News by Topic: Student Experience

There’s a greater variety of food options on the RIT campus this semester, as RIT Dining opened more locations, expanded online ordering, went cashless at select locations, and changed Gracie’s—for the first time in its 51-year history—from all-you-care-to-eat to retail.

RIT Campus Map is a handy resource for finding a place to study. The interactive website includes a feature for identifying the availability of nine different spaces, without having to walk across campus, especially during the winter months.

Outdoor ice skating, Dr. Munson’s Performing Arts Challenge, giveaways, hot chocolate, and a virtual escape room are some of the activities planned for this year’s FreezeFest beginning Feb. 4 on the RIT campus.

Reimagining the Frank Ritter Ice Arena as a student center during the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed a typically chilly building into a place where students can drop in between classes and after hours to study, eat, and relax.

Student Government President Shine DeHarder, a fourth-year biomedical sciences major from Jamestown, N.Y., welcomes students back to a new semester.

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.