Partners

Partner with RIT and put your business or organization on a path toward something amazing. Whether we’re collaborating on research, developing solutions for corporations, or helping you tap into our talented pool of students and alumni, RIT has the connections that lead to success.

Work With Our Experts

RIT gives you access to experts who provide real solutions to real challenges. Whether you need help with a technical challenge, need some testing done, or would simply like some consultation from someone who knows your field, RIT faculty can be the connection to knowledge you need to succeed.

You can use this search tool to see whether RIT has an expert in your area of need. Please contact Tara DeLeo, director of corporate relations, who can put you in touch with our subject area experts.

Contact

Tara DeLeo
Director of Corporate Relations
Development
University Advancement
585-475-7498

Foundation Relations

Private and corporate foundations are pivotal players in philanthropic support at RIT. Longstanding partnerships with foundations have helped to advance exciting projects in education innovation, the arts, science, health, imaging, computing, deaf and hard-of-hearing scholarship and more.

Through research support, scholarship funding, program pilots and operation funding, and a host of other grant opportunities, our foundation partners have helped RIT become one of the most unique and successful universities in the U.S., while advancing their foundation missions and positive change in the world.

Contact

Sara Vinch
Executive Director Foundation Relations
Development
University Advancement
585-475-5498

Government and Community Relations

RIT’s Office of RIT Government and Community Relations serves as the university’s liaison with federal, state, and local government entities as well as community groups and organizations. We coordinate RIT’s participation in community events and manage special events that take place on the RIT campus. Our relationships between the university and all levels of government and the community at large result in funding and other types of support and strengthen RIT’s visibility and image in the community.

Contact

Vanessa J. Herman
Vice President for Government and Community Relations
Government and Community Relations
Government and Community Relations
585-475-5040

Boosting Visibility/ Brand Building

Creating awareness about your organization within RIT has lasting effects. From our talented students seeking a unique employment opportunity, to faculty and graduate research areas that align with your needs, to branding your business as a key partner to a cutting edge university – RIT can increase your organization’s visibility.

Contact

Tara DeLeo
Director of Corporate Relations
Development
University Advancement
585-475-7498

Recruit Students and Alumni

RIT’s cooperative education (co-op) program provides our employer partners with the best and brightest talent for their workforce. Employers can mentor students as they perform full-time assignments in their field of study for three or six months. Our experienced Career Services team will help employer partners design a strong recruiting strategy, target innovative academic disciplines, and connect with students or graduates that best align with their business needs.

Contact

Michelle Magee
Senior Associate Director for Employer Engagement
Office of Career Services and Cooperative Education
Academic Affairs
585-475-7824

Industry Solutions

RIT’s roots are in industry collaborations. Our faculty and students understand the sense of urgency required to provide solutions. We work with organizations of all sizes and would like to partner with yours.

Contact

Tara DeLeo
Director of Corporate Relations
Development
University Advancement
585-475-7498

Research Partnerships

RIT takes great pride in being the go-to partner for your research needs. We provide a variety of standard agreements to stream-line your engagement with the university. Along with our standard Sponsored Research Agreement, we have an Applied Research Agreement to accommodate testing or other applied research projects not expected to generate new IP, Assigned Project Agreements for cases where a sponsor make be seeking IP ownership, and an Educational Agreement that can be used for training activities.

To learn about sponsored research contracting, contact:

Strategic Partnerships

RIT impacts industries across the spectrum through coordinated, strategically valuable relationships that include applied research, solutions development, workforce education, and more. Many of our faculty members have significant and successful experience in industry, and they bring that perspective to their classrooms and labs. This makes RIT’s consultation more relevant and valuable to corporate partners than that of traditional academic partners.

RIT’s strategic partners have said that we redefined the idea of a university/company partnership, and changed their expectations of the results that were possible working with higher education. If you want a partner that will assist your business model across your entire company, few universities offer the breadth and depth of RIT.

Contact

Tara DeLeo
Director of Corporate Relations
Development
University Advancement
585-475-7498

Technology Licensing

The Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office manages RIT’s intellectual property portfolio and seeks to bring that IP to the marketplace through licensing or assignment. These technologies represent a wide diversity of market applications and range from invention disclosures to issued patents and from early-stage technologies to market-ready products and services.

Contact

Ryne Raffaelle
Vice President for Research
VP for Research Office
Research
585-475-2055

Technology Business Incubator

RIT Venture Creations is a technology business incubator that provides a range of services for early to mid-seed stage startups to help them advance their businesses on their way to joining the ranks of viable, profitable businesses. Located at 125 Tech Park Drive, adjacent to the RIT campus, the RIT incubator is home to a NYSERDA-sponsored Clean Energy Incubator (CEI), part of the NY State Innovation Hot Spot program, and the point of contact for RIT’s Start-Up NY program.

Corporate Education Programs

RIT offers a broad variety of programs that can help your organization perform at top levels. Nearly every offering can be customized to solve your most immediate problems or build for the future. Plus your business will gain preferred access to RIT’s world-class faculty while we handle the administrative details, ensuring that your programs run smoothly and provide a high return on investment. RIT is also designated as a U.S. Department of Labor OSHA Training Institute Education Center.

RIT offers companies a comprehensive menu of corporate learning options, including:

Training and education programs can be offered online, on campus, or on-site, and can include existing coursework, custom degrees, and stackable microcredentials. Our staff will work with you to determine the best mix of education choices to create your excellent workforce.

For more information on RIT’s corporate education options, contact:

Kitren VanStrander
Director Outreach Education and Training
OSHA Training Institute Education Center
College of Engineering Technology
585-475-7054

Working With National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Deaf and hard-of-hearing co-op students and graduates can give your businesses a competitive advantage by bringing today’s high-tech skills and diversity to the workplace. NTID students and alumni are making a difference in corporations across the nation.

Learn more about working with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Bryan Hensel
Executive Director
Office of External Affairs
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
585-475-6222

Partnership News

  • October 4, 2023

    a large, open atrium surrounded by glass walls.

    RIT to host a2ru student summit in March 2024

    Dozens of young scholars will convene at RIT next year as the university hosts the next a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit. The student participants will work in interdisciplinary teams from across the a2ru network to create arts-integrative projects responding to the theme “PLAY: The Impact of Play on How We Create and Relate to the World.”

  • October 2, 2023

    international college students working on laptops.

    Fall semester brings plentiful opportunities for international exchanges

    As part of RIT’s ongoing commitment to academic and cultural exchanges, several cohorts of international students, including those from Ireland, Germany, and Indonesia, visited campus this fall. The visits were spearheaded, in part, by RIT Global, which has developed partnerships with nearly 100 countries.

  • September 27, 2023

    college student at a career fair talking to a recruiter.

    Opportunities for students and employers abound at RIT University-wide Career Fair

    Nearly 4,000 RIT students looking for co-ops, internships, or full-time employment are attending RIT’s University-wide Career Fair today in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. Recruiters from more than 250 local, regional, and national employers are on hand, including General Dynamics, National Grid, Moderna, Redcom, Penske, Liberty Pumps, Wegmans Food Markets, and Samsung, among others.

  • September 25, 2023

    three college students posing for a photo.

    Students to present food packaging research at NYSP2I symposium

    On Sept. 29, fourth-year packaging science major Kassidy Burrows, along with fellow packaging science majors Baylee West and Daniel Pinigin, will travel to Binghamton University to present their research at the “Keep it Fresh!” Student Packaging Research Symposium.

  • September 18, 2023

    side-by-side images of a comic book cover for Spider Man India with Spider-Man bursting through an explosion, and a portrait of artist Adam Kubert.

    Comics go to college—RIT opens Kubert Comics Lounge and Gallery

    Comics fans have a super friend in RIT and a new place to pay homage to legendary DC Comics artist and educator Joe Kubert. The Kubert Lounge and Gallery opens to the public this fall at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection in RIT’s university library. Marvel Comics artist and RIT alumnus Adam Kubert ’81 donated his father’s archive to inspire young artists.

  • September 15, 2023

    a group of people, including R I T and city officials as well as children, cut a ceremonial ribbon in front of a historic building.

    Ribbon cutting celebrates K-12 University Center’s move to downtown Rochester

    On Wednesday morning, RIT President David Munson, K-12 University Center Executive Director Donna Burnette, and Rochester Mayor Malik Evans cut the ribbon in front of the K-12 University Center’s new home at 40 Franklin St., in the heart of downtown Rochester. This move from RIT’s Henrietta campus to the city will allow the center to greatly expand the connections it has already forged with the Rochester community.

  • September 14, 2023

    several selections of images from the James Webb Space Telescope, showing different stars and galaxies and their placement in space.

    Collaboration with global team confirms, disproves distant galaxies

    RIT scientists have once again used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey to change the way we think about the universe and its distant galaxies. Jeyhan Kartaltepe and Rebecca Larson co-authored a paper confirming very bright galaxies in the early universe, while also disproving the identification of what would have been the most distant galaxy ever found.