Meet Niki Usbay: Recent CMS Alumnus 2007

In the past, the majority of CMS’s Applied Arts and Science students have taken their classes in the evening or online to accommodate full time jobs or other personal or family commitments. In recent years, there has been a new trend of traditional day students entering the BS in Applied Arts and Science degree program.

Niki Usbay, a recent CMS Alumnus, is one great example. During her time at CMS, Niki took the majority of her classes as a traditional day student, with the exception of her last quarter at RIT which was completed online, and held concentrations in Film Studies, Business for Film/Video, and Communications. She chose to pursue her BS degree through the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies because of the flexibility and options that the BS in Applied Arts and Science offered as opposed to a traditional BFA program.

As with any Applied Arts and Science Student, Niki was able to take classes from across the RIT campus to apply towards her BS degree. When asked which classes she enjoyed most at RIT, Niki said, “the diversification of the open ended creative challenges presented by the CIAS Film Program, and the streamline focus and professionalism that were involved with the finance courses through the Phillip E Saunders College of Business”.

During her time at RIT, Niki had the opportunity to interact with a variety of faculty, advisors and support staff across campus. When asked about her experiences with RIT faculty Niki responded that, “the approachability and open-mindedness of each and every professor and advisor I have ever sought advice from has fed my ambition, and has been the support behind my unconventional endeavors.” Niki expressed that her experiences with CMS allowed her to accommodate more internships, and incorporate more business and communication style courses into her degree than a traditional BFA would allow.

While completing her degree in Applied Arts and Science, Niki had the opportunity to obtain credits for several internships. Among the internships that she participated in were two unique opportunities with NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” in NYC and Triple Threat Television’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” in Los Angeles, CA.

Niki is proud to say that she thoroughly enjoyed her experience at RIT, and offers one piece of advice to students who may be questioning their current program, “Consider CMS. Transferring over to the program has allowed me to take advantage of the exceptional experiences my major had to offer, and replace seemingly less relevant aspects of study with concentrations that I felt were more marketable.”

Being an active participant in the RIT community, Niki boasted a variety of accomplishments including College Pan Hellenic Scholar, Dean’s List Student, First Student Producer for SoFA’s Faculty/Student Film Project, and recipient of the Silver National Telly Award in 2006 for Educational TV Programming. In addition Niki was VP of Alumnae & Heritage-Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority, and a ResLife Resident Advisor.