Originally founded as the Rochester Athenaeum, the institute later changed its name to the Mechanics Institute. The institute originally existed in downtown Rochester and was later moved outside the city limits to the town of Henrietta, New York where it is today. RIT enrolls over 14,500 full- and part-time students, with an approximate male-to-female ratio of 2:1. The institute includes a federally funded National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID).
The university is well-known for its engineering and photography programs. It has one of the oldest cooperative education programs in the United States. The school year is divided into four quarters instead of two semesters.
The dorms and the academic sides of campus are connected with a walkway called the "Quarter Mile." On the academic side of the walkway is an infinity loop. On the dorm side is a sundial and a clock. These symbols represent time to infinity.
The current campus is housed on a 1,300-acre property. This property is largely covered with woodland and fresh-water swamp making it a very diverse wetland which is home to a number of somewhat rare plant species.
Due to the size of the land that the campus rests on, there is plenty of parking which is available free to all students and visitors.
With the addition of the Math and Sciences Building, R.I.T.'s campus contains more than bricks then the Great Wall of China. The brick color used is actually patented by the Institute.
The university consists of 9 colleges: