From the NTID President's Office

Our Federal appropriation for FY25 appears to be finalized at $92.5 million, barring any rescissions (reductions) that may be proposed by the Administration and approved by Congress.
Last Friday, the President released his FY26 budget recommendations, including for level funding of NTID at $92.5 million. Given the significant reductions that the Administration has proposed in the area of higher education, this is positive news. Congress has scheduled its initial markup of funding bills for July 21. This, of course, is only the next step in what will undoubtedly be a long process of negotiations and approvals. While we have proposed a modest increase of $3 million for inflationary purposes and will continue to advocate for this with our friends on the Hill, we are preparing our budget for the coming year assuming that a fourth consecutive year of level funding is the most likely scenario. This means that the actions we have taken to reduce our budget through clawbacks in the past year will serve us well in the months ahead.

With respect to hiring, as you know, RIT has announced that only essential positions will be filled for the foreseeable future. NTID will continue to follow the university’s lead in this respect, and I ask that NAC members and budget managers be mindful of this when requesting that positions be created or backfilled. Thanks to your prudent stewardship of NTID’s finances, we are well-prepared to address the impact of multiple federal funding challenges facing the country. Your continued careful use of resources is appreciated as we enter NTID’s 58th year. As we prepare for a new era at NTID, I remain proud of the work you all are doing to prepare deaf and hard-of-hearing students to enter the workforce in a world that changes by the day.        

As we look ahead to the upcoming academic year, we wish to share an important update regarding the university's financial landscape. Like many institutions, we are navigating a period of significant economic headwinds that require our collective attention and strategic action.

We are facing considerable price increases in several key operational areas as we renew essential contracts, several of which are multi-year. These include substantial adjustments for professional services, energy supply, technology software licenses, employee and dependent health care, and student bus transportation services, which collectively will increase our operating expenses by more than $15 million. Typically, we do not see so many price increases phased to occur in the same year.

Further, we are observing significant challenges from actions taken by the federal government. These will be more fully described in a separate memo, but we have particular concern with international student enrollment. While our domestic recruitment efforts remain strong, obstacles for international students seeking entry into the United States are anticipated to impact our fall enrollment numbers.

We estimate a potential decrease of 200 or more undergraduate and graduate international students. This factor, coupled with the ongoing need to provide robust financial aid packages, is placing pressure on our net tuition revenue. In addition, our research portfolio has experienced modest reductions due to grant cancelations, resulting in a corresponding decrease in associated overhead revenue.

We already have taken proactive steps to begin to mitigate these rising costs and revenue shortfalls by carefully reviewing and, in many cases, reducing or eliminating various discretionary expenses. For example, we made the difficult decision to cancel the retiree luncheon and the employee summer celebration at Seabreeze, and we will be reducing our external sponsorship commitments.

More significant, the university is implementing multiple strategic measures. We are committed to carefully managing our personnel costs, which is the largest single expense category of the university, by filling only the most critical vacant positions. Additionally, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of tasks and responsibilities across the institution to identify opportunities for streamlining workflows and combining open positions wherever feasible, while continuing to meet the essential needs of our future priorities. We are taking all these steps to create a balanced operating budget and, in an attempt to maintain the planned merit-based salary increases included in the plan. However, due to the ongoing uncertainties, a final decision on a salary plan will need to be made after we have a clear assessment of enrollment this fall. This may be later than is customary.

We plan to reduce personnel compensation expenses by approximately two percent through the reduction of selected open positions and by continuing to hold open most remaining positions for the foreseeable future. We also are actively working to create opportunities for our current employees to embrace new responsibilities, with appropriate recognition for their expanded contributions.

These are significant challenges, but we wish to assure you that we are approaching them proactively, before they become unmanageable, with a firm commitment to the long-term health and vitality of our university community. Our focus remains on providing a high-quality educational experience for our students, supporting our dedicated faculty and staff, and advancing our mission of teaching, research, and service.

We understand that this information may raise questions, and we are committed to keeping you informed as we move forward. We and our new president will be providing further updates and opportunities for dialogue in the coming weeks and months.

Thank you for your ongoing dedication to our university and for your understanding as we navigate these evolving circumstances together.

In this month’s Behind the Stripes, we get to know Richard “Smitty” Smith, curriculum support/materials development coordinator, in the Department of ASL and Interpreting Education. Smitty retires this month after 46 years of service to NTID!

• Corinna Hill received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching.
• Danny Maffia received RIT’s Outstanding Teaching Award for non-tenure faculty.
• Denise Herrera received the Staff Beacon Award from RIT’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion.
• Eric Kunsman, assistant professor in NTID’s visual communications studies department, received the CENTER Santa Fe’s Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award for 2025. This award honors an international high school, college, or postgraduate teacher who demonstrates a dedication and commitment to their students and the photographic field.
• Joel Hunt, assistant professor in the School of Performing Arts, received the 2025–2026 Ronald D. Dodge Memorial Faculty Grant for "Intermedia Synthesis: Fostering Collaborative Audiovisual Creation for Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and Hearing Students." The initiative brings students together in a shared creative space to design and perform audiovisual works using modular synthesizers and accessible technologies such as haptic feedback.
• The following NTID faculty and staff completed the Division of Diversity and Inclusion’s Cultural Humility Certificate:
  • Valerie Burgio, interpreting coordinator
  • Wendy Dannels, research faculty
  • Elayne Fife-Collier, lecturer
  • Beth Karbowski, GROW career services specialist
  • Noella Kolash, junior full stack engineer
  • Denise Lengyel, senior lecturer
  • Ruth Reyes, lecturer
  • Samantha Schmidt, captioning development specialist
• Amy Stornello, NTID’s deputy Title IX coordinator, was one of four RIT staff members recognized by the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution for their dedication and service as volunteer advocates in the Conduct Advocate Program.
• Skip Flanagan will be part of the USA Performance Psychology team going to Tokyo to support Team USA at the Deaflympics.
• Congratulations to the graduates of the first-ever Deaf CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training.
• Kudos to the 19 students and staff who recently completed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training—a transformative step toward building a more supportive and mentally healthy campus for all. This training, developed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, empowers participants to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges. With certification valid for three years, these individuals are now better equipped to support their peers and lead with empathy—especially our SLT paraprofessionals, who are already trusted student leaders driving change:
  • Eitan Cassidy-Kulchinsky
  • Leilani Cronin
  • Riley Cuddie
  • Shenyiah Fuller
  • Zivia Gale
  • Suyun Hu
  • Rose Karnai
  • Justin Kitteridge
  • Brendan Malloy
  • Mya Malone
  • Leah Morgenthal
  • Osvaldo Ortega-Almaraz
  • Taylor Repetski
  • Jane Rodriguez
  • Jenifer Sanchez
  • Maria Vargas
  • Emma Vollmar
  • D’Ziya Wilson
• The Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution recognized four staff members for their dedication and service as volunteer advocates in the Conduct Advocate Program. Chris Hand, Spectrum Support Program Specialist; Samantha Jeffries, associate director for Student Case Management; Donna Sandlin, director of Policies and Compliance; and Amy Stornello, NTID Deputy Title IX Coordinator, were recognized for their efforts supporting students as they went through the conduct process.

• RIT/NTID partners with Continued’s online learning platform on professional development courses for audiologists and speech-language pathologists
• Coverage of the Deaf CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training and graduation by:
• 13WHAM News (ABC affiliate)
• News10NBC
• WROC Rochester First (CBS affiliate)
• Ellie Warren heads to medical school after earning her undergraduate degrees at RIT
• Hannah DeFelice’s environmental research leads to pursuit of a Ph.D.
• NIH cuts impact Deaf Scientist Pipeline
• NPR’s “All Things Considered” covers NIH cuts to Deaf Scientist Pipeline
• RIT in LA story features RIT/NTID students Ryker D’Angelo and Carson Munn
• RIT/NTID film and animation student Carson Munn is featured in this story on the program’s high ranking

• Jeannene S. Hoppe, SVP '98, '02 NTID (art and computer design), '05 Imaging Arts and Sciences (graphic design), passed away May 2, 2025.
• Andrew R. Kemp, SVP ’08, ’14 Liberal Arts (Criminal Justice), passed away March 19, 2025.
• Charles “Charlie” M. Reisinger, SVP ’69, attended NTID until 1971, passed away on May 20, 2025.