News by Topic: Diversity

RIT will celebrate graduate research during the 13th annual Graduate Education Week and Showcase: A Vision into the Future. The virtual event—Nov. 16 to 20—creates a platform for sharing and exchanging ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic, with pre-recorded and live presentations, demonstrations, visual exhibitions, and an alumni panel discussion.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 39: Nicole Scott, director of RIT’s Native American Future Stewards Program, and Abigail Reigner, a second-year mechanical engineering student who is the regional student representative for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, discuss life as Native Americans in higher education, learning about Native cultures, and some of the unique ways RIT partners with tribal nations and organizations.

RIT alumni contributed to a major exhibition at the Rochester Museum & Science Center highlighting Rochester and Haudenosaunee women who pushed for social change. “The Changemakers: Rochester Women Who Changed the World” opens Nov. 20.

Addressing the need for diverse representation in the sign language interpreting profession is the goal of a highly successful program at NTID. The Randleman Program aims to equip interpreters of color who are newer to the field for the demands of interpreting in a postsecondary environment, while simultaneously increasing diversity representation.

NTID has announced personnel changes in support of the college’s Antiracism and Social Justice Plan, which is scheduled for release this fall. Alesia Allen has been named assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion; Joseph Hill will serve as assistant dean for ALANA faculty recruitment and retention; Thomastine “Tommie” Sarchet-Maher is assistant dean of ALANA Outreach, Access, and Success; and Peter Hauser has been named assistant dean of research mentoring.

Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 38: In 1920, women in the U.S. won the right to vote. But the 19th Amendment did not flip the switch for women equally, and the struggle against voter suppression continues. RIT Associate Professor Tamar Carroll and fourth-year student Anika Griffiths speak with Johns Hopkins University professor Martha S. Jones about the past, present, and future of voting rights and social justice in America.

Disparities of race, gender, and ethnicity in scholarly publishing will be the focus of a conference hosted by RIT Libraries this Friday. “Scholarship in the 21st century: Race and Gender in Scholarship” will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 30. Registration is required.

Odessa Despot, staff psychologist with RIT’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS), has been appointed to the board of directors for the South Asian American Digital Archive. The nonprofit organization aims to create a more inclusive society by giving voice to South Asian Americans through documenting, preserving, and sharing stories that represent their unique and diverse experiences.

A teenage activist focused on creating diverse, accessible, and affordable science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) educational materials for kids will deliver the keynote address during RIT’s Native American Heritage Month celebrations.

Many of RIT’s international students who were accepted at the Rochester campus but were unable to get to the U.S. because of travel and visa restrictions have found enrollment alternatives and connections to classmates at all the university’s campuses.

An HBO film about Alice Paul and the suffrage movement, Iron Jawed Angels, will be the focus of a campus discussion and part of RIT's centennial celebration of the 19th amendment and women’s voting rights, Moving Forward: Suffrage Past, Present and Future on Oct. 30.

Inside Higher Ed talks to Donathan Brown, assistant provost for diversity and inclusion, about barriers facing Black faculty members.