AlumniNews Stories

Michael Roppolo ’14 (journalism) is an accomplished broadcast journalist and an award-winning content creator who develops engaging content to distribute across digital media platforms. Roppolo serves as a social media associate producer at CBS News, producing content related to crime and justice for 48 Hours, a documentary and news magazine that broadcasts real-life cases affecting the human experience. 

The NTID Alumni Relations team is thrilled to share information about a collaboration from this past summer. We had the privilege of working alongside three incredibly talented co-op students,Armani Moore, Bee DePrince, and Angelica Arteaga, from NTID’s Visual Communication Studies department. Together, we embarked on a creative journey that has resulted in something truly special!

Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf is partnering with the Rochester Red Wings baseball team for the fourth annual Deaf Culture Night at 6:05 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at Innovative Field.

RIT/NTID alumna Edie Wilson, ’21, B.S. in Business (Supply Chain Management) and ’22, M.S. in Business (Global Supply Chain Management) credits her career success in the supply chain management field to the skills, knowledge, and confidence she gained during her time at RIT. 

Rydrea Walker, ’19 (design and imaging technology) is an independent filmmaker with 14 years of experience in producing awe-inspiring films in visual media. As a Deaf filmmaker who hopes to bring Deaf culture to the big screen in Hollywood, he owns WarriorsGate Entertainment (formerly named Walker ASL Pictures), a film production company that provides video production services for clients. 

Amie Fornah-Sankoh, SVP ’09, ’14 NTID (laboratory science technology), ’17 College of Science (biochemistry), graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology. Chemistryworld.com featured her as the first deaf Black woman to earn a STEM doctorate. She addressed the graduation ceremony as a featured speaker on Saturday, May 20, 2023. 

The NTID Alumni Association Board of Directors had a wonderful spring meeting on campus jointly with the NTID Foundation Board. It was a weekend of networking with fellow alumni and NTID representatives, receiving updates on NTID initiatives and activities, focusing on committee work, and we finished off with the Imagine RIT Festival! 

Charles “Chuck” Wallace ’77 (print production technology) is the longest-serving leader of the Eastern Athletic Association for the Deaf (EAAD), a sports organization dedicated to providing athletic activities and competitions for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in several regional areas.

Thousands of visitors converged on the RIT campus April 29 to experience the future through multimedia presentations, exhibits, hand-on demonstrations, research projects, performing arts, and more at the annual Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival. RIT/NTID alumni enjoyed the experience of attending the festival and discovering amazing things. 

From an early age, Jason Listman knew that he was called to serve and help people navigate through their challenges. But it was a connection with an RIT/NTID professor that steered him into the classroom, where he would soon stand out as an instructor, mentor, and facilitator.

RIT’s Alumni Association recently featured RIT/NTID alumna Ebony “Geeky” Watson (AAS ’04) as part of their Tiger Heritage Spotlight. In the profile, Watson shared why she chose RIT/NTID for college, her college experience, and the influence at RIT/NTID had that shaped who she is both personally and professionally. Watson works for one of the top Fortune 500 companies as a technical specialist/software engineering project manager during the day, and a creative director/sneaker designer at night.

Students from NTID’s Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education provided sign language interpreting throughout a Deaf Day of Play event at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. Several RIT/NTID ASLIE alumni attended the event on Sunday, March 5, to celebrate Deaf Awareness Month. Danny Maffia, ASLIE alumnus and interpreting program director, said the event provided interpreting students the opportunity to get real-world interpreting practice, and it provided the Deaf community a more accessible experience at the museum.