‘Ringling Will Be the Preeminent Art and Design College Worldwide…’

OP ED OR EDUCATION SECTION OFFERING: Photo of Dr Thompson available; call Ronald T. Smith, 888-730-6630

(Excerpts from welcoming speech to new students at Ringling College of Art and Design by Dr. Larry R. Thompson, president, in mid-August.)

SARASOTA, Fla., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — We know the economic climate right now is the worst it has been in decades. But we also know that now, more than at any time in history, the power of design is being looked upon as a solution to our economic woes. Artists and designers are being elevated to a much higher status — perhaps the status MBAs and Attorneys and Doctors have held in the past. At Ringling College we are truly passionate about the extraordinary value artists and designers can — and will — have on transforming the global economic landscape.

And as you will hear repeatedly, this College has moved very rapidly along this pathway and our pace accelerates toward realization of this vision.

For example, when classes begin on Monday, we will be inaugurating two brand new, “green” or LEED certified buildings, a total of 170,000 new square feet of space with the most spectacular cutting edge technology.

The first, the North Hall, has 42 different colors! This new residence hall will house 228 students, bringing our total number of campus residents to over 900 — or 70% of the student body. It will also provide a new student activities center — what we refer to as the “fishbowl,” a new student mailroom and other student gathering and meeting spaces.

On the south end of campus, the brand new 85,000 sq. ft. Academic Center will open Monday and be the new home space for Graphic & Interactive Communication, Advertising Design, Business of Art & Design, and Motion Design. It will also house the Design Center and provide space for liberal arts classrooms and computer labs, core drawing studios, an indoor/outdoor cafe, gallery and exhibition spaces, and a 200-seat auditorium.

While many colleges these days are laying off faculty and staff, cutting programs, cancelling building projects and scrimping on student services, we are doing the exact opposite. We are very fortunate because we have been very strategic. We are continuing to grow; we are expanding our academic programs; we are increasing student programming; we are hiring world-class faculty and staff; and we are opening new buildings.

For example, this fall, we launch the new major: Motion Design. Some of you have chosen this program. This new major is in addition to seven — yes, seven! — new majors we have inaugurated in just the past two years — Digital Filmmaking, Game Art & Design, Advertising Design, the Business of Art and Design, and three in the Fine Arts area: Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture. So now we offer a total of 14 majors when just three years ago we had only six.

And, when it comes to these new majors, one thing Ringling College is very proud of is that we are at the forefront of education in art and design. One example is the recently developed major of Business of Art and Design. We are proud to be the very first art college to infuse a business curriculum within an art college and developing a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Business of Art and Design.

You are among the best-prepared and most talented students we have ever had at Ringling College. There are roughly 450 of you new students and you are also the most diverse internationally with new students coming from 32-plus foreign countries, comprising over 10% of this class.

Several reasons to be proud…

Number 1. Ringling College is top-tier.

While there is no official ranking of private, independent non-profit colleges of art and design, we know that of the 40 peer institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design that exist in the U.S. and Canada, about 5 or 6 are generally considered to be in the very top tier. The commonly held belief is that the following art colleges are the ones most frequently mentioned as the top tier: Rhode Island, Pratt, Parsons, Cal Arts, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and, of course, Ringling College of Art and Design! But, as I mentioned earlier, we are not satisfied with being one of the top tier art colleges. We plan to be and will be THE preeminent art and design college worldwide.

And speaking of rankings, you are all probably very familiar with U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges Guide. It is the popular annual guidebook where they list all type of rankings among colleges throughout the U.S. Although art colleges are not ranked by U.S. News, for the first time ever, they have chosen to profile an art college. And guess which art college they chose? Ringling College of Art and Design. We are delighted to receive this recognition.

Number 2. Ringling College is high-tech.

We are the most technologically advanced art college in the world. Our technology, our computer labs, our computing capacity and academic computing power rivals that of MIT or Cal Tech. And, we are the only art college — maybe even the only college — that gives each entering first year student a brand new Mac Notebook loaded with all the software you’ll need. This, in itself, is more than a $6,000 value. More importantly, we balance this technological prowess by ensuring that our students become artists first and foremost. This is because you need to USE the technology as a tool for your creative product — use it like you would a paintbrush or pencil to make your vision come to life.

Number 3: Ringling College has an awesome faculty.

Ringling faculty are superb, dedicated teachers who are devoted to teaching and helping you succeed as a student. To put it simply, our faculty LOVE TO TEACH. We only hire those who are passionate about teaching because that is what we feel an art college should value most. What you may not know is that our faculty are also well known practicing artists, designers, and scholars in their own right. So, as students at Ringling College you get the best of both worlds — exceptional instruction combined with “real world” perspective.

Number 4: Ringling College gives personal attention.

At Ringling College you are treated as an individual. You are a name, not a number. We value you as a unique person who is part of the Ringling College creative community and want to do everything we can to help you fulfill your dreams.

Last night, I ran into a parent, who told me he had never experienced an institution like Ringling where people never told him “no, sorry, I can’t help you” or “no, it can’t be done,” or just “no.” We work hard to solve problems creatively because that is what we teach our students to do.

Number 5: Ringling College provides a college campus environment.

Most art colleges do not have such great amenities or campus as we do at Ringling. We pride ourselves in educating the whole student — educating our students in body, mind, and creative spirit! And that is because we are devoted to educating the future leaders of the art and design world.

At Ringling College you have an opportunity to have a home away from home in our residence halls and to participate in a variety of student activities and organizations. We have extensive support services at your disposal — from academic advising and mental health care counseling, to your very own fitness center, tutoring in our academic resource center, and the best college career services operations in the country.

Finally, Number 6: Ringling College Prepares Students to have successful careers.

We believe strongly in preparing you to become what we call scholar-practitioners. This simply means that when you graduate, you will have the conceptual thinking skills as well as masterful artistic and design skills so that you will be able to hit the work-world running. Where theory meets practice.

Some 60 employers visit our campus each year to recruit our students. They tell us our students are not only extremely talented, but also the most professional and disciplined of all their employees. In recent years companies have been hiring “in bulk” — just one Ringling graduate isn’t enough! For instance, just recently, six graduates accepted jobs with Sony Pictures Imageworks, three went to the Disney Design Group, seven to Pixar, another couple went to Carter’s Children’s Wear, a few at J. Walter Thompson, and others at Hallmark Cards and American Greetings.

SOURCE Ringling College of Art and Design