Rochester Institute of Technology

Overview

• 2007 data: 13,046 undergraduates and 2,292 graduate students (2.2:1 male:female ratio), total 15,338 students
  

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a world renowned technical university comprised of eight colleges and one institute:

• College of Applied Science & Technology (CAST)
  

• E. Phillip Saunders College of Business (COB)
  

• B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS)
  

• Kate Gleason College of Engineering (COE)
  

• College of Imaging Arts & Sciences (CIAS)
  

• College of Liberal Arts (COLA)
  

• National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)
  

• College of Science (COS)
  

• Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS)

  RIT is particularly well respected for its film, printing, photography, engineering, and computing departments, as well as for being one of the largest deaf and hearing integrated higher education institutes. RIT also operates three satellite campuses overseas: in Kosovo as the American University in Kosovo (AUK), in Prague as the US Business School Praha in Prague (USBSP) and in Dubrovnik, Croatia as the American College of Management and Technology (ACMT).

  Dominated by glass and red brick buildings, including its dormitories, the RIT campus has earned the pseudo-affectionate name of "The Brick City." The original campus buildings are in the architectural style of brutalism.

  In an effort to modernize the campus's image, RIT contracted famed sculptor Albert Paley to create a statue for the campus. It was completed in 2003 and is called The Sentinel (picture below). RIT claims that it is the largest sculpture on any college campus in the country.

Organizations

• Student Government
  

• RIT Anime Club

History

Originally the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics' Association and the Mechanics Institute, these two educational institutions later merged to form what is now known as the Rochester Institute of Technology. Formerly located in downtown Rochester, RIT moved its campus to the suburb of Henrietta after the New York State Department of Public Works decided to build the Inner Loop through the then downtown campus. The current school campus is now located on 1,300 acres, which includes dense woodland and freshwater swamp wetlands. RIT's northern border is Jefferson Road, which is home to many strip malls, the Marketplace Mall, and several restaurants within a 5 minute drive. Also surrounding RIT are business incubators, such as the Lennox Tech Enterprise Center. RIT is approximately 6 miles south of Rochester, a 15 minute drive from downtown.

Pictures

Quarter Mile

Sentinel

See also The RIT Bengal Tiger

Noteworthy Trivia

• The MPAA has listed as RIT as #8 of the top 25 schools for movie piracy in the nation. (Click here for ars technica article)
  

• One of its notable student groups is the Rochester Wargamers Association and Guild aka RWAG-a long standing RPG gamer's group.
  

• Its newest novelty is Java Wally's- RIT's very own coffee shop.
  

• "As of 02/09/2006, RIT contained 14,673,565 bricks. Rumors have circulated stating that RIT contained more bricks than the Great Wall of China, though the claim has never been substantiated. The Great Wall of China, unlike RIT, was built by soldiers, prisoners, and peasants with wood, earth, stones, and bricks, so the rumor is difficult to prove." ¹
  

• RIT has an exclusive student-run textbook trading website [BookMaid.com], which was originally RITBook.com, but was forced to change it's name when RIT threatened legal action for trademark infringement.

News

• February 10, 2010 - President William Destler announced that RIT will begin preparation for a switch from its current 4-Quarter system to a 2-Semester system in the Fall of 2013. He emphasized that "Principle Number One in the transition will be to protect all students from any harm during the change from quarters to semesters. See RIT News Release for details on the rationale and purposes of the switch. Some highlights include:
  

• RIT in an increasingly isolated position as on of few schools still on quarter system
  

• possibility of a true Rochester area academic common market with all on semester system
  

• option for a January min-semester, allowing southerners to avoid Rochester in deep winter
  

• details on the changeover from a 4x4 credit basis to the new 5x3 credit model providing flexibility and better pace.

External Links

• Marginally Readable RIT History
  

• Timeline of Student Life
  

• Java Wally's