Portland State University Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday to name Dr. Ann E. Cudd as the university’s 11th president.
Cudd will join PSU this summer after she closes out her current role as Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh. She succeeds PSU President Stephen Percy who announced his retirement last year.
“Dr. Ann Cudd stood out to the Board of Trustees for her commitments to academic excellence, community engagement, the importance of equity and inclusion, and her deeply held belief in the powerful role that an urban-serving university can play in our region,” said PSU Board of Trustees Chair Greg Hinckley. “I am confident she is the leader who will carry the Portland State torch into the future, lighting the way for Portland’s renaissance.”
Cudd will assume her presidential tenure at PSU in August.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this university,” Cudd said. “Portland State’s mission to Let Knowledge Serve the City and to open the doors of opportunity for students from all backgrounds aligns exactly with my core values and with the kind of work that I have done at the University of Pittsburgh. I am extremely excited to take on this role leading a university located in the middle of a beautiful, progressive city that has captured my heart.”
Cudd, the second woman to serve as PSU’s president in its 76-year history, said her initial priorities as president will be to restore the university’s downtown campus vitality. “I want to see the campus vibrant and full of people once again,” she said.
She is also keen to ensure that the university plays an active role in the city of Portland’s revival, using the example of the city’s current charter reform process and suggesting ways that PSU can act as a convener of citizens and experts to help inform and shape that effort.
Getting more students to enroll at Portland State is also high on her list. “There is a national challenge in re-engaging potential students, especially among low-income and first-generation students, with higher education,” she said. “PSU is perfectly positioned to turn that around.”
Benjamin Berry, who as vice chair of the PSU Board of Trustees led the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, said he was thrilled to bring the news of Cudd’s hire to the Portland community.
“Dr. Cudd’s successful appointment comes as the result of an engaged and transparent search process that garnered feedback and participation from throughout the Portland State campus and across the city,” Berry said. “I am grateful for the participation and feedback that the Board of Trustees received throughout this process and I am confident that it has resulted in the best outcome for PSU’s future.”
Cudd will relocate to Portland from western Pennsylvania where she has led academic operations at the 34,000-student, five-campus University of Pittsburgh since 2018. During her tenure at Pitt, applications have increased by 60% and Cudd was instrumental in the university offering enhanced financial aid through the Pitt Success Pell Match, similar to PSU’s Tuition-Free Degree Program. She has also been instrumental in promoting racial justice and equity initiatives, including the development of an online course for incoming students on racism in America.
Prior to Pitt, Cudd served at another urban university as Boston University’s Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, that school’s largest college. While at Boston, she developed an experiential learning program, Metrobridge, which takes on real world projects from the community into classes, similar to PSU’s capstone program.
Cudd holds three advanced degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, including a doctorate of philosophy and master’s degrees in philosophy and economics. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Swarthmore College. She has held faculty positions at the University of Kansas, Occidental College, Boston University and the University of Pittsburgh.