Portland State University announces next president

Ann E. Cudd

Portland State University selected Ann E. Cudd as its next president on Friday. Cudd appeared in person at the board of trustees meeting at which she was unanimously appointed. Now the provost of the University of Pittsburgh, she will take over at PSU in August.Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Ann E. Cudd will be the next president of Portland State University, the school’s board of trustees decided in a unanimous vote on Friday morning.

Cudd is currently the provost at the University of Pittsburgh, a 35,000 student public school.

At the board meeting Friday, Cudd acknowledged she’s joining Portland State at a “critical” time, as the college and the country grapple with the aftermath of a global pandemic, a reckoning with racial injustice and extremist political divisions. Portland’s homelessness crisis has hit the campus as students struggle with economic challenges, Cudd said, and the college can no longer fully sustain some of its innovative programs due to enrollment declines.

“But Portland is a great city and Portland State University shines as a strong beacon,” Cudd said. “I firmly believe that we can overcome these challenges and together ignite a renaissance for Portland and Portland State. Indeed, I believe it so strongly that I’m betting my future on it.”

A university news release said Cudd’s first priorities will be to make campus “vibrant and full of people,” boost enrollment and involve Portland State in city improvement efforts including the voter-mandated remaking of city government.

Cudd will start as Portland State’s president in August, taking over from Stephen Percy who plans to retire. Percy took over as Portland State’s interim president in 2019 and was officially appointed to the role the following year. Cudd will be the second woman to run the 22,000 student institution.

In a news release, board chair Greg Hinckley said Cudd stood out for her commitment to academic excellence, community engagement and equity and inclusion efforts. In her application, Cudd wrote that she commissioned an optional class for University of Pittsburgh students on anti-Black racism that over 98% of freshmen chose to complete, hired a new vice provost for faculty diversity after the murder of George Floyd and launched a financial aid program that improved college access for low-income and minority students.

“I am confident she is the leader who will carry the Portland State torch into the future, lighting the way for Portland’s renaissance,” Hinckley said.

Cudd beat out Kathy Johnson, vice chancellor at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, for the job. Both finalists visited campus last month for interviews with students and staff on campus in a public hiring process.

Oregon’s universities are not required to make their presidential hiring process public and several boards have in the past conducted the search behind closed doors.

Cudd has served as University of Pittsburgh provost since 2018. Before that she worked as the dean of arts and sciences at Boston University and as a professor and dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas.

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Sami Edge covers higher education for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430.

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