News by Topic: Community Outreach

Henry Louis Gates Jr. will deliver the keynote address at RIT’s 40th Expressions of King’s Legacy. The event is free and open to the public, taking place from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 27, at the Gordon Field House and Activities Center.

Growing up in a family of teachers, Nidhi Baindur has valued education from a very young age. Baindur, a second-year computational mathematics major from the island nation of Mauritius, is well on her way to helping others as just the second RIT recipient of the Newman Civic Fellowship, which recognizes and supports community-committed students who are change-makers and public problem solvers.

Rebecca Bober, a third-year packaging science major from Bloomfield, N.Y., recently earned Eagle Scout rank with Boy Scouts of America, becoming the first female Eagle Scout in the Finger Lakes region.

Some 200 RIT students, faculty, and staff spent part of their Giving Tuesday preparing 20,000 healthy meals for the community during the Hunger Project in the Gordon Field House.

Denishea Ortiz, executive director of Strategic Marketing for RIT’s Auxiliary Services, has been named a recipient of Rochester Business Journal’s 27th annual Forty Under 40 award. The award recognizes young professionals and future leaders for giving back to the Rochester community.

RIT will celebrate international education in all its forms during a wide-ranging series of events featuring invited speakers, informational sessions, cooking and dance workshops, gaming tournaments, and more. The university celebrates International Education Week from Nov. 12 to 19.

Connecticut residents are heading to their local libraries for pro bono legal assistance through a new program called Lawyers in Libraries, founded by RIT alumnus Kyle LaBuff ’06 (psychology). 

RIT's annual Veterans Day Breakfast returns this year featuring a keynote address by RIT alumnus, adjunct faculty member, and active member of the military, Thomas L. Peeples ’94, ’03 MS.

A new option for co-op experiences at nonprofits is part of a pilot program being developed by a College of Art and Design faculty member. Professor Susan Lakin said the aim of the program is to both fill a need at nonprofits for digitally fluent staff and to provide an important experience for students interested in working closely with community organizations.

RIT students are already benefitting from a new partnership with Garth Fagan Dance, with RIT Performing Arts Scholarship students taking master classes downtown and students working on a semester-long arts management capstone project to deliver suggestions for the internationally known dance company to potentially implement.

Early childhood development professionals often face challenges when teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing youth to read. A new project spearheaded by NTID is hoping to effectively bring literacy education to deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji.

A gift from IDI Billing Solutions, a global provider of cloud-based billing, automation and workflow solutions for Communications Service Providers, will help RIT fund a series of important diversity initiatives. The company recently donated $162,000 to help RIT provide new scholarships, emergency support funds, and programmatic opportunities for RIT and K-12 students.