News
Sandra Johnson

Turn big dreams into reality. That was just one piece of advice for the newest Rochester Institute of Technology students who attended the New Student Convocation on Aug. 24. The annual event included welcomes from administrators, the new Student Government president, and a lesson in adventure featuring RIT President David Munson.

The new undergraduate students come from 48 states (all but Iowa and Wyoming); Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Guam; U.S. Virgin Islands; and 47 countries, with the largest contingent coming from India, Canada, and China. In addition, there are 927 new graduate students.

Explore, discover, and get involved were some of the suggestions the newest RIT students received during Thursday’s New Student Convocation, which included welcomes from administrators, their new Student Government president, and even some levity featuring RIT President David Munson who pretended he needed to finish his college education.

The RIT men’s lacrosse team raised the NCAA trophy as Division III National Champions for the second time in as many years on May 29. On Tuesday the team was welcomed back to campus to celebrate Sunday’s exciting game and 12-10 victory over Union College.

A record number of first-year students Wednesday made their way to the Gordon Field House and Activities Center to cheers and welcomes from faculty, staff, and members of the RIT Pep Band during the annual Tiger Walk and New Student Convocation.

Thousands of students are expected back on campus next week, as a record number of freshmen move in, begin orientation, and attend New Student Convocation. Roughly 3,260 first-year students are expected – about 1,000 a day will move in starting Sunday through Tuesday. That’s up more than 250 students from last year, which also saw a record number of freshmen.

RIT unveiled a new sculpture of Frederick Douglass and a display of four cultural flags in the university’s Student Alumni Union. The sculpture was commissioned in celebration of the 50th anniversary of RIT’s Black Awareness Coordinating Committee, and the Haudenosaunee flag, the Black Lives Matter flag, the Rainbow or Pride flag, and the Sign Union Flag serve as a visual marker of RIT's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

RIT welcomes a record number of first-year students today as classes begin in a semester that will look like no other due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new students were welcomed Tuesday afternoon during an online convocation that featured several speakers, livestreamed without an audience from Ingle Auditorium.

RIT has launched a new bias-related incident report form designed to streamline the process for filing complaints involving students or when the parties involved are unknown, such as graffiti.

RIT students are encouraged to make sure they are counted in the 2020 Census, even though they may currently be scattered across the country. Every 10 years, the U.S. counts everyone living in the country, including college students, to help ensure that communities across the nation receive their fair share of federal funding and are appropriately represented for the next decade.

A national publication is recognizing RIT’s Division of Student Affairs for its diverse and positive work environment. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education named RIT to its seventh annual report of “The Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs.”

As millions of American families gathered for the Thanksgiving holiday, a group of students – many of them international students at RIT – came together at a university administrator’s home to eat, socialize, make new friends and give thanks as well.