New York Tech is gone forever. Long live NYIT. As you've surely noticed, we've made a conscious decision to refer to the college as NYIT in all of our communications. From a name and marketing perspective, we now promote ourselves as one institution with more than 100 areas of study, strong online programs and a growing international presence.

Influential business and community leaders are sitting up and taking notice. Recent visitors to our campuses include Computer Associates International Chairman and CEO Sanjay Kumar, famed architect Richard Meier, Xerox Chairman and CEO Anne Mulcahy and New York Governor George E. Pataki.

We're also reaching out to our 61,000 alumni, a critical audience that validates our mission to offer career-oriented education and access to opportunity.

We've expanded NYIT's Alumni Federation to encompass eight regional chapters--representing New England, Long Island, New York City, Philadelphia, South Florida, Central Florida, San Francisco's Bay Area and Southern California. Through close relationships with our Office of Alumni Relations, the chapters host dinners, evening cruises and other types of networking events for successful alumni from all walks of life.

We've also launched NYIT Magazine (www.nyit.edu/magazine), a print and online publication that describes how our graduates are building thriving businesses, serving their communities and demonstrating the value of an NYIT education. The magazine also previews exciting research and emerging technologies at the college, in an effort to educate alumni about continued advances at NYIT.

These and other branding efforts are yielding definitive results. In the past year, dozens of major television networks, newsweeklies, medical journals, architecture magazines and prominent publications--from The New York Times to U.S. News & World Report--have shone a positive spotlight on NYIT and its alumni.  

Through the media spotlight, responsible marketing and positive word of mouth, we celebrate our pioneering work in such fields as 3-D computer graphics, digital animation, architecture and design, medical research and technology in education. These academic strengths resonate with prospective students and curious parents, who visit our Web site and physical campuses as they weigh their many options for higher education.

We continue to improve NYIT's aesthetic qualities and campus services. In Manhattan, we're constructing new classrooms and labs, as part of our strategic decision to lease an additional 60,000 square feet of space near Columbus Circle. In Old Westbury, our medical school has a newly landscaped courtyard and a new café where students can unwind between classes. And in Central Islip, we've renovated the Epicurean Room restaurant to host student and community gatherings, enhanced the student activity center, and upgraded our open access study lab with new PCs.