News

Portland State University (PSU) is proud to announce the appointment of Christopher Broderick as assistant vice president for communications and marketing at PSU. Broderick is the politics and education editor at The Oregonian, the state’s largest newspaper, overseeing a team of reporters who cover politics, state government, the congressional delegation, schools, higher education, social services, and the environment. He will start at Portland State on May 3.

"We had several great candidates for this position," said Wim Wiewel, president of PSU. "But Chris has the perfect background to help us tell the PSU story to a broader global audience."

Broderick joined The Oregonian in 1998. His team has won dozens of national and regional journalism awards for their agenda-setting coverage of high school reform, foster care and child protection, the influence of lobbyists and special interests on the Legislature, Oregon’s boom-bust tax and spending system, and other issues. For example, the coverage has resulted in new state laws and rules to curb spiraling “green energy” tax subsidies for companies that don’t need them, protect schoolchildren from abusive teachers, and create more aggressive oversight of Oregon’s College Savings Plan.

"Chris Broderick's contribution to The Oregonian over the past 12 years isn't easy to put into words,” said Peter Bahatia, editor of The Oregonian. “He has been a standard-setter, always pushing us to better stories and always keeping us focused on our obligations to readers. But more than anything else, he has defined excellence in our coverage of education and politics, driving great watchdog story after watchdog story into print. Our readers have benefitted mightily from his efforts, as have all of us."

Previously, Broderick worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas covering education, politics, city and state government, urban affairs, and other beats. He is a native of Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Humboldt State University and a master’s degree in legal studies from Yale Law School.

“I’m excited about all the opportunities at Portland State,” said Broderick. “The urban mission of the university, the civic engagement initiatives, the education and community partnerships, the growing diversity of students and all the work that the faculty does to make the region a better place – all of that adds up to a vital and growing campus in the heart of a dynamic, 21st-century city.”

Broderick and his wife, Mary Gay, live in Portland with their three daughters, who attend Portland Public Schools. 

About Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) serves as a center of opportunity for over 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located in Portland, Oregon, one of the nation’s most livable cities, the University’s innovative approach to education combines academic rigor in the classroom with field-based experiences through internships and classroom projects with community partners. The University’s 49-acre downtown campus exhibits Portland State’s commitment to sustainability with green buildings, while many of the 125 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees incorporate sustainability into the curriculum. PSU’s motto, “Let Knowledge Serve the City,” inspires the teaching and research of an accomplished faculty whose work and students span the globe.
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