RIT College of Liberal Arts

"I always wanted to do something big with my life, but I never knew where to start. I think one of the most beautiful things about RIT is the staff, the faculty, and the students here all willing to help make big dreams become realities," said museum studies grad Izzy Moyer.

At RIT, she was part of a team that launched the Multispectral Imaging System for Historic Artifacts (MISHA), a relatively low-cost system that makes cultural heritage imaging methods more accessible. She received a Fulbright Scholarship to continue MISHA outreach with the State Archive in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and helped coordinate its inaugural Cultural Imaging and Innovation Conference.

Read more about Izzy's career-launching experience plus more at https://brnw.ch/21x3p09

Experiential Learning & Careers | College of Liberal Arts | RIT | RIT

Behind every graduate is a whole community of people who helped them get here.

To the moms, dads, families, friends, professors, mentors, and everyone who showed up along the way: thank you.

This week, RIT hosted scholars, librarians, and museum professionals for the MISHA Summer Seminar — a hands-on experience focused on imaging, collections, and cultural heritage work. Participants are practitioners from libraries, archives, and museums, many from the kinds of institutions where our students may one day intern, work, or collaborate.

COLA students are also part of the experience, with three Museum Studies majors joining students from the College of Science and graduate programs to help participants build their MISHA imaging systems.

“Collaborating with the community, having access to resources, amazing professors and fellow students who work together, and working alongside an expert data analyst at RPD has been great." said criminal justice student Hayder Alhafedhi.

As a research assistant and student, Hayder partnered with the Rochester Police Department to analyze Rochester crime data and develop a Crime Harm Index, a method for measuring the seriousness of crimes by assigning a numerical weight based on their harm. Change-making research like Hayder’s is a cornerstone of RIT’s Criminal Justice Department, with many collaborative projects and initiatives managed by the RIT Center of Public Safety Initiatives.

Read more about Hayder's career-launching experience plus more at https://brnw.ch/21x3h9B

Experiential Learning & Careers | College of Liberal Arts | RIT | RIT

"It’s invigorating to use AI to an ethical end. This is about more than just tech—it’s about serving communities in need,” said Olivia Croteau (photo right), a humanities, computing, and design (HCD) major.

She and fellow HCD major Natalie Crowell developed an artificial intelligence tool to better support refugees. By analyzing publicly available social media data, specifically from chat groups where refugees discuss needs related to housing, food, and other resources, it synthesizes data for insights that help humanitarian organizations focus efforts and respond quickly. They later wrote and presented a paper about their project at the IEEE Global Humanitarian Conference.

Read more about their career-launching experience plus more at https://brnw.ch/21x35mz

Experiential Learning & Careers | College of Liberal Arts | RIT | RIT

"My internship showed me the wonderful world of museums. I really enjoyed balancing research, public engagement, and creative problem-solving,” said Nathaniel Bartsch (photo right), a history and film production double major who did a summer internship at the Seward House Museum in Auburn, NY.

Project management and collaboration with staff, research and digital mapping with Tableau Public, creative problem-solving, and public speaking are just a few of the transferable job skills he honed while interning. The experience also reaffirmed his passion for a career in collections, interpretation, or museum operations.

Read more about Nathaniel's on-the-job experience plus more at https://brnw.ch/21x349W

Experiential Learning & Careers | College of Liberal Arts | RIT | RIT

Jack Cawthon, a graduating Physics and Philosophy double major, has found fulfillment throughout his college experience by pursuing the subjects that genuinely inspire him.

After taking AP Physics in high school, Cawthon arrived at RIT ready to follow his passion within the College of Science’s School of Physics and Astronomy. During his first year, he took his first philosophy course and quickly became hooked. By the end of that year, he had officially added Philosophy as a second major.

“I’ve been fulfilled and happy pursuing my passions without worrying about jobs,” Cawthon said.

Throughout his time at RIT, Cawthon has been involved in Philosophy Club and served as vice president during the 2025-2026 academic year. One of his proudest accomplishments was presenting at the annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, where he discussed the epistemic shortcomings of divine morality.

From spintronics to philosophy of punishment, Jack Cawthon followed his curiosity at RIT May 29, 2026   Jack Cawthon, a graduating Physics and Philosophy double major, has found fulfillment throughout his college experience by pursuing the subjects that genuinely inspire him. After taking AP Physics in high school, Cawthon arrived at RIT ready to follow his passion within the College o...

RIT graduating senior Jillian Antol, a double major in global public health and criminal justice, is postponing law school for the Peace Corps.
She will leave in September for Fiji to work as an economic community development volunteer. After a three-month pre-service training, including an introduction to Fijian Hindi, Antol will receive her assignment and join her new community.

From RIT to Fiji—RIT senior joins the Peace Corps RIT graduating senior Jillian Antol, a double major in global public health and criminal justice, is postponing law school for the Peace Corps.

Research, art history, and imaging science came together at RIT this week.

The Cultural Heritage Imaging Lab — a joint effort between the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science in the College of Science and Museum Studies in the College of Liberal Arts — hosted a team of researchers from the National Gallery of Art for work connected to The CIIIPRESES Project.

This research initiative focuses on medieval choir book leaves, especially those attributed to the Master of the Cypresses. By using advanced imaging and scientific-art historical research, the project helps scholars compare dispersed manuscript fragments across collections to better understand pigments, materials, workshop practices, attribution, and relationships among individual leaves.

One of those leaves is held at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. Imaging the Rochester leaf will allow researchers to compare it with data already collected from Princeton and the National Gallery of Art, helping test key questions about whether the leaf may have been created by a different illuminator than previously studied works.

The visit highlights the power of interdisciplinary research — bringing together museum studies, imaging science, art history, conservation, and cultural heritage preservation.

Whether she’s sewing costumes for an RIT performance or building prototypes in the classroom, accessibility and functionality are the threads that define the work of Emily Ohl ’26 (industrial design).

Ohl, who is Deaf, discovered the Department of Performing Arts at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) during her first week as a freshman. After walking into the costume shop and expressing her interest in sewing and costume design, she was hired on the spot.

Student's theater experience sewn together by accessibility and functionality Emily Ohl '26 (industrial design) was the steady hand behind many of the award-winning costume designs in RIT theater performances the last couple years.