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June 29, 2007

RIT Receives Scholarship and Grant Support from Mellon Financial for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

From: NTID - Jun 29, 2007

CONTACT: Susan Murad
slmnmc@rit.edu
(585) 475-6283 v/tty

RIT Receives Scholarship and Grant Support from Mellon Financial for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

ROCHESTER, N.Y., JUNE 29—Two recent initiatives are expanding the relationship between Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, N.Y., and Mellon Financial Corporation. Mellon is providing scholarships for NTID’s Explore Your Future program for qualifying deaf and hard-of-hearing students, as well as a $25,000 grant for the development of the “Reaching Out to Rising Stars” program.

“Reaching Out to Rising Stars” focuses on the United States’ more than 28,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing students in grades 6-9 as they begin to envision their futures as college students or professionals. The program offers educational workshops for students who are preparing for college, drawing on RIT/NTID’s expertise in deaf education to work with families to ensure that students’ high school educations have prepared them to enter and succeed in a mainstream college atmosphere. The workshops will be offered in these cities across the United States: New York, Pittsburgh, Denver, Chicago, Tampa, Columbus, Boston, Dallas as well as northern and southern California.

“This workshop meets a need for many families,” said Robert Borden, NTID director of admissions. “We are now able to bring it to many more through Mellon’s generous support.”

The partnership between RIT/NTID and Mellon also provided four students – Derek Possumato and Jimmy McLenigan from the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh and Katherine Fuscolda and Natalie Bellevue from the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston – with Explore Your Future scholarships this spring. They will participate in a six-day career exploration summer program for students with hearing loss who are preparing to enter their junior or senior year of high school. The program, which allows the students to experience life on a college campus, focuses on personal growth and career awareness. Fuscolda and Bellevue also participated in Mellon’s 2006 Global High School Internship Program.

“We are pleased to have this relationship with RIT/NTID, and we look forward to expanding Mellon’s knowledge, assistance, programs and processes to enhance the experience of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals,” said Audrey Bonnett, Mellon’s manager of Employee Relations/Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance. “With guidance from RIT/NTID, we continue to work toward building an integrated work culture for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and their co-workers.”

Mellon Financial Corporation is a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net worth individuals, providing asset management, wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services and treasury services. Mellon has approximately $5.8 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $1.034 trillion under management. News and other information about Mellon is available at www.mellon.com.

Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized as being a leader in computing, engineering, imaging technology, fine and applied arts, and for providing unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. RIT is home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, where more than 1,100 students with hearing loss from around the world study, live, and socialize with 14,400 hearing students on RIT’s Rochester, N.Y., campus. U.S. News and World Report has consistently ranked RIT among the nation’s leading comprehensive universities.

Web address: http://www.rit.edu/NTID

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