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RIT is a different kind of university. And by different, I mean all definitions of the
word. RIT students are not alike in character or quality to that of different schools. RIT's
majors and curriculum are separate and distinctive. RIT's culture is abnormal. Our student-administration
relationship is unusual. The student experience is certainly not ordinary. And finally, RIT's
history is especially irregular. Indulge me for a minute while I give you a historical
biography of how RIT came to be. In its infancy state, RIT wasn't a college. It was called
the Rochester Athenaeum-a place of lectures, debates, and a library, founded in 1829. Later
in its childhood, the Athenaeum merged with the Mechanics Literary Association to eventually
form Mechanics Institute in 1891, with enrollment of 1,000 students. Soon into its pre-teenage
years, five academic departments formed and by 1903, the Institute started offering certificate
degrees. As a teenager, the Mechanics Institute was renamed to Rochester Institute of Technology,
the name familiar to us. And with this new name in 1950, RIT became the first technical
school to offer associate degrees in applied science. A 5 short years later, the late-teenager
matured and started to offer bachelor degrees. 5 years after that, RIT awarded its first
master's degrees and enrollment reached nearly 9,000 students. In 1961, the RIT Board of
Trustees made the risky decision of moving the downtown Rochester campus to a campus
in Henrietta, New York. Over the next 20 years, 3 new colleges formed under the University,
including the federally sponsored National Technical Institute for the Deaf. And now,
with over 100 new buildings on campus, another 800 faculty members hired, and an additional
9,000 students, you see the present-day matured adult and clearly different and arguably unique
Rochester Institute of Technology. Not only do we have an interesting history, but we
also have several different aspects that make RIT a truly unique place of higher education.
In the next couple of minutes, I'll tell you about our unique kind of students, our distinct
distinctive majors, our unusual campus culture, our exceptional student-administration connection,
along with RIT's exclusive student experience. So, RIT attracts a particular type of student.
RIT students know what they want. They share a passion for learning, education, and knowledge.
They want a seamless education and they want to get out into the working world as soon
as possible. I think you'll all agree with that! Out of the thousands of students who
are admitted every year, a very low percentage of them come in as undeclared majors. Additionally,
according to the RIT Admissions department, RIT students rank among the top 10% of their
high school's graduating class. RIT students are geeks at heart. Being a geek isn't a bad
thing. And not all geeks are just people who code computer programs, play World of Warcraft
all day and night, or memorize the first one-hundred digits of p. A geek is someone who is passionate
about things that are outside the scope of the mainstream popular culture. Geeks are
enthusiasts and we play and we have plenty of them on campus: everything from sign language
geeks to marketing, photography, and engineering geeks. Even look at our President, Dr. Destler,
for example. He makes electric powered bikes and is an international authority on high-power
microwave sources and accel advanced accelerator concepts. I don't even know what that is!
And on top of that, he collects banjos! Many RIT students take pride in their geeky-ness,
and geeky-ness should not be associated with derogatory thoughts of social ineptness. Take
it for what you will, but geeks run this this planet-and RIT produces 3,500 of them every
year. As for nerds? Well, we have some of those on the other hand as do all major universities.
And what attracts these Geeky students to RIT? I'd say it's primarily the array of different
and diverse majors and programs. You will often hear Dr. Destler say in his presentations
that “RIT is a collection of left-brainers and right-brainers.” And he couldn't be
more right! If you look at the geography of campus, we have a school of the arts right
next to an engineering school, which is in close proximity to the schools of business,
liberal arts, and science all in the same area. We have rare and interesting majors.
Everything from Accounting to Woodworking; American Sign Language Interpretation to Journalism;
Computer Science to Hospitality; Jewelry Design to Philosophy; and Game Design to Glass Sculpture.
Speaking from experience, it is a truly interesting environment living in a residence hall with
individuals of all different expertise and interests. You will be exposed to fields of
information that you thought you would never be interested in. You will learn to apply
knowledge from other fields to your primary study. And with all the curriculum diversity,
RIT has created a melting pot of knowledge. Because of this, the RIT campus is a great
foundation to foster innovation and creativity. Not all, not only are our majors diverse,
but many of them are national models and top-ranked programs. Programs like Information Technology,
Packaging Science, and Biomedical Communications were the nation's first of their kind. More
recently, RIT created the world's first Sustainability Ph. D. degree. Along with our different majors,
we have a unique campus culture that is vastly different than other universities. Something
that contributes to our distinctive campus culture is our diversity as a community. We
have an interesting blend of students from all walks of life-even more so that most universities.
Our inclusivity consists of high populations of students from outside the United States,
from all of the 50 states, students who identify with various minority races, students with
various religious beliefs, LGBT students, and students with different social economic
statuses. This is pretty typical for most universities. But on top of all that, RIT
is home the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, which has over 1,500 deaf and hard-of-hearing
students. That is just something you won't find at just any other university. RIT students
tend to embrace the cultural diversity, because most realize that our university may perhaps
be the most diverse environment they will ever be exposed to. And what kind and what
does this culturally diverse student body do when they're not in class? Well, we have
some unconventional clubs, hobbies, activities, and customs. We have, of course, all the clichŽ
clubs like the Bowling Club, Ultimate Frisbee, Running Club, Habitat for Humanity, Debate
Society, Model United Nations, and the Formula Racing Team. Pretty clichŽ, I know. But we
also have some interesting clubs that are either unique to RIT or the involvement is
unique. Humans versus Zombies, for instance, is like a big game of tag with nerf guns,
running, and 800 screaming geeks. It's a great way to get the gamers outside to see the light
of day. There's also an Anime Club, which is the campus's largest club. The Electronic
Gaming Society has gaming tournaments with more participation than some national conventions.
As for hobbies and activities, we have an indoor track, an indoor rock climbing wall
in an old barn on campus. We have stationary bikes with TV screens in our gym that have
simulation games for workouts. We have a Lazy River in our Aquatics Center that floats away
any stress. We have a Mug Tug every year, which is an excuse to get dirty for charity.
We have weekly movie nights, monthly field trips, quarterly concerts, and yearly festivals.
We have coffee shops all over campus to relax while getting a caffeine buzz. And countless
other stuff that time won't allow me to share. Nevertheless, when we get bored and there's
nothing else to do, we connect to one of the 3,400 wireless nodes that is part of the largest
wireless deployments in North America-did I mention our internet is lightning fast?
Now seriously, common! Who has stuff like that? No other colleges I know of have idiosyncrasies
like a tiger pelt in the library or the sentinel- big, intentionally rusting piece of metal
in the center of campus. I know you're jealous at how different RIT really is! Another thing
that's dynamically different about RIT is the student-administrator connection. At most
other schools, it's the administration's policy to not meet with students. Here, that is completely
different. Here, not only is student-administration meetings welcome, but they're encouraged.
Many administrators teach First Year Enrichment classes and have regular meetings with students.
I have never once heard of an administrator refusing to meet with a student. And that's
the norm at our peer institutions. In fact, our campus administration is so dedicated
to the student body that they participate in events like the Orange Hair Challenge and
the Dorm Challenge. Each year, Dr. Destler challenges the student body to come to a Women
and Men's Basketball game. If the stands are full, he dyes his hair orange, which looks
quite interesting on a typically normally white haired gentleman. Additionally...