Photo Spotlights

Soon-to-be graduates gather ahead of RIT’s 132nd commencement celebration. At the Academic Convocation, RIT President Bill Destler conferred degrees upon some 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students. College ceremonies take place throughout the day today and Saturday.

Soon-to-be graduates gather ahead of RIT’s 132nd commencement celebration. At the Academic Convocation, RIT President Bill Destler conferred degrees upon some 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students. College ceremonies take place throughout the day today and Saturday.

Darlene Navas, a second-year biology student from Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed her research with RIT Provost Jeremy Haefner. “Changes in Scientific Identity” was a collaboration with Maryah Glover, a second-year biology student from Edinboro, Pa. CASTLE (Center for Advancing STEM Training, Learning and Education) celebrated RIT faculty and student research activities contributing to improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics education at a symposium on May 17.

Nicole Casacci, a fifth-year biomedical engineering student from Buffalo, N.Y., applied dreamcatchers from a trip to Italy to her graduation cap. The College Activities Board provided lettering, glitter, glue and paints for students to use to decorate their mortarboards May 15 in the SAU Fireside Lounge as part of Senior Week. Academic Convocation starts at noon on Friday in the Gordon Field House and will be live streamed online.

School for American Crafts students showcased their work during the annual Walkthrough on May 15. The school’s ceramics, glass, furniture design and metals and jewelry design studios were open to view work created by RIT students. Here, visitors tour the furniture design area.

RIT’s Telefund, a group of students who call members of the RIT community to fundraise for the university, celebrated surpassing their April goal with an ice cream social with President Bill Destler on May 15. The group was challenged to secure 275 alumni pledges in April, and they secured 285 pledges.

Two students graduating from RIT this week are the first to receive bachelor’s degrees in RIT’s new Digital Humanities and Social Sciences program. DHSS uses interdisciplinary research, merging curriculum from traditional liberal arts subjects with technical ones to broaden students’ understanding, skills and marketability. Dillon Guscott, left, of Baldwin, N.Y., and Everett Kline, of Allegany, N.Y., are dual majors. Even though the DHSS bachelor’s program began last fall, they earned enough credits for the degree by completing courses in their other majors—Guscott in game design and development, and Kline in the School of Individualized Study.

Members of the RIT baseball team celebrate their first Liberty League Tournament Championship after defeating Clarkson University, 9-4, on May 12. The Tigers (33-7) will make their first NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament appearance in the program’s 65-year history. They enter the tournament with a program record 33 wins, 12 straight victories, and are 26-1 over their last 27 games.

Assistant Director for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Colette Shaw, center, led a group at the final Gray Matter discussion for the semester. Gray Matter is a discussion series designed to promote critical exploration of provocative topics related to higher education and the RIT campus community. The topic was “Mental Health in the New Millennium. Does Everyone Just Need to Toughen Up?”. Since 1949, May has been Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States.

A dedicated leader of numerous charities and nonprofit organizations and a student with a passion for mentoring his peers have won this year’s Alfred L. Davis Distinguished Public Service Awards, presented on May 10. James Watters, RIT’s senior vice president of Finance and Administration and treasurer, received the 2017 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award. Wilson Darko, a fifth-year electrical engineering technology student from Bronx, N.Y., received the 2017 Bruce R. James Award. From left are James Macchiano, selection committee chairperson; Watters; Darko; RIT President Bill Destler; and Steven Morse, selection committee chairperson.

Kelly Hurlburt, a fourth-year new media design student from Webster, N.Y., tested out a virtual reality unit at Global Village Plaza as part of the RIT 360 Project. The RIT community got to experience the sights, sounds and flavors of RIT’s campuses abroad, including China, Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo, with Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets, music by WITR-FM and food by Brick City Catering.

From left, Rebecca Johnson, President Bill Destler and Board of Trustees Chair Christine Whitman stand in front of the newly named Destler-Johnson Quad, near Louise Slaughter Hall and Sustainability Institute Hall. President Destler is retiring June 30 after a decade of service to the university.