Innovative Strategies: Career Center & Faculty Collaboration Presented by Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf March, 2009

League of Innovations Conference 2009 Reno-Tahoe, Nevada John Macko, Director NTID Center on Employment Ronald J. Till, Associate Professor NTID Department of Engineering Studies

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) & National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Background NTID is one of the 8 colleges of RIT Approximately 1,400 deaf and hard-of-hearing at NTID/RIT, 17,000 total at RIT Academic programs: NTID - Associate; RIT – Bachelor and Graduate degrees Almost half of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students are enrolled in other RIT colleges, supported by NTID RIT has one of the oldest and largest cooperative education programs in the world, almost all academic programs require one or more co-ops

What are some challenges students face in finding employment? Connecting to local companies Marketing programs Many programs do not have Co-op Students don’t know nor use the Career Center Students are not required to take a Job Search course

Career Center & Faculty Collaboration Job Search course – Team taught NTID Job Fair Employment Advisors (EA) in academic classrooms EA & faculty working together Visiting Business & Industry Reviewing Resumes Faculty making Coop visits

Successful Outcomes Faculty involvement with Coop & permanent employment Progressively increasing employer attendance at NTID Annual Job Fair Repeat on-campus recruitment visits and hiring by employers annually Invitations from employers for on site workshops Regular visits to NCE website by employers Employer referrals to new hiring opportunities