The board of trustees of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has selected Barbara K. Altmann as the educational institution’s 16th president. Dr. Altmann will take office in August.
Franklin & Marshall College is a selective liberal arts institution with total enrollments of about 2,250 students. Women make up 53 percent of the student body.
In accepting the post. Dr. Altmann noted that “as a child of immigrants and a first-generation college student myself, I am honored and inspired to join a college that so beautifully blends the very best traditions of the liberal arts with constant innovations that are preparing students for the fullness of possibility and success in the 21st century. I am eager to push ahead with the national momentum that outgoing President Daniel Porterfield has built for broadening access to college for talented young people from all backgrounds. We want to attract the brightest, most motivated students from every corner of the country and around the world. An F&M education is a powerful springboard toward whatever opportunities they seek after college and throughout their lives.”
Since 2015, Dr. Altmann has been serving as provost at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. She is a scholar of French medieval language and literature. Before becoming provost at Bucknell, Dr. Altmann was a professor of French and senior vice provost for academic affairs at the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the University of Oregon in 1989, she taught at the University of Toronto and Dartmouth College.
Dr. Altmann holds a bachelor’s degree in Romance languages from the University of Alberta and a doctorate in medieval French language and literature from the University of Toronto.