President’s News

Hundreds of people attended a performance by an RIT-related act during the first week of the 12-day Rochester Fringe Festival, with students, faculty, and staff contributing music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, in downtown Rochester. And nearly 20 other RIT-related performances are scheduled later this week.

RIT is ranked 98th as a “National University” in the 2024 edition of U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, jumping seven spots from last year. This list of 443 includes the nation’s best research universities that also offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.

On Wednesday morning, RIT President David Munson, K-12 University Center Executive Director Donna Burnette, and Rochester Mayor Malik Evans cut the ribbon in front of the K-12 University Center’s new home at 40 Franklin St., in the heart of downtown Rochester. This move from RIT’s Henrietta campus to the city will allow the center to greatly expand the connections it has already forged with the Rochester community.

In his welcome to the community for the start of a new academic year, RIT President David Munson asserted the university is well positioned to thrive while laying out “challenges, opportunities, and vision” for RIT’s future.

RIT students, faculty, and staff will contribute music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, and more during the 12th annual Rochester Fringe Festival, which begins Tuesday, Sept. 12, and runs through Sept. 23 in downtown Rochester.

Join President David Munson as he welcomes the RIT community back to campus and to the beginning of a new academic year. The Welcome and State of the University Address is 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, inside Ingle Auditorium in the Student Alumni Union. A reception will immediately follow in the adjacent Fireside Lounge.

In order to accommodate a surge in students engaged in performing arts, an official groundbreaking was held today for RIT’s new music performance theater, the first major theater project in the Rochester area in decades. The three-story, 40,000-square-foot building will consist of a 750-seat theater primarily to be used for musical theater productions.

For this semester's Metaproject industrial design initiative, students will work with RIT President David Munson to design concepts for a series of outdoor, hands-on museum installations for the Henrietta campus. The outdoor installations will tell the story of RIT in a way that is immersive and engaging to passersby on campus. Each student is tasked with creating a concept for one of the 14 installations. 

The 14th cohort of the Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars were welcomed at a ceremony on Aug. 28 held at Liberty Hill. The scholars program provides scholarships and academic support to graduates from the Rochester City School District and approved charter schools.

A commemoration to rename an RIT residence hall after a granddaughter of abolitionist Frederick Douglass will be held Thursday evening in conjunction with RIT’s annual Lighting the Way ceremony to welcome women and non-binary students to campus.

Turn big dreams into reality. That was just one piece of advice for the newest Rochester Institute of Technology students who attended the New Student Convocation on Aug. 24. The annual event included welcomes from administrators, the new Student Government president, and a lesson in adventure featuring RIT President David Munson.

In what has become a late summer tradition, President David Munson and his wife, Nancy, have returned to the screen with their latest “welcome back” video, this time tasked by a mysterious stranger to search the RIT campus and retrieve the legendary source of its creativity.