The Destler Years

President Bill Destler has grown

Rochester Institute of Technology over the last
decade while improving quality and diversity
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BILL DESTLER
our community are and
Dr. William W. Destler
stronger for it. President,
Rochester Institute of Technology
2007-2017 REBECCA JOHNSON

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service to RIT and the
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Bill Destler, President,
Rochester Institute
of Technology
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 2 A decade of growth

Contents
As Rochester Institute of Technology president,
Bill Destler encouraged expansion and change.

8 A committed partner
Rebecca Johnson engaged with the RIT campus
to support her husband and pursue her own interests.

10 President of the students

RIT students have strong feelings for President Destler,
who has made interacting with them a priority.

12 Creativity on display
Bill Destler’s idea to have a celebration of all things RIT has
blossomed into Imagine RIT, which draws about 30,000 people a year.

14 A timeline of the Destler years

16 Opportunity for connections
David Munson, RIT’s next president, wants to help the school further
develop the interaction between technology and the arts.

LEADERSHIP Thank you,

President Bill Destler,
for your years of service
as an educator, leader,
In Honor & Recognition
for 10 Years of Leadership.
innovator, partner and
Thank You
Bill Destler and Rebecca Johnson
friend.
for your leadership and commitment
to RIT and our Rochester Community.

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JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL 1
 Exhilaration follows
Destler’s 10-year run
As president nears retirement, he looks back on record of achievement
By KERRY FELTNER
Bill Destler has both sides of his brain
to thank for helping him secure his role as
president of Rochester Institute of Tech-
nology for the past decade.
The left-brain side was obvious—as the
first electrical engineer to hold the post,
Destler’s skill-set fit well with the focus of
the technical university.
But really, it was his right brain that got
him to Rochester.
A serendipitous banjo swap first brought
him to the area in 2006. A year later Des-
tler officially joined RIT as president of
the university.
He immediately got started on plans for
the school’s future, which included diver-
sifying the student body, adding students
and programs and maintaining the quality
of the institution—a trifecta that 10 years
later has been accomplished. During Des-
tler’s tenure the university has expanded
the student population by 3,000, diversified
the student body and added 17 programs.
By 2016, RIT had added enough Ph.D.
programs to be classified as a doctoral uni-
versity by The Carnegie Classification of
Institutions of Higher Education.
This summer marks Destler’s retirement.
He recently sat down with reporter Kerry
Feltner of the Rochester Business Journal
to discuss his time at RIT.
What are your thoughts on how this
last year has been? How are you
approaching your retirement?
This last year has been great—obviously
it’s kind of a bittersweet moment. I’m so
proud of what the university has accom-
plished during my tenure.
My sneaky and ingenious practice of
getting out of the way of good people has
worked out really well.
I get credit for a lot of things for which I
deserve none, but nevertheless I probably
get the blame too.
It’s a bittersweet time. This has always
been in the cards. When I came here I
said if things worked out, I’d like to serve
2 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
for 10 years and I’d like to retire from
RIT, so it’s exactly according to plan.
We’ve had a great run. Institutions ben-
efit from change in leadership, and we’ve
attracted a very good candidate to succeed
me, so we’re all very excited about that.
I couldn’t be happier in the sense of
what’s happened and what’s happening, but
obviously I’m entering a new phase in life; it
will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Since you entered this role, has
anything surprised you? Was there
anything unexpected that you
received from this role?
Really no, because first of all (former
president) Al Simone left me a very healthy
institution.
It was already on the rise, and so the re-
al question was could I hopefully contin- Photo courtesy of RIT
RIT has grown by 3,000 students under
ue the momentum and continue to grow President Bill Destler’s watch.
the institution in both reputation and size.
There weren’t any sort of skeletons in the some topic and say I’m trying to figure out
closet when I arrived or anything like that. how to handle this and he’d say, “Gee Bill, I
I’m so grateful to Al for that, and he’s been don’t know how to do that either.” And that
a great friend through this entire decade. was reassuring actually, so we’ve had a great
So there haven’t been any great surpris- relationship and he’s been very supportive.
es, but to some extent I’ve been especially
For you with incoming president
pleased with just a few things we’ve done,
David Munson, do you have any
one of which is we’ve grown the universi-
advice for him? How has that
ty by more than 3,000 students and we’ve
relationship been so far?
added 17 buildings and done all this in-
credible stuff. The only advice I’ve really offered him
But we’ve also increased both the size of so far, which he’s taken to heart, is that he
the student body and its diversity and its bring best practices and good ideas from
quality all at once—it’s kind of a trifecta. another wonderful institution, but I told
I’m very proud of that, because usually him to be prepared to learn yourself be-
when you increase the size it affects qual- cause RIT is a special place; it has its own
ity or it affects diversity, and we’ve actually unique character and it will teach you
done all three of those. some things, too.
Did Al Simone give you any specific When you came into the role in
advice when you took over the role? 2007, how would you describe RIT at
that point? How would you describe
He’s been just terrific. We sat down and
RIT today?
chatted about what the current situation
was when I came in, and that was very RIT’s made an important transition
helpful, and then he only gave me advice during this period, but it was already
when I asked for it. on the make when I arrived. I think the
I’d periodically call him up and say come
over for lunch, and usually I’d bring up Continued on page 3
 Photo courtesy of RIT
Bill Destler uses American Sign Language
at an RIT graduation ceremony. RIT is
home to the National Technical Institute
for the Deaf, the first and largest
technological college in the world for
students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
EXHILARATION
Continued from page 2
transition from a kind of regional mas-
ter’s degree institution, which was typi-
cally ranked among the North’s master’s
institutions, to a national research uni-
versity ranked with the big boys—that’s a
substantial change.
The addition of enough Ph.D. programs
to move us into this new Carnegie classi-
fication—this is an important step for the
university and one we’re all proud of, but
nevertheless I think there’s still more to do.
RIT didn’t even offer undergraduate
bachelor degrees until 1955. We’re now one
of the 10 largest private universities in the
country by enrollment—what a change. So
it’s been a privilege to be a part of it.
Do you have a favorite moment that
really sticks out to you over the 10 years?
Oh no, there’s so many. You look at it
in terms of school spirit when we went to
the Frozen Four—that was great but that
was followed on with a campaign to build
a new arena.
So we use all of these magic moments
to try and advance the institution in some
way, and that’s been very exciting.
The extent to which we now have a doz-
en programs or so ranked in the top 10—
that’s a big deal for us. The improvement of
quality, diversity and size of the institution
all at once; that’s special to me.
I don’t have any special moment about
it, except that I have been really privileged
to have taken this journey along with my
wife, Rebecca.
She’s been a fantastic partner, and in fact
some of the progress we’ve made in areas
like our support for students of color, our
sustainability objectives and so forth, she’s
been right there.
It’s interesting because before that I had
my job and she was raising the boys, and
of course we were both involved with each
other and had a wonderful relationship,
but this was the first time we ever really
worked together with a common purpose,
and it’s been fun.
Do you think there is one major
challenge that someone in this role faces
on a day-to-day basis?
We’re in very good health right now, but
there are some challenging demographics
in terms of who’s coming out of the high
schools, what their training is, how well
prepared they are, where in the country
they’re coming from … the high school
population in the Northeast is declining.
And so these are the demographic
changes that anybody who runs a univer-
sity or college has to be aware of. … How
are we going to maintain healthy enroll-
ment, (and) if we have shortcomings or
deficiencies with these incoming students,
how do we deal with them?
What are your thoughts on RIT’s
relationship with the Rochester
business community?
It’s remarkable; remember RIT grew out
of the needs of the business community.
It was created because they needed an
institution to train workers for Kodak and
Bausch & Lomb and Xerox as they devel-
oped. And now our role is actually even
more important because it is to not only
train people to work for these industries
and smaller companies in the region, but
it’s also to start new businesses.
And so we’ve become an important part
Continued on page 4
JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL 3
EXHILARATION
Continued from page 3
of the economic engine in the region.
The partnership with business has been
amazing. People don’t realize it, but we
send about 3,000 students a year out to co-
op assignments to about 2,000 employers.
But about 1,500 of them are in the region
so in some sense the local businesses are
part of our faculty.
We’re sending the students out, and
they’re learning from a local business
about how it’s really done out in the real
world, and they come back here and make
sure the faculty stays up-to-date. So they’ve
been great partners. We can help them, but
they can help us.
How would you describe Imagine RIT
and its impact on the university?
That’s an example of a half-baked idea
that I had and that about 1,000 people
turned into a great idea.
It’s one thing for the president to say let’s
have an innovation and creativity festival.
It’s another thing to actually put one out
there and entertain thousands of people.
But it is interesting that when I first
thought of it, I thought of it as a way to
show off to the external world what RIT
had become and the kind of innovative
and creative work that was happening here.
But the more we did it, the more I real-
ized how important it was internally.
At a university like this, which is so large
and so diverse and has so many programs
and departments, you tend to think that
the only one that is any good is your own.
You come to Imagine RIT and you say,
“Gee, I didn’t know this stuff was hap-
pening,” and it encourages collaboration
across the disciplines, too. So I think it’s
had a positive effect on us internally. And
now we’ve gotten to the point where our
students are preparing all year to present.
It’s been very successful and I’m so
proud of what we show off.
What are your future plans? Do you
plan to remain involved at RIT in
some capacity?
I’m staying in the area, and of course
I’m involved on quite a number of local
boards and on the board of directors of
one of our local companies that’s trying
to make a good run. I’ll spend some more
time on that.
I have some interest in getting more
involved in the poverty initiative, and so
there will be no shortage of things to do.
The issue is, I want to make sure that
David Munson has a free hand and doesn’t
4 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
RIT has connections with more than 60 nations across the globe. Here, President Destler
signs an agreement with a Japanese university leader.
feel weighed down by me. And so my ap-
proach is going to be exactly what Al’s was
with me: If he needs advice I’m happy to
offer it, but I’m not going to be around here
volunteering all the time.
You mentioned earlier how your
leadership style is one where you
get out of people’s way. Could you
elaborate on that?
Imagine RIT isn’t a bad example. I had
this half-baked idea, but I got some peo-
ple interested in it, and I convinced Barry
Culhane—one of my assistants up here—
to lead it.
My job isn’t to micromanage everything
they do. I don’t want to tell them this is ex-
actly how it should work. I want them to
get bought into it and feel like they’re con-
tributing as well, and the result of course
has been an event that’s exceeded my ex-
pectations by a great deal.
So my leadership style is to basically get
people to take ownership of projects and
to give them enough latitude so they can
influence the way they get it done.
I think it was Harry Truman that said
that the worst mistake you can get into as
an administrator is to mistake the impor-
tance of your job. It isn’t about me, but it
is about what’s in the best interest of the
institution and how we can move forward.
What have you learned from
being in this role?
I made some mistakes of course, but
those are deeply hidden in the closet
(laughs). But yeah, I’ve learned a lot.
One of the most important things I
learned was that I had to change my defini-
tion of what a great university was. I came
Photo courtesy of RIT
from the University of Maryland—a big pub-
lic university—it was very research intensive.
I discovered that there’s another defi-
nition of a great university: one that real-
ly cares about students, where they’re job
No. 1, where supporting the community
is job No. 2.
And so I sleep a little better at night,
because when I was at Maryland my last
position there was provost, who is head of
the faculty, and the most frequent ques-
tion I would get then was how could they
teach less.
You don’t get that question here. Every-
body understands we’re here about the stu-
dents, and everything else we do is in that
context. We want to involve students in
the research that we do, so I had to re-
calibrate my own notion of what a great
university was.
It was just by coming here and learning
about the place and finding out how spe-
cial it was. And no we don’t have $400 mil-
lion a year in research, but boy we have a
wonderful dedication to students, and they
get a wonderful experience, and when they
get out it’s a good return on investment.
The other side of it is, even before I came
here I realized that the fact we were one
of the great collections of geeks and artists
was really an opportunity for RIT. You’re
always looking for what your unfair ad-
vantages are.
You look at things like gaming; we’re
now ranked No. 2 for gaming.
What do you need for games? You need
geeks and artists. Industrial design is really
where art and function meet, and we’re a
Top 5 design school.
Continued on page 5
EXHILARATION
Continued from page 4

This combination of the left-brain, right-

brain population here does really play as
an unfair advantage for us, and these fields
are getting more and more important.
You pull out your iPad, your iPhone and
you realize it’s design as much as anything
that’s made these popular. Technology’s
good, but it’s a hybrid. Increasingly peo-
ple are expecting better design in every-
thing they do.
So I understood that when I was coming
in that that was one of the unfair advantag-
es we could exploit, and so far it’s worked
out pretty well.
You can’t be great at everything, so you
might as well use what you are good at Photo courtesy of RIT
and play it. Bill Destler conceptualized the idea of holding Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival.
Here, President Destler races on an all-electric bike.
Our whole Magic Spell Studios effort is
a realization that traditional fields like film You’ve seen the city of Rochester our children there … and we still have a
and animation and gaming are merging change quite a bit in the past lot of friends there. But (Rochester) has
into digital entertainment technology, and decade. What are your thoughts grown on us, so we finally decided, well,
we can be a real leader in this area. Shame on the city’s changes through your let’s buy a house here. So we did.
on us if we’re not. tenure as RIT’s president? I think for my wife it was tougher than
for me. She had homeschooled our boys
When we came here we fully expected to
all the way through high school, and so
return to Maryland when I left (RIT). We
still had a house down there and we raised
Continued on page 6

Best Wishes Dr. Destler!

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Dr. Destler of the Rochester community.
for your dedication and
leadership at RIT.

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JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL 5


EXHILARATION
Continued from page 5
she had a network of supportive friends
through that whole process, so she was
taking a leap of faith. But I think both of
us have been like kids in a candy store ba-
sically. We’ve really enjoyed it here.
That’s why we decided to stay. I think
Rochester itself is a very intriguing place.
It’s got a high concentration of highly ed-
ucated people, a lot of ideas; it’s about the
right size. You still have significant cultural
attractions here; at the same time you don’t
have significant traffic.
Every time we go back to Maryland the
traffic is worse, the smog is worse. So you
have it pretty good here and that played a
role in our thinking.
I also think the size of Rochester makes
it possible to have an impact. You basically
can get involved in some of these things,
and if you’re smart about the way you go
about things, then you can possibly change
things for the better.
In the Washington-Baltimore megaplex
it’s not exactly clear how you do that.
When you first learned of this
position, this opportunity, were
there specific things that attracted
you at that time to the role?
Two years before I came up here as pres-
ident I walked up to my wife and I said,
“Rebecca, how would you like to spend a ro-
mantic weekend in Rochester, New York?”
I’m sort of famous for being a banjo col-
lector, and I had arranged to swap some
banjos with John Bernunzio, who now has
a shop called Bernunzio’s Uptown Music
on East Avenue.
But at the time he was working out of his
house, so I needed to pile a lot of banjos in
the car and drive up here and swap them
with John. And so we spent the weekend
here, stayed at a B&B, went to the Down-
stairs Cabaret Theatre and ate at some
ethnic restaurants and had a good time.
I had no idea that my future would be in
Rochester.
A year later I was contacted by a former
student of mine at Maryland who was on
the faculty here and on the search commit-
tee and asked me to consider this position.
I did go to graduate school at Cornell,
so I wasn’t afraid of the weather or any-
thing like that. My friends at Maryland
said, “Bill, they’re going to give you a pres-
idential dogsled up there.”
6 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
What would you want people to I think (people) feel like there’s some-
remember about you and your body up here who is willing to listen if they
legacy at RIT? have significant issues; we’ll try to find a
way through it.
That I didn’t muck up too badly … that
would be good. If you were to describe where you
RIT made great progress under the last hope RIT goes from here, what would
couple of presidents, so I didn’t want to that look like?
fumble the ball here. So I’m pleased that
We started a new strategic plan a cou-
I don’t think we did that. We continue to
ple of years ago: “Greatness through Dif-
build on the progress that had been made
ference.” Basically it’s the idea that we’re
the previous years.
not going to become a great university
Of course we’re proud of that. We’re
by mimicking MIT or Stanford or any of
proud of the reputation for innovation
these other places. They already exist and
and creativity we’ve established.
they’re pretty good at what they do. So
But it isn’t so much my legacy as it is ev-
the question is, if we are willing to look
erybody else’s legacy. Everybody says, well
at how we’re different, we can continue to
(Bill), you’re at the top of the food chain,
come up the ladder because the way we’re
but in reality you can’t do anything without
different is increasingly in vogue.
the hard work of people underneath you.
There’s a return on investment for stu-
I like to say in academia the higher up
dents. The applied work we do here—as
you go the more people you work for be-
opposed to the heavily theoretical work at
cause everybody cares about it: the stu-
major universities—that’s a big deal now
dents, the faculty, the staff. They care about
in this country.
it, the alumni care about it, the city cares
So if you look at all of the stuff we’re
about it, the trustees care about it.
doing in manufacturing (we’re now one
So you really want to try to maintain a
of the nation’s leaders in manufacturing),
positive trajectory and get people thinking
I think that’s a good example of we don’t
about the right things, and make sure that
have to be the same as everybody else but
you don’t lose sight of the real purpose of
we can still be great.
the institution.
We shouldn’t be shy about that, so let’s
And a lot of the final decisions are pretty
try to explain our differences. We have
easy to make once you have all that input.
NTID here, the School for American Crafts
I know you’ve made a real effort … other places don’t have these.
to be part of the campus and the Parents want to send their kids to a school
student body in ways that may be where they have some assurance their kid
unexpected, like eating lunch with is going to have a career when they get out,
students or attending events. Can and this place delivers on that promise.
you describe that approach?
How would you describe RIT’s
To be honest with you I can’t imagine relationship to other area schools
wanting to be a president without being and universities?
involved with students; that’s the fun of
We play very well together. We have a
the whole thing.
group called the Rochester Area College
It’s not fun moving the paper from the
Presidents Group; we get together to share
inbox to the outbox. It’s a lot more fun
our concerns and try to avoid outright
hanging out with students, because they
competition with each other.
keep you young and they energize you and
For example, we wouldn’t start a nurs-
they challenge you.
ing school here right now because we
Good universities are driven by students
have one at Nazareth, we have one at St.
more than anything else.
John Fisher and UR—why would we do
They’ll (his staff) schedule lunches for
it? So we try to be complementary rather
me, but when I don’t have them I just go
than necessarily competitive. By working
to the cafeteria.
together we can get more accomplished
Or if I’m free on a hockey weekend I’ll
than by working separately.
go to the games … why not? Might as well
have fun. Can you imagine getting paid to When you are going through times
go to a hockey game? It’s not a bad idea. where the process is long and it can
And sometimes they (administration) are be difficult to see the end result,
too external and too off-putting, so I never how do you get through those
wanted to be like that, but I also wanted to times? What has kept you inspired or
enjoy myself. This is a privilege. Very few motivated when things get difficult?
people get a chance to do what I’ve gotten
a chance to do in my last 10 years. Continued on page 7

EXHILARATION
Continued from page 6
To be successful in this kind of position,
you do have to be able to take satisfaction
out of what you’ve helped others to do,
because you can’t do it all yourself.
And I learned early on—the first time
I had a major administrative role at the
University of Maryland—I discovered I
could enjoy that. I get energized just by
the progress we make.
On the other hand, I’m a pretty tena-
cious guy. I’m patient, but I’m also tena-
cious. I don’t let people forget things.
And people have been wonderful to
work with. I’ve been so well supported by
the faculty and staff it’s been unbelievable.
It’s been such a thrill.
When you were in your previous
role as provost at the University of
Maryland, were there any specific
skills you learned there that you
brought to the role of president at RIT?
In some senses I’m a right brain-left
brain guy myself. I’m a musician, but I al-
so am an engineer.
So in that sense I wasn’t a bad match to
this place. I flirted with other opportu-
Thank
you!
Kodak thanks
President
Bill Destler &
Dr. Rebecca
Johnson for their
commitment to
the Rochester
Community.
nities at other universities, but I actually
thought this was a place where I could add
value, and that’s what all of us want to do;
we want to have some impact.
I wasn’t working for money anymore.
Really it’s nice to be paid, but on the other
hand I want to have an impact at my age,
and so this was an opportunity to do that.
I was very happy (at Maryland) as a fac-
ulty member, because I had a big research
program and I enjoyed teaching. Then the
dean of engineering called me into his of-
fice late one night and said the chair of
your department is retiring and I want you
to take over.
I had just been promoted to full pro-
fessor, and there were 30 other full pro-
fessors, and I said, ‘What about them?’
And he held up the list and said, “You got
any better ideas?” So that’s how I got into
administration. I hadn’t thought about it
before then.
Then I discovered I did enjoy helping
others to succeed. … By the time I was pro-
vost I sort of thought probably the capstone
of my career would be the presidency.
It also made me understand what’s re-
ally important. Students are important.
You can easily get these other things out
of proportion a little bit—students are
important.
Congratulations
and thank you
President Bill Destler
& Dr. Rebecca Johnson
for your service to
the Rochester Institute of Technology
and the greater Rochester community.
The senior support team I have, the vice
presidents especially—it’s an amazingly
strong group. When I came here, it’s not
uncommon for new presidents to want
their own team, (but) I actually only had
to recruit a provost. All the other vice pres-
idents I kept because it was so obvious that
they were really good.
So sometimes when a new president
tries to change everybody it’s because he’s
insecure, but that wasn’t my problem. I just
wanted to make sure they were good, so
I really benefited enormously from their
talents.
I think you’ll see the same thing in this
transition.
What are your thoughts on
David Munson and the
upcoming transition?
I’m a big fan. I can’t find anybody at the
University of Michigan to say anything bad
about him and that’s a good sign.
He and his wife are delightful people;
they’re very thoughtful. He’s taken the time
to learn about RIT and to move cautiously,
but I think he also wants to move expedi-
tiously to make sure we maintain the mo-
mentum we have. So I don’t see anything
to not be excited about.
kfeltner@rbj.net / 585-653-4020
JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL 7

Johnson actively engaged
with RIT campus
President’s spouse, with
background in psychology,
fostered student dialogue
By KERRY FELTNER
What is the role of a university presi-
dent’s spouse?
The parameters of the role have changed
within the last decade, a shift that Rebec-
ca Johnson, wife of Rochester Institute of
Technology President Bill Destler and vol-
unteer associate of the university, has had
a front seat to.
“It’s really interesting to me how the
territory of being a university president
spouse has changed,” she said. “When Bill
came on board there was an interesting,
unspoken but existing assumption that
(hiring him) was in a sense a two-for-one
deal, and for sure they wanted to get a look
at me and make sure I only had one head.”
Today, the dynamics of the role have
changed along with cultural norms about
the workplace.
In 2007, when Johnson became a univer-
sity president’s spouse, “things were starting
to change,” she said. “Now, especially with
more female presidents, it’s far less a two-
for-one expectation, but 10 years ago cer-
tainly it was, with the understanding that
8 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
the president was the president but that I
would play an active role in the university.”
In 2017 the role is what one makes of it.
“It’s changed today where I think the ex-
pectations are much looser,” Johnson said.
“You still want the spouse hopefully to be
politically correct, but you don’t necessarily
expect them to show up at every engage-
ment, you don’t necessarily expect them to
be active on campus. You really assume that
they’re going to have their own life.”
From the start of Destler’s presidency at
RIT, Johnson knew she wanted to be in-
volved. She had been involved in the com-
munity in Maryland where they had previ-
ously lived but not so much at the Universi-
ty of Maryland where Destler was provost.
“We envisioned that I would be active-
ly involved on (RIT’s) campus and in the
community without necessarily framing
what that would be,” Johnson said. “Bill
right away requested that I have a title.
So right from the start we assumed that
I would be actively involved” on campus.
“I’m a person of many interests, and
I’m a person who has a really hard time
not jumping in when it looks like there’s a
vacancy that I’m interested in,” she added.
With a doctorate in clinical psychology,
Johnson has always been drawn to matters
of the mind. At RIT she put that interest
to use, helping to start Grey Matters—a
group on campus that creates a space for
difficult discussions.
Photo courtesy of RIT
Rebecca Johnson contributed
to many causes during the
10-year President Bill Destler
era. She worked closely with
students on sustainability and
civic engagement matters.
“My background is really psychological-
ly based, and I have a particularly strong
interest in communication, conflict reso-
lution (and) talking about difficult issues,”
Johnson said. “I have a lot of interest in
social justice and racial justice, gender
justice of course, and so I began to move
more toward the areas that I felt person-
ally stronger in.”
Grey Matters helped to create a culture
on campus in which discourse was not
only happening but expected to happen.
It grew from a professor’s desire to give
students the space and safety to bring up
difficult issues.
“I’m really proud of that series, proud of
my involvement, really proud of the RIT
community because they’ve really risen
to the occasion,” Johnson said. “I really
think that has changed the campus culture.
We would like to do everything we can to
make it possible for those discussions to
happen on this campus.”
RIT has come a long way in the last 10
years, Johnson says. The move to become
more sustainable is one of the particular
highlights she witnessed and helped to
develop.
“We were just putting ourselves on the
map with sustainability (and) manufac-
turing sustainability,” Johnson said. “There
were many people on campus that wanted
Continued on page 9

DESTLER-JOHNSON
Continued from page 8
also to move our campus operations to-
ward more sustainability and were notic-
ing things they felt we could do differently.”
Johnson served as a connector, bringing
groups of people together, even though they
were isolated in their thinking initially.
“It was something that I was interested
in, so I just started convening a brown
bag lunch and we would all get together,”
Johnson said. “Once these folks found
each other and knew they were going to
have support and a critical mass—and
also knew that the administration was
friendly toward their ideas, the ball really
went rolling.”
RIT students and faculty know how to
get an idea off the ground, Johnson says. It
is more a matter of getting out of their way.
“They do it; if you build it they will
come,” she said. “It’s a stunning place that
way. This place, people know how to do
things. You just give them the reins and
they go and they do them well. I’ve just
never met a place where people can pull
things together so fast and so competently.”
Photo courtesy of RIT
Bill Destler and his wife, Rebecca Johnson,
sport orange hair at a basketball game.
Destler challenged the RIT student body to
sell out a men’s game, and they responded,
forcing the president to dye his hair orange.
With her husband’s retirement in Ju-
ly, Johnson is evaluating her own role on
campus. She will support the university in
whatever way makes sense.
“I’m going to play it by ear; I love RIT,”
Johnson said. “I wasn’t exactly dragged
here kicking and screaming—that would
not be accurate—but I loved Maryland
and I liked RIT but I didn’t really want to
leave Maryland. As it turns out sometimes
it pays to take a chance, because this has
just been a grand experience. I love Roch-
ester; I love RIT.
“I think the most important thing is
what’s good for the institution, what’s go-
ing to support the new people.”
Rochester has always been RIT’s ally.
The city and the university have supported
each other throughout the years.
“The city of Rochester is such an inter-
esting one; we have such a proud histo-
ry of people engaged in trying to make
things work for everybody,” Johnson said.
“We’re a city both with huge problems of
hyper-segregation, hyper-poverty and ed-
ucational difficulties, and we have a huge
contingent of people who are really com-
mitted to trying to make things better.”
RIT and local businesses will continue
to have a strong connection, Johnson says.
“The business community is the reason
RIT is here,” she said. “The business commu-
nity started the place, so I’m grateful for the
support, I’m grateful for the opportunities
that the business community has provid-
ed for our students to be actively involved.”
Johnson did not know what to expect
when she took the role of university pres-
ident’s spouse. She is grateful she took a
chance on Rochester, she says.
“I was not intimately involved with Bill’s
career (in Maryland),” Johnson said. “He
worked 25 miles away from where we lived
and I was involved in our community. So I
looked forward to being on campus, but I
hadn’t spent a lot of time on campus since
being a student, and I didn’t know what
being a president’s wife was going to be
like. It was very intimidating.”
Johnson has had a unique perspective
of her husband’s tenure. It has been fun
to watch what he’s done at RIT, she says.
“It’s just been a joy,” she said. “I’m really
proud of what has happened at RIT under
his leadership. I think he’s right—he gets
out of the way of good people. I think he
also is really good at discerning who the
good people are and moving things for-
ward and having ideas.”
His retirement is a chance to see just
how much he accomplished and the depth
of connection that the RIT community
has, she says.
“I think this year has been a funny year,”
Johnson said. “You go to a funeral and peo-
ple say such lovely things about people and
you think, ‘Oh, I wish they were here to
hear this.’ And this sounds a little strange,
and I mean it in the most loving way and
the most grateful way: This is kind of like
being at your own funeral, being able to
hear what people say about you. It’s just
been tremendously moving.”
For Destler and Johnson, their involvement
in Rochester does not end with Destler’s re-
tirement. As Rochesterians separate from RIT
they will continue to support the city.
“It’s been such a grand 10 years, and I’m
looking forward to the next adventure,”
Johnson said. “Neither of us are rocking
chair types. We’re very much invested in the
Rochester community and look forward to
staying involved in the community.”
kfeltner@rbj.net / 585-653-4020
JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL 9
 Students reflect
on legacy of
‘a regular guy’
By TRAVIS ANDERSON
Andrea Shaver remembers the first time
she had a real opportunity to get to know
Bill Destler, president of Rochester Insti-
tute of Technology. A leader of the student
government, the graphic-design student
was returning from a meeting on the West
Coast when the two were among sever-
al people stranded in Chicago because of
poor weather conditions.
“We ended up just getting a rental car
and driving all night back to Rochester,”
Shaver recalls. “There were lots of good
conversations and laughs on that over-
night trip.”
A ‘student-centric’ president
When Destler announced plans to retire,
many students expressed disappointment.
However, they also began to reflect with
enthusiasm on the many contributions he
has made to their college experience.
One reason Destler, 70, has such a pos-
itive reputation is his habit of mingling
with students, making himself available in
Under Bill Destler’s leadership, the RIT women’s hockey team was elevated from Division III
to Division I. Here, President Destler sports a pink jersey to raise money for cancer research.
10 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
public places and being willing to listen to
what they have to say. While some college
leaders spend vast amounts of time in an
office or behind closed doors in meetings,
RIT students describe their president as
someone who has made an effort to be
found in places students frequent. Amar Bhatt
They describe him in those moments as
down-to-earth and engaged. “It’s so nice to
walk up to him and have him say, ‘I love
that sunset photo you posted the other
day,’” Shaver, of Texas, says, recalling con-
versations she has shared with RIT’s ninth
president. “Students love him because he
continues to be student-centric.”
Others agree that making a commitment
to being available to students has been a key
to his success. Amar Bhatt, a computer engi-
neering major, spent a lot of time discussing
student issues with the college president as
vice president of the student government.
“Dr. Destler is the most student-cen-
tered president in the nation, in the eyes
of many,” says Bhatt, a Syracuse native
Continued on page 11
Andrea Shaver
Photos courtesy of RIT
Jason Karol

STUDENT REFLECTION
Continued from page 10
who graduated in May. “To some, he is a
student himself. He frequently eats in the
main student cafeteria, and he is always on
the invite list for student events because
students want him there—and he comes!”
Bhatt describes the retiring president
as approachable whenever he is spotted
on campus. “Students will miss him for …
his banjo concerts on campus, his fusion
of art and science, his passion to fight for
students, his transparency, and his ability
to be a friend,” he says.
Lest one think the banjo comment is
a silly aside, the college confirms that its
outgoing leader is “an international au-
thority on high-power microwave sourc-
es and advanced accelerator concepts and
one of the world’s foremost collectors of
antique banjos.”
Jason Karol, a marketing major who
graduated this spring, also knows Destler
from working with student government.
He has gotten to know a different side of
the college president, however, through
casual conversations around campus.
“He connected to students in a way that
not many people in his position would be
able to do,” Karol says. “He was a ‘regular
guy’ that everyone loved to love. He and
his wife (Rebecca Johnson) had a very vis-
ible presence on campus, went to multi-
ple student events a day, always at sports
games, always showing support. He also
very quietly financially supported many
clubs and charitable organizations con-
nected to RIT.”
In addition to his affable nature, for
which he always will be remembered, Des-
tler made a number of significant contri-
butions to Rochester Institute of Technol-
ogy that will live on long after the couple,
married since 1982, begin the next chapter
in their lives.
“He’ll leave a legacy of inspiring RIT’s
true ‘geeks and artists’ to come out and
collaborate with one another,” Shaver says.
“The Imagine RIT festival is a fantastic ex-
ample of this.”
The once-fledgling Imagine RIT: Inno-
vation and Creativity Festival draws tens
of thousands of visitors from the commu-
nity each spring during a one-day event
showcasing interactive exhibits and dis-
plays, including new ideas for products
and services, creative arts and crafts and
faculty and student research.
In addition, Bhatt cites the college’s de-
cision—under Destler’s leadership—to
change from a quarter academic calendar
to a semester system as an accomplish-
ment. Karol adds that “Destler was a mas-
ter at earning funding and grants from
state and federal governments, allowing
for rapid growth of new and innovative
programs and technologies.”
While Rochester Institute of Technolo-
gy will continue to thrive, students say the
campus won’t be the same without their
longtime leader.
“His physical presence will be most
missed,” Karol says, “as students felt much
closer to the administration and felt that
they cared about student needs.”
Travis Anderson is a Rochester-area freelance writer.

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 A legacy of
innovation and
creativity
By RICHARD ZITRIN
One of Bill Destler’s first decisions when
he became president of the Rochester In-
stitute of Technology in 2007 was to throw
a party and invite the community to come
see what was happening on the university’s
sprawling Henrietta campus. The celebration
of all things RIT—the Imagine RIT festival—
was an immediate hit when it debuted in
2008, and its subsequent success is viewed as
a significant part of Destler’s legacy.
The annual spring showcase of RIT’s
innovative and creative spirit has drawn
around 300,000 people over 10 years, help-
ing boost RIT’s visibility, reputation and
campus morale.
CONGRATULATIONS
BILL AND REBECCA
FOR CULTIVATING A
LEGACY OF CREATIVITY
AND EXCELLENCE AT RIT.
Harris is proud of our
longstanding partnership with
RIT that helps produce our next
generation of innovators.
12 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
“RIT was originally trying to develop a
way to bring the greater Rochester com-
munity onto and into our campus to really
see what’s going on. It has become much
more than that with Imagine RIT serv-
ing as a great source of internal pride,”
says Barry Culhane, executive assistant
to the president and chairman of Imag-
ine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festi-
val. “The festival reinforces our RIT cul-
ture of teamwork and multidisciplinary
approaches to problem-solving. Imagine
RIT has captured the essence of the RIT
spirit of innovation and creativity, which
we hope is moving into workplaces across
the country.”
Destler began forming the idea for
Imagine RIT before he took over as
chief executive. He and his wife, Rebec-
ca Johnson, began making trips from
their home in Maryland to explore RIT’s
colleges and activities.
“They had thought of RIT just as a ‘left-
brained’ technology institute, but discov- the south side of the Gordon Field House
ered to their delight all kinds of other with a band and some dignitaries and won-
things,” Culhane recalls. “They were par- dering if anybody was going to show up.
ticularly impressed by the ‘right-brained’ Little by little they did, and all of a sudden
artistic side of things—the photography, the front of the field house was full and we
graphic design, and multidisciplinary ended up with 17,000 people.”
teamwork by students, faculty and staff.” By the second year, a buzz had devel-
About three months into Destler’s pres- oped around Imagine RIT and 25,000 peo-
idency, he gave Culhane a job: put to- ple came. Attendance continued to climb
gether everything that RIT does and put each year to around 30,000. Imagine RIT
it on display for the public. And make it organizers get the word out each year to
free so money would not prevent anyone more than 12,000 K-12 teachers and coun-
from attending. selors, primarily in the Rochester metro-
Culhane and Destler came up with a politan area, although visitors have come
name for the festival after Culhane heard from Buffalo, Philadelphia and beyond.
the John Lennon song, “Imagine,” on the One young visitor from nearly 1,500
radio on his way to work one morning. miles away attended the 2012 Imagine RIT
Culhane became chairman of the festival by chance and ended up coming back to
and assembled volunteers to pull off the stay for four years—and become RIT stu-
first extravaganza in eight months. dent government president. Andrea Shaver
“We were starting from scratch,” says was a high school junior from Frisco, Tex-
Culhane, who has chaired all 10 festivals, as, who was in Brighton for the Young En-
including the final Imagine RIT of Destler’s trepreneurs Academy when she happened
presidency on May 6. “Everybody on the upon Imagine RIT.
committee had some event planning, but “I was not aware of RIT,” Shaver says. “In
nothing to this scale. I remember the first
year standing at the opening ceremony at Continued on page 13

Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival draws about 30,000 visitors a year and features about 400 exhibits.
CREATIVITY
Continued from page 12
fact, I didn’t even know of the festival until
we were here and looking for something
to do that Saturday. It definitely made an
impression on me. It was my first real ex-
posure to a design school of RIT’s caliber.
My dad, much to my dismay at the time,
told me that I should go talk to students. I
ended up in the basement of Booth (Hall)
and talked to several senior students that
had their work on display. We talked about
their work, but also about their experience
at RIT. I remember feeling very impressed,
hoping I could find something closer to
home. Truth is, RIT is very unique, and
here I am, five years later.”
Shaver participated in Imagine RIT with
campus musical groups—the Pep Band
and the Drumline percussion ensemble—
and the Gamma Epsilon Tau graphic arts
honors fraternity. Shaver also became in-
volved in student government as a soph-
omore. She served as president her senior
year, graduating last month with a bach-
elor’s degree in graphic design and plans
for a job in advertising in Denver.
The campus-wide show-and-tell has
affected the lives of other youngsters.
Culhane says he’s aware of young teens
who have set their sights on attending
the university after coming to campus
for Imagine RIT.
“We do a survey after the festival and get
feedback from so many parents who are
so appreciative of RIT for providing this
free, educational, engaging event for their
children that’s inspiring them and motivat-
ing them to do well in school, think about
higher education and just really pursue
their life goals, their dreams,” says Heather
Cottone, RIT manager of special projects,
who chairs the Imagine RIT program and
logistic committees.
Organizers annually receive 350-400 pro-
posals from students, faculty and staff for
interactive presentations, hands-on demon-
strations, exhibitions, research projects,
music and other entertainment, according
to Cottone. In all, 3,000 to 3,500 people par-
ticipate in Imagine RIT every year.
Imagine RIT’s first big hit based on vis-
JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL
Photo by Kate Melton
itor popularity was the robotic hot dog
assembler created by the College of Ap-
plied Science and Technology’s Mechanical
Manufacturing and Engineering Technolo-
gy program, Cottone says. Students in the
program also have brought the world—and
Imagine RIT—the robotic ice cream cone
maker and the robotic s’more maker.
Imagine RIT’s success and its signifi-
cance to the university are apparent. Des-
tler’s successor as RIT president, David
Munson Jr., is a fan and sees its value, ac-
cording to Culhane. The 11th Imagine RIT
already is set for April 28, 2018.
“Imagine RIT has exceeded our expec-
tations with an outpouring of accolades
and a permanence as a community event
worth marking on one’s calendar,” Cul-
hane says. “More significant, we have in-
spired so many people to embrace inno-
vation and creativity, teamwork, and the
sense that we can achieve more together.
When students plan ahead to participate
and invite family members, we know this
has permeated the RIT culture.”
Richard Zitrin is a Rochester-area freelance writer.
13
A timeline of the Destler years Timeline spread photos courtesy of RIT

2007
Bill Destler takes office
July 1 as Rochester Institute of
Technology’s ninth president.

2008
RIT opens a campus in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. Funded by
the Dubai government, RIT Dubai
is part of Dubai Silicon Oasis.

The first Imagine RIT: Innovation and

Creativity Festival draws more than
15,000 visitors to campus to see
interactive exhibits and displays.

RIT opens its first “green” building,

the new College of Applied Science
and Technology.

RIT and Rochester Regional Health

2011 2012
begin a strategic alliance. B. Thomas Golisano College of
Computing and Information

2009
The University Services Center,
which includes the glass-
enclosed, circular Center for
Student Innovation, opens. The
54,000-square-foot facility is the first
building in Monroe County to be
certified LEED Platinum by the U.S.
Green Building Council.
Saunders College of Business
launches an online Executive MBA
program.
The university breaks ground on a
state-of-the-art “green” facility: the
Golisano Institute for Sustainability.
The College of Health Sciences and
Technology—RIT’s ninth college—
opens.
Institute Hall, which houses
programs in biomedical and
chemical engineering, opens.
Sciences unveils the School of
Interactive Games and Media to
foster continued growth of popular
undergraduate and graduate
programs in game design and
development.
RIT holds the world’s largest
dodgeball game on May 1, 2011
with 2,136 players, beating the
previous Guinness World Record
of 2,012 set by the University of
Alberta, Canada.
The women’s hockey team wins
the Division III NCAA national
championship and also announces
it will move up to the Division I level.
RIT announces it will contribute
to the resurgence of the city of
Rochester with a new Center for
Urban Entrepreneurship located in
the heart of downtown.
RIT becomes home to New York
State’s Center of Excellence in
Sustainable Manufacturing.
RIT launches the Innovative Learning

2010
Institute to position RIT to lead in
the e-learning space.

The men’s hockey team catapults

into the national spotlight by
earning a trip to the
NCAA’s Frozen Four.
2013
RIT converts from the quarter
academic calendar to the semester
Global Village, RIT’s $57 million
academic calendar.
international-themed retail and
residential complex, officially opens. Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall
opens at National Technical Institute
for the Deaf, an RIT college.
This space serves as an innovation
and research hub for NTID.

14 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017


Golisano Institute for
Sustainability, which houses
one of the world’s first Ph.D.
programs in sustainability,
opens its new home.
The Kate Gleason College of
Engineering graduates its first class
of chemical engineering students.
RIT partners with Uncommon
Schools to develop a charter high
school.
RIT creates the Center for Media,
Arts, Games, Interaction and
Creativity (MAGIC), a research center
devoted to the field of digital media.
2014
The Gene Polisseni Center, home
to men’s and women’s hockey,
opens. The $38 million ice arena
has capacity for 4,300 Tiger fans.
RIT launches its seventh doctoral
program, a Ph.D. in engineering.
RIT graduates its first class of
Rochester City Scholars. Rochester
City Scholars are City School District
graduates who meet certain
requirements and receive free full
tuition to RIT.
2015
RIT launches the 2015-2025 strategic
plan, “Greatness Through Difference.”
For the first time in RIT history, the
word “research” is incorporated into
the vision statement.
RIT opens a 2-megawatt solar
energy farm consisting of 6,138
photovoltaic panels used to
generate electricity from the sun.
MAGIC Spell Studios is created. It’s
a university program that links RIT’s
internationally ranked academic
programs with high-tech facilities
needed to commercialize computer
gaming, film and animation,
graphic design and imaging science
projects.
The College of Health Sciences
and Technology opens the
Clinical Health Sciences Center, a
45,000-square-foot addition at the
north end of Louise Slaughter Hall.
2016
Six RIT researchers are among the
authors of a paper announcing
JUNE 9, 2017 / ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL
what may be the most important
scientific discovery in a century—
findings that confirm the existence
of gravitational waves predicted in
Albert Einstein’s general theory of
relativity.
RIT is considered a “doctoral
university” by the leading national
classification of U.S. colleges
and universities—The Carnegie
Classification of Institutions of
Higher Education.
A consortium of universities and
corporations led by RIT is chosen to
receive a state grant to establish a
New York State Center for Advanced
Technology in Additive Manufacturing
and Functional Printing.
Five of RIT’s nine colleges have
female deans as of July 1—
Kate Gleason College of
Engineering, College of Imaging
Arts and Sciences, Saunders
College of Business, B. Thomas
Golisano College of Computing
and Information Sciences and the
College of Science.
2017
Destler is slated to retire June 30.
15
 New president sees
commonalities in arts, tech
Munson’s intellectual curiosity,
rapport with students, stood
out among applicants
By SHEILA LIVADAS

Trumpeting the virtues of music, the-

ater and dance is not on every electrical
engineer’s to-do list, but David Munson
Jr. has made it a top priority. As Roches-
ter Institute of Technology’s 10th presi-
dent, effective July 1, he plans to help the
university forge new connections between
technology and the arts.
When it comes to valuing creativity or
not being entirely satisfied with the end
result, artists and engineers have plenty
in common, says Munson, former dean of
engineering at the University of Michigan.
“Among my student body in engineer-
ing at the University of Michigan, about
70 percent of the students are musicians,”
says Munson, who led a college of 10,000
engineering students, 600 faculty mem-
bers and 600 staff members during his de-
cade-long tenure at Michigan.
Various experiences prompted Mun-
son, who grew up in Iowa, Ohio and Del-
aware, to become a champion of the arts.
He sang in a choir as a child, played the
sax in his high school’s marching band and
performed with a folk group in his teens
David Munson Jr.
and early 20s.
“Just winging it and making up harmonies ty and students through making, instruc- “It is an enormous job,” she adds. “There
… has always come very easily to me,” he says. tion, research, community and the arts. are so many constituents that are really
Figuring out how stuff works also cap- When asked to design and build some looking to you for guidance as the presi-
tivated Munson from an early age and circuitry during his senior year in college, dent of a university. So—No. 1—you need
led him to earn electrical engineering Munson says he discovered how creating to be a visionary, and (Munson) definitely
degrees from the University of Delaware something that has never existed before is able to articulate a vision.”
and Princeton. ignites all sorts of possibilities for learning. Once he settles into his new job, Munson
His career path began in 1979 at the “I would like to have a lot of conversa- plans to get to know Rochester better by vis-
University of Illinois, where he started tion with the faculty at RIT about how we iting local landmarks, including the George
as an assistant professor of electrical and might implement this kind of thinking and Eastman Museum. From years of shooting
computer engineering. After 24 years, he decide how that might have an effect on Kodachrome 64 film, he has at least 100 trays
left Illinois to become chairman of Michi- the education that we offer our students, of slides tucked away in his basement.
gan’s electrical engineering and computer not just in the arts and technology, but Munson also is eager to get to work—
science department. much more broadly,” he says. without being the center of attention.
As dean of Michigan’s engineering col- Intellectual curiosity, integrity and a “When you’re in the administration
lege, Munson managed a $550 million knack for establishing a rapport with stu- (at a university), you really have to get
budget and helped grow the faculty ranks dents helped separate Munson from oth- your kicks—you have to get your satis-
by 30 percent. He also played a key role in ers who had applied to become RIT’s next faction—through the accomplishments
launching ArtsEngine, a program that fos- president, says Christine Whitman, chair- of others,” he says.
ters collaboration between Michigan facul- woman of the university’s board of trustees. Sheila Livadas is a Rochester-area freelance writer.
16 ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL / JUNE 9, 2017
 Salutes
BILL DESTLER
for a decade of leadership at
Rochester Institute of Technology
 Imagine a Legacy
RIT is a university full of innovation, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit,
and heart. The university has risen to new heights, thanks to the leadership of
President Bill Destler and Dr. Rebecca Johnson
over the past decade.

On behalf of the entire Tiger family, we wish you both the best in your retirement
as you begin your next exciting chapter as remarkable Rochesterians.

You guided us to boldly imagine. In turn, you left your legacy.

www.rit.edu/farewell