Operation Imaging Connection

My blog has been a little bit quiet lately because most of the items at the top of my to-do list are somewhat long-term and/or require multiple meetings and discussions on the path to completion. One such thing that has made notable progress however is a recent effort to get more alumni, particularly those who graduated from RIT pre-"Imaging Science", more strongly connected with CIS. For those who are not familiar with our history, I'll attempt to give a brief synopsis (from the best of my knowledge and with a bit of help from this website and its appendices):

• 1930's - Photographic Technology is established as a program at RAMI (Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, later to be renamed RIT in 1944) to respond to local industry demand for trained workers. This program differentiated science-based photography studies from fine art and studio-based studies, which also existed at RAMI. These programs would evolve over the next few decades to address changing trends.
• 1956 - BS in Photographic Science is established.
• 1962 - MS in Photographic Science is established at the urging of the US Air Force.
• 1966-67 - Names of both the BS and MS programs are changed to Photographic Science and Instrumentation.
• ???? - Now stuff gets confusing. Photo Science becomes Imaging Science at some point, and in 1986 CIS is established. Then at some other point, CIS breaks off from the College of Graphic Arts and Photography and becomes its own entity, although degrees continue to be granted out of CGAP (later CIAS) until 1996.
• 1989 - The Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science building is dedicated.
• 1990 - RIT's first PhD program, in Imaging Science, is established.
• 1994 - RIT's College of Graphic Arts and Photography becomes the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences.
• 1996 - CIS joins the College of Science, and Imaging Science degrees are granted now by COS.

...And then I think things are pretty steady from here on to the present day. In case you couldn't tell, finding reliable information on the details of Imaging Science's history is pretty difficult. I think things become especially complicated in the late 80's/early 90's because of the whole - wait, is the coast clear? - CIA scandal (shhh, we won't talk about that here). Anyways...

So, you can probably tell that things are pretty complicated. We have alumni who don't associate with COS. We have alumni who don't even associate with "Imaging Science". And yet, they are all intended to be included as a part of the CIS community. Adding to the complexity is the lack of affinity felt by many alumni; for many decades, RIT just didn't have much spiRIT or connection with its students (for example, I know my in-laws, who are both RIT Alumni, really don't feel connected nor have any desire to be). The RIT Alumni Association as a whole continues to struggle with this, though they have made significant advancements over the past decade or so.

So, what's a poor outreach specialist to do? I have a modest alumni list that I maintain, and they receive the Imaging Connection newsletter seasonally. That list has about 440 alumni on it, whereas CIS has more like 1,500 alumni total. (Actually, my % isn't that bad...) Many e-mail addresses get deactivated, and alumni don't update their contact information with us (despite our simple online form created to do just that). To make matters worse, there are apparently alumni out there who have never been contacted by CIS. Well, obviously, it's time to change that. Enter: Operation Imaging Connection.

Although it is not efficient and not really in RIT's policy to maintain a separate alumni list, CIS does so because we have many alumni that are incredibly sensitive to having their private information shared (not even just for personal reasons, but also considering how many alumni we have in defense and security careers). We have always made it a point to keep our mailing list opt-in, to avoid any possible invasions of privacy. So to keep this going but reach out to a broader alumni base, we've decided to team up with Alumni Relations on a two-prong, try-to-reach-every-CIS-alumnus-ever endeavor. First, we will send an e-mail to every CIS alumnus with an active e-mail address on record; after that, we'll snail mail a physical post card to alumni with mailing addresses who would not have received the e-mail. And then hopefully, we'll be able to more effectively connect with our many alumni from over the decades!

Towards this end, I have created a graphic outlining the benefits of connecting with us. This is planned to be used for both the eblast and the postcard. The eblast should be going out within the next couple of weeks. Enjoy...