Franklin & Marshall taps Bucknell provost as new president

Barbara K. Altmann got her education at a large university in Alberta and spent much of her career at the University of Oregon, but saw firsthand through her oldest son the benefits of a small liberal arts college.

Now, she's excited to take the helm of one.

Altmann, provost at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., on Tuesday was named the next president of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.

In August, she will replace Daniel R. Porterfield, who is leaving to head the Aspen Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit that focuses on educational and policy studies.

Altmann's oldest son, Leo, an electrical engineer, attended Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., which seeks to give aspiring engineers, scientists, and mathematicians a strong liberal arts background. She said she was "blown away" by the college's program.

And she said she thinks she would have found her own academic passion — she's a scholar of French medieval language and literature — sooner if she had attended a liberal arts college. It wasn't until her last semester as an undergraduate that she did.

"It changed the course of my life at that point," said Altmann, 61, a native of Canada. "I decided at some point in my career, I would make a move to a liberal arts college, so that I could promote this kind of intense undergraduate education that we can do in the small schools, with really close working relationships between faculty and students."

In his seven-year tenure at the 2,300-student college, Porterfield gained national attention for expanding access to education to more students from lower-income families. Under his leadership, the percentage of students eligible for federal Pell grants increased to nearly a quarter. He called the effort a talent initiative and said he wanted to find the best and brightest from all zip codes, economic means, and backgrounds.

Altmann said she will aim to build on Porterfield's efforts, while focusing on promoting the college's strong academic base and enhancing the relationship between the college and the city of Lancaster.

"Barbara Altmann is an exceptional teacher and scholar, a skilled and passionate advocate for the liberal arts and a leader of great depth who inspires the best in others," said Susan Washburn, chair of the college's board of trustees.

Within two months of taking over, Altmann will oversee the public launch of the largest capital fundraising campaign in the college's history. It's not unfamiliar territory for her. She played a major role in Bucknell's recent $500 million fundraising campaign.

Bucknell, with 3,600 students, also has a focus on liberal arts.

In addition to fundraising, during her three-year tenure there she oversaw the launch of Bucknell's college of management.

The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, and got a bachelor's degree in romance languages from the University of Alberta. Altmann received both her doctorate in medieval French language and literature and her master's from the University of Toronto. Though she's been in the United States for almost 30 years she remains a Canadian citizen, and is a permanent U.S. resident.

She spent 25 years at Oregon, including roles as senior vice provost for academic affairs and director of the Oregon Humanities Center. Her love for language and appreciation of the rich foundation of the Middle Ages never wavered.

"I'm a total language nerd," she said. "I just adore studying the older languages."

Altmann is married to John T. Stacey, a psychologist, and has two grown sons. In addition to Leo, her other son, Amos Lachman, is a rapper who goes by the names Fämo or @famodots.

She and her husband plan to move to Lancaster this summer.