Complementary Learning

Complementary Learning should be submitted contemporaneously - within a month of the activity. Hours are tracked by the office weekly and uploads to your Honors account take place on Mondays. 

Submit your Complementary Learning Hours Here

Please see below events and activities that are approved by the Honors Program office for Complementary Learning. This webpage is updated regularly to add new opportunities; however, the events listed here are not the only activities you can take part in to earn complementary learning hours. Please reach out to the Honors office if you have any questions. 

Community Garden Workdays

This Fall, join us in the community garden to nurture both the earth and ourselves. Gardening offers a chance to slow down during a busy semester, connect with nature, and experience the joy of reciprocity; giving care to the soil that, in turn, sustains us! Your time in the garden helps create a thriving green space for the campus community. No gardening experience is needed! Just bring your curiosity, willingness to lend a hand, and an openness to enjoy the fresh air. Tools will be provided - just come in some clothes you don't mind getting a little dirt on and get ready to prepare the garden for the upcoming winter season!

Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 20 
3:00PM - 5:00PM 
RIT Community Garden
Complementary Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism

Into the ROC: Genesee Country Village & Museum Agricultural Fair

Join Into the ROC for Genesee Country Village & Museum's Agricultural Fair! Celebrate the bountiful Western NY harvest as the Museum shines in its finest fall colors! Enjoy livestock and cooking demonstrations, entertainment for the whole family, and browsing for unique finds at the market in the tradition of the country fairs. Visit the historic village, art museum, and nature center. Explore exhibitions in more than 150 categories of judged baked goods, preserves, hand-made needlecrafts, photography, and 19th-century industrial arts. There will be two buses for this event, which will be on rotation every half hour. The first bus will leave promptly from the Sentinel Statue at 10am. Be at the Sentinel Statue for 9:45 The admission fee is waived for all RIT students.

Oct 4
10:00AM - 4:30PM
Genesee Country Village & Museum
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

Frederick Douglass, the Black Panther Party, and Harlem Renaissance Monster Hunters - A Conversation about Comics and History with David F. Walker

David F. Walker has written some of the most iconic comics and graphic novels of the 21st century, including the sci-fi epic Bitter Root and the Eisner Award-winning Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History. Most recently, he has rewritten Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Big Jim and the White Boy. Join this award-winning author in conversation with Professor Daniel Worden (College of Art & Design) for a discussion of comics, race, and history.  Books for sale provided by Ampersand Books.

Oct 6
5:00PM - 7:00PM
Wallace Library
Room/Location: Circulation Lobby, 1st Floor
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

Nobel Laureate Dr. Kip Thorne on The Making of Interstellar, Tenet and Oppenheimer: Where Physics Meets Cinema

Nobel laureate Kip Thorne will visit RIT on Thursday, Oct. 8, for a conversation exploring the science, storytelling, and filmmaking behind Interstellar, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. The event will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater in the SHED and is open to the RIT community. Seating is limited, and advance registration is required. Dr. Thorne will also receive an honorary Doctor of Science during his time in Rochester. Register to attend this event here. 

Oct 8
2:30PM - 4:00PM 
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

"The Librarians" Documentary Film Screening with Director/Producer Kim Snyder

Join us for a viewing of "The Librarians," followed by a Q + A with the Director, Kim Snyder. You must stay for the entire program including the Q & A to get hours for this event. Short Synopsis: Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities. In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQIA+ stories – triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of a large-scale coordinated extremist movement fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work – the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale. To learn more about the director, click on this link. 

Oct 8
4:15PM - 7:30PM
Performing Arts Center 
Room: Theater 

Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) was originally developed by the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. The goals of the competition are to highlight the excellent research conducted by graduate students and challenge students to develop communications skills to explain their complex and technical research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. 3MT Competitions are currently held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide. The competition is open to current RIT PhD students who have passed their qualifying exam or are in their third year of study or greater. To enter, Submit a recording of your 3MT talk (Zoom or YouTube link) and your slide (PDF or PowerPoint) by the deadline: October 9th. Finalists will be notified by October 30th and the In-Person Final Round Competition is on November 19th at 3:00 p.m., RIT Performing Arts Center. Want to enter? Begin here! To learn more about the rules, prizes, past winners and regulations, click on this link.

Important Dates:
10/9: Deadline to enter
10/30: Finalists notified
11/19: In-Person Final Round Competition, at the RIT Performing Arts Center
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University 

RIT Nature Trail Clean-Up

Join us for a Cleanup of the RIT Nature Trails as we come together to restore and refresh one of our campus’s most valuable outdoor spaces. This is a great opportunity to give back to the community, enjoy some time outdoors, and make a visible impact on campus. Whether you can stay for a short time or the entire event, every bit of help makes a difference. Bring your friends, your energy, and a willingness to get your hands a little dirty—we truly need all the help we can get! Let’s work together to make the RIT Trail cleaner, safer, and more enjoyable for everyone this spring. Closed-toe shoes and long pants are required; long-sleeved shirts are encouraged. Hand-tools, gloves, eye protection, snacks, and hydration will be provided. Please bring a reusable water bottle! Meet at the table set up behind the August Center.

Oct 10
1:00PM - 4:00PM 
Gracie's Woods (behind the August Center)
Complementary Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism.

Volunteer for Brick City Weekend 

Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend is a longstanding RIT tradition of celebrating families, students, alumni, staff, and friends of the University with one spectacular weekend in October. Volunteers are needed to ensure that this event runs smoothly. Sign up here, and for more information about Brick City Weekend, click here. 

Oct 16-18
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism

'Contact; The World I'm Privileged to See' Exhibition

Join us for the exhibit opening and discussion with award-winning National Geographic photographer Lynn Johnson (Photojournalism BFA, '75). Johnson is known for shooting elusive subjects and for asking tough questions. Her thesis as a Knight Fellow at Ohio University probed hate crimes; at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications she challenged master’s students to push past their own comfort levels.

Oct 16
5:00PM - 7:30PM
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

Together RIT

Together RIT creates a space to ask questions, empathize, build solidarity, and give recognition to our unique experiences. The day is also an opportunity to highlight the positive contributions, joy and pride that come along with identifying with a particular religion, faith, or spirituality. It is a day to seek understanding of political divisions in order to discover what we also have in common.

Together RIT will provide RIT faculty, staff, students, and alums with the opportunity to share their work, passions, ideas, informed critiques, initiatives, performances, and artistic projects. Together RIT is a brave and accountable space, so different perspectives are welcomed. Proposals have closed for this year's Together RIT, but you can volunteer for the event by clicking on this link. 

October 23, 2026 from 10:00am - 4:00pm
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism

Together RIT: Day of Dialogue

RIT launched a new tradition fall of 2022, gathering the community to engage in intentional and honest dialogue about challenging issues. It offered students, faculty, staff, and alumni the opportunity to share their work, passions, ideas, critiques, initiatives, performances, and artistic projects with the RIT community through sessions held in-person. This event is open to all eligible members of the RIT community, regardless of protected category. Theme: Taboo Topics: Politics, Religion, and Spirituality. Register for this event here.
 

Oct 23
Times vary per session
Locations vary per session
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

Visionary Voices: The Two Climate Migrations - World Affairs Council

Climate migration is usually understood as people fleeing places made unlivable by a warming world. But there is a second migration that is just as consequential: factories and technology shifting across borders in response to climate policy. Join Claire Brunel, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University for a small group discussion before networking, dinner, and her formal presentation to the group at the Irondequoit Country Club. Registered students will receive a reading list from Dr. Lutzer prior to the event and will meet over a free breakfast at Panera on Sat. Oct. 10 to prepare for the dialogue with Brunel.

Students will then carpool to the Irondequoit Country Club on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 5:00 pm for the discussion and dinner. The event will wrap up around 9:00 pm.

Professor Brunel’s research focuses on issues at the intersection of environmental economics and international economics. Her research examines whether climate change and environmental regulation create cross-border effects, including the relocation of industries, the transfer of green technologies, and human migration.

Prior to SIS, Professor Brunel worked at the Research Department of the World Bank, the Peterson
Institute for International Economics, and the Embassy of France as Trade Policy Attaché.

Dr. Brunel received her B.Sc. in Mathematics and Economics from Georgetown University, her M.Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford and her Ph.D. in Economics (with distinction) from Georgetown University. Register for this event on CampusGroups here.

Oct 14
5:00PM - 9:00PM
Irondequoit Country Club
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University
 

Fram Signature Lecture with Kerrie Holley

Kerrie Holley is a technologist and engineer whose career spans more than five decades of computing. Since beginning his career in 1969, he has engineered systems across a variety of technology eras, from banking mainframes and the web to e-commerce, cloud financial platforms, and AI-powered healthcare. Holley has helped create technology at some of today’s most influential companies, including Google, Cisco, IBM, and Optum, the world’s largest healthcare company. His contributions to technology have been recognized through his induction into the National Academy of Engineering (2023) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2025). More Information about this event can be found here. 

Nov 3
3:30pm - 5:00 pm
Ingle Auditorium
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the intellectual and cultural life of the university

Volunteer for Maker Faire Rochester

Featuring both established and emerging local “makers,” Maker Faire Rochester is a family-friendly celebration featuring rockets and robots, digital fabrication, DIY science and technology, urban farming and sustainability, alternative energy, bicycles, unique hand-made crafts, music and local food, and educational workshops and installations. In order for this event to run smoothly, Maker Faire Rochester needs volunteers! To learn more about when you can volunteer and what you can volunteer for, click on this link. To volunteer for the Student STEAM Fest, click here. To volunteer for the Maker Faire, click here.

Nov 19-21
Gordon Field House
Complementary Learning Category: Service/Volunteerism

momentum I

momentum is a portfolio of leadership development programs designed to introduce students to and cultivate the core competencies needed to step into key leadership roles on campus and in the Rochester community. Momentum I is RIT’s centralized leadership launchpad to introduce students to meaningful competency development and to increase their sense of belonging through connections to key leadership opportunities, including Orientation Leaders, Resident Advisors, RIT 365 co-facilitators, and student club and organization e-board roles. After completion of momentum I, students can go on to momentum II & III. Learn more about the program here and register here.  


Varying dates and times
CPC-2610/2650 Bamboo Rooms
Complementary Learning Category: Leadership Activity

International Conversation Partner Program

The International Conversation Partner Program is a campus-wide program in which students, both domestic and international, meet in groups and immerse themselves in each other's cultures. The implementation of groups ensures that there is more flexibility for conversation and less pressure on a single partner to always attend. The program is no longer a Mandatory English only hour and participants are welcome to speak in whatever language they would prefer. Apply for the program now using this link!

Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the intellectual and cultural life of the university

SMASH THE CRASH

Did you know that more than 1 billion birds die per year from fatal window collisions in the United States? That’s nearly 2,000 birds/minute, making buildings one of the top human-caused threats to avian wildlife. Join Smash the Crash to help put an end to this preventable environmental problem. They are an RIT-based university-and-community initiative devoted to studying and preventing bird-window collisions.

If you are interested in getting experience with scientific research and working on a team committed to campus sustainability, please email them at SmashtheCrashROC@gmail.com. They're currently looking for volunteers who can dedicate 30-60 minutes every week to monitoring the campus for collisions. No past experience is needed; training will be provided for new volunteers. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to join. Need more info? Click here. Feel free to email Dr. Fadok (rxfgla@rit.edu) with any questions you may have. This is also a vertically integrated project.

Various Dates and Times
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Volunteering & Service

No Voice Zone

NVZ aims to provide a safe and judgement-free space for RIT undergraduate and graduate students to learn American Sign Language (ASL) from their deaf and hard of hearing peers. We also aim to provide a surface-level introduction to Deaf Culture throughout history and current events. It takes place every Wednesday from 9-10PM. 

Wednesdays
9:00PM-10:00PM 
10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4
Complementary Learning Category: Participation in the Cultural or Intellectual Life of the University

FoodShare: Volunteer Day

Help us with inventorying fresh produce from Flower City Pickers and Lori’s Natural Foods Market! Tasks include: cleaning old produce out of the fridges, wiping fridges down, weighing in new produce, composting spoiled produce, and recycling packaging. Register on their CampusGroups. 

Oct 3, 10, 14, 24, 28, 31
Complementay Learning Category: Service and Volunteerism 
 

Breaking Bread Program

The Breaking Bread program is facilitated By Dr. Taj Smith, Executive Director for Community and Education, Division of Access, Engagement, and Success. This program offers a group of participants a practice opportunity to learn how to dialogue rather than debate. Debate is often focused on winning. Dialogue focuses on how we can effectively communicate our ideas, make connections and demonstrate empathy. Registration for events is encouraged, but drop-ins are allowed for the special edition options. There are 5-week commitments and also one-time events that can be looked at under the Programs section on this webpage. Register for these events here.

Circle 1: Fat, thin, tall, and short: Is size bias stereotypes, or discrimination a thing at RIT?
October 5th, 19th and 26th
3:00pm - 4:00pm
CPC 2050

Special Edition Circles
Is resisting AI worth it? September 29th 11:30am - 1:00pm
Dominance, transitional, or liberated: What kind of world do you want to live in? October 27, 11:30am - 1:00pm
Class act: How do you experience socioeconomic status at home and at work? November 10, 11:30am - 1:00pm
SAU 1500

On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the Intellectual and Cultural Life of the University

Honors Council

Attend an Honors Council meeting to learn more about getting involved in the Honors Program! Council meetings are a great way to meet and talk to your college's delegate, hear updates on Honors events, and provide feedback and suggestions for what you want to see. Honors Council dates and locations for the fall semester will be announced soon.

Attending Council meetings counts for 1/2 hour of complementary learning.
 

Alternating Mondays from 8/31 at 4:00pm - 5:00PM
On Campus
Complementary Learning Category: Engaging in the Intellectual and Cultural Life of the University

Volunteer this summer by getting involved in your community - in person or virtually! There are many online organizations that run on volunteers. These include transcribing documents for the Smithsonian, captioning TEDTalks, and contributing to conservation efforts by tagging animals in photos.

A list of approved virtual opportunities can be found here.

A list of approved nonprofit organization volunteer opportunities can be found here.

If you find an opportunity not listed and would like it checked, send an email to honors@rit.edu to see if its eligible for comp learning.

Connect with Rochester! The CLCE has an ongoing list of local organizations looking for volunteers that can be found here. They have a variety of focuses to explore, including Food Justice, Housing, Community Development, Environment, Animal Welfare, Activism, Youth Development, Health and Wellness, and Parks and Recreation!

Check out our other opportunities below!