ENGAGING READERS THROUGH STORYTELLING WITH REGIONAL LEADERS
In
Conversation
TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN SARASOTA AND MANATEE COUNTIES
LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION TOMMY GREGORY, J.D. President, State College of Florida
AS ITS LEADER, WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR YOUR INSTITUTION? TOMMY GREGORY OF STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA: Florida is number one in higher education already and has been for a number of years, according to polls done by USA Today and others. That ranking comes from our success both in terms of graduation rates and affordability, among other factors. But those are two big driving factors that explain our success. My vision is that the State College of Florida will become a national leader. We already are in terms of tuition, having not raised tuition in 15 years. I also want to continue to raise our graduation rates and the speed at which students graduate. For example, if the average college student at State College of Florida graduates with their AA or AS degree in 3.2 years—which is about the average now for our first-time-in-college students—I’d like to reduce that below three years, so that saves them one semester of college education and gets them that much faster into the workforce, that much faster on
A CONVERSATION WITH TOMMY GREGORY, J.D., PRESIDENT OF STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA AND DR. DAVIS SCHNEIDERMAN, PRESIDENT OF RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN their path to prosperity. My vision is to be recognized not only for academic excellence but for truly changing those students’ lives. We’ll do that by investing in our people and creating that culture of service to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed. DR. DAVIS SCHNEIDERMAN OF RINGLING COLLEGE: We need creative people now more than ever. There’s never been a more important time to receive a world-class art and design education because creativity is the skill that is in demand. Ringling, which is now in its 95th year, has this remarkable reputation and legacy as we’re moving into our centennial. We started out as a small but important southern regional school, first of its kind in Florida, and now we are a world leader in art and design. My job is not to redirect that momentum because the momentum is extraordinarily positive, but to seek to extend it into the next chapter. We believe that creativity and technology have to be integrated. You can’t really think of those things separate-
ly. They’re not competing with each other. They’re not opposed to each other. At the same time, human-centered students and human-centric creativity must remain at the heart and the forefront of everything that we do. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS CURRENT TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION? SCHNEIDERMAN: The most obvious is artificial intelligence. It’s hard to imagine that it’s not a daily topic of conversation for every institution in this country. In fact, I was just at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s new president seminar and there was a lot of discussion about AI amongst all of the other institutions that were represented. I think another thing—and Ringling is really ahead in this regard—is an overdue focus on career outcomes. Families need to know that their investment in any institution of higher education is going to pay off for them in all the important ways. So we’re going to teach students skills, but we believe those skills, through getting
DR. DAVIS SCHNEIDERMAN President, Ringling College of Art and Design
a Ringling College education, directly translate into career outcomes. That’s through industry connections, internships, portfolio development, alumni placement operations—these aren’t niceto-have things; they’re essential. There are also enrollment challenges because of all the students who weren’t born after the 2008 financial crisis. The demographic numbers don’t look great overall in the next 15 years but Florida is bucking that trend and, in fact, is up in graduates who are finishing high school so there is a real opportunity for more Floridians to learn art and design in their home state and continue to contribute to that home state economy. Creativity and interdisciplinary thinking are making a comeback. I think people realize in the age of evil robots that humans thinking about things is what we need. GREGORY: I’m sure this is true nationally as well, but it’s certainly true in the state of Florida and for our region that the students here have more choices than they’ve ever had before. That
SRQ MAGAZINE BRANDED CONTENT PROGRAM | SEPTEMBER 2026 | INTERVIEWED AND COMPILED BY BARBIE HEIT
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