RIT Graduation Festivities Feature Technology Leader
Uniquely reflective of the university’s huge 2001 successes, Russell W. Bessette, M.D., executive director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), will deliver the commencement address during the Academic Convocation, 7:30 p.m. on May 25 at the tent, U-lot. (See page 2.)
The convocation gives RIT the opportunity to recognize the excellence of students and faculty. RIT President Albert Simone will officially confer degrees on all the graduates during this special gathering of the RIT community. The 15 college delegates will be a part of the recognition event. RIT also honors its teachers who won Outstanding Teaching awards.
Pre-Convocation festivities, starting at 6:15 p.m., include an ice sculpture created by students in the hospitality and service management program; exhibits of student projects such as the Formula One car, concrete canoe and steel bridge; food; and music.
Members of NTID’s Hands Across Cultures Project will be the first deaf group to perform at convocation ceremonies, starting at 8 p.m., Friday. The group of students, faculty and staff representing NTID’s three deaf ethnic clubs is the creation of Luane Davis, a member of NTID’s cultural and creative studies department, and was designed to contribute to RIT’s goal of increasing campus appreciation of cultural differences.
RIT’s colleges will celebrate commencements in individual ceremonies on Friday and Saturday; see below. The student delegates will each speak at their respective college ceremony. The festive campus atmosphere will feature banners, music and food.
Commencement Speaker
Uniquely suited to deliver RIT’s 2001 commencement address, Russell W. Bessette, M.D., took on the role of executive director of the New York State Office of Science Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) in January 2000. Appointed by Gov. George Pataki, he is responsible for several state programs aimed at strengthening New York’s leadership in high-technology research and economic development.
On May 3, Pataki and Bessette made a whirlwind visit to campus to announce NYSTAR’s choice of RIT as a STAR (strategically targeted academic research) Center, to be known as the Information Technology (IT) Collaboratory. NYSTAR selected RIT, and partners University of Buffalo and Alfred University, from a competitive group of academic proposals, and will fund the center with a $14 million award.
NYSTAR, created in 1999 by Pataki and the New York State Legislature, aims to harness the economic power within New York’s more than 300 public and private research universities and institutions of higher learning by investing in the job-creating technologies of tomorrow and supporting university-business partnerships that will facilitate the development and commercialization of these technologies. A key element of NYSTAR’s mission is to attract and retain the best and brightest scientific talent in the nation and the world to New York’s university campuses.
Bessette, considered a leader in the field of academic research, has more than 30 years of experience in academia and medicine. Prior to his NYSTAR appointment, he rose through the academic ranks at the SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine, serving most recently as clinical professor in the Department of Surgery, specializing in reconstructive plastic surgery. He has also served as executive director of the Buffalo Technology Transfer Center at Sisters’ Hospital, and as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has written or co-written more than 55 peer-reviewed academic publications, reports and research papers.
A past president of the Erie County Medical Society and the American Society of Temporomandibular Joint Surgeons, Bessette holds a bachelor’s of science from Manhattan College, a doctor of dentistry degree from the SUNY Buffalo School of Dentistry and a doctor of medicine degree from the SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine.
COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES
Friday, May 25:
College of Applied Science and Technology *
3 p.m., Frank Ritter Ice Arena:
Civil Engineering Technology and Environmental Management and Safety; Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering Technology; Hospitality and Service Management; Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology/Packaging Science (*All other departments graduate on Saturday, May 26. See schedule below.)
Academic Convocation
Tent Site, U-lot, behind the Student Alumni Union
Featuring a keynote address by Russell Bessette, M.D., executive director, New York State Office of Science Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR)
Reception, 6:15 p.m.; program, 7:30–9 p.m.
All graduates and their families are invited to attend; no tickets are needed for the free reception and event.
Saturday, May 26:
College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, 8:30 a.m., Tent
College of Liberal Arts, 8:30 a.m., Clark Gymnasium
College of Business, 9 a.m., Frank Ritter Ice Arena
College of Science, 10:30 a.m., Clark Gymnasium
College of Applied Science and Technology, noon, Tent
(Center for Multidisciplinary Studies, Computer Science and Information Technology)
Kate Gleason College of Engineering, Noon, Frank Ritter Ice Arena
National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), 1 p.m., Clark Gymnasium
NOTE: To interview Dr. Bessette and/or receive a copy of his speech synopsis, call Laurie Maynard at 475-5094. He will arrive on campus around noon, Friday, May 25.