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College administrator and professor Jeff Bellantoni had a pretty plum post at the Pratt Institute in New York City for six years.

Bellantoni ran the nationally ranked graduate communications design department at Pratt, one of the top ranked architecture and design schools in the country. Now Bellantoni has bolder ambitions: to help lead Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, another nationally known school, into a new growth era.

His goals at Ringling range from boosting student enrollment by at least 50% to expanding curriculum and degree options in multiple directions. Ringling, founded in 1931 by circus magnate John Ringling, has an annual operating budget of $61 million. Its campus is just north of downtown Sarasota, spread through more than 110 buildings on 48 acres.