Ringling College to offer virtual reality major

SARASOTA — Ringling College of Art & Design will soon become one of the first colleges in the country to offer a virtual reality degree.

The school will feature the virtual reality development major as a four-year, Bachelor of Fine Arts program starting in 2018. Applications for 2018-19 are being accepted now.

Ringling College President Larry Thompson said the college had been thinking about the idea for a few years and explored the concept in their game art program before deciding to create it, even as virtual reality remains new territory for much of the population at large.

“Usually academic programs get started much later after something has been developed in industry,” Thompson said. “Here we’re at the forefront with it, what is what we like to do and like to be at Ringling College.”

The major will features courses such as Visual Scripting, VR Development, Visual Development for VR and Concept Development for Visual Worlds. Jim McCampbell, who created Ringling College’s game art program and heads the computer animation department, will also lead virtual reality.

The school will work with Flight School, a studio that creates virtual reality content and is headed by Oscar and Emmy-winning Ringling College graduate Brandon Oldenburg, to shape its program. He will come to Ringling College’s Fall Preview Day on Nov. 4 to discuss the technology and showcase a demo of Flight School’s virtual reality experience “Manifest 99.”

Other Ringling College students and alumni have worked with virtual reality in recent years, including students who worked locally with an architectural firm over the summer.

Though the virtual reality program will involve cutting-edge technology, Thompson said it remains an art degree first and foremost, as does all of Ringling College’s other programs.

“What makes our students and graduates so valuable to employers is the fact that they have that artistic vision and creativity,” Thompson said. “They’re able to use that technology as, a phrase I often use, it's just like a paintbrush or pencil.”