>>ANCHOR: This will be on of the most important year's in RIT history. That is what RIT President
Bill Destler told hundreds of professors and students who attended his address to the RIT
community Tuesday. For the first time in university history, enrollment will reach nearly 18,000
students. It will be the last year before RIT converts to a semester system in the fall
of 2013. And yet more changes in store, Destler said RIT will remain a campus under construction
for the foreseeable future. The Golisano Institute for Sustainability will open this fall, around
the same time that ground is broken for the new hockey arena. RIT\'s Division III women\'s
hockey team will soon be Division I. And RIT's new Institute for Health Sciences and Technology,
which includes a partnership with Rochester General Health System, is expected to open
sometime in the spring.
>>PRESIDENT DESTLER: In some sense, our time has come. When you think about the pendulum
swinging to increasing concern about whether graduates will actually get jobs, 95 percent
or so of our students get jobs or go to graduate school full time after they graduate, so this
is a pretty good place if you\'re a parent or student worried about the future. I think
we\'re seeing a lot of that. I think we\'re also seeing the faculty and staff working
hard to improve the institution and the quality of experience our students get.
>>TAYLOR DEER: Just to see even the physical changes has been amazing, but then we expand
on clubs every year and we do a lot more emphasis on letting students have fun at the school
and making sure they\'re involved in something, and that\'s something that was not at the
top of the list when I was a freshman.
>>ANCHOR: This year, Destler said RIT will explore expanding performing arts opportunities
for students.
