News

RIT’s strategic plan calls for adding six to 12 new Ph.D. programs and conferring 50 doctoral degrees every year by 2025. The university already reached the latter goal with 51 Ph.D. degrees conferred in the 2020-2021 academic year.

More than 5,000 RIT students receive experiential learning by completing a co-op each year, often getting a foot in the door to a new career upon graduation. Started in 1912, RIT’s successful co-op program, one of the oldest in the nation, is also a resource for companies wanting skilled RIT students to work for them.

RIT has an emerging new hotspot for interdisciplinary research about 25 minutes from the main campus. The Tait Preserve includes a 60-acre lake and a private mile of Irondequoit Creek adjacent to Ellison Park, offering endless opportunities for research, education, and conservation activities.

While students have engaged in virtual inter­national experiences throughout the pandemic, they once again began crisscrossing the globe last fall for in-person international education experiences.

The largest construction project on the RIT campus in more than 50 years remains on track to open in fall 2023. When complete, the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) will cover more than 120,000 square feet of new construction as well as more than 83,000 square feet of renovations in two existing buildings.

New chairs for the 27 classrooms in the Student Hall for Exploration and Development and in Wallace Library will be on display in the Fireside Lounge this week. Students are invited to sample the different furniture until Feb. 4.

RIT has been recognized for offering some of the best online programs in the nation, including Saunders College of Business Executive MBA program, which leaped to No. 9 in the latest rankings.

Wallace Library’s first floor is undergoing extensive demolition and renovation this winter, and the makeover will be stunning. The library building will reopen to the RIT community in fall 2023, along with completion of the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) and the Monroe Hall renovation.

Inside Higher Ed features the RIT European Post-High School Semester program.

High school graduates who seek a self-reflection opportunity before fully deciding on and entering into college have a new alternative through RIT. The RIT European Post-High School Semester program allows recent high school graduates to use Dubrovnik, Croatia, as their home base while they take classes, conduct research, embark on excursions across Europe, and build friendships and mentorships along the way.

RIT has modernized its approach to recruiting faculty members to improve representation. Assistant Professor Eli Borrego, pictured above, is an expert in the genetics and biochemistry of plant-microbe and plant-insect communication and ecology, and he was introduced to RIT through the Future Faculty Career Exploration Program.

RIT Dubai held a grand opening ceremony to dedicate its state-of-the-art new campus in the Dubai Silicon Oasis on Nov. 28. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, toured the facilities and inaugurated RIT Dubai’s new home designed for interactive learning along with RIT President David Munson, RIT Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration James Watters, and RIT Dubai President Yousef al Assaf.