News by Topic: Alumni

Ryan Brooks ’96 (food management) is the third-generation owner of the business that began as a poultry farm, providing fresh eggs and packaged meats to nearby stores. His grandparents dreamed of opening a restaurant, and in 1961, they adapted their catering business into what would become a recognized family-owned business—Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q.

The Wall Street Journal talks to Jim Frederick ’03 MS (environmental, health, and safety management), OSHA’s acting assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

This year’s RIT Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend saw a return of in-person events including entertainment, men’s and women’s hockey, a comedian and speakers, escape rooms, axe throwing, tours, a 5K run and walk, open houses, and more. Catch up on the action with a video recap and photo gallery.

RIT alumnus and founder of Datto Austin McChord is creating four endowment awards to support RIT students and professors. In naming the awards, McChord is honoring his grade school teachers from his hometown school district in Newtown, Conn. The endowments are made possible as part of a $50 million donation that McChord made to RIT in 2017.

RIT Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Twyla Cummings will retire from RIT effective June 30. Cummings oversaw the evolution of the Office of Graduate Education to the RIT Graduate School in support of RIT’s Strategic Plan 2018-2025, and RIT added five new Ph.D. programs during her tenure.

At the university-wide career fair on Wednesday, representatives from 108 companies and the military met with students hoping to land a co-op next year, or a full-time position. More than 1,200 students attended the fair in the first hour.

Professor André Hudson, head of the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, received a $443,583 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Department of Health and Human Services to isolate, identify, and characterize new antibiotics.

A new platform designed specifically for the RIT community is creating a professional development bridge between students and alumni. Tigers Connect, a ‘flash mentoring’ platform that officially launched Sept. 27, serves as a one-stop shop where users can create profiles, set preferences, and customize any information that they want shared.

This year’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend, Oct. 15 through 17, features numerous in-person events including entertainment, hockey, speakers, escape rooms, axe throwing, a zip line, tours, open houses, and more. Building on the success of last year’s Tiger Alumni Week, a variety of virtual programs specifically for alumni will be held beginning on Oct. 11.

The COVID-19 impact on collegiate sports changed the storyline for many student-athletes, including RIT alumnus Jimmy Spillane ’20 (biomedical sciences), who has found his way back onto the lacrosse field for the 2021-2022 season.

Time mentions Pari Dukovic '06 (professional photographic illustration), who took two of the 2021 Time 100 covers (Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, and Billie Eilish).

Rick Kettell ’84 (logistics and transportation management) is a retired Federal Aviation Administration senior manager. In 2001, he was the air traffic manager at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center and tracked Flight 93 before it crashed in Somerset County, Pa., on Sept. 11.