“Any room I’m in, if Shakespeare comes up, the students all crane their necks around to see my expression,” said Creative Writing faculty Glenn Schudel. “I am that guy.”

Though his Creative Writing courses don’t focus on Shakespeare, Schudel likes to sprinkle his lessons—and his conversations—with insights, techniques, and even trivia from the Bard and from theater in general. He’s especially keen on classical rhetoric, citing examples of various rhetorical techniques used by Shakespeare’s characters.

Schudel’s theatrical roots go back to his childhood in Arcadia, when his family would come to Sarasota (“the big city,” as he thought of it then) to see performances. His first job after undergrad was as an assistant stage manager with Sarasota’s Asolo Repertory Theatre.

His ambitions took him to Chicago and New York before he finally decided to pursue a graduate degree at Mary Baldwin University, where he studied Shakespeare and performance. He dove into rhetorical studies and also took several classes on dramaturgy. For his M.Litt thesis, he went through Shakespeare’s plays character by character, examining the types of rhetoric they each used. It was 200 pages typed.

“I always liked Shakespeare. I was a nerd growing up,” said Schudel. “But this was a really wild experience for me, where I learned to love the works of Shakespeare more by taking them down off the pedestal. They’re all deeply weird and funny and horny and strange.” 

After grad school, Schudel worked for three years as the tour manager for the American Shakespeare Center, touring three shows and 19 educational workshops up and down the eastern half of the U.S. By the end, he was being asked to edit the plays as well, providing trimmed versions of the texts to be performed. 

Then he took an adjunct teaching gig at Randolph College. “That gave me the bug,” he remembered. “I realized I really like teaching at the college level.”

He began teaching at ������Ƶ in 2018 and joined the faculty in 2023. While he didn’t ever think he’d be teaching Creative Writing, he now recognizes how much of his theater background can be helpful to his students.

“This is not new advice for me, but a lot of writing teachers will tell you that you should read your writing out loud. You can hear the flow and rhythm and sounds,” he explained. And generating your own fictional characters is not unlike how actors figure out how to perform a part. 

“The stuff I learned in my acting classes in college, I was having my students do that kind of work in my writing classes,” he said. “So then, every class, I would pull out one acting exercise. It’s shocking how much writing and theater have in common.” 

And at ������Ƶ, he often sees his enthusiasm reflected back at him. “It’s been such a pleasure working here where all of the students are studying something that they love,” he said. “I’ve never taught a class here that was labor. It’s always fun. [The students] are so weird and smart and clever and artsy. 

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This past November, Markey was recognized by The Daily Sun newspaper as a FIERCE Woman for her work with The Teddy Bear Project, a 501c3 organization she founded to provide plush toys to vulnerable children. Markey first started the project in 2010, when she served as the head of the Family Center for the Family Violence Protection Program in Greenville, North Carolina.

“One of the things that I noticed was that when the children would come in, they would gravitate toward the teddy bears and stuffed animals,” she said. “So many of these families had so little. But then when they left, they’d have to leave the bears behind.”

What began as a holiday toy drive blossomed into an overwhelming response. There were so many donations that the surplus was given to the local sheriff’s office to be handed out during domestic violence calls.

In 2020, now living in Florida, Markey saw a drastic rise in domestic violence reports during COVID-19. She was inspired to start The Teddy Bear Project anew, this time based in Port Charlotte. In five years, the newly remade organization has donated thousands of teddy bears and teddy buds (non-bear plush toys)—more than 1,700 in 2023 alone. They’re shipped both locally and around the world, including to partners in the Ukraine and Mongolia.

Likewise, the donations arrive from all over the country. “It’s not unusual to open the door and find boxes the size of small apartments,” said Markey, who stores the toys in her own home, sometimes from floor to ceiling. “They come in by UPS, by Fed Ex, by USPS. They’re donated in memory of someone who’s passed away, from estates, from collections. All these people who want to be able to help, and this is a way to do it.” 

Markey has also found a way to connect hope and positivity with academia. This year, she copyrighted the study of “glistophilia,” the cultural and anthropological study of human attraction to things that glisten, glitter, and sparkle. It all began with her love of Christmas movies.

“So many of the decorations we’re attracted to are things that sparkle, glisten, glitter. I wondered if anybody has looked into the cultural, historical, and societal ramifications of this,” she explained. Glistophilia covers both naturally occurring phenomena—like twinkling stars—as well as man-made items, including makeup products and various aspects of the entertainment industry. “So many of these fields rely on that type of thing to attract buyers’ attention and use it for marketing purposes.”

Glistophilia marries Markey’s interests in “biophilia” (or relationship with nature) and “astrophilia” (dealing with the universe and the cosmos). Whether it’s soft toys or far-off stars, Markey remains keenly aware of ways to satisfy our fundamental human needs and curiosities.

“There’s a language of joy, a language of hearts and love, associated with teddy bears,” she said. “We do this year-round because these kids and their families need help all the time. Our philosophy is we never say no, no matter what it takes.”

Markey is a member of ������Ƶ’s Subject Matter Experts, as an expert on the subjects of Active killers, mass murders in schools, workplaces, public venues and church; intra-family homicide, violence, domestic violence, biophilia, astrophilia, Space Society, and Cosma Culture.

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Wilson also teaches a Liberal Arts course called Architecture in Film that examines cities, places, and spaces as seen in movies. Dr. Wilson chooses films where the buildings and spaces help tell the story. He points out that in The Shining, the hotel is the first major element the viewer sees. He said, “I chose The Shining for that reason—not only is the hotel a character, but important scenes of the film take place on stairs (meaning: transition), in doorways (meaning: relationship troubles), and at windows (meaning: watching/being watched).”

Now in its ninth year and 19th season, the Big Screen Film Series began in 2015 with a screening of a Hungarian film called White God by Kornel Mundruczo. Each season has a unique theme: The ‘80s: Big Screens! Big Hair! Big Drama!, Close Connections: Around the World with Film, Disguise and Transformation, and Hot Button Movies: Courting Controversy. The films are curated by a rotation of Liberal Arts faculty members, whose choices reflect their areas of interest and expertise, with the exception of a few seasons of special guest collaborators.  

A few years ago, they invited librarians to curate and introduce a series featuring movies about books and libraries. For another season, they partnered with New College to celebrate the anniversary of the book Frankenstein, showing half a dozen film versions.

The series was started by Liberal Arts faculty members Dr. Susan Doll and Del Jacobs, the idea of Jacobs, who is a film historian. He had been involved with film series at several venues in Sarasota and proposed it to Dr. Doll, who had her own experiences organizing midnight movies in Chicago. “To be able to see movies from all over the world, movies from all eras of film history, movies you have never heard of, or movies that are popular favorites was (and is) an incredible opportunity to understand movies as an art form or as entertainment or as a reflection of the era that produced it.” Dr. Doll shared. 

Over the years, they have shown everything from Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles to the Turkish film Mustang, the silent film Thief of Bagdad, and Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. They have screened to as few as five people in the audience and as many as 80. 

Del said of the value that the film series offers students at the College, “A community of spectators gathered together to watch a film on the big screen is the ultimate manifestation of cinema and the optimum witness experience for both audience and student-filmmaker. Our Ringling series is curated for relevance and effect and lends historical perspective to the art and commerce of the movies.”

The Big Screen Film Series screening of The Shining will give audience members a small glimpse of Dr. Wilson’s class, which looks at buildings and the built environment as they are portrayed in films. “Most of the films that we see in the course involve a building (or entire city) that isn’t just background but seems to be one of the characters of the film, along with the actors,” he shared. The course was developed after he co-wrote the book Reframing Berlin: Architecture, Memory-Making and Film Locations with his former colleague, Dr. Gul Kacmaz Erk. The two watched around 350 films that were either shot or set in Berlin, from which they chose 24 buildings, including the Berlin Wall, to write about. 

The Shining will screen on Thursday, April 10, at 7 pm at the Morganroth Auditorium in the Larry R. Thompson Academic Center. 

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Read more about Rick’s experiences and observations on teaching AI on website.

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Bella Race ’26, Graphic Design, Bella Thompson ’26, Graphic Design, and Samantha Balikowa ’26, Business of Art and Design, collaborated on the project; the back of the vehicle now bears their names. The students’ ideas took into account Sarasota’s identity and history, an approachable design to encourage interactions with the community, and signage that clearly communicated the vehicle’s purpose. 

������Ƶ Liberal Arts faculty member Matt Giles shared his perspective on the wrap’s impact on the local community: “The wrap that the Ringling students designed for Sarasota Police Department’s new Mobile Command Center looks amazing,” he said. “By including Ringling students and faculty in the creation process, Sarasota PD builds positive relationships with community members who would otherwise be uninvolved.”

Giles, who teaches a course on Policing and Media at the College, advocates for a closer relationship between law enforcement and the community. “I teach about the essential role of outreach to different pillars of the local community, and I’m thrilled to see our local police putting in the work to connect,” he explained. Cynthia Johnson, Sarasota PD’s Public Information Officer, has taken time in previous semesters to visit the class and talk with students about the complicated role of police in working with the local community.

“I encourage students—and all community members—to actively build connections with local law enforcement so that they already have meaningful relationships with police when they later interact with them,” said Giles. “By doing so, they have the option to become visible members of the community who can help guide interactions with police toward transparency, accountability, and collaboration.” 

Giles is a member of ������Ƶ’s Subject Matter Experts, focusing on intergroup communication, communication between police and protest groups, protest art, and language as culture.

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Student Government Association President Celi Mitidieri ’24, Film, was the recipient of the Avant-Garde Endowed Scholarship. Sandra Lee ’24, Graphic Design, Wilderley “Will” Mauricette ’24, Film, and Rose Nachman ’24, Fine Arts, were scholarship finalists. These scholarships are awarded based on the students’ commitment to ������Ƶ and to the campus community service. 

The stars of the event were ������Ƶ President Dr. Larry R. Thompson and his wife, Pat Thompson ’16, Fine Arts, who performed a number of Elton John songs dressed as a feathery Elton John and sparkly Elton Jane. 

Their costumes were designed by faculty member Matt Myers ’82, Illustration, who conceptualized and created Elton Jane’s look, and collaborated with Entertainment Design students Capri Easterday ’25 and Olivia Dumas ’25 to transform Larry Thompson into Elton John. 

Myers has been an instructor at ������Ƶ since 2019, teaching Figure and Costume Visual Development. After graduating from ������Ƶ in 1982, he went on to work all over the country. He freelanced as an artist for 35 years, starting his career in New York City, where he created murals and paintings for hotels, nightclubs, and international cruise ships. That work led to a career in the theatre as a scenic artist, and eventually led to his work as a costume designer and fabricator for small theatres and opera companies. 

Working with smaller organizations, Myers was able to combine all of his skills, creating cohesive designs that coordinated graphic design and illustration with costume and set design. In 2007, he began working as costumer in the Theatre Department at Missouri Southern State University, teaching costume construction while continuing to freelance as a costume designer.

Since his return to ������Ƶ as a faculty member, Myers has also helped develop the Figure Reference Library, a project started during the pandemic that has since become a valuable resource for the school. With the onset of remote learning, faculty discovered a great need for remote figure model references that fit the unique needs of the students. Myers collaborated with other faculty and staff to create a 3,000 plus image and video library, complete with 360-degree rotating imagery. 

Myers has been involved with Avant-Garde in myriad ways since his return, costuming guests, and contributing to stage direction. This year, in addition to costuming the Thompsons, he helped stage their much-anticipated grand entrance, and contributed to directing their much-anticipated grand entrance. He feels particularly invested in Avant-Garde as a former beneficiary. In his senior year at ������Ƶ, Myers was a recipient of a scholarship that helped him complete his degree, similar to the Crossing the Finish Line Scholarship, a one-time scholarship established in 2014 to help students who experience an unexpected financial hardship finish their Ringling education, and primarily funded by the Avant-Garde paddle raise. 

Myers continues his mural work, and recently painted a site-specific two-story mural for the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, celebrating the centennial anniversary for the county. He is currently dreaming up plans for multimedia wearable art projects.

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