News by Topic: Racial Inclusiveness

The Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences has a new initiative aimed at increasing its emphasis on diversity at all levels in the college. The GCCIS Diversity Initiatives office will support underrepresented populations, Women in Computing, and diversity and inclusion efforts.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden, an internationally recognized assistant professor of photography in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, was chosen to visually capture the story of the first decade of Black Lives Matter in New York Magazine’s February issue.

One highlight of the RIT-Rochester Prep High School Partnership is the annual capstone showcase that spotlights student-professor collaborations. Their diverse projects in photojournalism, antibiotic resistance, 3D printing and fabrication, and chemical engineering gave the students experience on a college campus and the confidence of completing undergraduate-level material.

After the contested 2020 presidential election, the tumult of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the national protests following the killing of George Floyd, RIT looked inward to see how to address the political climate with the student body. The result is an increased effort to create a campus culture of free speech and to give students the skills to participate in civil discourse respectfully and productively long after they graduate.

RIT students, faculty, and staff are invited to discuss non-partisan solutions to some of the most complex civic and political problems of our day as part of the Horizons program. The first, with the topic, “Youth and Opportunity: What Should We Do for Future Generations to Thrive?” is scheduled for Feb. 9.

Cecilia Alm, an associate professor in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, was awarded nearly $2 million by the National Science Foundation to lead a team of RIT faculty addressing a lack of diversity in the artificial intelligence research community and gaps in AI curricula.

As an expert in microfluidic devices—tiny labs able to decipher bioparticles—Blanca Lapizco-Encinas and her research partners uncovered a mystery in how these particles can be better differentiated. As she has moved her own research forward, she is influencing a new generation of scientists to do the same.

RIT’s community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni has grown larger than ever. Enrollment jumped to a new record last fall with 19,718 students studying across all campuses, up 1,050 from fall 2020.

When we drafted a new vision statement for RIT’s Strategic Plan in 2018, the realities of a global pandemic were only a hypothetical part of our crisis training and preparation. While the university continues to carefully navigate the challenge of COVID-19, we have simultaneously never taken our eye off the plan’s goals and objectives as we envision our future.

RIT’s annual Let Freedom Ring event has been rescheduled to take place from 12-1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in Ingle Auditorium. The event was originally planned to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but was rescheduled when RIT closed due to a powerful winter storm.

Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce and its Women’s Council have named three RIT community members as finalists for the 2022 ATHENA International Young Professional Award, which recognizes emerging female leaders in the 30- to 45-year-old range who demonstrate excellence, creativity, and initiative in their business or profession and serve as a role model for young women.

Rachel Romaine, a fourth-year international business and management information systems double major, received a $10,000 Award for Excellence in Business Commentary from The Executive Leadership Council, a preeminent membership organization committed to increasing the number of global Black executives in C-suites, on corporate boards, and in global enterprises.