RIT/NTID wishes students, parents and family members a happy New Year and a great spring semester! This semester promises new and exciting opportunities for students to focus on their goals, embrace new challenges, learn and continue to grow personally and academically.

Forbes has named RIT one of the top 15 colleges for launching careers. The magazine highlights RIT’s strong cooperative education program, industry partnerships, and career-focused academic offerings. 

Maria Richart, director of Career Services and Cooperative Education, said career outcomes are a major factor in students’ decisions to choose RIT for college. 

“Students and their parents are willing to make an investment in RIT because they know it will yield high-caliber employment after graduation,” Richart said. “Time after time, we hear that our students are sought after based on their ability to seamlessly enter the work environment. The quality of education that our students receive, paired with their drive, creativity, and desire to innovate, is the reason for our co-op program’s continued success.”

Read to learn more about RIT’s co-op impact and career outcomes.

RIT will host its annual Spring Career Fair on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. This event is open to all students and alumni seeking co-op and full-time job opportunities. 

RIT/NTID’s Co-op and Career Center hosted “Practice Interview Week” January 27 to 31, which included mock interviews to help deaf and hard-of-hearing students at the associate and bachelor level build their interviewing skills, improve their professional pitch, and gain confidence as they prepare for real-world interviews with employers. 

After the mock interviews, students met with their employment advisors to receive advice and constructive feedback. The advisors include: 

Encourage students to visit the NTID Co-op and Career Center website to learn more about resources and interviewing tips.

On January 16, NTID’s Dyer Arts Center announced the opening of two exhibitions “Leo Michaelson Collection” and “Five-stop 5.”

Both exhibitions run through May 12, 2026. Encourage your students to stop by and check them out, and we hope parents will, too, when you visit campus. 

Contact dyerartscenter@rit.edu for more information. Visit the Dyer Arts Center website to learn more about current and upcoming exhibitions. 

On January 22, RIT President Bill Sanders, his wife Emily, and NTID President Caroline Solomon attended the NTID Student Congress meeting in the CSD Student Development Center where students got better acquainted with President Sanders and created his sign name. In Deaf culture, a name sign is given to a person by Deaf individuals based on that person’s personality and defining traits. 

NSC Vice President Sarah Walton led the forum where President Sanders answered questions about his interests and personality traits. Then, students came together to propose and vote on name sign ideas, resulting in a name sign created by making a “B” handshape over the heart and moving outward to represent spreading kindness.

The winning name was submitted by second-year student James Zellner, an applied mechanical technology major from Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Watch a video of President Sanders’ name sign.

RIT/NTID will host an information session on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the CSD Student Development Center to learn more about the NTID’s Next Big Idea Competition, sponsored by ZP Better Together. 

The info session will cover the overview of the competition, the rules and guidelines, deadline for the application and submission, how to get started, and more. This session is open to all RIT/NTID deaf and hard-of-hearing students, interpreting, and MSSE students.

For more information, contact Kendall Charles, recruitment and outreach coordinator in NTID Outreach Consortium, at kxcna@rit.edu. To learn more details about the competition, visit rit.edu/ntid/nextbigidea.

RIT hosts Open Skate in the Gene Polisseni Center 12 to 1 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays through March 31, 2026.

Tickets are $5 for RIT community members (students, faculty, and staff) and $10 for the general public and can be purchased at rittickets.com.

Note: Open skates are a bring-your-own ice skate event. Skate rentals are NOT available. If you plan to attend this event, please review Ice Rink Policies here. 

RIT’s Division of Access, Engagement, and Success invites students, staff, and faculty to the Black Heritage Month Mixer on Wednesday, February 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Gracie’s in Grace Watson Hall.

This event is an opportunity for attendees to mix and mingle, share experiences, build bridges at a shared table while enjoying a specially curated cultural menu, and network and build connections with others in the RIT community.

Registration is required to attend. The first 60 to register for this event will have their meals paid for by the Division of Access, Engagement, and Success.

ASL interpreters have been requested. Immediate family members also are welcome. 

To stay in touch with other parents and up to date on current events, join our Facebook group for parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing and interpreting students at RIT/NTID! More resources are available on the NTID Parents and Families page. Other resources also are available on the RIT Parents and Families page.

For any questions, feel free to reach out to Loriann Macko, Director of NTID Alumni and Constituent Relations, at Loriann.Macko@rit.edu.

rit.edu/ntid

52 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623 | Unsubscribe