Class of 2015 Behind Every Student, There’S a Story
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June–July 2015 Volume 6, Number 6 www.rit.edu/athenaeum • RIT Global International flavor RIT’s international student population has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Read about how graduate programs are fueling an enrollment explosion. Page 4 • Technology on Campus Making MAGIC From software development to computer games and even prosthetic limbs, the MAGIC Center continues to make its mark on campus and across the country. Page 5 • Research and Scholarship Teaching excellence Each year, RIT pays tribute to faculty members hailed as the university’s finest educators with the Eisenhart Awards for Outstanding Teaching. Meet this year’s recipients. Page 10 • About Students Fantasy, fiction and fashion Class of 2015 Behind every student, there’s a story. At this year’s Academic Convocation, RIT will confer degrees on some 3,500 graduates. Meet some of the members of this The one-of-a-kind Tora-Con convention is an annual year’s graduating class, and learn about the roads they traveled to reach this gathering of fans focused on anime, manga, Japanese culture, sci-fi, fantasy and RIT culture at large. Page 12 milestone. Page 6 Athenaeum | 2 | Volume 6, Number 6 • Picture Perfect June–JulY 2015 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 6 Produced by University News Services, Brown Hall, 132 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, N.Y. 14623 (585) 475-5064 | (585) 475-5097 (fax) [email protected] EXECUTIVE EDITORS Bob Finnerty ’07 Chief Communications Officer Ellen Rosen Director, University News MANAGING EDITOR Vienna McGrain ’12 Associate Director COPY EDITOR Marie Lang Editorial Coordinator DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY A. Sue Weisler CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN Jeff Arbegast ’93, University Publications Alexander Gartley ’07, University Publications CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Scott Bureau ’11, Michelle Cometa ’00, Susan Gawlowicz ’95, Derrick Hunt, Steve Jaynes, Rich Kiley, Greg Livadas, Marcia Morphy, Mindy Mozer, Joe Venniro Photo by A. Sue Weisler MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER David Wivell Exhibits at the 2015 Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival packed STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — including this working replica of an amusement park, built with 50,000 pieces of K’nex. Some 35,000 people attended the event. NEW MEDIA University News Services • Author’s Spotlight • News in Review www.rit.edu/news RIT News & Events Daily: and black women collaborating, to find START-UP NY continues www.rit.edu/news/daily Catholic women who were supposed to be to grow with RIT- opposed to feminism was really interesting. RIT News Facebook Fan Page: I wanted to look at other examples of coali- connected companies www.facebook.com/RITNews tions between unlikely allies.” Three more companies with ties to RIT have RIT News RSS feeds: The culmination of Carroll’s research been accepted into the state’s START-UP NY www.rit.edu/news/rss resulted in Mobilizing New York: AIDS, business development program. RIT News YouTube Channel: Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism, a book Darkwind Media, a graduate of Venture www.youtube.com/RITUniversityNews that focuses on three grassroots move- Creations business incubator, develops gaming ments that empowered people for social The Tiger Beat Blog: software and provides consulting services to www.rit.edu/news/tigerbeat change in New York City. other game development studios. Darkwind “I look at the ways they were trying to employs 15 people and expects to create 11 Follow RIT News on Twitter: foster participatory democracy, grassroots jobs at 40 Franklin St. in downtown Rochester. www.twitter.com/RITNews activists partnering with professionals to Optel Inc. is a new venture that provides achieve better results,” Carroll said. a variety of services to companies in the The programs Carroll researched include medical device field, ensuring compliance with Mobilizing New York: AIDS, Mobilization for Youth, a demonstration the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism project for the War on Poverty, which gen- Administration. Optel will be locating to Venture Written by Tamar W. Carroll, College of erated programs such as Head Start and Creations and will create 18 new jobs while Liberal Arts Legal Services for low-income Americans; investing $285,000. The National Congress of Neighborhood ClearCove Systems is a renewable energy BY GREG LIVADAS Women, in which displaced homemakers company founded by RIT alumni that will RIT’s traditional seal, imprinted on our graduates’ diplomas, features the image of Athena, Greek goddess Attending graduate school, Tamar Carroll united with feminist activists and estab- create 23 new jobs and create $5 million to of wisdom. The institute came to be as a result of the visited the Smith College Archives in lished the first publicly-funded domestic $10 million in economic benefit in 2015. merger in 1891 between the Rochester Athenaeum, a Northampton, Mass., expecting to research violence shelter in New York state; and the ClearCove Systems’ patented technology literary society founded in 1829, and the Mechanics and write about feminist Gloria Steinem. AIDS Coalitions to Unleash Power (ACT significantly reduces energy consumption, Institute, a practical technical training school founded But first, the archivist shared papers about UP), an AIDS awareness organization and substantially improves energy production in 1885. In 1944, the university changed its name to Rochester Institute of Technology. a Brooklyn-based feminist group named Women’s Health Action Mobilization and reduces the installation and operating the National Congress of Neighborhood (WHAM!), which fostered in a coalition costs of a municipal or industrial wastewater Women. between gay men and reproductive rights treatment facility. “I found it fascinating,” said Carroll, now feminists in the 1980s and 1990s. Businesses accepted into START-UP NY and an assistant professor of history at RIT. “These are stories of ordinary people create new jobs will pay no state or local taxes “It was all unexpected, all of these coali- who changed their world, and I hope read- for 10 years. State officials say the tax benefits tions between groups that were supposed ers will be inspired by their examples,” will help accelerate entrepreneurialism and job to be at odds with each other. To find white she said. n creation across the state on a large scale. n RIT’S STRATEGIC PLAN IN ACTION— CAREER EDUCATION AND STUDENT SUCCESS June–July 2015 | 3 | www.rit.edu/athenaeum • Viewpoints GREATNESS Wallace Center puts people first THROUGH DIFFERENCE RIT’S The digital revolution has brought transfor- a transformation of physical space and enabled Collections, space and 2015-2025 mational change to libraries, causing many new partnerships. The first floor of TWC is now student services tell only STRATEGIC PLAN to question the future of these time-honored a vibrant space where students can connect a small part of TWC’s story. institutions. But rather than disappearing from with their peers and find resources that were Faculty career development, the landscape, libraries are experiencing a resur- previously scattered on campus. Where else can media and Web development gence, playing a role in their communities that students obtain research assistance for a thesis, services, event and publishing is more important than ever. Walk into The consultation on a writing assignment, escape support and an award-winning Wallace Center (TWC) and you will experience the dorms to a 24-hour quiet study space, col- University Press also define The Wallace Center. this firsthand. laborate with team members to finish a group Located at the heart of the campus and described When I joined the Wallace Library almost project, practice a presentation, and learn ASL? by one of our students as “central to a balanced 30 years ago, our space, like most libraries, put Nearly 3,500 students and faculty come to TWC and strong academic experience,” The Wallace books first and people second. Technology was in every day for these services and more. Center has evolved from a library into an aca- its infancy and almost all library collections were The new digital environment is balanced demic center that is responding to the needs and Shirley Bower is director of print. Access to information was constrained by with a strong commitment to tradition and his- contemporary learning styles of our students RIT Libraries a physical building for limited hours. Today, the tory. Special collections such as RIT Archives, and faculty by incorporating a creative range of picture is much different. Digital collections and RIT/NTID Deaf Studies Archive and the Cary services and collaboration spaces. TWC is “more connections have removed physical boundaries Collection preserve RIT’s history and enhance than a library”; it is a blend of interconnected This column presents and enabled TWC to deliver information to the RIT’s reputation while providing a unique services that together create a unique learning opinions and ideas on researcher’s desktop 24/7 while expanding its opportunity for students and faculty to interact space and opportunities for our students and issues relevant to higher reach beyond the Henrietta campus, serving with primary source materials that include not faculty. With a commitment from RIT, The education. To suggest as a valuable resource for our global programs only rare printed volumes but RIT memorabilia, Wallace Center will continue to evolve and an idea for the column, and online learners. working historical presses and artifacts that tell enhance research,