James Goodman

@goodman_dandc

Rochester Institute of Technology President Bill Destler's announcement on Monday that he would be retiring at the end of the next school year did not catch college officials by surprise, but he will be a hard act to follow.

Destler is being hailed as a leader who elevated RIT's status in the world of higher education without ever losing sight of the student. And he has developed important links between RIT and the community.

In a statement, Destler said, "It has been a privilege to lead RIT alongside such great students, faculty and alumni." He credited "RIT's transformation into one of the world's great universities to them."

Destler, 69, also released a video with his wife, Rebecca Johnson, saying that he has mixed emotions about retiring and that his years at RIT have been the most fulfilling of his professional career.

"As we enter our final year, RIT cannot rest on its laurels," said Destler in his video message.

When he retires at the end of June 2017, he will have served 10 years as president of RIT.

"Under Bill Destler's leadership, the concept of innovation has now become a culture, which reaches far beyond the walls of RIT," Mayor Lovely Warren said in a statement. "Bill Destler took the knowledge, ideas and determination that RIT is known for, and put it to work in the community, helping us create more jobs, safer and more vibrant neighborhoods and better educational opportunities for all of our residents."

Established in 1829 as a trade school, RIT did not grant its first bachelor's of science degree until 1955.

But in recent decades RIT has blossomed into a major university — with steady growth in overall enrollment during the Destler years. Recently, RIT was reclassified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a doctoral university, reflecting the increasing number of Ph.D.s it has awarded.

Christine Whitman, chair of RIT's board of trustees, said that Destler told the board of his retirement plans last Thursday, but there was no surprise since, Whitman noted, Destler said at the outset of his presidency that he planned to serve 10 years. A presidential search committee has already been formed, led by trustee Brian Hall, that includes faculty, staff and students in addition to trustees.

"The previous president, Al Simone, started to move RIT from a regional to a national university. Destler has moved us to world ranking," Whitman said.

Destler's priorities

With an enrollment this past fall of 18,606, RIT is among the 10 largest private universities in the United States. Applications for admission have continued to rise to record levels, with students coming from all 50 states and more than 100 other countries. RIT also has five campuses abroad.

RIT's co-op programs — permitting students to get work experience in their majors before graduating — have contributed to a high job placement rate for RIT graduates.

As RIT's ninth president, Destler has championed environmentalism.

The Golisano Institute for Sustainability has provided industry with expertise and equipment to be more energy efficient and less polluting. And the campus is dotted with solar panels.

Destler drives an electric car, a Chevy Volt, and rides an electric bicycle.

Under his leadership, RIT has also found ways to reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill.

And since 2008, RIT has opened three LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings, including the first building in Monroe County to be certified LEED Platinum.

Destler has stressed collaborative research and projects — combining RIT's creative and artistic disciplines with its computer and other mathematical fields.

"Innovation" has become a key word under Destler. In 2008, he launched what has become an annual event, Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, which has attracted more than 250,000 visitors to the campus.

Barry Culhane, who as been executive assistant to three RIT presidents, describes Destler as someone who is very directed.

"He is very methodical and logical and always on time," said Culhane.

After four months as president, Destler approached Culhane with a mission: "He came to me and said, 'This is your first major assignment, I want 30,000 on campus to see what we do,'" recalled Culhane.

What emerged was the annual Imagine festival, which has met that goal.

Students first

All along, Destler has kept the focus on the students.

RIT's mission statement says that it has "a unique blend of curricular, experiential and research programs, delivered within a student-centric culture."

Destler, Whitman noted, tries to have undergraduate students work with graduate students.

Undergraduates played a role in what turned out to be the biggest research breakthrough that RIT participated in. A team of RIT researchers led by Manuela Campanelli, who is now director of RIT's Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, predicted the gravitational waves that would be produced by the collision of two black holes.

These calculations were part of a major research project, involving about 1,000 researchers, that proved the existence of gravitational waves, as predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago.

Destler has taken a personal interest in students that is evident in any number of ways.

It's not unusual to see Destler eating lunch in the main dining room of the Student Alumni Union.

At the Imagine festival, Destler has challenged students to hop on their motorized vehicles and try to beat him on his electric bike. And if he does lose, Destler gives the winner a banjo from his collection or $1,000.

Destler can also be found — sometimes wearing an RIT hoodie — on weekends and weeknights at RIT sporting events — not just hockey, but also basketball and lacrosse, watching both men's and women's teams.

RIT is home to the National Institute for the Deaf, which was established in 1968 because the federal government saw the need for an institution of higher learning that could provide technical and professional educational programs for the deaf population.

Destler and his wife made sure they could communicate with this segment of the RIT student population and were tutored in American Sign Language.

In his commencement addresses, Destler signs as he speaks.

Rebecca Johnson holds the title of "associate of the university." She has been involved in various campus initiatives and has carved out a role in the community that goes well beyond being Destler's wife.

Over the years, Johnson's community activities have included a stint as president of the board of directors of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and doing volunteer work with Partners in Restorative Initiatives.

Destler's outreach

Destler has promoted diversity and seen the percentage of Hispanic undergraduate students increase from 4 percent to 6 percent from the 2007-08 school year to the 2013-14 school year.

His father, Chester Arthur Destler, was a historian of considerable note. He was the author of numerous books about American history and was fired by the University of Georgia in the 1930s for urging the admission of African-Americans.

Destler's focus on students can also be seen in the Rochester City Scholars program, which he and his wife founded and have helped finance. The program covers the tuition for eligible Rochester City School District graduates who get admitted to RIT.

RIT has also partnered with Uncommon Schools to develop a charter high school in Rochester.

In addition to being a player in the photonics initiative unveiled by Vice President Joe Biden last July, Destler has put RIT in an important position to help Rochester's economic development.

RIT's Center for Urban Entrepreneurship recently opened in the renovated Savings Bank building in downtown Rochester.

The center is one of two anchor institutions for Rochester's Downtown Innovation Zone.

Whereas Simone, Destler's predecessor, "went on a building tear," growing RIT to be among the nation's largest private colleges, Destler has taken that to a new level, said Mark Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise, and a member of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council's steering committee.

Destler leveraged new industry and relationships worldwide, while launching into new areas like video gaming and digital media with the Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction and Creativity (MAGIC) created in 2013.

"All of those things put this region on the map, and in the spotlight, for the most exciting high-tech companies in the country and in the world," Peterson said.

During Destler's tenure, RIT opened the Vignelli Center for Design Studies and the College of Health Sciences and Technology, its ninth college.

RIT’s alliance with Rochester Regional Health under Destler "is maybe the most significant thing he has done,” said E. Philip Saunders, an emeritus trustee and namesake of the business college.

The partnership formed in 2008, and has since expanded to include Unity Health System. With that alliance, RIT got its foot in the door of a growing field of health care, research and education. Last fall, RIT completed an expansion of the health sciences college, the new facility including space for the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition and a primary care clinic run by Rochester General Hospital.

Among the major new facilities built under Destler were a new home for the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, which is a state-of--the-art $38 million facility that is 84,000 square feet, and the Gene Polisseni Center, which is an ice arena also with a $38 million price tag that can seat 4,300 fans.

“Higher ed is a tough business nowadays,” Saunders said, requiring a president who is both a business manager and visionary to grow the college despite a shrinking pool of prospective students. “You have to have things that appeal to the people to bring them to campus. I think a lot of that is put in place.”

But looking ahead to the next president, Saunders said the goal should be someone under 50, though not by much: “I would say bring in a young person who is capable of guiding the ship … who might have a little different thought on how kids are looking at college today. Have somebody that understands that generation.”

Prior to coming to RIT in July 2007, Destler spent more than 30 years at the University of Maryland at College Park, where he rose up the ranks from a research associate to provost.

He is an authority on high power microwave sources and advanced accelerator concepts.

In his spare time, Destler plays the banjo, along with the guitar and mandolin, and has written songs. He has become one of the world's foremost collectors of antique banjos and has a web site showcasing his hobby, www.billsbanjos.com.

All this plays into Destler's popularity with students — that they have shared interests and he isn't locked up in an ivory tower.

"He's very approachable," said Andrea Shaver, president-elect of RIT's Student Government.

Destler and his wife have not decided where they will live or what they will do when he leaves RIT.

"One option would be to return to Maryland where we still have a house, but we love Rochester so that is another possibility," Destler said in a statement.

JGOODMAN@Gannett.com

Staff writer Brian Sharp contributed to this report.