News by Topic: Student Experience

Physical distancing and the inability to perform in front of a live audience during the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped the cast and director of SOMNIUM, which premieres online Friday. SOMNIUM features actors and a green screen, which provides a virtual reality space allowing the audience to participate.

Wearing masks, daily health screenings, and physical distancing have become the norm on the RIT campus this semester. But a team of 20 RIT Ready crew members, passionate about keeping the RIT community safe, has been roaming around making sure students, faculty, and staff don’t get complacent about COVID-19 safely guidelines.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, Dartmouth College student Clara Pakman decided to take a “gap year” and focus on experiential learning. This fall, her COVID gap year led her to RIT, for a unique course that she had always wanted to take.

Women in the United States and in the United Kingdom fought for voting rights on either side of the Atlantic Ocean in the early 20th century, protesting for suffrage by picketing, going on hunger strikes, and using a savvy poster campaign. RIT students this semester dug into the suffrage movement’s use of graphic arts to design and create a digital exhibit of historical posters from Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library.

As the 2020 election results come in Nov. 3, civic hackers at RIT want to remind people about the power of technology and how it can be used for good. At RIT’s Election Day Hackathon, students, faculty, staff, and community members will analyze civic problems in the local community, state, and country and propose projects to address them.

Since the earliest days of the pandemic, a dedicated group of RIT faculty, staff, and alumni has come together to provide critical career guidance and insights to scores of recent College of Art and Design graduates beginning their careers at a most challenging time.

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.

WHAM-TV talks to RIT President David Munson about plans for a new housing development in downtown Rochester.

WXXI talks to RIT President David Munson about student interest in plans for a new housing development in downtown Rochester.

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.

Video applications are being accepted for the fourth annual Dr. Munson’s Performing Arts Challenge, to be held virtually during Feb. 5 at FreezeFest. RIT President David Munson created the challenge to spotlight and encourage RIT students involved in performing arts to show their diverse talents.

RIT’s Student Life Center opens Monday for students, faculty, and staff hoping to keep fit now that colder weather is settling in. It will be open from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. weekdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on weekends.