Dan Porterfield speaks at The Pennington School on March 4.
On March 4, Dr. Daniel R. Porterfield President of Franklin & Marshall College spoke about “The Power and Promise of American Higher Education” as part of the Pennington School’s Stephen Crane Lecture Series. All Upper School students, faculty members, and many parents attended the lecture.
At the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Porterfield did an exercise with the audience to demonstrate the need to encourage students to “create their own education.” He cited the fact that of the 595,000 ninth-graders currently in public high schools across the nation, only eight percent are expected to graduate from college. He emphasized the flattening of the global economy and the critical issues today’s students will have to face and solve, such as global warning. Only through education, with creative thinking and innovation, can these challenges be met.
At Franklin & Marshall College, Dr. Porterfield prioritizes enhancing academic excellence, promoting student success, increasing civic outreach, and helping young graduates thrive in life after college. A scholar of English, he teaches literature courses dealing with human rights, education, and social justice. Dr. Porterfield is a frequent contributor to the national dialogue on issues like the value of the liberal arts, college access, and the impact of technology on higher education. His pieces have been featured in publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Houston Chronicle, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he writes regularly for Forbes and The Huffington Post.
The Pennington audience responded to Dr. Porterfield’s presentation with a standing ovation.
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