VAALA NAMED NTID EMPLOYMENT DIRECTOR

Allen Vaala, of Pittsford, has been named director of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf's (NTID) Center on Employment at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Vaala's primary responsibility will be to build mutually beneficial relationships with employers nationwide. He will also supervise 10 staff members who work with students and employers in a variety of technical areas for cooperative and permanent placements.

Vaala previously worked at Eastman Kodak Company for 29 years, where he participated in numerous technological advancement projects before managing the company’s University Relations and College Recruiting department.

Vaala received a bachelor's degree in Physics and Math from the College of Wooster and a Ph.D. in Experimental Solid State Physics from Penn State University. Vaala has volunteered for a number of community service organizations, including the Town of Mendon's Environmental Advisory Board and Conservation Board. He has also served as a volunteer counselor for the Haiti work trip and the Youth Habitat work trip to Maine programs. Vaala has also received the prestigious Friend of Education Award from the Rochester City School District.

The first and largest technical college in the world for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, NTID offers educational programs and access and support services to its 1,100 students from around the world who study, live and socialize with the 14,000 hearing students on RIT's Rochester, N.Y. campus.

For more information, visit our web page at: www.rit.edu/NTID. For more NTID news, go to: www.rit.edu/~418www/whatsnew.shtml.