News by Topic: Racial Inclusiveness

RIT’s summer day camp—Camp Tiger—offers four weeks of hands-on-learning in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. New this year is a partnership with Rochester City Ballet that brings dance programs to RIT’s new creative center, the SHED.

RIT has been announced as one of 10 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize Competition award winners.

Resistance Mapping is a local, collaborative digital humanities project focused on how Monroe County, N.Y., has been shaped by histories of institutional racism and collective community resistance. Scholars and students affiliated with RIT’s humanities, computing, and design program and the University of Rochester’s Digital Scholarship at River Campus Libraries helped create a website to host the educational content.

Author and historian Ibram X. Kendi will be the keynote speaker at RIT’s Expressions of King’s Legacy, an annual program dedicated to celebrating the life and impact of Martin Luther King Jr. The 2024 event will be held from noon to 2 p.m. on Jan. 30 at RIT’s Gordon Field House.

Stephanie Nogueras ’11 (applied liberal arts) credits her lucky break to an RIT fashion competition that launched an unlikely acting career.

The U.S. House of Representatives honored Saunders College of Business alumnus Kamalakar “Kam” Shenai ’89 MBA (marketing) as a distinguished leader in Central Florida during Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in May.

RIT’s seventh annual Let Freedom Ring event will feature alumna Krystle Ellis ’09, ’15 MS as its keynote speaker on Jan. 15. The event honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by hosting speakers who challenge the RIT community to think deeper, to broaden horizons, and to express individuality.

RIT continues to be a leader in diversity in higher education, as recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The publication announced RIT as a 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award winner and a 2023 Diversity Champion. This is the 10th consecutive HEED Award and ninth consecutive Diversity Champion designation for RIT.

RIT’s Changing Hearts and Minds Award, which recognizes success in diversifying the university’s faculty ranks and helping to advance RIT’s overall commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, has been awarded to the College of Science.

For nearly a decade, RIT audiologist Catherine Clark has been volunteering in Ethiopia, providing essential services to the country’s deaf and hard-of-hearing children. As a result of her efforts, Clark was recognized recently with the naming of a new audiology lab in her honor.

Sherry Perry Tshibangu, Distinguished Professor and experienced small-business owner, has been announced as the next Frederick H. Minett Professor at RIT for the 2023-2024 academic year. The Minett Professorship brings distinguished Rochester-area multicultural professionals to the RIT campus to share professional knowledge and experience.

RIT’s Future Faculty Career Exploration Program celebrates its 20th cohort of diverse academics Sept. 27-30. The program, hosted by the Office of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment, is a rigorous four-day event designed for historically underrepresented scholars and artists of color to experience a behind-the-scenes glimpse into life as a faculty member at RIT.