Photo Spotlights

Installation of a time capsule marking the conversion from the quarter system to semesters took place on Aug. 29. The capsule contains a video of interviews with students, faculty, staff and alumni on what this milestone means for the university, plus a proclamation from the board of trustees and other memorabilia.

Wade Kellard, an RIT/NTID mechanical engineering technology major, demonstrates technology that converts hand shapes to text. He’s a member of MotionSavvy, a team of students who participated in the Saunders Summer Start-up Program, which provides mentoring for newly-formed businesses. To read more, go to www.rit.edu/news/athenaeum_story.php?id=50200.

Cori Kolb’s ongoing medical challenges haven’t stopped her from earning RIT’s Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship Award and an accounting degree from Saunders College of Business last May, or her gig as a soprano singer and business director of Encore, RIT’s all-female a cappella vocal ensemble. To read more, go to www.rit.edu/news/athenaeum_story.php?id=50197.

J. Fernando Naveda, calendar conversion director, has led RIT through the transition to a semester system. A campus-wide celebration marking the milestone academic calendar change will be at 3 p.m. today in Ingle Auditorium. The celebration also will be live streamed with real-time captioning at www.rit.edu.

Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason introduced RIT’s hockey teams at the first-ever RIT Day with the Rochester Red Wings on Aug. 24. The 2013 RIT men’s lacrosse team was honored at home plate and members of the men’s and women’s hockey teams signed autographs during the game.

RIT held its eighth annual Lighting the Way ceremony on Aug. 23 to welcome new female students to campus.

Renovations to Barnes and Noble @ RIT are complete. Murals featuring campus scenes were hung on the walls and the children’s book department has a new look, featuring a stage and sitting area. To read more about this and other construction projects, go to www.rit.edu/news/athenaeum_story.php?id=50202.

RIT President Bill Destler welcomed the university community back to the 2013-2014 academic year on Aug. 23. He believes the coming year “will be one of the most important in the history of RIT.”

Student Convocation welcomed new students and their families on Aug. 21. The program included remarks from President Bill Destler; Jeremy Haefner, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs; and Heath Boice-Pardee, interim senior vice president for student affairs. Todd Pagano, associate professor and director of Laboratory Science Technology at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, served as keynote speaker.

RIT community members cheer on incoming freshman students Aug. 21 as they take the Tiger Walk to the Gordon Field House for Convocation for New Students and Families. Todd Pagano, associate professor and director of Laboratory Science Technology in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the 2012 U.S. Professor of the Year, delivered the keynote address. Student Government President Paul Darragh, a third-year software engineering major, also spoke.

Steve Ierardi, from Southern California, sported an orange mustache to get into the RIT spirit during Orientation on Aug. 20. His son, Weston, is a first-year student in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences.

Incoming students were immersed in the Orange and Brown Experience, one of RIT’s DiscoveRIT Pre-Orientation Programs. The collaborative program ran Aug. 16-19 and taught students about RIT’s history, how to navigate campus as well as an introduction to the American Sign Language alphabet and common signs. Here, from left, Claire Fleming, Andrea Shaver and Andrew Greene practice some signs.