From the NTID President's Office - September 2023

September 2023

The semester is in full swing, with classes, activities, and athletics all happening on campus. I encourage you to find ways to support our students not only in the classroom, but in their clubs, performances and sporting endeavors. I cannot overstate how much it means to them to see us cheering them on.

In the meantime, keep up the great work that already has momentum at the start of this academic year, and know you continue to have my thanks and support.

Gerry

Archives

Submitted by Alesia Allen

Colleagues from NTID were superstars at the National Black Deaf Advocates conference in August. NTID and Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind/NRSC were both sponsors. Several of our faculty and staff supported the Youth Empowerment Summit by leading workshops and groups, while others exhibited posters and presentations. We also participated in the Collegiate Black Student Leadership Institute by sending students and staff to support the program. The Randleman Program and Deaf Hub managed exhibition tables. Alesia Allen was the keynote speaker and was introduced by Gerry Buckley. We also had a big NTID alumni event. Gabriel Ponte-Fleary photographed the event, and Christan Monin worked diligently with all parts of this huge sponsorship, from registering faculty and staff, ordering swag materials and working with several departments to ensure that all the details of the sponsorship were handled. She also did travel and accommodation arrangements for many attending the conference. Months of hard work paid off for the week’s worth of professional development, fun and growth for many NTID faculty, staff and students.

Submitted by Denise Kavin

• 221 high school and middle school students participated in NTID’s annual July summer programs: EYF, Tech Tigers and Health Care Careers Exploration programs. 
• Rochester’s Spectrum News published a brief video news segment about our EYF program.
• The Outreach Consortium extends its deep gratitude to all who contributed – Cindy Officer and her EYF Career Counselors, Sarah McCormick and the Student Life Team, our medical directors, our Outreach Summer Program team, led by Erin Clegg, Joshua Mora and Eunyoung Doucet, and all faculty members who participated and supported us. Thank you everyone for a great summer.

Submitted by David Strom 

Kudos to:

• Jamie Munro, Brittany Comegna and Konnie Steele for creating a PFF Slate registration process. This will ensure a much more efficient and smooth registration process for our PFF program.
• NTID PFF faculty consultants who provided training at the 2023 PFF summer professional development program attended by 49 high school teachers and counselors: Pamela Conley, Stowe Beecher, Matt Stefano, Sarah Sarchet, Kathleen Brady, Erin Auble, Adrianna Smart, Laural Hartman, Ernest Roszowski, J. Troy Olivier, Karen Beiter, Michael Berrios, Mark Reynolds, Jim Fugate and a very special recognition to Denise Lengyel who stepped in halfway through the PFF training preparation process, when an instructor had to take a sudden leave of absence, ensuring a very successful delivery of the training program.
• Jill Bradbury and Performing Arts for being the newest department to partner with PFF.
• Brittany Comegna for her passion, commitment and expert guidance as she works with the new director of PFF to ensure the program’s continued growth and vitality.

Submitted by John Macko

June, July and August were three very busy months for NCCC with many accomplishments:

• NTID, Gallaudet University, Communication Service for the Deaf, and National Association of the Deaf hosted the inaugural Deaf Employment Summit at RIT June 7 – 9, 2023.
  • 100 employers, educators, speakers, policy makers and advocates came together to:
    • showcase success stories and employment resources for employers and deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals,
    • improve employment opportunities and hiring of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, and
    • improve the quality of employment of people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
  • The Honorable Tom Harkin, founder of the Harkin International Disability Employment Summit, delivered the opening presentation, “The ADA and the Harkin Summits: My Stories,” and Andy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California, presented closing remarks.
  • Sample of organizations represented:
    • Amtrak
    • Apple
    • Boeing
    • Bureau of Reclamation
    • City of Chicago- Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
    • Department of Defense
    • DOW Chemical
    • GE Aerospace
    • Huntington Ingalls
    • L3Harris Technologies
    • M & T Bank
    • McDonald’s
    • Microsoft
    • National Geospatial Intelligence Agency
    • New York State Department of Labor
    • Pfizer
    • Prudential
    • Proctor and Gamble
    • Rochester Works
    • T-Mobile
    • U.S. Department of Transportation
• Dawn Lucas coordinated and prepared a presentation, “Emerging STEM Careers,” for a group of school administrators and counselors from schools for the deaf, hosted by Project Fast Forward. Four students from RIT/NTID STEM programs who participated in the discussion were:
  • Loam Shin, human centered computing, whose first co-op was with 1 800 FLOWERS and second co-op was with RIT’s Center for Accessibility and Inclusion.
  • Jamaika Jones, architectural and civil drafting technology, finished their first co-op as an engineering intern and second co-op as a planning intern, both with City of Leawood, Kansas.
  • Desmond Almanza and Biverly Huff, both laboratory science technology majors who completed their co-ops at UMass – Amherst.
• Employer Partnerships:
  • Miranda Harms and Dawn Lucas met with Paula French with L3Harris following the Deaf Employment Summit. Paula is interested in hiring precision manufacturing technology and applied mechanical technology students.
  • Amy Stornello and Miranda Harms delivered a Working Together presentation and toured the facilities at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania.
  • Erica Roethel had a call with Carlos Terrazas of McDonald’s Corporation to discuss technology, global impact, marketing, people and finance internship tracks. McDonald’s is very interested in attending NTID’s Career Fair Oct. 4.
  • Trisha Gard-Thompson traveled to P&G in Lima, Ohio, to visit Tia Moors, AAS in applied mechanical technology; JT Reed, AOS in precision manufacturing technology; and Kayley Judd, BS in mechanical engineering technology, who are all on co-op.
    • Karen Beiter and Miranda Harms joined a virtual session with Trisha Gard-Thompson to review the work P&G has done with our students. To date, they have offered five summer internships (two deaf high school students and three from RIT/NTID).
  • Erica Roethel had a Zoom call with Brian Kroll, the new Lockheed Martin campus manager-university relations point person for RIT. Lockheed Martin is coming to NTID’s Career Fair, and is planning to send reps who know ASL, and possibly, an RIT alum. 
• Who were some of the students doing co-op this summer?
  • Business:
    • Dylan Mahoney, AAS in business administration, completed a co-op for Water for South Sudan as a database specialist.
    • Sammy Robertson, BS-accounting, finished his summer co-op at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan, as a packaging and specialty plastics cost accounting intern.
    • Thomas Moody, BS in finance, worked at PNC in Pittsburgh, as a financial compliance and governance intern.
    • Dhruvesh Patel, MBA, also worked at PNC, in retail banking operations.
  • Engineering:
    • Yomma Qingypow (former name Crosse Herpin), AOS in architectural and civil drafting technology, fulfilled his co-op at the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity in Iowa as a site/new construction intern.
  • Visual Communications Studies:
    • Nishma Reyes, AAS in design and imaging technology, completed a co-op with the Boston Deaf Apostolate as a graphic designer.
    • Shawmar Lynch, AAS in design and imaging technology, completed a remote internship with Happy Camper Live as a part-time social media specialist.
  • Science:
    • Talayeh Delis, AAS in laboratory science technology, worked as a chemistry intern for James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
    • Parker Mei, BS in imaging science, worked this summer for ASML as an optical production engineering intern.
  • Computing:
    • Izzy Pedrizco-Carranza, AAS in mobile application development, finished a co-op at Princeton University as a website accessibility associate.
    • Ryan Ong, BS in computer science, completed his co-op with M&T Bank in Buffalo, New York, in the technology internship program.
  • Liberal Arts:
    • Emily Bobryk-Ozaki, BS in communication, worked for Windstream Communications as a marketing and communication intern.
• Conferences:
  • Amy Stornello and Sophie Powell attended the National Association of Colleges and Employers in Orlando, Florida, June 5 – 8. 
    • Amy presented “Diversity Through the Deaf Lens: Understanding the Deaf Community’s Struggles for Employability,” and received positive feedback.
  • Amy also traveled with Matt Lynn, Brian Trager and Mark Pfuntner to attend the Deaf in Government conference at American University in Washington, D.C., June 14 – 16. 
    • They chatted with alumni, explained our TRACCD program and gathered feedback on what certification programs RIT/NTID should consider offering.
  • Pam Christopher went to Portland, Oregon, for the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Conference. 
    • She served on the panel to discuss “Bridging the Gap between College and STEM Careers.”
  • Miranda Harms, Erica Roethel and John Macko attended and exhibited at the Disability:IN conference in Orlando, Florida, in July. 
    • They had direct networking conversations with more than 90 professionals.
    • In addition to exhibiting, they attended presentations including "Beyond the J-O-B: Cultivating Career Pathways for People with Disabilities,” “Disability Equality Index: Honoring Achievements and Focusing on the Future,” and “Focus on Fundamentals: Best Practices for Workplace Disability Inclusion.”
  • At the World Federation of the Deaf Conference in Jeju Island, South Korea, Beth Karbowski presented “Growing Regional Opportunities for Work for the Deaf” with Nashiru Abdulai in July in International Sign Language.
• Upcoming Events:
  • Registration is now open for students to apply for employment through the Workforce Recruitment Program.
    • 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.
    • October 12 is the last day to register.
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) connected with us remotely to provide an overview of positions they are seeking to recruit for, touching on their accommodations process, and what they are looking for in resumes/applicants.
  • The NTID Career Fair is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 4. We have 30 employers registered and are expecting 35 to attend.
  • Regina Kiperman-Kiselgof and Erica Roethel will present “Barriers to Employment for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing College Students—Finding Solutions through College Career Services and VR Counselor Collaboration,” at the SERID conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the end of October.
  • NC3 will attend and exhibit at the Society Human Resource Management Diversity & Inclusion conference in Savannah, Georgia, at the end of October.

Submitted by Todd Pagano

Faculty-guided research can be among the best learning opportunities for our students. Funding is available through the Office of Student Scholar Development to support your RIT/NTID student researchers. Available funding opportunities include microgrants, conference participation, and summer research fellowships. 

Submitted by Bryan Hensel

• The Office of External Affairs hosted “An Evening with Chris Montan,” former president of Disney Music. This moderated discussion provided audience members an 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. 21. Dr. Manning will examine what “climate change,” an existential threat to the human race, really means by looking at the science, not social media.
• Deaf Culture Night at the Rochester Red Wings happened Friday, Sept. 15, and featured a silent 7th inning stretch, special ASL jerseys, extra interpreters, and closed captioning. The first pitch was thrown out by RIT/NTID alumnus and former MMA star Matt Hamill. 
• 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.
• NTID’s 55th Anniversary Reunion will take place during Brick City Homecoming, Oct. 13 – 15. Check the BCH website for details.

What is the best part of your job?

I love that through scholarship, I'm able to change the trajectory of a student's life. Removing financial barriers for our students allows them to pursue leadership opportunities, excel in classes and pursue co-ops and careers that they may not have previously considered. A few thousand dollars can be the difference between a student accessing higher education or not. We cannot decide what a student does with their lives, but we can give them the best chance at pursing it.

What would surprise people to know about you?

I love to dance. I have been dancing Lindy Hop/swing dancing since Dec. 2011. I occasionally perform with the Flower City Follies. 

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time, in addition to dancing, I enjoy baking and decorating sweets and reading. Before 2020, I didn't know how to bake a cake, but it very quickly became one of my favorite things to do! I love food, exploring new restaurants and trying meals I never had before. I also enjoy traveling and learning about different cultures. 

What do you like most about your major?

I’m in the English major, and I love that the curriculum and degree requirements are flexible, so I can take classes in other areas that might support my writing and give me ideas for things to write about! The teachers are also wonderful, and the small number of students in the major makes it so that you get to meet and know your peers.

What would surprise people to know about you?

I absolutely love STEM, even though I’m in the creative writing track and do art in my free time. I actually used to want to be a naval engineer! Something about science, math and engineering is just fascinating to me, but eventually I did end up picking English and writing for my major and career path.

What do you do in your free time?

I love to do art! And not just one type or style: I do digital art, traditional, painting, sculpting, sewing and so much more. One area of my apartment is dedicated to the sheer amount of art supplies I have for the many areas that I like to dabble in. Recently, I’ve been doing research on how to make punch needle rugs!