Bill Buckingham and Anne Sevier-Buckingham Receive RIT’s NRS Award

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Nathaniel Rochester Society has given its highest honor to Bill Buckingham and Anne Sevier-Buckingham, residents of Rochester.

The presentation of the 2009 NRS Award was made on July 9 during a ceremony at the RIT Center for Student Innovation. The annual honor recognizes individuals who have contributed to the university’s advancement in an outstanding and significant manner.

Bill Buckingham has been a part of the RIT Family since the early 1960s. He is a 1964 alumnus of the E. Philip Saunders College of Business with a B.A. in business administration. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 1979, including serving as the first alumnus chairman from 1997 to 2002. He has also been honored as the distinguished alumnus for the Saunders College of Business in 1976 and the RIT Outstanding Alumnus in 1983.

Bill Buckingham is a life member of the Nathaniel Rochester Society and has been a long-time advocate for the university’s mission and its students. He was a member of the National Alumni Council, the precursor to the Alumni Association. He served as alumni chair of the Access to the Future campaign, and he was a Top 75 Regional Division Chair for the Mathematics, Science & Technology Campaign. Most recently, he served as co-chair of the Powered by the Future campaign.

Anne Buckingham has also been a valued advocate for RIT, serving as a director for the NTID Foundation, and a member of RIT’s Women’s Council. The Buckinghams are members of RIT’s Ellingson Society and have supported a wide range of initiatives at the university, including the Buckingham American College Scholarship, the Mathematics, Science & Technology Campaign, the Science Lab Facility, the M.R. Rose NRS Scholarship, the RIT Trustee Fund and the Schmitt Interfaith Chapel.

The mission of the Nathaniel Rochester Society is to develop friends and ambassadors to promote and support RIT. The NRS Award, established in 1972, has been permanently endowed through the generous gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marcus N. Barbour, charter members of the society.

The NRS Award presentation piece is the creation of Leonard Urso, an internationally recognized, award-winning silversmith and the Mowris Mulligan Distinguished Professor in RIT’s School for American Crafts. The award, contemporary in design, embodies the timeless values of past, present and future.

Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized for academic leadership in computing, engineering, imaging technology, and fine and applied arts, in addition to unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. Nearly 16,450 full- and part-time students are enrolled in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs at RIT, and its cooperative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.

For two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. RIT is featured in The Princeton Review’s 2009 edition of The Best 368 Colleges and in Barron’s Best Buys in Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education recognizes RIT as a “Great College to Work For.”