudet University

The moderator was Charles McFadden, chief technology officer at Communication Service for the Deaf and an RIT/NTID alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. The series was hosted by CSD in collaboration with NTID, Gallaudet University, and the National Association of the Deaf.

What is the best part of your major?

The best thing about my major is exploring and gaining experience in the different aspects of chemistry. I came to RIT knowing that I wanted to do something in chemistry, but I was unsure what field of chemistry I wanted to join. Being a chemistry major allows me to explore the different aspects of chemistry (such as organic, biochemistry, inorganic, analytical, etc.). This has allowed me to figure out which fields of chemistry click with me and which do not. The lab courses and working in an undergraduate research group that focused on polymer chemistry has allowed me to expand my knowledge in the subject through a more hands-on method of learning.

What is one thing that might surprise people to learn about you?

One thing that might surprise people to learn about me is that I had a classical education from 8^th to 12^th grade. As part of this curriculum, I wrote and publicly defended a 15-page thesis on one of Shakespeare's plays in my final year.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I am a very artistic person, so in my free time I like to draw digitally on my iPad or do photography with my Polaroid camera. I like to read classical literature, Greek philosophy, and poetry during my free time as well.

What is the best part of your job?

I am very lucky to be a senior lecturer and a mentor for the NTID Faculty Fellowship program. The best part of my job is the people—my co-workers and the students. I meet and work with the best people who teach me new ideas, different perspectives, and lovingly share their lives with me. I am a better person because of NTID and what the people here have taught me. I am one fortunate soul!

I also get to discuss chemistry every day, which I love so much! I love sharing my passion for chemistry with students. When a student enters my office at the start of the semester, they usually have a strong dislike for chemistry, but when, at the end of the semester, they let me know it “wasn’t so bad,” and they “kinda like it now,” that’s a wonderful feeling! Having a student become a chemistry major after working with you? PRICELESS!

What would surprise people to know about you?

I have WAY too many cats — 5.5 of them!

I live in the city, and we had a mother cat have four babies in our shed. Just before the pandemic hit, the RIT Cat Club helped us collect the mother and three of the four kittens. The fourth was nowhere to be found. When the mother was back from the vet, we put her in an outdoor home we made for her. She brought the missing kitten back—our first cat, Newt (or Newtle)! When the pandemic hit, a family of four showed up on campus (mother with three kittens). The Cat Club Advisor contacted me to foster them. We did, thinking COVID should be short-lived. A long COVID later, we fell in love with them, and we can’t let them go! They are named for RIT people: the mother is Hettie (Shumway, but also called June Bug), and the three kittens are Frankie (Ritter), Simone (President Simone), and Ezra (Andrews).

But what about the half cat? This past February we had a feral cat coming to our front door. It looked sick and hurt. We trapped it and put it in a cat tent in our basement. The poor thing needed food and was getting in daily fights outside. For three days, I was able to pick the cat up and pet it. She is a very sweet cat that seems like a pet someone discarded. On the fourth day, there was no cat in the tent, only a hole in the side where she clawed her way out! The cat, Q., (short for “quarantined”) T. Bear now is in the basement and refuses to be trapped again. She is too smart for me! We see her occasionally on camera. So in pure Schrodinger fashion, she’s our half a cat. Half the time she’s there and half the time she’s not!

What do you like to do in your free time?

I spend a lot of time helping my parents, helping as a member of the Spencerport American Legion, watching movies, and laughing with my main squeeze, Brad, crocheting rectangles (not up for more than a scarf or a blanket yet!), and taking care of cats.

Many of you attend conferences and seminars at which our colleagues are presenting, and we’d love to share photos of those events on the college’s social media platforms. To help you take the best photos possible with your smartphone, NTID’s photographer and social media manager (Matthew Sluka and Blake Nitko, respectively) have developed this guide.

• Thank you to everyone who participated in the first Together RIT event. It was an important milestone in the university’s journey toward better ethnic and racial understanding.

• ASL Night at the RIT Men’s Hockey game on Oct. 28 provided students, alumni, faculty, and staff with an opportunity to cheer on the Tigers as they faced rival Holy Cross. Special kudos to the organizers and behind-the-scenes personnel who made the event a success, and to the players themselves, who learned signs for popular hockey slang.

• Thanks to the NTID Admissions Office and others who make our Open House events inviting for prospective students and their families.

• After pandemic delays, the RIT Big Shot, involving students, alumni, faculty, staff, and others, and co-led by NTID faculty member Eric Kunsman, took place at Susan B. Anthony House and Museum and the “Let’s Have Tea” sculptures of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass in downtown Rochester. Visit The Big Shot website to see the beauty of these images.

• Chris Kurz, professor, and Patrick Graham, department chair, both in NTID’s secondary education of students who are deaf or hard of hearing program, are working with three organizations in the Philippines, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea, providing literacy strategies to families of young deaf children to increase early childhood readiness for school achievement.

• Cynthia Hunt, captionist, and Mistie Munton, substance and addiction intervention counselor, earned the Cultural Humility Certification from RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion.

• An NTID contingent of students, faculty, and staff attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists Nov. 9-12 in Anaheim, California, with a number of them presenting.

  • Congratulations to Chase Martin and the Deaf MetaLiteracy lab project team (Dr. Jordan Wright, Lucas Cirricione, Dylan Levenson, Jessica Contreras, and Dr. Peter Hauser) for winning the 2022 Presentation Award from ABRCMS in the category of behavioral sciences. Chase started as a participant in the Center on Culture and Language’s Summer Training in Academia and Research program, and now works with the Deaf MetaLiteracy program as a researcher working on several projects.

• Rachel Mazique, assistant professor, NTID Department of Liberal Studies; Tiffany Panko, research faculty, NTID Center for Culture and Language; and Jess Cuculick, NTID associate dean for academic administration, were co-authors of the book chapter “Disability Justice: Deaf Peoples’ Right to Be Born” in “The Palgrave Handbook of Reproductive Justice and Literature.”

• Joseph Hill wrote a 1,000-word commentary article as a response to the main article, "Undoing Competence: Coloniality, Homogeneity, and the Overrepresentation of Whiteness in Applied Linguistics in Language Learning."

• Elizabeth Call, university archivist, and Joan Naturale, NTID and Deaf Studies archive liaison librarian, presented “Amplifying Unseen Voices: Digitizing American Sign Language Poetry” at the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR): Digitizing Hidden Collections Symposium Oct. 13 in Baltimore.