Rochester Institute of Technology, founded as the Rochester Athenaeum in 1829 and later renamed the Mechanics Institute, is the host institution of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. What other colleges were interested in hosting NTID after it was established by legislation?

Answer:
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the “NTID Act” into law on June 8, 1965. A National Advisory Board was formed, and its meetings were open to the public. According to Harry G. Lang and Karen K. Conner’s From Dream to Reality, “By February 1966, two dozen postsecondary institutions had expressed an initial interest in hosting NTID. Representatives of these schools met with the Board at a special meeting in Chicago to gather more information.” Eight “semi-finalists” submitted proposals: San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge (today’s CSUN); University of Tennessee, Knoxville; University of Pittsburgh; University of Illinois, Urbana; Southern Colorado State College, Pueblo; MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois; Oklahoma State Technical College, Okmulgee; and RIT. “After reviewing the proposals, the committee selected four universities for site visits: Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois, and University of Tennessee.” RIT, which had been located in downtown Rochester, had recently relocated to a 35-acre tract in the suburb of Henrietta, and the committee, seeing the new campus under construction, was impressed.