News by Topic: Student Experience

The COVID-19 impact on collegiate sports changed the storyline for many student-athletes, including RIT alumnus Jimmy Spillane ’20 (biomedical sciences), who has found his way back onto the lacrosse field for the 2021-2022 season.

Students, faculty and staff are invited to stop by the ice rink from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 23 to learn about library services and resources, and how to access them while the Wallace building is under construction.

RIT welcomed 26 new students this fall through a program that provides tuition waivers as well as academic and social support to City of Rochester residents. The 12th cohort of the Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars program includes graduates from eight schools in the Rochester City School District and Rochester charter schools.

The $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has expanded RIT’s accredited Priority Behavioral Health and Clinical Psychology Internship program to focus on delivering integrated care for young clients who struggle with substance use, mental health issues, and trauma from exposure to high rates of violence within the community.

Dr. Russell W. Bessette and his wife, Melissa, joined RIT officials and other dignitaries to announce a donation of two patents and the creation of the Dr. Russell and Melissa Bessette Award for Doctoral Student Excellence, a $3.05 million bequest from which funding will be awarded annually as part of recruitment or at any point during a doctoral student’s enrollment at RIT.

Cadet Haleigh Freiner-Mess is a squadron commander in RIT’s Arnold Air Society, which is an Air Force ROTC cadet service organization. The third-year psychology student from Canaseraga, N.Y., recently became a member of the Professional Officer Course and is responsible for training and teaching the newer cadets in RIT’s Air Force ROTC program.

After having served for more than 20 years at home and abroad as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, Lt. Col. Jacob Jendrey was named the new commander of RIT’s Army ROTC program. He began with the campus group this summer and brings experience as a former cadet and a career officer who has seen history unfold in America and across the globe.

RIT students, faculty, and staff will contribute music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, and more during the 10th Annual KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival, which begins Tuesday and continues through Sept. 25 in downtown Rochester.

Saunders College of Business celebrated the expansion and renovation of Max Lowenthal Hall with a ceremonial groundbreaking Aug. 31. RIT President David Munson and Saunders College Dean Jacqueline Mozrall were joined by donors E. Philip Saunders, Susan Riedman Holliday, Chance Wright, Brigitte Gueldenpfennig, and Dinah Gueldenpfennig Weisberg during the college’s annual welcome picnic.

The thousands of students who belong to the more than 300 clubs and organizations at RIT face fewer restrictions this semester when gathering to play a sport, sing, dance, do community service work, or discuss common topics of interest. On Saturday, representatives from more than 230 of RIT’s student clubs and organizations attended the Tiger Activities Fair.

Metaproject 12 promises to be the cat’s meow this academic year. Students in RIT’s industrial design program will spend the semester designing products for Modkat, the award-winning maker of cat litter boxes. Metaproject pairs students with a different industry partner each year.

Dozens of RIT students are once again crisscrossing the globe this year for in-person international education experiences. Thirteen students from RIT’s global campuses and 11 students from RIT’s international exchange partners came to study at RIT’s campus in Rochester this fall. Meanwhile, 16 students from RIT’s Rochester campus have headed off for study abroad experiences across the world.