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August 23, 2021

Message from the President

President Deana L. Porterfield

Welcome back!

We are so glad to be celebrating our 156th year since our founding in 1866 by B.T. Roberts. He was a Christian preacher, educator, author and tireless social activist on behalf of people in his time who were oppressed and dismissed by society. The school he founded as Chili Seminary served high school age students, evolving to where we are today. He believed that the solution to bigotry, racism, violence and injustice was education for character; education that connected a person’s head to their heart and their hands. We still believe that. That is still our mission!

I want to thank you for entrusting us with your student; the most valuable and cherished gift you have ever been given. I am a parent and a grandparent, and I know personally how much it means to hold that trust. 

This year on campus we are focused on once again building community – gathering together safely again after a year and a half of restrictions necessitated by the pandemic. All of us are still experiencing and emerging from the effects of Covid-19, and trying our best to move forward with grace and goodwill for each other. Together we can grow and learn what it takes to be part of a healthy community of God’s people, doing his work.  I am excited about the energy and spirit I can feel on campus. It is palpable and I feel it coming from our staff and faculty and most of all from our students. Our faith in God gives us confidence and hope that he will bring us into a future that is good.

Thank you for supporting your student as they become a part of the Roberts Wesleyan College community, and I pray that you too will be energized and encouraged by hope in our loving, living Lord.

With Prayer and Optimism,

Dr. Deana L. Porterfield


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