President, Franklin & Marshall College
Daniel R. Porterfield, became Franklin & Marshall College’s 15th president on March 1, 2011. As president, Porterfield prioritizes enhancing academic excellence, supporting students, building campus community, and increasing civic outreach. A professor of English, he plans to teach literature courses dealing with human rights, education and social justice.
Prior to his appointment at Franklin & Marshall, Porterfield served as senior vice president for strategic development at his alma mater, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In this role he assisted the president of the university with the development of new projects and led Georgetown’s institutional positioning, communications, government relations, community relations and intercollegiate athletics. He spearheaded Georgetown’s relationship with Teach for America, KIPP, the D.C. public schools, and The Cristo Rey Network, on whose board he serves. He founded a number of longstanding Georgetown programs for immigrant children, D.C. students, and at-risk youth.
In 2003, Porterfield received Georgetown’s Dorothy Brown Award for exemplary commitment to the educational advancement of students. He subsequently received the Georgetown College Edward Bunn, S.J., Award for Faculty Excellence and the School of Foreign Service Faculty Excellence Award.
Prior to coming to Georgetown in 1997, Porterfield served for four years as a senior aide to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala.
Porterfield was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities. He earned his Ph.D. at The City University of New York Graduate Center.
A native of Baltimore, he is married to Karen A. Herrling, an advocacy attorney in state and local enforcement of immigrant rights. They have three children.