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RIT is an international leader in career education and applied research that provides corporations and foundations with dynamic opportunities for collaboration. Our corporate and foundation partners support many important new initiatives across the entire institute, particularly in emerging areas such as microsystems, bioinformatics, and optoelectronics. These Fortune 500 companies, national foundations, and regional grantmakers receive an excellent return on their investment when they partner with RIT.
The Offices of Corporate and Foundation Relations work to build mutually beneficial relationships between RIT and its corporate and foundation partners. They advance RIT’s leadership in technological education by securing gifts and grants from corporations and foundations worldwide that meet critical university needs. Whether you are an RIT faculty member conducting research or outreach, or a corporation or a foundation seeking to learn more about the scope of our programs, these offices can make the connections so that great things can happen in the classroom, the lab, and in the community.
Just Some Of Our Partners
The Nippon Foundation
Since 2001, the Nippon Foundation of Japan has contributed nearly $4.5 million to NTID’s Postsecondary Education Network (PEN) International. This project is aimed at enhancing university-level education for deaf and hard of hearing individuals—particularly those in the Pacific Rim. Today, led by NTID professor James J. DeCaro, PEN-International is introducing innovative curricular and technological strategies to selected institutions in Russia, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, and the Czech Republic. The Nippon Foundation has been a supporter of RIT for over a decade, and RIT is most grateful for their ongoing commitment to the education of deaf and hard of hearing students, both at NTID and around the world.
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The Gleason Foundation
A 1998 gift of $12 million from the Gleason Foundation, the largest gift ever received by RIT at the time, enabled us to renovate and expand our engineering facilities, and to name the Kate Gleason College of Engineering. The Gleason Foundation has also supported creation of the Gleason Microcomputer Lab, the Kate Gleason Scholarship, and three endowed professorships. A recent gift from the Gleason Foundation supports RIT’s “re-engineering of engineering education” initiative that emphasizes an undergraduate, multidisciplinary team-based approach to product engineering problems, modeled after industry. As part of this grant new facilities for RIT’s cross-disciplinary microsystems engineering doctoral program, the first of if its kind in the nation, will be expanded and enhanced. The gift also supports anticipated growth in RIT’s undergraduate and graduate engineering enrollment, which has increased more than 30 percent in the past five years.
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Starr Foundation
In honor of the late statesman and former President of the World Bank, RIT was pleased to create the Honorable Barber B. Conable Chair in International Studies with the Starr Foundation as principal donor. The Starr Foundation is now one of the largest private foundations in the United States, funding areas such as education, human needs, medicine and public policy. Cornelius Vander Starr, who established The Starr Foundation in 1955, was a pioneer in the concept of globalization for business, making support of this endowed chair an ideal match for the Foundation’s interests. The Starr Foundation’s gift allows RIT to select a leading educator in the field of international studies to promote the ideals of global citizenship and responsibility embodied in Mr. Conable’s achievements. The Chair will serve as the anchor for the undergraduate degree program in International Studies, preparing students for careers in international business, government, and independent agencies with an international focus.
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Xerox
Xerox has a long tradition of supporting RIT’s greatest needs at critical times in our growth. The company is a leading research partner in microsystems, imaging science, information technology and color science, and has supported the largest single scholarship at RIT, the Xerox Scholars program, for more than a decade. Xerox is also a founding partner of the Printing Industry Center at RIT, a Sloan Industry Center dedicated to the growth and profitability of the printing field. Recent support from Xerox, will allow RIT to increase interaction between its faculty and researchers and Xerox engineers and scientists in microsystems, imaging science, document production and management, and sustainable design engineering. RIT will also introduce and develop training programs and academic offerings in key areas of technology and skill utilization that enhance leadership and graduate management programs. Together, Xerox and RIT will continue working to develop the best students for career opportunities at Xerox supporting mutual commitment to diversity.
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Redcom Laboratories
Supporting RIT makes good business sense – just ask the management of Redcom Laboratories in Victor, NY. A global design and manufacturing company specializing in digital telecommunications systems, this customer-driven company maintains diversified product lines and serves a balance of markets to ensure that business, economic, and technological changes don’t negatively impact their financial strength. As an employer of both co-op students and many RIT graduates, Redcom finds many advantages to partnering with RIT through programs such as the Telecommunications Engineering Technology program in CAST, the College of Business programs – especially our MBA program, and the Kate Gleason College of Engineering programs. Over the last decade, Redcom has provided support to the Institute through gifts of equipment and funding to these programs.
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Sprint Foundation & Sprint Corp.
‘PCS’ on our campus means ‘Preeminent Corporate Supporter.’ The Sprint Foundation funded the purchase of computers and video communication equipment to create the Sprint Visual Communications Center at NTID, a state-of-the-art Learning Center that video-links NTID to the world. Students use the equipment to access the Internet, take part in distance learning programs and work cooperatively with students at other educational institutions. Sprint generously supports students directly through the Sprint Scholarship fund, which provides scholarships for deaf students enrolled at NTID. And Sprint is a vital employment link for RIT/NTID co-op students and graduates. Hundreds of RIT students and alumni have joined the company in positions around the country. Sprint employment supports both NTID students and those in the Telecommunications Engineering Technology program in CAST.
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