The PSU board is expected to make a decision at its next meeting, with an announcement in the next few weeks.
Portland State University is inching closer to getting their new leader. The two finalists are both in leadership positions at large universities. Presidential finalists recently met with PSU’s Board of Trustees and the wider campus community.
Candidate Ann Cudd is provost, senior vice chancellor and a professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. The other candidate Kathy Johnson is executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis.
The board will meet this week in a private, executive meeting with the goal of choosing the university’s new leader, though the university says the official announcement likely won’t come until a few weeks later. PSU had selected a third finalist, but the candidate dropped out before visiting campus.
According to the profile, the university expects the next president to “develop and implement a plan for the long-term financial health of the university in an era of declining enrollments” while still balancing other priorities like student affordability and compensation for staff and faculty.
Dr. Cudd and Dr. Johnson are coming in after a positive experience from the previous president. Stephen Percy will retire at the end of this academic year. He’s been at PSU since 2014. He was first a professor before becoming the university’s president. He took over as interim president in 2019 and became the university’s permanent president in 2020.
