The Riverside Community College District Foundation received $250,000 donation from printing entrepreneur Janet Steiner to support students in the Applied Digital Media (ADM) and Printing program at Riverside City College (RCC). The first of two contributions anticipated from Steiner, this gift provides a significant financial infusion to renovate the current printing facility on campus. The renovation will be followed by the donation of state-of-the-art commercial printing equipment provided in partnership with industry leader Heidelberg and Zünd.
A local leader in the commercial printing community in the region, Steiner with the help of Lou Caron, president of Printing Industry Association of Southern California identified RCC as the beneficiary of her gift. After a 36-year career presiding over Thoro Packaging, a company her father and mother founded in 1967, Steiner selected the College’s ADM and Printing program for the donation.
RCC’s ADM and Printing program has a strong history in printing graphic education. The first trade-printing course was offered in 1921. Thanks to this donation to the ADM and Printing program will become more viable and better positioned to train students for careers in commercial printing.
“We are grateful for the commitment that industry leaders such as Jan Steiner have to our college,” President Gregory Anderson, Ed.D., said. “They understand the vital role filled by RCC, educating and training students. These leaders depend on our graduates for their business to thrive.”
A donation of this level will significantly improve education and training opportunities for RCC students. The program's current offset printing equipment is 50 years old and upgrading presses is expensive and cost prohibitive for the College. Acquisition of a high-quality press will provide better experience and hands-on training for students.
RCC's ADM and Printing program is one of the last fully integrated graphic design, digital media, and printing programs on the west coast. The program is accredited in six key industry areas of commercial printing and graphic design. Offset printing is one a variety of printing skill competency areas covered by ADM commercial printing course. Over the past 100 years, many of the local printing experts were trained through the program at RCC.
Patrick Scullin, associate professor of Applied Digital Media and Printing said, “A number of our graduates got their start in commercial printing at various local companies. Now, with a donation of this scale, we are humbled to carry on the legacy and leadership in commercial printing that Ms. Steiner and her family have started. Her gift will benefit generations of students.”
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