Priority Areas

Improve Student Success

Student success consists of providing all students with a culture of care that supports completion of a degree and pursuit of a curriculum which addresses the needs of students, employers, and the broader society, and prepares graduates to be contributing citizens of the world. This encompasses an inclusive approach to building career and life skills, academic achievement, and community engagement.

Lines of Inquiry:

1. Persistence/Graduation: To what degree are we meeting our strategic goals for student persistence and graduation across student populations?
2. Positive Financial Outcomes: How and to what extent does RIT enable its graduates to achieve positive financial outcomes, such as higher average earnings and lower incurred college debt and default rates, compared to its peers?
3. Career and Life Skills: To what extent are RIT graduates well prepared to demonstrate the requisite skills and associated requirements specific to their career/life goals?
4. Experiential Learning: How well are we building room in each undergraduate curriculum for every student to have at least one experiential learning opportunity? Experiential learning activities can include, but are not limited to, coop, internships, practicums, field exercises, study abroad, undergraduate research and studio performances?
5. Support Services: How comprehensive are our student support services in meeting the needs of students with respect to academic achievement and a sense of belonging?

View the Affiliate Group for Priority Area 1

Expand Our Research Enterprise

Successful expansion of our research enterprise requires identifying additional strategic research areas, and supporting all key aspects related to maintaining and growing a robust student-centered research and scholarship culture. This includes creating an ecosystem to support strategic faculty and staff hires, competitive start-up resources, an appropriate model for faculty workloads, and support for new and existing graduate programs and graduate student support.

Lines of Inquiry:

1. Grad Programs: To what extent do graduate programs attract well-qualified and intellectually curious students, provide them with sufficient funding and research opportunities, and the disciplinary development to advance in their field?
2. Ecosystem: To what extent does our infrastructure support efforts to grow externally funded projects, maximize the impact of scholarly dissemination, elevate RIT’s reputation, and establish a robust research enterprise?
3. Research and Scholarship Impact: How does RIT’s research output and impact compare to peer and aspirational institutions?
4. Strategic Directions: How effectively are we identifying new strategic directions for research and how well do new directions support expansion of graduate programs, research, and scholarly output?

View the Affiliate Group for Priority Area 2

Prioritize Well-Being into RIT’s Campus Culture

RIT strives to create a campus community that effectively prioritizes the personal and professional health and well-being of all its members. This requires healthy work environments, inclusive programming, services, policies, and processes for faculty, staff, and students.

Lines of Inquiry:

1. Personal health: What efforts are being made to provide community members (faculty, staff, and students) with comprehensive opportunities to achieve dimensions of wellness such as physical, mental, and financial health? How effective are we in our efforts to improve wellness such as physical, mental, and financial health?
2. Inclusivity, accessibility, and belonging: What gaps and opportunities exist in how the campus environment promotes accessibility, inclusivity and belonging?
3. Policies and Processes: To what extent do our Institutional, college, and departmental policies and practices sufficiently reflect our commitment to personal & professional well-being?

View the Affiliate Group for Priority Area 3