A visionary who more than 40 years ago saw NTID—what he called "The Grand Experiment"—not only as one of RIT's colleges, but also recognized it as a national institution. He worked selflessly to get the building up and running, to get materials in the building and faculty in place and deaf and hard-of-hearing students in chairs. As RIT trustee Arthur L. Stern stated, "Few leaders anywhere in the nation could have matched Dr. Frisina's dynamic leadership in charting the course for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf."