News

Celebrating leadership through partnership

ONE OF THOSE PERFECT Portland days fell on May 1. The sun was shining and the air was clear, as I was officially sworn in as president of Portland State University.

Faculty, students, and alumni, who inspire me every day with their passion for teaching and their love of learning, joined in the celebration. The daylong event was also attended by people in the city and the larger region, who have made my family and me feel so welcome, and who from day one have told me how much they want PSU to be a great and stellar university. I was also grateful to have family and friends present from around the country and from the Netherlands.

I feel so fortunate to be president of this amazing, life changing, and innovative University. I believe Portland State is headed toward a glorious future—one that it and Oregon deserves. What makes this University destined for greatness is its leadership through partnership, a focus that in my view pervades who we are and what we do.

At inauguration, we reaffirmed and expanded a key civic partnership with the city of Portland. The mayor and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding that extends our joint economic development planning. We will make sure that our degree offerings educate people for the occupations most needed, while enhancing our analysis of the region's economy and development of the campus as a eco-district using best practices in energy and water management.

For the University, partnerships are a way of life. Each year, our students take on more than 200 community projects their senior year. Our joint taskforce with the Portland Public Schools has recommended ways to improve teacher training and college readiness. We partner with many other public organizations as well as industry, and plan to expand on these relationships.

This past year has been one of the most rewarding, challenging, and intellectually stimulating of my life. I am honored to be part of so many lives, and thank all who make this University and this region so wonderful.

[photos: A DAY OF PAGEANTRY President Wim Wiewel poses with his wife, Alice, (top right) following his swearing in as eighth president of Portland State University. Drummers from Hillsboro Century High School and Portland Royal Rosarians (bottom right) led the procession of faculty, including education professor Samuel Henry (second from top on left), down the Park Blocks. Earlier in the day, Oregon Congressional Rep. Earl Blumenauer (bottom left) spoke at a campus town hall on University-community partnerships.]