RIT delegation visits China

A delegation from RIT visited China this fall in an ongoing effort to explore partnerships overseas.
The visit included trips to Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin; the University of Shanghai for

Provost Stan McKenzie, left, greets Li Jun, president of Tianjin University of Technology.

The visit to Tianjin was coordinated by NTID’s PEN-International. The Postsecondary Education Network International is the first-of-its-kind international partnership of colleges and universities serving the post-secondary education needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. James DeCaro, formerly dean of NTID, serves NTID and RIT as director of PEN.

Stan McKenzie, provost and vice president for academic affairs, led the RIT delegation for a two-day site visit, which culminated in the signing of a general partnership agreement.

Four members of the RIT delegation also visited the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, where RIT had previously established a relationship through the School of Print Media.
In the city of Suzhou, RIT leaders visited the GEM Corporation initiative in the education/industrial park of Suzhou. Representatives of GEM visited RIT Dec. 3-5 as a follow up to RIT’s visit for purposes of identifying and pursuing matters of mutual interest. Based in Singapore and Shanghai, GEM manages education institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and China. Bill Wiggenhorn, vice chairman of GEM, is a member of President Albert Simone’s round-table advisory group.

From left to right, Stan McKenzie, Jorge Diaz-Herrera, Nabil Nasr, Jim Miller, Wiley McKinzie and Harvey Palmer in China.

Jim Miller, vice president of Enrollment Management and Career Services, says collaborations with China are part of a diverse comprehensive international strategy for the university. RIT will continue to build global relations so that it is not limited to one part of the world.

“Certainly, there is more going on globally then ever before, and more rapidly,” he says. “We are networking all over the world.”

RIT leaders who visited China with Miller, McKenzie and DeCaro included: Alan Hurwitz, dean and vice president, NTID; Wiley McKinzie, dean, College of Applied Science and Technology; Harvey Palmer, dean, Kate Gleason College of Engineering; Jorge Díaz-Herrera, dean, B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences; and Nabil Nasr, assistant provost and director, Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies.