STOP THE PRESSES: RIT Changes “Print” to “Media”

In what will go down in the annals of print, RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) announced this month that its School of Print Media is now the School of Media Sciences.

Industry professionals recognize RIT’s School of Print Media as one of the elite institutions of higher education in printing and the graphic arts. For more than 20 years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. If the institutions offering printing education had their own Ivy League, RIT might even be #1 – that’s how impressive an RIT degree is.

When I read the news about this name change, I knew how truly significant it was. I called Chris Bondy for an interview. Chris is the Administrative Chair of the School as well as the Gannett Distinguished Professor. He was appointed to this dual role just about one year ago, having had a 30-year career in the industry. He graduated from RIT in 2007 with a Master’s degree in new product development.

Chris led the charge for this momentous shift at RIT’s School of Print Media. He spoke of always being attracted to managing change. “I told RIT from the beginning that I’m an entrepreneur, not an academic, and that they should let me run the School as an entrepreneur.” He knew that this name change was inevitable, and though he and his colleagues thought it would be a year away, about halfway into his first year, they decided to act.

“We’re in one of most comprehensive, transformational periods that this industry’s ever seen,” noted Bondy. To be relevant in the industry today, “you have to understand the trajectory and where we need to go.”

In addition to his duties at RIT, Chris is doing consulting work as well as keynotes and strategy work. At a speech he gave at a trade event, he told the audience of print company executives, “You’ve got to be willing to walk out this door, meet me in the parking lot, collect your thoughts and come back in this room ready to start your business over.” Think of it this way, he told me, “Do we all have that commitment to be an entrepreneur again in this industry?”

I wondered about the reaction to the RIT news. He’s received a couple of “unhappy” emails, but many more that offer congratulations, thanking RIT for recognizing the new era and for “taking the leap.”

It was an inevitable change. He tells industry leaders that they can either apologize for change or recognize change – and use it as fuel.

How different will the curriculum be, I wondered. The School offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Coursework has been evolving over the past two years already. The new name was, to some extent, the last domino to fall in the chain of events. Bondy explained: “What we have here is a “print-plus” venue. At RIT, we’re aligned with a cross-media, media sciences platform that’s inclusive of data analytics, content management, cross-media composition and instruction on how media can deployed to any media channel.”

What are his goals for the School, now that it has a new public face? RIT is moving to a semester system one year from this fall. The semester conversion adds 5 hours to every course. For the School of Media Sciences, Chris said, he “owns” those 5 hours. He has approval with a curriculum committee he formed on the 5 new hours for every School course. He wants to ensure that professors add the appropriate immersive instruction to all the courses in the program.

He is also revamping all of the labs at the School. RIT made news this past May, with the announcement that they would be shuttering the mighty Goss Sunday 2000 press — a web offset press — which had been at RIT since 2002. That sale was surely a sign of the times at RIT. But Bondy was quick to mention that they’re adding presses, including a 4-color DI press, a flexo-press and a screen press. In addition, the School of Media Sciences at RIT is creating a new Cross-Media Innovation Lab for collaborative research between students, faculty and industry.

I have to believe that this new branding will attract more students to RIT’s program. In its heyday, the School had more than 800 students. When Chris arrived, there were fewer than 200 students, with only 12 inbound freshmen and 3 inbound graduate students. He vowed to double enrollment, and in less than a year, they have 31 inbound freshmen and 12 inbound grad students.

RIT’s School of Media Sciences is positioning itself to educate tomorrow’s “media architects.” Students will be media integrators, and they’ll fully understand systemic workflows. As far as any significant faculty changes at the School, Chris shared that he’s currently interviewing for two professors: one who will specialize in content and data, and another whose specialty is in material science and substrates. These areas reflect the two gaps in the workflow, one being way upstream and the other, downstream.

Chris Bondy wants to help RIT regain its place as a relevant beacon in the print industry. Part of that process is having the School reinvent itself. For starters, they’re launching a cross media innovation center (CMIC) that will be an industry and education collaborative venue, and they’re planning on holding a two-day summit on October 18-19 this year. Further down the line, there will be industry certification programs for working professionals.

All eyes in the print industry are watching RIT’s evolution. While this rebranding is not surprising, it is significant to all of us in the field – and to every future media architect.

© 2012 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You’re free to forward this email. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.