Ken Rollins

In February 1994, Ken Rollins assumed leadership of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art as its Executive Director. A 1964 charter class graduate of the University of South Florida, he served as president of the USF National Alumni Association during 1991. Mr. Rollins received a Masters degree in Ceramics/Sculpture from the University of Tennessee in 1973 and is a graduate of the Museum Management Institute, University of California at Berkeley. He has been an instructor in ceramics and design at the University of Tennessee and Daytona Beach Community College. He served three years as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy after receiving his commission in 1966 from the United States Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. During 1968-69, he was Assistant Officer-in-Charge of YRBM 21, a U.S. Navy detachment of 133 men in South Vietnam.

As a museum professional, Ken was Executive Director of the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida for twelve years, and prior to that Executive Director of the Deland Museum of Art. He has led the development efforts and construction of two major museum facilities in Florida; the Polk Museum of Art and the Gulf Coast Museum of Art. Ken has provided statewide leadership in the arts as President of the Florida Art Museum Directors’ Association, Chairman of the Florida Association of Museum’s Foundation, served numerous times as a grant review panelist for the Florida Arts Council, and for three years was on the Executive Board of the Southeastern Museums’ Conference. He is also a Museum Assessment and Accreditation Consultant for the American Association for Museums, and currently serves on the Boards of the Clearwater Arts Foundation, Creative Tampa Bay, and the National Society of Arts and Letters Advisory Board. In 2004 Ken was honored with the Florida Association of Museums’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Related Links
CreativeTampaBay
Pinella Arts Council
Florida Association of Museums

E-mail
krollins@gulfcoastmuseum.org