NTIDAA’s Engagement with the Alumni Community

The NTID Alumni Association Board of Directors had an outstanding October meeting during RIT Brick City Homecoming. The weekend was filled with honoring alumni for their contributions, getting updates on NTID programs and activities, and board discussions. Then, we finished it off with a fantastic RIT Men’s hockey team win! 

To be more transparent with the alumni community and keep you all informed of what the NTID Alumni Association Board of Directors is doing, we have created this “From the NTIDAA Board” update, which we will regularly send out via Alumni News. 

Here is a snapshot of events over the Brick City weekend to give you an idea of what we do during our board meetings. We kicked off Thursday evening, October 13, with a reception to honor Robert Sidansky BS ’77, this year’s NTID recipient of the RIT Distinguished Alumni Award. Robert has supported NTID in various capacities since he graduated. How wonderful to see a friend and mentor being honored in such a beautiful way. You can read more about this here.

On Friday, October 14, NTID President Gerry Buckley delivered a State of the Institute address, and we received other updates. Dr. Matt Lynn, associate dean for curricular affairs, discussed new degree programs that are on the horizon. We also met the new director of the Dyer Arts Center, Fran Flaherty, and watched a panel of current students discuss their post-pandemic campus life and how students are adjusting. Students are happy to be back on campus full-time and have access to all the social life that college brings. 

On Saturday, our committee chairs provided updates. Here are some key takeaways from each one:  

• Alumni in Training is working on bringing back social networking for students and alumni for spring 2023. 
• Diversity and Governance is supporting efforts to engage our diverse alumni better and help the NTIDAA grow in membership.
• Alumni Programming is continuing to advise on growing the NTID Alumni Ambassador program. 
• Development is identifying scholarships that support students. 
• Communication is spotlighting alumni who are doing great things in their communities. 

We will continue to provide regular updates following our board meetings and share our progress with these projects moving forward. Meanwhile, please watch the NTIDAA Facebook page and NTID Alumni News for updates and stories connected with the above efforts. Thank you to all of you who continue to support RIT/NTID.

Contributed by Anna-Marie Unger, NTIDAA President, and Bola Desalu, NTIDAA Vice President