Office of the Provost News

Although they may not be shaking hands this year, Rochester Institute of Technology students will once again be making in-person connections with potential employers for spring co-ops and full-time employment as the university-wide career fair is held Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Gordon Field House.

Registration is open for Mechanics’ Institutes Worldwide 2021, a free virtual conference on Oct. 15 honoring the 200th anniversary of the founding of the first Mechanics Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. RIT's Corinna Schlombs and Liz Call will virtually join experts from around the world as they share knowledge on the start of the Mechanics’ Institute movement in the 19th century and what the movement represents today.

RIT has risen to new heights when it comes to improving upon and providing cutting-edge accessibility solutions by being named a Microsoft Accessible University as part of its latest initiative. RIT is one of only six universities in the United States to receive the designation.

To help address a lack of diversity, as well as gaps in AI curricula, RIT was awarded a grant of nearly $2 million by the NSF to create a new research traineeship program for graduate students

Dr. Russell W. Bessette and his wife, Melissa, joined RIT officials and other dignitaries to announce a donation of two patents and the creation of the Dr. Russell and Melissa Bessette Award for Doctoral Student Excellence, a $3.05 million bequest from which funding will be awarded annually as part of recruitment or at any point during a doctoral student’s enrollment at RIT.

RIT has again been recognized as one of the best national universities by U.S. News & World Report, which also cited the university as among the most innovative, best valued, and with highly regarded cooperative education and internship programs.

In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan and the Afghan government’s collapse, RIT is collaborating with universities, nonprofits, and governmental agencies to support students and scholars who have evacuated the country or are attempting still to leave.

RIT is considered one of the nation’s best universities for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education-services company features RIT in the just-published 2022 edition of its book The Best 387 Colleges. RIT was also listed fourth in the Top 50 Game Design: Undergraduate category.

Dr. Nabil Nasr will lead the research and development of a second report to a U.N. Environment Programme panel focused on the benefits of value-retention processes (VRPs).

LaVerne McQuiller Williams, professor and current interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, has been named associate provost for Faculty Affairs at the university, effective Sept. 1. In this role, McQuiller Williams will oversee the Office of Faculty Affairs, within the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Dozens of RIT students are once again crisscrossing the globe this year for in-person international education experiences. Thirteen students from RIT’s global campuses and 11 students from RIT’s international exchange partners came to study at RIT’s campus in Rochester this fall. Meanwhile, 16 students from RIT’s Rochester campus have headed off for study abroad experiences across the world.

RIT has received the “Peace Corps Prep” designation, enabling its students to take certain classes to better prepare them for service in the Peace Corps upon graduation. RIT is the first university in Western New York to receive the designation, and the fifth in the state.