Brick By Brick

Tina Chapman DaCosta has been called a “renaissance woman.” She has worked as a diversity consultant, college professor, actor, filmmaker and computer engineer. Tina is the Director of Diversity Theater at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. RIT Diversity Theater is a college-wide program, for RIT’s 23,000 faculty, staff and students from 100 nations. The program presents interactive learning programs using film and theatre to advance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) education and community building.

Tina has worked as a diversity consultant in EDI since 1998. Her specialty is writing, directing and producing EDI training programs utilizing performance and visual arts to engage participants in active learning to achieve sustainable culture change. Some of her methods include film, Playback Theatre, vignettes and reader’s theatre. She is the recipient and presenter of several grants and conference presentations for advancing EDI initiatives, these include:

 The National Academics of Sciences Engineering Medicine conference presenter (2020)
 American Association of Colleges & Universities conference presenter (2020),
 The Forum for Workplace Inclusion conference presenter (2018),
 RIT president’s grant (2017),
 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence grant (2017-2022),
 Community Summit on Race conference presenter (2017),
 National Science Foundation and ADVANCE Connect Grant (2016), and
 International Museum and Theater Alliance (IMTAL) conference presenter (2015).

Tina began her acting training as a child at the legendary Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio and performed in school and community theatre as well as commercials. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Animation, concentration in Scriptwriting in 2014 from RIT. Her latest film project is BRICK BY BRICK. Written and directed by Tina, this 16-minute film set in 1941 Cleveland, Ohio, tells the story of Tina’s father, Elza Buddy Cannaday, and his attempt to rebuild his relationship with his father as he becomes the first licensed and bonded African American contractor in Cleveland. Tina has also written a feature length script about her father’s life. Three of Tina’s plays were selected for the Rochester, NY Sankofa Play Festival: GONE FISHING, AFTERNOON TEA and THE RELEASE. Her student documentary film, REMEMBERING THE PYTHODD about a legendary jazz club in Rochester, NY, was selected for the 2013 High Falls Film Festival.

Tina has been a professor at RIT since 2002 in the Golisano College of Computing (GCCIS) and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). As an assistant professor, she helped create the Network, Security, and Systems Administration Department in GCCIS and was nominated for the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching. In addition to directing Diversity Theater, Tina currently teaches acting, directing and film production as a senior lecturer in RIT’s School of Film and Animation and CLA.

Before becoming a professor, Tina worked as a Systems Engineer and Marketing Programs Manager for IBM. She designed and supported local and wide area networks for Fortune 500 companies and educational institutions. She was recognized with several IBM awards, the Golden Circle, Marketing Excellence, Inroads Business Advisor of the Year, and the Difference Maker Award.

In addition to an MFA in Film and Animation, Tina earned degrees in Master of Science in Engineering, Product Development from RIT College of Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, minor in Computer Science from The College at Brockport, graduating with a 4.0 GPA.

Tina is married to Jose DaCosta and deeply grateful for their blended family of eleven children and grandchildren.