Greetings friends!
I hope that you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer. Fall is in the air - the weather is a little cooler, the days are a little shorter, and campus is coming back to life! There is a lot going on here at the Toulan School, and I’m excited to share that with you.
New students are always the highlight of the new academic year. We are excited to welcome the largest incoming Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) cohort in the program’s 50-year history - 50 students! This abundance of MURP students is an indicator of how compelling the planning profession is at a moment when our communities and our planet face so many urgent challenges. And at the same time, this fall we are welcoming the first students into our newly-launched Community, Urban Studies and Planning (CUSP) undergraduate major. Some of these CUSP students have moved over from our existing Community Development major, but others are new to the Toulan School and in many cases, to PSU overall.
We have some new faces - or people in new roles - around the Toulan School and the College. In August, CUPA welcomed its first permanent Dean since 2019 - Dr. Jeremy Youde. Dean Youde is a political scientist whose scholarship focuses on global health politics, and joins us from the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD), where he was Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for five years. Within the Toulan School, Norene Hough has joined the faculty in a full-time capacity as a Senior Instructor and interim Director of Undergraduate Programs. Elsewhere, Dr. Matthew Gebhardt is stepping into the role of MURP Program Director, and Dr. Aaron Golub is stepping in as Urban Studies Program Director.
And in January, retiring U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer will be joining PSU as a Presidential Fellow, working with the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies (IMS) to support engaged work on Portland’s revitalization. Toulan School Professor Dr. Jennifer Dill will be working with Rep. Blumenauer as an IMS Faculty Fellow, helping to connect his efforts to the faculty and student resources of the Toulan School and CUPA overall. This is undoubtedly a huge win for PSU, and for Portland as a whole.
In many ways, this is a challenging time for PSU. The University faces an $18 million structural budget deficit that is the result of many years of declining student enrollments, which it has committed to addressing through a process that will likely involve a reduction in program offerings, and the loss of faculty and staff positions around campus. This is going to be a hard process, but I am optimistic that they will be informed by our shared mission and values as a public institution, and a strategic vision of PSU’s unique assets and future imperatives. As the urban school in the urban college in an urban university, the Toulan School is foundational to PSU’s future.
As always, I want to close by encouraging you to give to one of our many impactful funds now. Your support always matters, but especially at a time like now.
I hope to see you around campus!
Sincerely,
Greg Schrock, PhD
Associate Professor and School Director