William Snyder
Professor and Department Chair, Rochester Institute of Technology
William Snyder is a four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and editor and is a Professor and Chair of the Advertising Photography Program at his alma mater, the Rochester Institute of Technology.
After graduating from RIT with Highest Honors in 1981, Snyder joined The Miami News and two years later moved to the photography staff of The Dallas Morning News. During his 15 years as a staff photographer, Snyder won three Pulitzers Prizes.
In 1998 Snyder changed roles and became a picture editor/manager. He served as the Night Photo Editor, Assignments Editor, Metro/Suburban Photo Editor, and Assistant Director of Photography in the DMN’s aggressive Collin County bureau.
In 2005 he was named The Morning News’ Director of Photography and guided the photography staff to the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He also produced “Eyes of The Storm”, a 256-page book featuring the DMN photo staff’s images from hurricanes Katrina and Rita which sold over 14,000 copies.
In 2008 he returned to RIT as a photojournalism faculty member and a year later took over the program and led the reworking of the faculty and curriculum that has made RIT one of the premiere photojournalism programs in the US. In 2019, he was asked to become the director of the advertising photography program. He remains a faculty member in the photojournalism program and has been the local host of The Kalish since 2015.
Snyder has won numerous awards from local, state, national and international competitions, lectured to numerous universities and journalism associations, has been published in dozens of publications and has worked with the rock group The Who for nearly 24 years.
