Porter first Tisch Family Distinguished Professor

President Emeritus of Skidmore College David H. Porter, a noted scholar of classics and music, will return to the college in 2009 as the inaugural Tisch Family Distinguished Professor. The family of Trustee Wilma ("Billie") Stein Tisch, Class of 1948, recently endowed the chair in honor of her 80th birthday.

In announcing the appointment to the campus community, Susan Kress, vice president for academic affairs, said, "The chair links and celebrates two outstanding individuals in Skidmore's history?Billie Tisch and David Porter." He is, she added, "a devoted and beloved teacher who has received accolades for teaching at Carleton, Skidmore, and Williams colleges."

Said Porter, "I always thought that the faculty at Skidmore was extraordinary. To be one of its members is humbling."

During his five-year appointment, Porter will be based in Skidmore's Classics Department, where he anticipates teaching both Greek and Latin as well as courses in translation. He may also teach a course in the English Department. His most recent book, On the Divide: The Many Lives of Willa Cather, is due this year from the University of Nebraska Press. "The English Department has been open to the possibility of a course on that subject. If it works out, it will be great fun," he said.

After he stepped down as president in 1999, Porter embarked on an active retirement revolving around teaching and scholarship. For the past nine years he has been the Harry C. Payne Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts at Williams College, which he called "a dream job." Said Porter, "I've had enough time really to prepare for classes, to do research and to write, and to play the piano. It looks like this wonderful Skidmore appointment will enable me to continue these activities."

Throughout these Williams years Porter has commuted to Williamstown from Saratoga Springs, where he maintained his residence and his Skidmore connection by presenting occasional lectures and performances at the college. A lecture he gave this fall, on the subject of play, musical and otherwise, saw Filene Recital Hall filled to capacity with students, faculty, and members of the community. The lecture was aimed primarily at the first-year students in Skidmore's "Human Dilemmas" Course, whom Porter called "among the most exciting and engaged student audiences I've ever encountered."

Porter's love of teaching was obvious very early in his presidential tenure, when he started the tradition of an annual lecture-recital to Skidmore's newest students, a commitment he kept despite the demands of the presidency. Recalling his period in administration, he also said, "While I immensely enjoyed being a college president, I missed 13 years of regular teaching. I've gained back nine of those years with my position at Williams, and the Skidmore appointment will enable me to make up the rest!"

Returning to a Skidmore classroom after having served as the college president is a wonderful opportunity, he believes. "I'm touched that the administration is willing to entertain a former nabob," he said. "I'm happy and honored to be President Glotzbach's colleague and willing, of course, to help in any way that I can. But my assumption is that teaching will occupy the great majority of my time, as it should in this position."

Being named the first Tisch Family Distinguished Professor holds special significance for Porter, who has known Mrs. Tisch for more than 20 years and characterized her as "the essence of culture and civilization in every way: intelligent, inquisitive, thoughtful, and wise." He recalled that a visit to Billie and her late husband, Laurence, was one of his first assignments as Skidmore president. He had dinner with them in March 1987, before officially assuming office and confessed, "I was scared to death. But it was a wonderful evening. I had a chance to get to know her, and from that time I've known that she is a truly great woman who is also supremely modest and gracious."

Porter continued, "When she loves something, she loves it in a special way. This is particularly true of her family, her children and grandchildren, and I think that Skidmore College has come into that circle. Her generosity is legion. I value her as a wonderful, wise friend."

Before he assumes his Skidmore duties, Porter will teach this coming fall at Indiana University in Bloomington as the Case Visiting Professor of Classics. His responsibilities there will include an undergraduate lecture course on Greek tragedy and comedy and a graduate course on Aeschylus, as well as a public lecture on Horace. It will be the latest in a line of appointments that Porter has fulfilled, as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar and as a sought-after lecturer. In addition, he has published numerous articles in both academic and popular publications, as well as seven books. He also has maintained an active performance schedule, presenting piano concerts around the country and regularly at Skidmore. Local audiences will have a chance to hear him in March, when he presents the Concord Sonata by Charles Ives on March 30 in Filene Recital Hall.