A Night of Remembering

Written by Ashley McCaslin on Fri 10/10/2008 at 11:17 pm

Photo credit: Sarah Ortiz

The RIT Presidents Alumni Ball, held Friday night at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, entertained over 600 alumni for an evening of dinner, dancing, honoring special award winners and celebrating their RIT spirit; the event also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Henrietta campus and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Kenneth Reed, 2008 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year award winner was honored for his “long-term involvement” with RIT. Reed is a 1971 graduate of the College of Science.

The RIT Volunteer of the Year for 2008, Michael Morley, was honored for his contributions around campus, including his chairmanship of the RIT Board of Trustees. Morley graduated from RIT in 1969 with a degree in Business Administration.

Additional recognition was given to B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences for being the first winner of the 8-College Alumni Cup Challenge for having the biggest percentage of the alumni base in attendance for Brick City homecoming.

A reoccurring theme of the night was the importance of alumni influence on campus and in the lives of students. President Bill Destler said that, although alum are currently involved in the recruitment of students, he would like to see alumni involved more around campus. “That’s what all great institutions do. . . build a connection for students entering the work force,” Destler said.

Alumni in attendance included people ranging new alumni, like Dan Christner, a 2007 graduate from the marketing program, who is known by his friends as a “baseball legend” to Michael Buonaccorso, a 1971 graduate for the Imaging Arts and Sciences program.

Ray Hobson reflected on his time at RIT. This 1941 graduate from the Mechanical Engineering program (then simply called “mechanical”) remembered a slightly different RIT where boys couldn’t pass the entrance to the girls’ dormitory. This graduate completed 56 missions flying a B-25 Bomber after graduation in Italy for the United States military.

A few current students were also in attendance, including representatives from Student Government and five students invited by the Center for Imaging Science.