It doesn’t seem that long ago that President Simone announced his intentions to retire after 15 years at the helm of RIT. But amazingly, that was over nine months ago, and the university is on the verge of welcoming its ninth president. This week, the RIT community heard from the two men competing to assume that role. They are William Destler, senior vice president,
RIT’s professors are often featured in international publications and conferences showcasing their expertise and innovative research. This global publicity can often have a wide impact that goes beyond a simple news article. For example, in 2005, Nabil Nasr, director of RIT’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies, was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing in Shanghai, China. Professor Nasr’s presentation was
Our school colors may be orange and brown, but RIT is arguably one of the most colorful universities in the world. RIT will offer a new doctoral degree in color science this fall, the only one of its kind in the nation. The program is an extension of the existing graduate program in color science offered by the Munsell Color Science Laboratory in RIT’s
At RIT, the ‘snow day’ has reached an almost mythical status. Generations of students come and go, with many never receiving a single day off because of bad weather, despite Rochester’s notoriously brutal offerings of ice and snow. In fact, the last time RIT cancelled an entire day of classes was Jan. 15, 1999—exactly eight years prior to Monday’s closing, because of icy
Profiles in courage take on many forms. Some happen in a fleeting instant—like our New York City hero, Wesley Autrey, who decided to jump into a subway track to rescue a 19-year-old film student from an oncoming train. Other selfless acts of valor happen over a lifetime—and yes, we have examples of courage right here at RIT. As a steering committee member of RIT’s United Way
A pause from the usual this week. This isn’t about podcasting . . . placements . . . or public relations. In fact, it’s not about University News at all. Because we’re in the news business, I’d like to use this space (as I occasionally used “space” on my old radio show to recognize local radio greats) to pay tribute to a newspaperman—someone whom
It seems like every other day this week Bob's sent us an e-mail about the changing nature of the newspaper industry. (Like this one.) It's not news. It's been changing for a while, just like we've all been changing how we use technology and absorb news and information. But keeping up with what reporters -- and the general public -- are doing with news and
Bookmark this: University News has launched a new Web site. We rebuilt the University News site so that it prominently showcases academic news (e.g. research, scholarship, science, technology), while featuring new media tools such as this blog, podcasts, videocasts and RSS (online subscription) feeds. We first began talking about a new Web site in the spring. With the help of University Publications, we drafted a
As you know from his post yesterday, because of John’s supreme negotiating skills and covert operations (aka walking to the library), the tiger got its sweater back! Now that the mystery’s over and the sweater has been returned to its owner, what’s going to happen to it? Well, even though the sweater has been safely recovered, it was so badly damaged while being cut off
Yes, that infamous sweater that Brandon has been blogging and writing about for the past few weeks has been returned to its creator. And as our colleague Susan Rosinski says, “It’s about time the good guys won.” But the sweater didn’t get returned until I went through what was, by far, the weirdest afternoon that I have experienced during my brief tenure with University
When I grow up, I want to hang out with the Rockefellers. I was able to do that, sort of, the past few days at the Rockefeller family estate along the Hudson River in Tarrytown, N.Y. I was invited to the Rockefeller estate by PBS’ MacNeil/Lehrer Productions to discuss a special project that RIT has been involved with since 2004. The project is called
I was a little perplexed when I walked into the office of Bob Finnerty, RIT chief communications officer, this past June. On his desk, in plain view, sat my resume. I wasn’t quite sure what to think. (If you saw your resume sitting on your boss’s desk, what would you think?) I tend to be somewhat cynical, so my initial thought was, Bob
I'm a strong advocate for any business to stayed tuned in to what's being said about them in the blogging world. It's a kind of customer feedback you wouldn't get in any other way - honest, raw, unfiltered. Some of that feedback isn't necessarily useful - finding out that a group of college guys from somewhere in Pennsylvania stopped at RIT on their
For those of you living on Neptune, I have some news for you: today is Election Day. And, after my last post about a lack of young people reading newspapers, I would be remiss if I didn't use this blogging opportunity to discuss youth voting. Everyone knows the rap on young people: they're unengaged, they're ambivalent, they don't vote. Well, if RIT is a representative
Why aren’t young people reading newspapers? For as long as I can remember (my colleagues will laugh here, because I'm the baby of the group), that has been the big question facing the newspaper industry. Newspaper executives have found a multitude of answers since then, discovering that young people have turned to other mediums to get their news and information: Internet news sites, magazines,
I'm still chugging along. The CMS element of the new site has been wrapped up. I now have only to produce a handful of templates, and write scripts to port over several years of articles stored in various databases, XML, and in a few daunting cases (i.e. - the University Magazine), plain HTML. Phew. The purpose of this post is not to bore you
As the weather slowly becomes colder and more 'Rochester-like', the RIT tiger statue still remains without its sweater... Luckily, Stevie Hegge, who is responsible for hand-knitting the sweater, is willing to make another. "If there is significant interest I would be willing to either repair the original sweater (assuming we can find it) or make a reproduction for future use," says Stevie. Stevie Hegge puts the
Right now, one of the hottest student issues on campus has yet to make the headlines--except for on Facebook! Throughout the day on Friday, Oct. 6 you may have noticed our beloved bronze tiger statue, located across from the Eastman Kodak Quad, wearing a nicely-fitting orange sweater with brown trim. Students and parents on campus for Brick City Homecoming lined up, waiting for their
Texas is No. 1….Penn State is No. 2...and RIT is No. 3, beating out USC, Michigan and Georgia Tech as part of the Top 10. I’m not talking about college football. I’m talking gaming! The Global Gaming League, a worldwide leader in organized competitive online and live video game tournaments and events, gave RIT the ranking. RIT ranked third based on a variety of
It's not just other blogs that talk about RIT. And while we like to tell you about the times that big-name publications interview our experts or mention us -- like USA Today, Business Week and the Los Angeles Times -- there are plenty of lesser-known papers and Web sites that do the same. Sure, they may not reach quite as wide an audience, but
RIT is preparing to welcome parents, alumni and friends back to campus this week for Brick City Homecoming. The passion and pagaentry behind this annual celebration of our extended campus community grows each year. I think it's cool how the university embraces its "Brick City" reputation! Not too many years ago, the physical landscape of our campus was the source of some embarrassment. But
The search is on. RIT is seeking a leader with vision, integrity, high energy and exceptional communication skills. The next president should also have a strong appreciation for technology, a commitment to diversity, the ability to fundraise, and the ability to lead a complex organization. And if that is not all, they need to be able to work with the Rochester community and to
Last time, I reprinted a portion of an e-mail conversation between Karen Black, NTID director of media relations, and me about the role of this blog. Our conversation continues: Karen: Your radio analogy is a good one. To that point, have we asked our audience what they want? Do we know what they want, or are we making assumptions? Have we surveyed them to
Last time, I discussed word choice in the catch phrase of this blog’s theme, Behind the scenes of RIT University News. This time, a broader perspective on the theme. Following a recent University News staff meeting, Karen Black, NTID director of media relations, wrote to say that it seems our new-media ventures—including this blog—are taking off. Knowing that Karen’s a blog skeptic, I responded by saying
The theme of this blog—Behind the scenes of RIT University News—is emblazoned across the top of this page. In marketing parlance, the phrase conveys our “unique selling proposition,” or our single core message. Just like a commercial slogan, it must be easily understood in a few words (not always an easy task) and achievable. The theme is also our promise to you, which we
Last time, I explained that RIT University News is exploring podcasting. One of our first regular podcasts might be an audio version of Dateline: RIT, a monthly e-newsletter that highlights select RIT news placements and News & Events stories. Because a primary mission of University News is publicizing RIT news (see More on who we are and what we do), I hope to expand
First blogging. Now podcasting. It’s an exciting time for University News as we venture into “new media” territory for news and information dissemination. (That’s especially true for people like me—when I began in radio, I wrote newscasts using a typewriter, edited audiotape with a razor blade, and cued up vinyl records on a turntable.) In my first blog post back in March, I explained
We spend most of our time toiling behind the scenes so that others can capture the glory. We accept that. It's the nature of public relations. That said, the Public Relations Society of America offers us an opportunity each year to bask in the spotlight. The Rochester chapter of PRSA held its ceremony for the 2006 PRism Awards on June 8, and RIT
Now that Mike is our manager of new media and officially championing blogging and podcasting at University News, I have someone to talk to about the blog and the visions I've had for it. Someone who has no choice but to listen to my ideas. Heh heh. One of the things that's been on my mind is our need to each find our
We're dedicated to building readership of the Tiger Beat blog. So dedicated that we take our commentors out for lunch on campus. ;) In the spirit of bloggers being transparent about themselves, lets reveal what happens when someone takes the time to respond to our posts with thoughtful comments. Justin joined our blogging conversation a few weeks ago, offering good points, links to
I’ve been following, with some amusement, the reaction to my recent Democrat and Chronicle essay, in which I introduced a term—wrogging—to describe high-quality writing on a blog—a word that, I predict, will be in the dictionary before the turn of the century. (Note to bloggers: j o k i n g.) Here’s a sampling: jane, responding to a post by Seth Hopkins, at Cup O’
As a young writer, we learn that it's important to take pride in your craft. We're taught to prepare perfect copies of work before presenting it in public. With these teachings, it's hard not to become conceited when comparing your work to the work of 'non-writers,' but it's time for writers everywhere to concede that blogs are the universal equalizer. I've always viewed
I'm a regular reader of Al's Morning Meeting on Poynter.org. I confess, I regularly skim the headlines to see if something pops out at me rather than read the entire thing. Something popped out this morning, though. (It's the item at the end.) Is This What You Want Your College (Or Future Employer) to Know About You? The Reading (Pa.) Eagle has a
You may have seen my guest essay, in which I did some flogging on blogging and wrogging, in the op-ed section of the Democrat and Chronicle on March 27. If you’ve been following the discussion here the past couple weeks—particularly the one surrounding my March 17 post, “Writing vs. blogging: Why they’re not the same thing”—it’s easy to discern the inspiration for my D&C
I'm in a dusty cubicle in the center of a nearly windowless buidling. The color scheme is rich with almonds, yellows, and faded browns. The colors of a fading photograph. The chair I'm in isn't comfortable and I'm drinking coffee I don't even like. My name is Pete Karl. I'm a web developer for University News, and today, I'm ostentatious. I would like
If you don't care about behind-scenes-blogging stuff, skip this and read about Paul running across campus with a trophy in hand (or something like that) two posts down. I, however, am a technophiliac who loves understanding how and why things work. Especially when they stop working. Which happens ocassionally after I fiddle with them. That just means they need a bit more fiddling
One cool thing about blogging is the fact that it gives any individual the chance to say what's on their mind. And today, I have a few things on mine. 1.) I am going to miss University News Services. I'm a co-op student writer, and this is my last quarter. The team here is close-knit and professional, flexible and efficient, experienced and fun.
Some universities don't give their faculty and staff the ability to communicate with every other faculty and staff person on campus in a single campus-wide email. Buffalo State, for instance, did away with the e-mail free-for-all and replaced it with a daily bulletin, called The Daily. As I understand it, it's managed by their College Relations department. Folks who want to get their
We've been working hard behind the scenes to get our blog on a new level of functionality. You know, one where it actually works and you can post comments without getting spammed. In the process, we're changing the design so that it's not a clone of the University News web site (as much as we love it). We (being me and my student
Have you heard of facebook.com? That networking phenomenon that's sweeping the nation? 8.5 million high school and college students are registered members in the online community. It looks like facebook is going to join blogging, podcasts and rss feeds as another area of electronic communication that is used by students and should be utilized by higher education professionals. It's a networking tool that
Campus is quiet the last day of exam week. Patches of ice frost the ground as I walk back to the office after a morning meeting. As I'm walking, I overhear snippets of conversations as students dart from one building to the next. You can tell this is a technology school and that there are exams going on, I think. Here's a few
If you haven't clicked the webcams link on RIT's home page, you've been missing out on something. Actually, you may have been missing out on at least ten things: 1.) Webcams provide parents with additional peace of mind in homes far away. (Students-pick a weekly time, say, noon on Tuesdays, when you can go stand by the tiger and wave to Mom and
Now that our Web master (that would be me) is back from maternity leave, it's time to gear up our blog and get it going. Blogging is a passion of mine and the Tiger Beat blog is an excellent way to interact with the RIT community-at-large as well as other PR profressionals. As an institute of technology, keeping up with -- and staying
Actually, we need a name for this blog. Something a snazzy, sharp, witty. Not cheesy or tired or lame. Current contenders are: # Where to Roar # Tiger Trash Talk (not really) # Meow Mix Got a better idea? Leave a comment on the blog or e-mail me.
The office is hunkered down today, doors closed, faces intent on their computer screens. It's deadline day for News & Events. I have three more stories to write in the next two hours. I shouldn't even be writing this blog entry. But it occurred to me that I'm hard at work on this snowy Monday because we've changed our production/writing schedule. Which means
Welcome to the RIT University News blog. We're surprisingly excited to have a blog and will be getting this thing going sometime in early January. Right now, campus is quiet, as students are on winter break and the rest of us are getting ready to shut down for the holidays. The university re-opens on Jan. 3. Until then, the campus population is pretty