Richard Kneedler has worked in higher education for over 40 years, is President Emeritus of Franklin & Marshall College, and was Interim President of Rockford College (IL). As Operating Officer of Ann Duffield & Colleagues he assists Ann in practice management.
During Dick’s 14-year tenure as President at Franklin & Marshall (1988-2002), the College created a new curriculum; increased enrollment of high-achieving students, including higher numbers of international students; improved the six-year graduation rate to over 80%; enhanced special opportunities for most students (e.g. first-year seminars, independent study, summer research fellowships, and study abroad); quadrupled endowment to over $300,000,000; built new or comprehensively renovated arts, science, library, recreation, residential and commercial facilities; began a new, large community service program and a new Center for Liberal Arts and Society; increased Faculty numbers and reduced the student/faculty ratio to below 11/1; and continued the College’s traditions of financial discipline, balanced budgets, operating surpluses, and an improving balance sheet. F&M also conducted two campaigns that raised nearly $200,000,000 under Dick’s leadership.
At Rockford College (May 2006-November 2007), Dick was asked to build on the College’s academic strengths and ties to the Rockford community, stabilize finances, address debt issues, explore partnership opportunities, and prepare the way for the appointment of a settled president. In one and a half years, the College reversed seven years of budget deficits, reduced debt, restored credit relationships, increased visibility, located a willing partner (ultimately not chosen) and strengthened its management team. The presidential search was successful and the new President took office in June 2008.
Since Dick’s retirement from Franklin & Marshall, he has served as consultant to dozens of independent colleges through the Council of Independent Colleges, The Presidential Practice, and Yaffe & Company. He has written or spoken on higher education finance and strategic issues for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, InsideHigherEd.com, the Council of Independent Colleges, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and the National Association of the Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church. Dick served on the CIC and NAICU boards of directors and was a founder of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, the Annapolis Group of selective liberal arts colleges, and the Centennial (all-sports) Athletic Conference. He co-authored (with Dr. Alice Drum) Funding a College Education: Finding the Right School for Your Child and the Right Fit for Your Budget, a guide to financial aid issues for parents and students published in 1996 by the Harvard Business School Press.
Dick grew up in Western Pennsylvania, attended public schools in Greensburg, PA, the Valley School of Ligonier, and the Kiski School. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Franklin & Marshall and received his Ph.D. in French Language and Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Suzette, have a son and daughter and four grandchildren. They live in Lancaster, PA and Naples, FL.
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