Art, Design, and Architecture News

Despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students at RIT are still finding ways to participate in hundreds of clubs and organizations this semester, including dancing, designing games, and even skydiving.

Professionals interested in learning how to use Unreal Engine to create interactive 3D can now do it online with RIT’s Unreal Engine Foundations Professional Certificate program on edX.

Beginning with next week’s inaugural lecture on Sept. 16, the Vignelli Center’s Design Conversations Lecture Series presented by Design Milk will feature a wide variety of diverse designers whose compelling work has made important impacts on the design world.

Design Milk features Wendy Maruyama '80 MFA (woodworking and furniture design).

Normally lined with exhibits showcasing the talents of RIT faculty, students, and alumni, three RIT galleries are instead outfitted this semester with the desks and technology necessary to meet the academic needs of hundreds of first-year College of Art and Design students. The University and Bevier Galleries inside Booth Hall and the William Harris Gallery in Gannett Hall have been transformed into creative classrooms.

Students Joy Anderson (Film and Animation) and Aria A. Dines (Film and Animation; Illustration) are featured speakers for the Levine Center to End Hate's "Brave Spaces" event.

For Metaproject 11, senior industrial design students will spend the semester designing products for Staach, which focuses on functional sustainable design. Founded by Seth Eshelman '06 (industrial design/graphic design), the company designs and domestically manufactures sustainable products including furniture, interiors, and built structures.

With move-in complete for most students and campus activities well underway, students, faculty, and staff are now anticipating the start of fall semester classes, which begin this Wednesday, Aug. 19.

WHAM-TV features Julianna Truesdale '11 (graphic design).

The College of Art and Design offered three courses as part of RIT's First Class Academy, a tuition-free, credit-bearing online experience that introduced incoming freshmen to the RIT and Rochester communities this summer.

COVID-19 has challenged the university to consider an even more creative academic portfolio with blended, online, split A/B, and flex class options. To prepare for in-person instruction, RIT has upgraded academic buildings and classrooms. And physical distancing and face coverings, required of faculty and students in classrooms, together provide some of the greatest protection against the spread of COVID-19.

The unexpected transition to remote learning during the spring semester challenged faculty across RIT to experiment, create, and deploy new methods of instruction to ensure student success. As the university gears up for in-person and online classes—or a combination of both—faculty members are applying a wide range of lessons learned from the spring to keep academic momentum moving forward in the fall.