Biography of Daniel R. Porterfield, Ph.D.
Franklin & Marshall College President Daniel R. Porterfield, Ph.D., prioritizes enhancing academic excellence, supporting students, building campus community and increasing civic outreach. A scholar of English, he teaches literature courses dealing with human rights, education and social justice.
Since becoming president on March 1, 2011, Porterfield has strengthened support for faculty and student research, launched new initiatives to enhance the student-athlete experience and provided additional support for students’ personal and professional development in the years immediately following their graduation. F&M has increased its financial-aid expenditure and broadened outreach to promising students in underserved communities. For example, the College has doubled its commitment to the Posse Program and has forged partnerships with charter and emerging school networks including KIPP and the Cristo Rey Network, on whose Board he serves. Porterfield also sits on Teach For America’s University Champions’ Board and the National College Advising Corps Board of Directors.
Prior to his appointment at Franklin & Marshall, Porterfield served as Senior Vice President for Strategic Development for his alma mater Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In this role he led Georgetown's institutional positioning, communications, government relations, community relations and intercollegiate athletics and spearheaded the University’s relationship with the D.C. public schools. 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, Porterfield is married to Karen A. Herrling, an advocacy attorney in state and local enforcement of immigrant rights. They have three children.
