Yesterday, President DeGioia held a meeting with the student press to address recent issues affecting the University.
DeGioia answered questions ranging about a wide variety of topics, from the Campus Plan to the loss of Dr. Porterfield.
The following are the highlights of his interview.
In an opening statement:
Most significantly right now our thoughts are with Michele Konkoly and her family as she’s wrestling with her recovery from her fall earlier in the week.
On the 2010 Campus Plan:
Our position is that what we’ve submitted a very modest plan. It calls for a cap on undergraduate enrollment and an overall cap on growth in terms of enrollment. In every way we believe this is a very modest plan. We recognize that that is not the position that is viewed by our neighbors and we expect a continuing conversation between now and mid-April when we have our formal hearing before the board of zoning.
During the holiday season, it’s important to remember those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It’s good to know that the leaders of our University set an example by of being “Women and Men for Others” by actively giving back to our community.
Dr. Daniel Porterfield, Georgetown University’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Development and to-be President of Franklin & Marshall College,recently led a guest workshop on poetry in prisons. According to Prison Outreach Vice President Jessica Chafkin (COL ’13), the workshop went very well and inspired some of the men at the detention center to write their own poetry. We’ve featured a poem by one of these men, Govinda B. Shahi, below.
Prison Outreach Ministry is a social justice organization that works to reduce recidivism by giving practical and spiritual guidance to indiviudals during their incarceration.
This morning, Senior Vice President for Strategic Development Dan Porterfield (COL ’83) announced that he will leave Georgetown to become the 15th President of Franklin & Marshall College. Porterfield will not officially join the small liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania until March 1, but his transition will begin next month.
“I am excited and honored at the prospect of leading Franklin & Marshall College, a historic American institution poised for remarkable influence in the 21st century,” Porterfield said in a press release.
After graduating from Georgetown in 1983, Porterfield studied English at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Before returning to campus in 1997, Porterfield worked as a senior aide for the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala and earned his PhD in English at the City University of New York.
Porterfield will leave Georgetown with a reputation for doing a bit of everything; he contributed to two ten-year campus plans, developed relationships with Teach for America and the Cristo Rey Network, helped plan capital fund raising campaigns, and oversaw the final steps of the University’s partnership negotiations with MedStar Health.
As a Georgetown faculty member, Porterfield was awarded two of the University’s highest faculty honors, the 2010 SFS Faculty Excellence Award and the 2008 Georgetown College Edward Bunn, S.J. Award. In 2003, he also recieved the Dorothy Brown Award for his commitment to academic and student advancement.
“Dan’s work at Georgetown will leave a lasting legacy in numerous ways, from successfully launching young people on exciting career and fellowship paths to developing innovative student programs, and from enhancing our Athletics program to fostering extraordinary civic engagement,” University President John DeGioia wrote in a statement released by Franklin & Marshall. “I will miss his friendship, advice and counsel, but know that our loss is truly Franklin & Marshall’s gain.”
In an email sent this afternoon to his English class, Porterfield expressed excitement about the position.
I’m writing as early as I possibly could to tell you that today I’m being introduced as the next President of Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, effective March 1. F & M is an outstanding liberal arts college, and it is a great honor and opportunity to serve as its next leader.
I write, of course, with mixed feelings. Our class has inspired me and renewed my desire to make a greater difference for students in undeserved communities. As we discussed in class yesterday, just like for you it’s also important for me to continue thinking about the ways I’d like to give and grow more, and this new role is one way.
We’ll have plenty of time to spend together in the coming months. I value your friendship and very much appreciate your support.
Porterfield will visit Franklin & Marshall’s campus at least once every week until he formally takes on his new position next spring. According to Margaret Moore, University public affairs specialist, he will “certainly” finish the semester at Georgetown.
Porterfield will replace former President John Fry, who resigned in March to become the president of Drexel University.
[Editor's note: After the jump, we've re-published Porterfield's greatest moment as a Georgetown administrator.]
For a decision of this magnitude, we had to bring out the heavy hitters. That’s why we recruited Provost James O’Donnell and Vice President Daniel Porterfield. They feasted, debated, and ultimately, chose a champion. Enjoy.
As expected, Georgetown formally announced Lee Reed as its new Director of Athletics at a press conference this morning. Reed comes to the Hilltop from Cleveland State, where he held the same position, and replaces Bernard Muir, who left to take over the Delaware athletic department. Georgetown’s senior vice president for strategic development, Daniel Porterfield, held the position in the interim.
In eight years at Cleveland State, Reed developed the Viking program into a Horizon League power, with teams winning nine conference championships over the past two years. Cleveland State was awarded the James J. McCafferty Trophy in 2008 as the Horizon League’s all-sport champion.
“Lee’s successful tenure at Cleveland State provides many examples of his leadership and vision, including 11 Horizon League championships, and 15 NCAA championship trips,” President John DeGioia said.
Reed’s tenure at Cleveland State was his only experience running a university’s athletic program, but prior to joining the Vikings he worked in the athletic departments at Eastern Michigan and New Mexico. Prior to entering administration Reed also worked as a basketball coach at New Mexico from 1984-86, building off his experience as a four-year player at Cleveland State. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from New Mexico in 1992 and a master’s degree in sports administration in 1994 from the same school.
On Thursday night, students from the Diversity working groups commissioned by President John DeGioia’s office gathered for a town hall meeting in Copley Formal Lounge. Although the meeting was sparsely attended, a number of prominent administrators were present, and a wide range of ideas on diversity were presented.
For a more thorough examination of the working group’s progress, see Lily Kaiser’s article in the print edition of the Voice.
Vice President for Strategic Development Dan Porterfield explained that the groups had been working hard over the summer to draft concrete recommendations for Provost James O’Donnell and DeGioia.
“[The working groups examined] how can we increase the number of underrepresented groups in the undergraduate population … [and] how can we ensure that all students who are applying to Georgetown hear a clear and compelling message about the standards of citizenship, civic engagement, and respect present,” Porterfield said.
When the meeting was opened up to members of the audience, the discussion became more heated with one individual shouting loudly at the assembled members of the working groups. A faculty member (who did not give her name) also supported the statements of the irate audience member and argued passionately that Georgetown needed to pursue greater recruitment of minority Professors.
“We’re weaving and creating stronger connections among students … that, as much as possible, breaks down some of the walls and divisions that we experience at our life together at Georgetown,” Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said.
Although the specific recommendations generated by the working groups remain to be seen, panelists spoke out strongly for programs geared toward recruiting minority students, the creation of minority studies programs, and stronger financial aid programs.
With Athletic Director Bernard Muir’s departing for the greener fields of the University of Delaware in about a month, Georgetown has appointed Dan Porterfield Interim AD, according to an article in Blue & Gray (in print only, not online yet). Porterfield is Senior Vice President for Strategic Development and an Assistant Professor of English.
Although lately the “Interim” label has come to mean something along the lines of, “Someone We’ll Call ‘Interim’ Until We Go Through The Trouble of Hiring Them Permanently” (see: Chester Gillis) it looks like Porterfield’s tenure as AD will be more traditionally transitional.
From the Blue & Gray article:
A search process will begin to find a new leader for Georgetown’s athletics department, which oversees 29 varsity teams.
“Upon Bernard’s departure, Dan will be responsible for overall leadership of the department,” said DeGioia. “He will work closely with me and other senior leaders, coaches, faculty and alumni in the recruitment of the new athletic director, a process that we will launch in a few weeks.”
Update: The article can now be found online at GUHoyas.com.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's weekly newsmagazine. Opinions expressed in posts are those of their author alone unless otherwise stated.
Yesterday, President DeGioia held a meeting with the student press to address recent issues affecting the University.
Entries (RSS)
