News by Topic: Student Experience

Members of RIT Ambulance this academic year have continued to answer 911 calls on the RIT campus all while taking additional precautions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. They responded to simple traumas, such as patients falling off a bike, falling out of bed, hitting their head or an allergic reaction. They also transported students to quarantine locations.

More than a dozen RIT administrators and staff members have met regularly to discuss ways to help keep campus open as safely as possible as more is learned about COVID-19. To provide a student perspective, Griffin Warntz is serving on RIT’s Spring Planning Task Force.

Plans to upgrade RIT’s outdoor athletic facilities continue to unfold. The first phase of the department’s multimillion dollar stadium project is scheduled to begin this year.

Now in its second year, the Performing Arts Scholars Program at RIT has more than doubled in participants, with 368 first-year students involved in classical or jazz instrumental music, voice, musical theater, acting, technical theater, dance, or video game composition.

Phil Castleberry, a 20-year veteran of higher education advancement, began at RIT last February as the vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, now called the Division of University Advancement. Here are his thoughts on philanthropy and engagement at RIT.

Shaun Foster is leveraging $160,000 from an Epic Games MegaGrant to explore and develop dynamic virtual content that is opening the eyes of RIT faculty and students—and many others—to Unreal Engine’s myriad, multi­disciplinary possibilities.

Despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RIT students still found ways to participate in hundreds of clubs and organizations last fall, like dancing, designing games, and even skydiving.

Analytical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, resiliency, and flexibility are among the top skills needed for emerging careers by 2025. Anticipating these rapid changes in the workplace—further accelerated by lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—RIT is seizing on the opportunity to guide students to “new economy majors” that are multi­disciplinary, transformative, and future-focused.

First, RIT was forced to close campus operations in March and transition to alternative learning methods. Then, faculty and staff were tasked with developing a creative academic portfolio of online, blended, and in-person classes for the fall. Now, RIT is preparing for the spring, which will be a mix of best practices from the last year aimed at maintaining the high academic standards for which the university is known.

A team of RIT students took first place at the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) international finals Jan. 7-10. This is RIT’s first time winning the competition, which challenges the world’s brightest cybersecurity college students to put their hacking skills to the test.

The Niagara Gazette talks to Sofía Quiñones, an electrical engineering BS/MS student, about a senior design project to make an adaptive drum kit.

This spring, RIT will offer students two new course options, a HyFlex option and Dual Track option. Both offer flexibility for students to manage their class participation from a distance while meeting all course expectations.