Ringling College receives $600,000 from RCLA

As part its ongoing commitment of support, the Ringling College Library Association has granted $600,000 to Ringling College of Art and Design President Larry Thompson. The RCLA Board of Directors and President Emily Walsh presented Thompson with the check at the organization’s May meeting. 

The funds are part of RCLA’s most recent gift commitment of $3 million to support the Alfred R. Goldstein Library and student scholarships.

“RCLA’s ongoing support of Ringling College of Art and Design is crucial to our ability to provide our students not only a state-of-the-art library to enhance their learning and collaboration but also much-needed financial assistance through scholarship funding,” said Thompson. “We are thankful to RCLA for its longtime partnership with Ringling College, and we look forward to many more years of serving Ringling College students together.”

Since the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, RCLA’s often sold-out Town Hall Lecture Series experienced disruptions and delays. The series resumed with speakers beginning in November 2021, wrapping the season in March. All proceeds from the Town Hall Lecture Series support the associations giving to Ringling College. 

“Just as we have done since 1981, the RCLA board is pleased to honor our gift commitment to Ringling College of Art and Design ” said RCLA Executive Director Stephanie Grosskreutz. “With commitments of over $11 million, RCLA is one of the largest donors to Ringling College.”

RCLA recently announced the Town Hall Lecture Series 2023 lineup featuring Maria Ressa, the co-founder and CEO of Philippine online news organization rappler.com; Michael Phelps, a winner of 28 Olympic medals in swimming; Admiral James Stavridis, the vice chair of global affairs of The Carlyle Group; Jose Andres, an internationally recognized culinary innovator, author, educator and chef/owner of ThinkFoodGroup; and Thomas Friedman, the bestselling author of “The World is Flat” and a New York Times foreign affairs columnist.  

To learn more about RCLA and the Town Hall series, visit RCLAssociation.org.