September 10, 2025

State of the University Address 2025

Good afternoon!

Welcome RIT students, faculty, and staff colleagues, and members of our broader community who are either here or watching via live stream from around the globe.

I am deeply honored to have joined this extraordinary community. From the moment I was announced as President last January, I felt the energy that makes RIT so unique. Emily and I made the move from Pittsburgh to Rochester in June—never looking back— and we sincerely appreciate the warm embrace by the RIT and Rochester communities.

To start, I would like to introduce several new leaders on campus:

I’d like to welcome Professor Caroline Solomon, the new president of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Carrie is the former dean of faculty at Gallaudet. A renowned scientist and researcher, Carrie has devoted her career to encouraging and nurturing deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM fields. She is the first woman to lead NTID in its 60-year history. I look forward to partnering with Dr. Solomon and would like to thank Dr. Gerry Buckley for leading NTID for 15 years before retiring last month.
I’d also like to note that Professor Gary Behm, NTID associate vice president for academic affairs, will serve as interim dean at NTID. Gary also co-chaired the search that led to Carrie. Thank you, Gary.
I would like to recognize Professor Kelly Norris Martin who was named the new dean of our College of Liberal Arts, after serving in the interim role there. Since joining RIT’s faculty in 2011, Kelly has served in several roles within the college including as the associate dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs, the director of the School of Communication, and the co-founder of RIT’s Expressive Communication Center.
I’d like to welcome Rosalie Clemens, our new director of RIT Certified. Rosalie brings extensive leadership background in technology, business, and workforce development to lead RIT Certified’s efforts to strengthen professional education and help close critical skills gaps in the job market for employers.
Finally, I would like to welcome our new men’s hockey coach, Matt Thomas. Matt replaces the retired RIT Hall-of-Famer Wayne Wilson. Matt’s resume includes 26 years of coaching in the NCAA and professional ranks. He’s also a 1998 alumnus and a former Tiger captain.

In addition to these leaders, there are many other staff and faculty colleagues that have joined since this time last year. Could all staff and faculty who have joined us since this time last year stand up, as you are able, to be recognized? Let’s give a big round of applause to our new colleagues.

Let me now speak about some of your recent accomplishments.

Faculty excellence is key to our mission of shaping the future and improving the world through creativity and innovation.

I’m pleased to say that 92 new faculty have joined us, and 61 of our faculty were promoted or received tenure this fall. While there are still many more of you that I have yet to meet, I was thrilled to be present at a reception to honor our promoted and tenured faculty last week and hear about some of their accomplishments firsthand.

Our faculty are being recognized for their excellence. In particular, I would like to call your attention to our three most recent recipients of NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development Award. RIT now has 20 faculty members who have received the award since 2014. Joining the list are:

Shima Parsa, assistant professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, for her research in experimental physics.
Rui Liu, associate professor in mechanical engineering, for his focus on advanced manufacturing processes and capacity to improve the workforce.
Obioma Uche, assistant professor of chemical engineering, who is converting methane and decreasing greenhouse emissions.

Other equally prestigious acknowledgements of our faculty excellence include:

Quang “Neo” Bui, associate professor in the Department of MIS, Marketing, and Analytics in Saunders College of Business, has been awarded a Fulbright-University of Vaasa Scholar Award.
Denis Defibaugh, Professor Emeritus in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow.

And there are so many more faculty who have been recognized for their accomplishments in the last year.

On the research front, we had another remarkable year! Indeed, despite concerns this year related to federal research funding, we set a record with $105 million of new sponsored research awards during the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

This includes:

18 awards at more than $1 million each.
A new record for new NSF funding received at more than $21 million.
A record year for the value of proposals submitted at more than $800 million.

With the new federal landscape, and potential significant cuts to research funding, we will need to be even more strategic and nimble in obtaining funds, but I have confidence that due to our practical nature and demonstrated impact of our work, we will continue to punch above our weight.

I want to tell you about a small sampling of the significant research and scholarship that I’ve learned about in my short time here.

To start, RIT is using its history and expertise in photonics to help push the world forward in quantum science and technology. We recently connected our campus with the U of R via an experimental quantum communications network called RoQNET. RIT Researchers also received a nearly $4 million dollar grant to develop a heterogeneous quantum network that aims to link ion-based qubits and photonic-based qubits at high speed using photonic chips. And work in quantum is being done by RIT faculty to improve electrical grid systems.

Work related to AI is going on everywhere on campus. Just a few examples of our research work include a new NSF EAGER research project aimed at exploring how AI acquires and understands information. Another example is work by an RIT faculty member which uses AI techniques to improve diagnostic medicine. A third example, of many, is the work of RIT faculty members, in collaboration with UR, to understand extreme matter using AI/Machine Learning.

Our capacity to do AI work at RIT is also growing. We joined New York state’s Empire AI consortium, a partnership of leading public and private universities, to advance responsible artificial intelligence. Through Empire AI, RIT researchers have access to high-performance computing resources that are often prohibitively expensive. We have also successfully filled 36 faculty positions in our AI cluster hiring initiative in the last year, underscoring our commitment to growing our already extensive strength in AI across our campus.

We have also made great strides in health-related research. For example, RIT faculty have received an award for mathematical modeling research linking obesity and diabetes, are developing a new micro-technique to differentiate pathogens faster, are exploring how mechanical signals influence viral infections in lungs, and are using a new skin model to improve wearable devices.

Our space-related research is also thriving. To cite just a few examples, an RIT professor leads research showing the true structure of the iconic Ring Nebula, a faculty member served as an investigator in a NASA mission to explore the origins of the universe, and work by RIT faculty using the James Webb Space Telescope revealed the largest-ever panorama of the early universe.

RIT has also been selected to lead United States Space Force University Consortium/Space Strategic Technology Institute 3 (SSTI) research regarding advanced space power and propulsion, which includes $9.9 million in funding. The research is in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory and will create game-changing space power and propulsion technology.

Finally, with funding from the National Science Foundation, RIT, Binghamton University, Cornell University, and Syracuse University are partnering to create the “Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine.” In this partnership, RIT will focus on the required safety testing for batteries to get to market.

Supporting this great work by faculty, our Government and Community relations staff across campus are working to position RIT prominently on the local, state, national, and international stage.

One example: RIT has become a key partner with Micron, working closely with state and federal stakeholders to align public policy, workforce investments, and regional economic development around this generational opportunity. Through this partnership, we ensure RIT’s strengths in engineering, applied research, talent development, and experiential learning are fully leveraged in support of Micron’s success and the state’s broader chips agenda.

We launched the nation’s first bachelor’s degree in microelectronic engineering more than 40 years ago. Today we are ready again to lead. One visible outcome of this leadership in the last year is the $1.5 million in federal funding we have received to increase the number of RIT’s semiconductor program graduates.

We are also working to make RIT more visible nationally and enhance the reputation of the university.

Whether it’s in a train station in New York, Boston, or Washington, D.C.; a billboard in Austin, Texas; a faculty expert quote in a news article; or a social media post by one of our influencers, our Marketing and Communications team is positioning RIT as university that is shaping the future and improving the world through creativity and innovation at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design.

Philanthropic fundraising is becoming an ever-important aspect how we support the mission of the university:

We achieved one of RIT’s strongest fundraising years on record, securing $46.8 million in new gift commitments.
We closed 70 gifts of $100,000 or more—a record for a single year at RIT.
The Sentinel Society gained 200+ new members and now has total membership approaching 1,000.

Today, we have more than 154,000 alumni representing more than 100 nations. Astoundingly, 56 percent of our alumni have graduated in the 21st century, with one-third graduating since 2010. Despite our roots going back to 1829, we truly are a young university.

Let’s turn our attention now to our core reason for being at RIT—our students.

We have recruited another stellar class of students, strong in both number and quality. We welcomed more than 3,000 new undergraduates, 471 master’s students, and 110 Ph.D. students hailing from 48 states and 40 countries to our Rochester campus, and 1,369 new students to our international campus at Dubai, Croatia, and Kosovo.

While we did experience some challenges matriculating international students due to changes in visa processing procedures, we matriculated 400 international students this fall to our Rochester campus, compared to 608 last Fall, a drop of 208 students. Yet, we were creative in providing options for students whose visas did not come through in time, offering some of them to start their studies in Dubai. Fourteen students took us up on that and will have the option to transfer to Rochester once their visas come through.

Here are some other facts regarding our new students:

We welcomed 739 Accelerated Scholars who plan to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree at RIT.
We have our largest ever incoming cohort of Performing Arts Scholars—topping 600, as well as nearly 200 students joining our ArtEx Program.
77 Global Scholars from our international campuses are studying this fall in Rochester.

Just like our faculty, our students continue to win prestigious awards and scholarships.

For example, undergraduates Grace Perna and Eva Reilly won prestigious Goldwater Scholarships to support their research to find better medical treatments.
Allen Wen and Sadie Coffin, RIT Ph.D. students, became Future Investigators in the NASA Earth and Science Space and Technology (FINESST) program.

Our students are representing us across the globe with pride. They are winning competitions against the best universities in a range of activities: in cybersecurity, Baja and Formula car racing, rocket launches, the performing arts, esports, and so much more. As just one example, RIT Racing took first place overall in the Electric Vehicle category at the 2025 Pittsburgh Shootout in August! That made me particularly proud!

Our student experience is anchored in deliberatively facilitating engagement to develop a sense of well-being, belonging, and purpose. According to our Spring 2025 Student Experience Survey, 75 percent of students say there is someone at RIT who cares about them as a person, and 85 percent are actively engaged in extracurriculars or organizations.

From community-building moments like the Hunger Project, where students reached a remarkable milestone during orientation this year when they packed over half-a-million meals! We are witnessing the rise of a student body that is deeply connected, purpose-driven, and proud to call RIT home.

Our commitment to health and well-being as foundational to academic and personal success. This past year, we handled over 13,000 medical visits, nearly 8,000 therapy sessions, and trained over 500 community members in Mental Health First Aid. These aren’t just statistics—they’re signals that our students are seeking help, getting it, and thriving because of it. More than 12,000 students accessed Recreation & Wellness programs, including a 23 percent jump in intramural sports and a 19 percent rise in club sports participation, reporting that these activities enhanced their mental and physical health and fuels their overall success.

We are boldly redesigning the student experience to meet the needs of a new generation of learners and leaders. To give you one example, let me relay a recent observation from our August Undergraduate Research Symposium. More than 150 of our students participated. Clayton Turner, NASA leader, and RIT alumnus and trustee, served as our keynote speaker. And as he toured the SHED and reviewed the student’s work, Clayton was clearly captivated by our students.

Clayton later reflected, and I quote: “I can hear the excitement in the students’ voices as they explain their research. When I was a student here at RIT, I was involved in research, but I didn’t do anything like what these students are doing. They are finding the solutions to the world’s problems faster than ever before.”

Academically, we continue to climb in the rankings due to our excellence being recognized. This rise was particularly dramatic (and well deserved!) for our School of Film and Animation, which was on The Hollywood Reporter’s 2025 top film schools list and ranked number 22 this year, up from 25 last year. Top film school publications like Variety and The Wrap also recognized our program. Equally impressive was RIT’s game design and development program ranking of 6th at the undergraduate level and 10th at the graduate level by the Princeton Review.

Finally, we continue to develop new Ph.D. programs. For example, our newest doctoral degree offers a personalized approach to helping people with illnesses or disabilities participate in life. An entry-level clinical doctorate in occupational therapy will launch in June 2026. The OTD program is the RIT’s first clinical doctorate degree.

We are well established as a global university and continue to develop our global presence and mindset.

RIT Global now supports 103 international partnerships across 53 countries. At our global campuses in Dubai, Croatia, and Kosovo, enrollments continue to increase as we add new degree programs.

The RIT Dubai campus is expanding its physical footprint. Phase two of the new campus construction began, set to be complete in 2027, with expectations to double student enrollment in Dubai to 4,000.

We are actively working to expand and deepen our global network for new research and academic pathways. One of these key partners is with Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), a university partner with five campus locations across India. We are looking to significantly enhance our relationship with VIT along with other prestigious global academic partners

Our talented students, faculty, and staff need the best facilities to perform their best.

This summer marked the third full year of a multi-year plan to modernize RIT’s residence halls. Upgrades included air conditioning, smart lock systems, and updates to restrooms, lounges and rooms.
The new Research Building has its certificate of occupancy and labs are being outfitted with equipment. It will support 18 new labs.
The Music Performance Theater is scheduled to be complete in January with an inaugural performance in the works for the spring.
City Art Space – RIT’s new venue in downtown Rochester for art, design, and creativity was just opened.
Work on our new Tiger Stadium will be complete in January and is the home to our soccer and lacrosse programs.

That brings me to an important announcement: For a century, the Pike and Judson family have had a significant relationship with RIT, dating back to John D. Pike joining our Board of Trustees in 1930. His grandson, Thomas F. Judson Jr., recently concluded service on the board after 40 years. Tom, his wife Ebets, his late brother Jay, and other family members have been loyal to RIT with service and philanthropy throughout the years. Today, we are honored that Tom and Ebets, along with their son, Rufus, and their company, Pike Construction, have come together to make a significant financial commitment to provide a new name for the stadium: the Thomas Fearey Judson Jr. Stadium!

Let’s give a round of applause to the Judson family.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the challenges RIT, and all of academia, face in the days, months, and even years ahead.

We are clearly living through a time of profound disruption in higher education. Geo-political pressures, an arduous federal landscape, new government regulations, a less favorable view of the United States by potential international students, and a decreasing population of potential U.S. college students are among an array of issues we must respond to with deftness and a forward-thinking mindset.

These challenges are real—but they are not insurmountable. Through strategic actions and a visionary approach, we are positioning ourselves not simply to weather uncertainty but to stay ahead of it and lead. We will do this by thinking strategically, acting on our aspirations, being willing to make difficult choices, and being nimble. And we will do all of these things while remaining true to our community’s values.

Financially, we face challenges. Rising costs in healthcare, energy, and technology, coupled with a decline in international enrollment, are placing pressure on our budget. We’ve responded with strategic restraint—holding open positions, streamlining operations, and prioritizing investments that directly support our students and faculty. These are difficult decisions, but they are made with purpose.

We have and will continue to put people first, and because of the restraint we have shown and the work we have done to enroll a strong first-year class and retain our current students, we have been able to provide a modest merit increase, when many of our peer institutions were not able to do so.

With this approach, we will continue to deliver a world-class education, support groundbreaking research and scholarship, and be a destination for talent from every corner of the globe.

We are well positioned to re-invent the future, so let’s turn the page and discuss creating our vision for the future!

We are making good progress on a new Strategic Framework that will update the university’s vision/mission, core values, and strategic goals.

The success of this strategic framework process depends on the collective wisdom and creativity of our entire community so we may all thrive. Our new framework is being built on four pillars:

Transformative Student Experiences and Success
World Changing Research and Scholarship
Community Wellbeing and Belonging
A Global Reach and Mindset

This fall, we will engage and get feedback on our draft framework from the broader university community. We continue to need your involvement as we come down the homestretch. The goal is to have a final framework endorsed by the Board of Trustees in the spring

Another important aspect of creating our future is securing reaccreditation with our regional accrediting body, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

We are well along on this university-wide process. Three priority areas have been identified as the focal points of the self-study:

Improving student success
Expanding the research enterprise, and
Prioritizing community well-being in RIT’s campus culture

The Reaccreditation Steering Committee will launch a community feedback process this fall. In October, our External Team Chair, Dr. Nariman Farvardin, president of Stevens Institute of Technology, will pay us an initial visit. And in the spring, an external evaluation team will be on campus to learn more about us as we finalize accreditation by summer.

In closing, I want to hear from you: What’s working? What’s missing? What’s next?

You’re the ones who make this place come alive, and your voice matters. Let’s build the future of RIT together—one idea, one project, one breakthrough at a time.

Together, we will continue to chart a path for an exciting future. This remains an extraordinary time for RIT. RIT is more ready than ever to lead—to shape the future for good at a time of disruption.

I have found a home at RIT, a university with leading creators, makers, innovators, teachers, researchers and entrepreneurs. Our university community is on to something that is truly exceptional. I want to make sure RIT continues to be a place where all can explore boldly, fail safely, and succeed spectacularly.

Please join me momentarily for a reception in the Fireside Lounge. And if we don’t connect soon, I hope to see you at the Inauguration events, the Big Shot in Buffalo, Brick City Weekend, or simply during a chance encounter on campus.

Thank you all for moving this great university forward. I am honored and humbled to be your colleague!