Rochester Institute of Technology - Techmila / Ramikin Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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in 1944, the school changed its name from the rochester athenaeum and mechanic's institute to the rochester institute of technology, and in 1950 took the significant step of awarding degrees, the institute expanded, but so had every college, in 1948, new york state created the state university of new york which developed a network of two year schools across the state, the state chose rit as a model, and while that was a compliment, it was also a challenge, clearly, in the new educational scene, a technical school which did not offer de- grees would be overlooked, therefore, the institute abandoned its decades-old objections, and in 1950, became the first institution in the state of new york to award the aas degree, in 1953 it received permission to award bachelor degrees, and soon went on to develop graduate programs, originally, the intention of the institute was to remain in downtown rochester, but surrounding circumstances changed all of that, there was the lack of space and the difficulty and expense in further expansion, an increasingly difficult social situation surfaced in the campus area, students were odvised not to carry weapons nor to attempt self-protection, the most crucial factor was the decision by the state to build an extension of the inner loop through the campus, this would destroy several of the institute's principal buildings and divide in two what remained. the move to a 1,300 acre, $60 million campus in henrietta was the culmination of dr. mark elling- son's career as president, in retrospect, it was the institute's most daring and foresighted act. without the new campus. Ihe national advisory group would not have chosen rit as the site for the nation- al technical institute of the deaf. the move to a hew campus necessitated many difficult adjustments, the finances were far more complex, it was a long time before the buildings, especially the dorms, were functional, when dr. paul miller succeeded dr. ellingson in 1969, he confronted serious problems, this was the period of immense unrest on college campuses through- out the nation, reaching a terrible climax in killings at kent state and jackson state, rit reflected the distrubance and unrest of the nation. by the end of the decade, new problems emerged; energy, the environment, a serious drop In the student population, disenchantment with higher education, and inflation, nevertheless, the growth of the institute, which almost doubled in the ten years following the move, continued, pre- sently. in terms of enrollment, rit remains one of the strongest schools in the nation. dr. miller resigned on january 1,1979, having led the new campus from its turbulent beginnings to a position of confident security, he was succeeded by dr. m. richard rose, president of a If red university, in that year, the anniversary year, eisenhower col- lege became a part of rit. the school of applied industrial studies was established at 50 west main, the men who long ago met in the reynolds arcade could scarcely have imagined the fortunes of their new association during the next one hundred and fifty years, in 1980, we are in a better position to know our expectations, one of the purposes of studying the history of an institution is to better guide it towards our goals.

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829 979 origins of rit con be traced to june 12, on the? momentous day, a group of men, including cofonel nathaniel rochester, met in the recently built reynolds arcade to inaugurate a new association called the athenaeum, colonel rochester was its first president, for almost half a century, the athenaeum play- ed an active role in the educational and cultural life of rochester. but, as the needs of the city change, so did the importance of the athenaeum decline, there were other opportunities for enter- tainment and popular education, in the 1880‘s, rochester lacked an adequate supply of skilled workers for the city's rapidly growing industry, this prompted henry lomb, of bausch and lomb optic- al works, max lowenthal, frank litter and various other manufacturers, and interested parties to establish the mechanic's Institute in 1885 for in- struction in drawing and other such branches of studies os are most important for industrial pursuits of great advantage to our people Sin 1891 the mechanic's institute merged with the still existent, though inactive, athenaeum to be- come the rochester athenaeum and mechanic's institute. by the beginning of world war 1, the institute developed a strong reputation for its programs in technology, art and domestic science, in 1900, george eastrnan donated the land and money for construction of the eastrnan building, this build- ing opened in 1901 after a week-long fund-raising extravaganza put on by the women of the institute, in 1901, mrs. susan bevier donated $300,000 for construction of the bevier memorial building which opened in 1911 all indications pointed to continued expansion, no one dreamed that by 1920, survival of the institute would be in serious question. there were several reasons for this: rapid changes in top administration, the death of henry lomb, wartime training and rehabilitation prog- rams which disrupted the institute's curriculum, and more stringent state regulations for teacher training, after years of self exa m hat ion and the culmina- tion of a special educational commission, it was decided in 1926 that the institute had a future in the educational life of rochester. its role was pre- ceded as one preparing students for the working world at a level between that of high school and college. during the next quarter of a century, the institute was both bold and modest under the leadership of dr. mark ellingson who became president in 1936. it resisted the temptation to offer degree programs, but it achieved a wide reputation for educafionat innovations and unusual new prog- rams. students of the 1960's were calling for the abandonment of letter grades and more personal systems of evaluation, the institute did all of that in the 1930's, currently, students are concerned ab- out the relevance of what they learn and their future job versatility, in the 1930's, the institute work- ed with employersto devise cumculums that were directly relevant to employment needs. in 1937 the institute acquired the empire school of printing which has since become one of the foremost schools of printing in the world, in 1950 it acquired the school for american craftsmen, a leading professional art school, later, in 1952. the local mckechnie lunger school of commerce was acquired, this became the core of the current department of business administration, after the second world war, over two million veterans took advantage of the g,i. bill and en- tered college, this provided unprecedented opportunities for the institute, enrollments sky- rocketed. the generosity of george h. dark and careful planning during the war enabled the insti- tute to construct the dark building for its printing, photography and technical programs, the ritter- clark gymnasium-swimming pool was built and the rochester hotel and other nearby buildings were purchased for dorms, a separate building was reconstructed as the school library

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the president's 1910-1916 cortlon b, gibson 19141916 1916-1919 1919-1922 emest wowdlond james f. baiter royal b, famum dr. mark ©ilingson 1936-1969 dr. m. richard rose 1979- col. John a. randall 1922-1936 Of QQIQ eI'4 C X «V 0« '«jCOSO 'Oor crchiv S