Family makes three generations of alumni at this year’s RIT Commencement

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Christopher Herbison and his grandfather Donald both attended RIT.

As commencement approaches, memories of older generations from Rochester Institute of Technology are presented to the graduating class. For Christopher Herbison, the memories are particularly dear to his own family.

Herbison is the third generation of his family to come to RIT for a bachelor’s degree, following in the footsteps of his father, Timothy Herbison, and grandfather, the late Donald Herbison.

Donald Herbison pioneered the way at RIT for his son and grandson by studying electrical engineering. Upon graduation in 1936, he worked at Eastman Kodak for more than 40 years. Timothy Herbison was also a student of electrical engineering at RIT and moved on to get his master’s degree in engineering from Renessler Polytechnic Institute. That led him to the position of senior electrical engineer at Eaton in Cleveland.

Chris Herbison, however, took a slightly different route by getting his undergraduate degree in computer science.

“It is pretty exciting being the third Herbison to graduate from RIT,” he says. “Having said that, my personal experiences with RIT are what I hold most dear about my time here, but it is certainly something that I am proud to be a part of.”

Upon graduation, Chris Herbison plans to work full time for the technology company Overdrive, which is located near his hometown of Lyndhurst, Ohio.