RINGLING COLLEGE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

TOWN HALL

SARASOTAS PREMIER LECTURE SERIES

2017 TOWN HALL LECTURE SERIES

DICK CHENEY

Monday, January 23, 2017

GEENA DAVIS

Monday, February 13, 2017

JARED COHEN

Monday, February 20, 2017

JAMES BALOG

Monday, March 6, 2017

KOFI ANNAN

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

LIZ MURRAY

Platinum Appreciation Dinner Speaker

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

VAN WEZEL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

777 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida

Morning lectures begin at 10:30 a.m.
Evening lectures begin at 7:30 p.m.

Valet parking will be available at the Van Wezel

for morning and evening lectures.

TOWN HALL 2017

A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Next years Ringling College Library Associations

TOWN HALL will be the 37th installment of one of the
worlds most forward thinking and thought provoking
lecture series. Im confident youll enjoy the dynamic,
world-class lineup.
Ensuring that this panel of speakers lives up to past
years has been a daunting challenge. Over the last
several months, our committee scoured the globe to
deliver to you the best and the brightest. This was
no easy task! When the process seemed particularly
difficult, I would envision peering at the Van Wezel
crowd from the stage and feeding on the electric
energy the TOWN HALL audience always generates.
This image was the inspiration that fueled our efforts.
Many selflessly contributed to every part of the
process, starting with our committee members. Our
sponsors are community pillars and continue to
generously support the series. The RCLA Board of
Directors has provided leadership and guidance.
You, our TOWN HALL subscribers, continue to
demonstrate loyalty year after year. The cumulative
impact of these collaborative efforts is awesome.
It will produce another outstanding series as well as
a collective philanthropic contribution to Ringling
Colleges mission.
Our committee promises to contribute its best efforts
to the 2017 TOWN HALL. Purchase your tickets soon,
because if this seasons series is anything like last
season, it promises to sell out in record time. Dont
miss out!
With gratitude for your anticipated support,
Patrick Duggan
Chairman
RCLA TOWNHALL Lecture Series 2017

RINGLING COLLEGE
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
2017 TOWN HALL COMMITTEE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Stephanie Grosskreutz
MEMBERSHIP AND EVENT ADMINISTRATOR

Michelle Frau
RINGLING COLLEGE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
BOARD PRESIDENT

Becky Mahoney
TOWN HALL 2017 COMMITTEE

Patrick Duggan, Chair, Town Hall 2017

Anne Chapman
Doug Cherry
Chris Cremer
Karen Eastmoore
Doug Elmore
Renee Eppard
Mark Gordon
Jacob Grollman
Shannon Hankin
Jennifer Huber
Kevin McElyea
Kristine Nickel
Lindsey Nickel
Rosemary & Lou Oberndorf
Cindy Stuhley
Emily Walsh
Merry & Stan Williams
Linda Whitacre

DICK CHENEY
Monday, January 23, 2017
Across four decades of public life, Dick Cheney
has served at the highest levels of government
during some of the most critical days in modern
American history.
Through most of the 1990s, Cheney worked in the
private sector as chief executive officer of the
Halliburton Company in Dallas, Texas. In 2000, George
W. Bush asked Cheney to become his running mate
and in August 2000, Cheney became the Republican
vice presidential nominee. President Bush and Vice
President Cheney were inaugurated for the first of two
terms on January 20, 2001.
In the eight eventful years of the Bush presidency, the
vice president was best known for his involvement in
national security matters following the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001. Cheney has been recognized
by many as the most powerful and consequential vice
president in American history, and worked side by side
with George W. Bush to keep our homeland safe and
protect Americans from terrorist attacks for seven
and a half years following 9/11.
Vice President Cheney was born on January 30, 1941
in Lincoln, Nebraska. He and his wife, Lynne V. Cheney,
live in Wyoming and have two daughters and seven
grandchildren. Vice President Cheneys memoir, In
My Time, was published in 2011. Other books include:
Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, released in
October 2013, and Why the World Needs a Powerful
America, released in 2015.

GEENA DAVIS
Monday, February 13, 2017
Academy Award winner Geena Davis is one of
Hollywoods most respected actors, appearing in
several roles that became cultural landmarks. In
1989, Davis received the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress for her role as the offbeat dog
trainer Muriel Pritchett in Lawrence Kasdans The
Accidental Tourist. She was again nominated for
an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her
performance in Ridley Scotts Thelma & Louise, in
which she co-starred with Susan Sarandon. Davis went
on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best
Actress for her portrayal of baseball phenomenon
Dottie Hinson in A League of Their Own.
A member of the genius society Mensa, Davis is
recognized for her tireless advocacy. She is the
founder of the non-profit The Geena Davis Institute on
Gender in Media, which engages film and television
creators to dramatically increase the percentages of
female charactersand reduce gender stereotyping
in media made for children 11 and under.
Davis was appointed Special Envoy for Women
and Girls in ICT for the UNs International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). Davis is also an
official partner of UN Women, working toward its
goal of promoting gender equality and empowering
women worldwide. Davis is the chair of the California
Commission on the Status of Women. In 2015 Davis
founded the Bentonville Film Festival.

JARED COHEN
Monday, February 20, 2017
According to Jared Cohen, You cant understand
the future of anything without applying both a
physical and digital lens to it. Theres no such thing
as cyberspace. Theres no such thing as physical
space. Its one world and companies and individuals
are going to have to interact on both fronts. As
the president of the worlds preeminent technology
incubator, Jigsaw (previously Google Ideas, a topranked global think tank), chief advisor to Alphabet
Executive Chairman (former Google CEO) Eric
Schmidt, a best-selling author, advisor to two
Secretaries of State and traveler to 93 countries,
Cohen looks through both lenses with an acuity of
vision and foresight that few on the planet possess.
Whether hes sharing his risky encounters with Somali
pirates or his celebrated meeting with the Pope to
talk ethics in tech innovationCohens dual-lens,
wide-angle view informs the current state of the world.
Identified simply as Jared Cohen, Idea Man when
he was named as one of Times 100 Most Influential
People, Cohen has spent his remarkable career at
the nexus of business, technology and global politics.
After Stanford and Oxford, he joined the policy
planning staff at the U.S. Department of State,
advising both Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.
In 2010, he founded the highly influential think tank
Google Ideas.

JAMES BALOG
Monday, March 6, 2017
To see the natural world through James Balogs lens
is to see it as an artist wouldthrough fresh eyes, as
if for the first time, with no preconceived notions. His
photos of jungle animals, for instance, are arresting
in their directness, simplicity, even sensuality. His
subjects assume the same weight and importance as a
human portrait sitter and demand (as a human subject
would) that the viewer engage with them rather than
simply spectate.
His newest work is no less powerful, no less engaging
and it carries an urgent message. For several years,
Balog has been going up north to shoot the halfalive ice of the mammoth glaciers for his Extreme Ice
Survey, a look at the shocking effects of abrupt climate
change in Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. Soaring,
dripping, glowing and crumbling, arctic ice under
Balogs eye requires the viewer to engage.
A new Nova/PBS TV special and a new book, Extreme
Ice Now, are helping him spread the word that this
glorious world is degrading at a speed we couldnt
imagine until we saw it through his eyes.
Balogs work has been widely recognized and has led
to him being appointed to serve as a US / NASAP
representative at the United Nations Conference
on Climate Change in Copenhagen in 2009, as
well as being a four-time presenter at the United
Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris in
2015. Balogs work has been featured in National
Geographic Magazine. He is the author of
seven books.

KOFI ANNAN
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Kofi A. Annan was the 7th Secretary-General of the
United Nations and is the founder and chair of the Kofi
Annan Foundation. In 2001, he and the United Nations
were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Kofi
Annan was praised for being pre-eminent in bringing
new life to the organization.
Mr. Annan was UN Secretary General from January
1997 to December 2006. One of his main priorities
during this period was a comprehensive program of
reform that sought to revitalize the United Nations
and make the international system more effective.
He was a constant advocate for human rights, the
rule of law, the Millennium Development Goals, and
Africa, and sought to bring the organization closer to
the global public by forging ties with civil society, the
private sector and other partners.
Kofi Annan joined the UN system in 1962 as an
administrative and budget officer with the World
Health Organization in Geneva. He later served with
the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa,
the UN Emergency Force (UNEF II) in Ismailia, the
United nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in Geneva, and in various senior posts in
New York dealing with human resources, budget,
finance, and staff security. Since leaving the United
Nations, Kofi Annan has been active in pressing for
policies that will meet the needs of the poorest and
most vulnerable, particularly in Africa. He continues to
use his experience to mediate and resolve conflict.
Kofi Annans widely acclaimed memoir: Interventions:
A Life in War and Peace was published in 2012.

LIZ MURRAY
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Platinum Appreciation Dinner Speaker
From homeless to Harvardit is an unlikely turn of
events. Liz Murrays life is a triumph over adversity
and a stunning example of the importance of
dreaming big. Murrays life as the child of cocaineaddicted parents in the Bronx was bitterly grim.
By age 15, Murrays mom had died and she was
homelessliving on the streets, riding the subway all
night, and eating from dumpsters. Amidst this pain,
Murray always imagined her life could be much better
than it was. I started to grasp the value of the lessons
learned while living on the streets. I knew after
overcoming those daily obstacles that next to nothing
could hold me down. Determined to take charge of
her life, Murray finished high school in just two years
and was awarded a full scholarship to Harvard
University, all while camping out in New York City
parks and subway stations.
Murray received her Bachelor of Science degree from
Harvard University in 2009. She is currently pursuing
her masters degree in Psychology at Columbia
University. Murray is the author of New York Times
best selling memoir, Breaking Night which was
published in 2010. A made-for-TV film about her life
entitled, Homeless to Harvard: the Liz Murray Story,
was aired on Lifetime Television.

RINGLING COLLEGE
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
20162017 Board of Directors

President: Becky Mahoney

Ollie Johnson
Cindy Stuhley
Jay Logan
Leslie Loftus
Chris Cremer
Renee Eppard
Karen Eastmoore
Patrick Duggan
Emily Walsh
Wendy Weiss
Jim Roque
Susan Hritz
Kathleen France
Merry Williams
Rosemary Oberndorf
Erin Christy
Linda Whitaker
Mitzie Henson
Ringling College of Art and Design President:
Dr. Larry Thompson
Ringling College of Art and Design
Director of Library Services: Kristina Keogh
Ringling College Library Association
Executive Director: Stephanie Grosskreutz

Ringling College Library Association

appreciates your support and hopes
the following information will assist
you in the completing your subscription
request for the Town Hall 2017
lecture series.
All subscription requests must be mailed. Seating
selection is based on the postmark date.
Morning or evening series subscriptions may
only be purchased in its entirety. A combination
of morning and evening lectures may not
be purchased.
Prior to lectures, audience members have the
opportunity to email us with a question for the
speaker. Following the speakers formal remarks,
a selection of audience questions will be posed
to the speaker. To ask questions in advance, go
to www.rclassociation.org and click on Ask the
speaker a question.
Speakers are requested to attend the luncheons
and receptions.
Tickets will be mailed in November 2016.
All tickets must be purchased through RCLA.
Tickets are not available via Van Wezel.
Subscribers who are unable to attend a program
and wish to receive a letter acknowledging the
tax-deductible donation must return their tickets
via mail and they must be received by RCLA
three business days prior to the date of
the lecture.
Alternate speaker may be substituted in the event
of cancellation. No refunds will be provided for
speaker substitution.
All ticket sales are final. No refunds or exchanges
of lecture, luncheon or reception tickets will
be given.

CONTACT US FOR ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION ABOUT
Becoming an RCLA Member
RCLA Member Benefits
How your company can be a corporate sponsor
Art Lecture Series information

ON THE WEB: RCLASSOCIATION.ORG

BY PHONE: 941.925.1343
EMAIL US AT: INFO@RCLASSOCIATION.ORG

2016 Ringling College Design Center

Design by Lenna Dahlquist 08, Graphic and Interactive Communication