Students Continue Fall 2022 Relaunch Planning

Following a significant effort this Spring, the plans for the Fall reintroduction of RSE onto campus are taking shape.  We have a great group of motivated students who have been working through the Summer on the specifics of the relaunch.  This student team consists of:

• Fiona Clarke ’23, Chair – Business Management and Design, Innovation and Society Dual Major
• Matt Carluccio ’23 – Aeronautical Engineering with an Economics of Quantitative Analysis Minor
• Vaskar Maskey ’23 – Business Administration and Management
• Zack Kubiak ’23 – Math and Physics Dual Major
• Kazuki Neo ’23 – ITWS Major with a concentration in Machine and Computational Learning
• Jessica Klemets ’24
• Pete Crisileo ’24 – Materials Science and Engineering major with a Mathematics and Economics minor
• Greta Perez-Haiek ’25 – Mechanical Engineering with a minor in AI
• Bren Paul ’25 – Computer Science, minoring in CogSci of AI and Entrepreneurship & Computational Finance

Greta and Bren have been nominated to be the co-presidents and have been taking a leadership role in putting together the plan for the Fall.  We have been meeting bi-weekly during the summer semester with the support of alumni John Guerci ’74, Mark Vince ‘75, Cary Nadel ‘77, and Don Thoma ’83 to work through the extensive planning required for the relaunch RSE with a new mission and structure. 

The team has identified the events planned for the Fall of 2022 and will be creating a formal event plan to submit to the school for the Fall 2022 semester.  The student team continues to create the Recruitment and New Member Education Plans consistent with the new organization’s mission and vision, ensuring the recruiting, education and induction programs are consistent.  In addition, this Fall we plan to finalize the Junior Member bylaws and commence some of the key activities of the new organization such as implementing the “Student Projects” program for ILEs, planning for a TedX type event, as well as student information and recruitment activities.

We have had several fruitful discussions with Ethan Stubbs, Associate Dean for Fraternity and Sorority Commons, regarding the Fall plans, the most recent on July 7^th.  We have a clear plan on where RSE will fit and have the support of the school on the new mission. We are setting RSE up as a “new” modern alternative to “Greek life”: a trifecta of student self-governance, living-learning-collaboration, and personal/professional development – empowering members to pursue their many interests alongside like-minded peers beyond the classroom walls.  The approach will include many components of the RSE we knew, such as a group of people who build strong, life-long friendships, while pursuing common interests during their time at RPI.  This revised mission for RSE not only holds echoes of the founding principles of RSE, but is also resonates with the current students, alumni and the school.

There is a lot more to come on the Fall over the next several months.  The students are engaged, motivated, and energized to relaunch RSE.  Thanks to all the alumni who are helping with the relaunch. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at d.thoma@verizon.net.

TSIMS,

Don Thoma ‘83