Westminster College installs new president

Dr. Richard Dorman outlined the college’s next educational strategic plan.

STAFF REPORT

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — The new president of Westminster College believes there are three factors that contribute to “an exceptional education” at the liberal arts college.

The role of the individual teacher, the concept that the liberal arts education is most adaptive to addressing multiple learning styles and talents, and the notion that the nature of the total learning experience provided is highly correlated to significant personal change are the keys, said Dr. Richard H. Dorman, who was installed Saturday as Westminster’s 14th president.

His inaugural address, “Advantage: Westminster,” focused on how Westminster College can “provide its graduates with an educational advantage, and what we as a teaching and learning community must do in the future to ensure that our competitive position continues to strengthen over time.”

The faculty is “the most critical factor in the success of our current and future students, and what, in my judgment, makes Westminster such a special place,” Dorman said.

“We already do an outstanding job of engaging our students,” he said. “Low attrition and high graduation rates with a Top 10 national ranking in graduation rate performance among all colleges and universities, according to U.S. News, suggest we must be doing something right.”

Dorman said the next strategic plan, “Advantage: Westminster,” will “identify three to six broad initiatives collectively agreed upon to raise Westminster on its continuing upward trajectory.”

The college will build upon its strong “experiential education efforts” and provide “a clear link between theory and practice” which he dubbed “Liberal Learning — Applied.”

Dorman talked of the need for Westminster to continue to enhance its internship programs while serving as an economic engine to the economy and the region, and he examined its need to define and assess outcomes while reinforcing its commitment to professional growth.

Dorman began his Westminster presidency July 1 after serving as vice president for institutional advancement at Otterbein University since 1996.

He previously served as assistant vice president for development and director of health sciences development at the University of Louisville, an executive with the Penn State Alumni Association, director of marketing for Prestige Expositions and director of choral activities at Red Lion Area (Pa.) High School.

He earned an undergraduate degree in music education from Susquehanna University and a master’s in counseling/college student personnel services and doctorate in higher education administration from Pennsylvania State University.

He is a member and elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is active in the community, having served in a number of leadership positions in civic, service, and educational organizations.

Dorman and his wife, Beverly, are the parents of a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Kelly.