About the Misher Festival of Arts and Humanities

The Misher Professor Endowment was established by friends of Allen Misher, BS ’59, PhD, H ’95, and named in his honor in 2000 at the University of the Sciences (now Saint Joseph’s University). The endowment was initially designed to offer students – whose majors were primarily in the sciences – deeper and more meaningful experiences in the humanities and fine arts. The inaugural Misher Visiting Professor in Humanities event featured U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky and his “Favorite Poem Project,” a nationwide event designed to “celebrate, document and encourage public appreciation of poetry by inviting people to share their favorite poems, thereby demonstrating the significant role poetry plays in everyday American lives.” Over the past 20 years, the Misher Festival has hosted over 200 events and excursions and welcomed students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to enjoy these experiences. Previous Misher Visiting Professors include a wide range of artists, from Pulitzer Prize and Guggenheim award-winning writers (Laila Lalami, Michael Moss, Sheri Fink, MD, Melanie Rae Thon) to nationally recognized architects and scientists (Danielle Ofri, MD, Kyna Leski, James E. Hayden).

Allen Misher, BS ’59, PhD, H ’95, served as the 19th president of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now a part of Saint Joseph's University) from 1984 to 1994. A 1959 graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP), he earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy summa cum laude; subsequently, he earned a PhD in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. Of his many accomplishments as PCP’s president, none was more significant than strengthening the college’s general education programming. To expand the role of humanities and social sciences, Misher was appointed the first dean of arts and sciences in 1984; this expanded the curriculum for all students and allowed Misher’s vision and passion for education in the humanities and social sciences to transform the college. In 2000, the University of the Sciences' College of Arts and Sciences was renamed Misher College of Arts and Sciences in Misher’s honor.