College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of Technology
Liberal Smarts Vol. 10 / Fall-Winter 2004
A Month of Excellence: COLA Contributes to RIT 175th Anniversary Celebration by Jacqueline Licht
RIT is celebrating “175 years of education, exploration, and innovation,” with COLA being the focus of attention during the month of October. The college held a number of events, including lectures and celebrations of art, literature, and music. A lecture series devoted to Liberal Arts and Technology included three speakers: Wade Robison, Ezra A. Hale Professor of Applied Ethics; Amit Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics; and Diane Hope, William A. Kern Professor in Communications. Students were also given a chance to be heard at the Speech Contest Finals held on Oct. 29, the annual competition sponsored by the Department of Communication. This year’s first place winner was 4th year Professional “COLA played a very important role in RIT’s 175th anniversary. It added a variety of creative activities that might not have been found otherwise on a technical campus.” -Brenna Cammeron & Technical Communication major Jonathon Bove. Second and third places went to Jasmine Jones and Mike Ciuffetelli, respectively. “I was very pleased with the level of competition, both in the final and preliminary rounds,” said Bove. “There were a lot of good speakers, and the other finalists both spoke effectively on very interesting topics regarding technology.” The Language and Literature Department, in conjunction with Signatures Magazine, sponsored Brick City Memoirs on Oct. 8. The day’s activities included RIT-themed readings and reminiscences by faculty, alumni, Athenaeum members, and current RIT students. A commemorative chapbook published by the Signatures Magazine staff, which included images and poetry collected from the RIT archives, was distributed at the event. Music was the focus of two final COLA
The RIT Philhormoia and the Brighton symphony came together for a special Halloween concert in celebration of RIT’s 175th anniversary. Photo by Tomi Omololu.
events. The RIT Music Ensemble Kaleidoscope concert was held Oct. 23, during Brick City Festival. The RIT Singers, an a cappella group “Eight Beat Measure,” the Brick City Singers, and Encore performed as well. To top off the festivities, the RIT Philharmonic and the Brighton Symphony Orchestra came together for a spectacular Halloween concert on-campus. “COLA played a very important role in celebrating RIT’s 175th Anniversary, simply because it added a variety of creative activities that might not have been
found otherwise on a technical campus,” said 1st year Professional & Technical Communication student Brenna Cammeron. October was an exciting month for COLA, but don’t expect the activities to end anytime soon. A lecture series entitled “Biotechnology: Our Future as Human Beings & Citizens,” sponsored by the Political Science Department, continues throughout the year. Expect to see more exciting presentations from departments across the college in the near future.
Help is on the Way: COLA’s Peer Mentors Help by Rachel Pikus
RIT has a variety of interesting jobs for students across the campus. However, not many involve advising, interacting, and planning activities with first year students. That is why it’s great
First Year Students to Succeed to know that COLA employs eleven students to do just that. They are the Peer Mentors, and each degree program in COLA has at least one who serves the students within his or her own major.