Reprint from press release issued Monday, April 3.
SARASOTA, Fla., April 3, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ringling College of Art and Design announced the appointment of Dr. Peter McAllister as its new Vice President for Academic Affairs, after the completion of a national search.
“All of us at Ringling College are excited to welcome Dr. Peter McAllister to the College creative community and the Sarasota community generally,” remarks Dr. Larry R. Thompson, President of Ringling College. “Peter has a vast knowledge of higher education and the arts, and he understands educational administration at premier levels. He works exceedingly well with his faculty colleagues and has been instrumental in moving a number of institutions to a higher level.”
An academic leader, educator and accomplished musician, Dr. McAllister joins the Ringling College leadership team from California State University, Los Angeles, where he served for five years as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Among his successes as Dean at Cal State LA are: growing the enrollment of the College by 20%; opening a state-of-the-art $7 million TV, Film, and Media Center; becoming a GRAMMY Museum Educational Affiliate; and helping to lay the groundwork to obtain one of the largest grants in the College’s history: $1.5M from the Ahmanson Foundation to renovate the State Playhouse (theatre hall).
Prior to his Deanship at Cal State LA, Dr. McAllister was the Director of the School of Music at the University of Arizona. He held that position from 2005-2011, where he served on UA’s Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee. His administrative career began at Ball State University, where he served as Director of the School of Music. During his tenure there, he opened a $21 million Music Instruction Building for the music performance and technology programs.
Dr. McAllister is an avid artist and scholar, having recorded professionally and premiered more than 30 new works. He has co-edited eleven books and served on the International AVID Educational Advisory Board for the media industry, LA’s BEST Advisory Board After School Arts Program for the Los Angeles United School District, and as an accreditation site visitation chair for the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). He served as a reviewer for the policy document published by the Council of Arts Accrediting Associations, which includes the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Dr. McAllister received his Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto, his Ph.D. in Music Education from Kent State University in Ohio, and an Institute for Management and Leadership in Education Certificate from Harvard University.
Remarking on this new chapter, Dr. McAllister says, “Ringling College is already at the very top of art and design colleges, and the task now is to fulfill President Thompson’s vision of the institution becoming ‘the preeminent art and design college worldwide’. The advancements Ringling has made toward that goal in the last decade are stunning, and I am anxious to work with the faculty and my other colleagues to continue that transformative excellence.”
About Ringling College of Art and Design
For 85 years, Ringling College of Art and Design has cultivated the creative spirit in students from around the globe. The private, not-for-profit fully accredited college offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ten disciplines and the Bachelor of Arts in two. The College’s rigorous curriculum employs the studio model of teaching and immediately engages students through a comprehensive, first-year program that is both specific to the major of study and focused on the liberal arts. The Ringling College teaching model ultimately shapes students into highly employable and globally aware artists and designers.
