News by Topic: Diversity

RIT is open to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, ability, and culture, and actively supports the inclusion of all communities. Through accessible technologies and academic programs, research on social issues, and celebrations of individuals from all backgrounds, RIT hopes to be the model for a brighter future for all people.

  • August 22, 2018

    Group of students celebrating in parking lot at convocation.

    New students urged to dream and change the world

    Get involved, know your fellow students and professors, and take advantage of as many opportunities as you can was the main theme expressed during New Student Convocation at RIT today, as the university welcomed its most academically qualified first-year students.

  • August 20, 2018

    Last year's class of Destler/Johnson scholars pose for a photo on the front steps of a house.

    RIT welcomes 2018 class of Destler/Johnson scholars

    RIT will welcome the ninth class of Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars at a ceremony on Monday. Since 2010, the program has provided more than 200 graduates of the Rochester City School District and Rochester charter schools with the opportunity to attend RIT tuition-free.

  • August 17, 2018

    The students who participated in RIT Upward Bound Classic summer program hold up their certificates for completing the program.

    Program exposes teens to college experience

    RIT’s Upward Bound Classic program wrapped up its first year with a residential summer program that provided Rochester-area high schoolers a taste of college, including living on RIT’s campus, completing academic workshops, visiting other area colleges and speaking with community leaders.

  • August 16, 2018

    A group of WE@RIT students stand outside in their WE@RIT shirts, using their bodies to spell out "WE RIT." The photo is taken from above.

    Diversity initiatives in STEM honored by magazine

    Women in Engineering (WE@RIT) and Engineers of Color Creating Opportunities (ECCO), two cultural and gender diversity programs at RIT, were recognized as Inspiring Programs in STEM by INSIGHT into Diversity magazine.

  • August 9, 2018

    Ana Sorensen sits in a wheelchair and demonstrates how the LEV lift works for individuals to lift themselves up. She shows this to another woman who is engaged in the demonstration and reaches out to touch the assistive device.

    Students create assistive products for community

    The Studio 930 Design Consultancy program, a 10-week long multidisciplinary studio experience focused on the design and production of access and health technologies products, wrapped up with an exhibition Aug. 7.

  • August 7, 2018

    The logo for The Princeton Review. Simple text reading The Princeton Review with a small yellow triangle in the bottom right corner.

    RIT named among the nation’s ‘Best 384 Colleges’

    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 2019 edition of its annual book, The Best 384 Colleges.

  • August 6, 2018

    A headshot of Iris Rivero.

    Iris Rivero named department head in KGCOE

    Iris Rivero, a faculty-researcher at Iowa State University and expert in additive and hybrid manufacturing, was recently named department head of industrial and systems engineering at RIT.

  • August 6, 2018

    Keith Jenkins stands at the front of a room and speaks to three students who sit at desks with their laptops and paper for notes.

    Freshmen get jump on academics

    Sixty-four RIT freshmen are participating in the Division of Diversity and Inclusion Summer Experience, a four-week program that helps prepare first-year students from underrepresented populations for a successful transition to college.

  • August 6, 2018

    Shantinique Cowans sits on her bed in her dorm room, smiling and holding a book open in her lap.

    Housing fund game-changer for graduate

    Shantinique Cowans ’18 was able to live on campus thanks to the M. Forrest and Robert Hurlbut Residence College Fund. Cowans is one example of how students are already benefiting from RIT’s $1 billion blended campaign.

  • August 6, 2018

    The four women e-board members stand together in the stations broadcasting room.

    WITR increases diversity

    Members of WITR noticed something was missing last school year among its participants—women. After an effort to step up recruitment efforts to make sure everyone was given an opportunity to be part of the station, female membership has increased by 40 percent since 2017.

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