Join Me in Learning From the Best

Portland State’s student demographics are changing, reflecting the changing demographics of our nation. Our university is and has always been about opening opportunities for everyone; it’s one of the reasons I was attracted to the job as your president.

This dynamic institution, which for many years has been the most diverse public university in Oregon, has a full-time undergraduate student population that became majority BIPOC in 2022 and this fall received its first federal designation as a Minority Serving Institution, with a $2 million grant to support our Asian American and Native Pacific Islander students. We expect to soon earn our status as a Hispanic Serving Institution and we’re continuing to move forward on the goals outlined in our Time to Act Plan for Racial Justice and Equity.

All of that adds up to a significant shift in identity and focus for Portland State. In many ways, becoming a Minority Serving Institution (or MSI) is a natural evolution of the access mission we were founded with in 1946. PSU has a national reputation for its success in improving the social and economic mobility of its graduates — improving futures is what we’ve done for decades. But how do we build upon that success while seizing this new opportunity to be a regional model for serving underrepresented students?

To help us answer that question, we’ve arranged to have some of the best leaders of minority serving and majority BIPOC institutions come to PSU to share with us their best practices and inspire us in our journey to make sure that we live up to the promise of all of our students.

These speakers embody PSU’s mission-driven, student-centered and community-engaged ethos, but bring with them unique perspectives and experiences that we can learn from.

PSU will become the premier MSI in the Pacific Northwest, but we have a few things to learn before we get there. Please join me this winter and spring for the Presidential Speaker Series, culminating in a symposium this spring to reflect on what we’ve heard and adapt it to our unique future.

We’ll hear from:

• Angélica Garcia, president and superintendent of Santa Rosa Junior College, a Hispanic Serving Institution in Sonoma County, California.
• Rowena Tomaneng, president of San José City College, which is focused on providing opportunities to underserved students in the heart of Silicon Valley.
• Frances Arpan, president of Haskell Indian Nations University, which is enhancing an institutional vision to expand opportunities for Tribal students.
• Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn University, a historically black college in Texas that champions an Urban Work College Model.
• Kim Wilcox, chancellor of University of California, Riverside, a majority BIPOC institution that was named the No. 1 college for social mobility for four years running.

Find more details on the Presidential Speaker Series web page and I’ll see you on Tuesday, January 23 at 5:30 in the Smith Ballroom as we start this journey with Dr. Garcia.