Welcome from Division of Access, Engagement, and Success | September 2025
Greetings from the Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for the Division of Access, Engagement, and Success. It is my honor, on behalf of the Division to welcome you to the start of AY 2025-26!
Earlier this summer, several AES-affiliated students had the opportunity to welcome President Sanders and his wife, Emily, and their Labradoodle, Ollie, to campus during an outing at Red Barn Climbing. This outing was one of many offered through the AES Summer Experience, a 4-week intensive residential academic program for new students joining the RIT family.
The meaningful connections students made as they were welcomed and engaged through a supportive campus team of students, staff and faculty is what we believe gives way to their success. For example, two of our most recent (2018) AES coaching-based student cohorts saw graduation rates of 75% and 76%, respectively, for the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars—many participants of whom began their RIT journeys also through the AES Summer Experience.
I am grateful for the contributions AES members, in collaboration with other campus partners, make every day, not only in the excellence demonstrated with the AES Summer Experience, but in the planning and execution of several other engaging initiatives throughout the academic year. For example, some spent the summer months focused on the Future Faculty Career Exploration Program; Together RIT; or some of our signature events—Let Freedom Ring and Expressions of King’s Legacy. Others were much more student facing, whether planning the community-building workshop featuring the award-winning film Dear Eleanor for RIT 365 classes; guiding undergraduate students in summer research and presentations; or executing the AES Summer Experience that welcomed 58 in-coming first-year students who earned their first college credits at RIT. Yet others focused their attention beyond the RIT campus, such as the Upward Bound Summer Program that again introduced a talented group of high school students to the possibilities college offers.
Know that RIT remains committed to supporting all, recognizing the unique histories, lived experiences, strategies and interventions that support their success and sense of belonging.
As we begin this new semester, let’s build on the energy from this past summer and use it to continue building an environment where all in our community—students, faculty, and staff—can reach their fullest potential as we advance the exceptional!
Dr. Keith B. Jenkins
Vice President & Associate Provost / Professor of Communication
Division of Access, Engagement, and Success
Rochester Institute of Technology