News by Topic: Diversity

Clayton Turner ’90 (electrical engineering), director of NASA Langley Research Center, received the Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) STEM Award for his outstanding career developing and furthering some of NASA’s most significant space mission initiatives.

WXXI’s “Connections” program features Joshua Rashaad McFadden, assistant professor in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, and Brandon Stroud, residence coordinator.

Konce Quispe, from Queens, N.Y., says her dream is to “connect the world and give all people equal access to technology.” Doing a co-op at Facebook, a company built with the intention of connecting people, was the perfect opportunity for her.

The Mark and Maureen Davitt Graduate Education Endowed Scholarship was established with a $500,000 gift to RIT by Mark and Maureen Davitt to help graduates from the Rochester City School District pursue advanced degrees.

Peter Hauser has spent the past two decades studying how deaf people develop, learn, grow and live. Today, he is at the helm of a new project—a research-based incubator—where junior faculty at NTID can work together to understand the role of cultural and linguistic diversity in deaf people’s lives.

Faculty and staff members at RIT are encouraged to volunteer with Rochester Global Connections, which pairs community members with international students to help them feel more welcome. There are 30 RIT international students currently in the program, but another seven are waiting for a pairing.

A national publication is recognizing RIT’s Division of Student Affairs for its diverse and positive work environment. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education named RIT to its seventh annual report of “The Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs.”

United States Artists honored Wendy Maruyama '80 MFA (woodworking and furniture design) with the United States Artists Fellowship award in the category of Craft.

RIT is one of hundreds of universities and organizations across the country involved in National Engineers Week, taking place Feb. 16-22. Events include talks with engineering alumni and open house sessions for K-12 students and families.

Contemporary Greenland is the subject of a new collection of photographs and essays by RIT photography professor Denis Defibaugh, who spent more than a year on the island. North by Nuuk: Greenland after Rockwell Kent, published by RIT Press, documents scenes from daily life and from nature, such as an Inuit hunter and his sled dogs, stark landscapes and portraits of the people who live in remote communities.

A report from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf states that of the more than 10,000 sign-language interpreters that are registered nationally, a mere 13 percent identify as persons of color. Acknowledging this gap, a team at NTID has created a program that aims to equip interpreters of color to meet the demands of interpreting in a postsecondary environment, while boosting recruitment and retention efforts for interpreters of color.

Internationally renowned performer, artist, and RIT/NTID alumna Christine Sun Kim ’02 (applied arts and sciences) will perform the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful” in American Sign Language as part of the Super Bowl pregame festivities on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.