The 1980s

The Riland Institute of Neuro-Musculoskeletal Disorders (today, the W. Kenneth Riland Academic Health Care Center) was named in honor of W. Kenneth Riland, D.O., FAAO (left). Joining him (from left) are his wife, Theresa, NYIT President Matthew Schure, Chancellor Alexander Schure, and his wife, Gail Schure.

The 1980s brought big changes to the United States and NYIT. That first year was punctuated by a pop culture explosion: the Rubik’s Cube boggled the mind, the Sony Walkman became a fashion accessory, and Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo returned to battle Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back.” The U.S. Olympic hockey team pulled off a “miracle,” beating the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics. Herb Brooks, the inspirational coach of the gold-medal team, came to NYIT in 1981 to talk about the victory. NYIT’s sports teams scored a number of victories as well. The men’s basketball team returned to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980, making it all the way to the national champion-ships before

losing 80-74 to Virginia Union. The baseball team also returned to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980 and continued to perform at the top of its game as it moved to NCAA Division I in 1983.

The CGL was still going strong, influencing the future of animation in popular culture. In March 1980, NYIT received patents for CGL’s development of automatic scene coloration and shading, as well as other inventions. A new era was ushered in when NYIT’s founding president, Alexander Schure, Ph.D., Ed.D., took up the role of chancellor in 1982, and his son, Matthew Schure, Ph.D., was named president of the college. Always cognizant of what was happening in the community, NYIT administrators

The CGL’s impressive achievements led to the creation of a master’s degree with a specialization in the growing field of computer graphics.

created an Alcohol Policy Board after the state of New York raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in September 1982. Until this law, most of NYIT’s students had been of legal drinking age, and a new task force was created to help manage the transition.

In addition to responding to events outside the school, NYIT began reporting it. The first broadcast of “LI News Tonight” aired on cable television in 1983. The television news program was the first local news show on Long Island and helped to launch the careers of dozens of news personalities.

Athletics programs continued to flourish at NYIT throughout the 1980s, as the women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s soccer, men’s basketball, and men’s baseball teams enjoyed outstanding seasons.

“Students didn’t quite know what to expect,” says Mike DelGiudice (B.F.A. ’84, M.A. ’86), who was part of the first “LI News Tonight” program. “At first, we just did stories around the campus, traveling in packs of five or six people for the first few months. It was a busy experience for everybody but definitely an exciting time.” They must have been doing something right. In 1984, “LI News Tonight” racked up four first-place awards from the New York Associated Press. Students have continued to earn professional honors for their work on this program for more than 25 years.

NYIT continued to expand, opening a third campus in Central Islip, N.Y., in September 1984. The expansive campus featured Georgian-style brick buildings grouped and connected by roads lined with century-old trees. It was also home to the college’s first on-campus residential facility. 

In order to serve those who could not attend classes at one of its three campuses, the college launched American Open University of NYIT in November 1984. The forerunner to today’s online colleges, this “virtual campus” allowed students to work at their convenience using home computers. NYCOM’s credentials continued to grow, too. The World Health Organization designated the medical school in 1988 as one of three collaborative centers for occupational medicine in the United States.

NYIT salutes the Class of 1985 at its annual commencement ceremony.

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