Our Team

AdvanceRIT

AdvanceRIT’s mission is to enable all faculty at RIT, particularly women, to contribute their full potential, to increase their representation and retention, and to advance their careers. AdvanceRIT main programmatic efforts include the Connectivity series professional development workshops and the Connect grants program.

Malarvizhi Hirudayaraj

Associate Professor

Director of AdvanceRIT
Associate Professor
Department of Management
Saunders College of Business

Silvia Caraballo

Senior Staff Specialist
Advance RIT
Academic Affairs

Adjunct Faculty

The Council for the Representation & Engagement of Women Faculty

The Council for the Representation & Engagement of Women Faculty (CREW) serves as an advisory council to the AdvanceRIT in support of the career success of women faculty at RIT.

Learn more about CREW 

Malarvizhi Hirudayaraj

Associate Professor

Director of AdvanceRIT
Associate Professor
Department of Management
Saunders College of Business

Heidi Nickisher

Principal Lecturer
School of Art
College of Art and Design

Jeanne Christman

Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology
College of Engineering Technology

Elizabeth Ruder

Associate Professor
Nutrition Program
College of Health Sciences and Technology

Elena Sommers

Principal Lecturer
Department of English
College of Liberal Arts

Kara Maki

Associate Professor
School of Mathematics and Statistics
College of Science

Sharon Mason

Professor
School of Information
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Callie Babbitt

Professor
Department of Sustainability
Golisano Institute for Sustainability

Sonia Lopez Alarcon

Associate Professor
Department of Computer Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Kim Kurz

Professor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Makini Beck

Assistant Professor
Academic Affairs

Karen Tobin

Senior Lecturer
Department of Science and Mathematics
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Women of Color Advisory Board

In 2020, a Women of Color (WoC) Advisory Board to the Office of AdvanceRIT was established.  This group advises AdvanceRIT on initiatives to support the recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty of color at RIT. The WoC Advisory Board is currently developing a series of programmatic activities and establishing an evaluation plan to measure success. The work of this group builds upon initiatives that started during the NSF Advance grant that included a Women of Color research study and a workshop series.

Dr. dt ogilvie

Professor
Department of Management
Saunders College of Business

Chair

Kijana Crawford

Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts

Silvia Caraballo

Senior Staff Specialist
Advance RIT
Academic Affairs

Adjunct Faculty

Patricia Taboada-Serrano

Associate Professor

Inception of AdvanceRIT

Advance Connect NSF Advance Institutional Transformation NSF Grant Team

Through National Science Foundation funding, in 2012, AdvanceRIT (NSF ADVANCE 1209115) program began with a goal to increase the representation, retention, and career advancement of women faculty in STEM. The research team examined the unique challenges experienced by women faculty of color and Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing faculty, and refined interventions to address the needs of these key sub-populations. The AdvanceRIT program influences long-term changes that transform RIT’s culture, promote inclusion, and expand the representation of women on campus and among leadership. This project is based on the findings of an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Catalyst project entitled Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform at RIT or simply EFFORT@RIT (NSF ADVANCE 0811076) [4]. The three-year self-study included a climate study at RIT, objective data review, and benchmarking, all of which informed the development of the AdvanceRIT project.  At the end of the NSF funding in late 2018, RIT established a permanent ADVANCE office within the Office of the Provost.

Leadership team of the NSF Advance Institutional Transformation grant

Margaret Bailey

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Betsy Dell

Professor
Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology
College of Engineering Technology

Carol Marchetti

Professor
School of Mathematics and Statistics
College of Science

Sharon Mason

Professor
School of Information
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Senior personnel who contributed to the social science research conducted during the grant

Kijana Crawford

Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts

Annemarie Ross

Associate Professor
Department of Science and Mathematics
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Sara Schley

Research Faculty
MS in Secondary Education Program
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Grant Executive Advisory Team

David Munson

President

Christine Licata

Vice Provost for Academic Affairs