President Marty Schmidt ’81, Ph.D. has committed to developing Rensselaer Forward through a robust and inclusive process. It is important that we capture ideas from the entire community and create an opportunity for collaborative engagement. Use this idea bank to share your ideas.
The vision for Rensselaer Forward includes five areas of focus:
Submit your ideas and comments by clicking on a focus area and logging in with your RCS ID and password. Ideas are welcome for all focus areas. Ideas and comments are reviewed for inappropriate content before appearing on this page.
Most Recent Ideas
Improving Campus Accessibility
For one of my classes this semester, Proposing and Persuading, we were asked to write a problem solution proposal for a campus improvement initiative we feel passionate about. After reading through the ideas posted in this forum and speaking with members of clubs like Disabled Students at Rensselaer and the Facilities and Services Committee, my group decided we wanted to write to improve campus accessibility for students with physical disabilities.
Food Pantry at RPI
At the town hall yesterday the idea of food scarcity, especially among graduate students and those who have families or partners without work visas spoke to me. I think it would be worth looking into whether RPI could make its own small, stigma-free food pantry for RPI students, as transportation or delivery may be difficult for these groups if they are trying to get to the larger regional food pantries.
HVCC has a food pantry: https://www.hvcc.edu/campuslife/student-activities/food-pantry.html
Creating Classrooms
Ideas come from someone not an Architect or a Structural Engineer so most of this may not even be feasible High ticket: gut the inside of the 86 gym and use two floors for classroom space, TA office hour space, small classrooms for distraction free/extended time. The basement could be club space. gut the inside of Ricketts to make ADA compliant and add large modern classrooms. Same thing for the Winslow building but make it all office space and move offices currently in Walker or West Hall there, freeing up that space for classrooms/labs.