Photo Spotlights

The Capitol Steps, a comedy troupe made up of current and former congressional staffers, kicked off RIT’s Brick City Homecoming with two shows Oct. 8 in Ingle Auditorium. The troupe takes a comedic look at the nation’s political scene.

President Bill Destler, Joan Stone, Michael Morley, Roger Remington, along with Massimo and Lella Vignelli, participated in the groundbreaking for the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. The Vignellis, shown here, are co-founders of Vignelli Associates in New York. Their world-class design achievements have been exhibited internationally and included in major collections. Their archive will be the centerpiece of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies.

Students and faculty from RIT’s School for American Crafts glass program are making a harvest of hundreds of glass pumpkins and gourds for the pickin! The annual Glass Pumpkin Patch sale will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, in the Red Barn, westside of campus. The prices range from $15 to $150 (cash and checks accepted only). The proceeds of the sale will benefit the Visiting Artist Series in the school’s glass program and the RIT Women’s Council Scholarships.

Phyllis Walker, right, assistant director for the RIT Leadership Institute and Community Service Center, encourages students to register to vote in the upcoming election. A table is set up in the Student Alumni Union for that purpose.

RIT faculty and students celebrated Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day on Oct. 3. The event included a demonstration of a number of alternative vehicles, including an electronic hybrid and a hydrogen fuel cell car.

President Emeritus Albert Simone visited Park Point at RIT Sept. 27 for the official unveiling of a life-size bronze statue created in his honor. RIT President Destler shared a moment with the retired president. A plaque at the base of the statue, located near Barnes & Noble, has the following inscription (written by Simone): “There is no greater sense of fulfillment than seeing the excitement of students as they learn, the pride of faculty as they pursue scholarship, and the appreciation of the community as it interacts with the university. I have been privileged to be fulfilled in all of these ways.”

Photo District News brings photographers to campus 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, Webb Auditorium, for a free seminar, Transitions: Strategies for the Young Working Photographer. Moderated by Holly Hughes, editor of Photo District News, seminar presenters include Taj Forer, Adam Krause and Mike McGregor and Travis Hartman from Time magazine’s photography department. Above, one of Krause’s portraits from a series about the Florida alligator industry. The seminar, followed by a reception, is sponsored by Veer and Eastman Kodak and is open to the public.

“Zombies” invaded the RIT campus Sept. 15-19, squaring off against “humans” in an epic game of tag. Nearly 500 RIT students participated in the “Humans vs. Zombies” game, where zombies (wearing orange headbands) strive to destroy humans (wearing orange armbands) by hitting them with a Nerf gun or a clean sock “grenade.” Above, humans opt to avoid the dangerous quarter-mile, opting for the long walk around Andrews Drive.

Neil Hair, right, assistant professor of marketing in the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, received the Exemplary Online Faculty Award at the 2008 Online Learning Awards Ceremony on Sept. 24. Honorees included S. Manian Ramkumar, left, College of Applied Science and Technology, who received the Innovation in Teaching and Learning with Technology Award, and Kevin Hinshaw of Cortland, back center, a B.S. candidate of Science, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering Technology, who received the Exemplary Online Student Award.

RIT students got downright dirty for a good cause Sept. 20. The Zeta Tau Alpha and Phi Kappa Psi fraternities hosted the annual Mud Tug, a tug-of-war contest designed to increase breast cancer awareness and research.

William Sutton, assistant secretary of commerce, gave the keynote address at an international sustainability symposium hosted by RIT’s Golisano Institute of Sustainability Sept.23. The event was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

RIT Press hosted a celebration for its latest book release, No Room for Democracy: The Triumph of Ego over Common Sense, written by Richard Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum was a central figure in Republican politics in New York and nationally and served as chairman of the New York State Republican party from 1973 to 1977. Here, Rosenbaum chatted with Patty Cost, editor of the book, at the booksigning.