March 16, 2026
Dear Students:
There has been a lot of chatter and media attention regarding potential changes to academic departments at Portland State and I am writing to you today to reinforce my previous message to students.
Let me start with the bottom line for all our current students: Your ability to receive your degree in your chosen field will not be affected.
Additional important details:
- Any impacted program with current students will have a completion plan that guarantees those students the ability to complete their degree in a timely manner.
- No final decisions have been made about department or program eliminations, reductions or layoffs.
- We expect to announce final decisions in June. In the meantime, there are important discussions being conducted by Faculty Senate and between the faculty union and administration.
Our decision making process has been guided by the Bridge to the Future 2.0 plan; academic programs have been collaboratively examined through the Plan for Institutional Vitality and Organizational Transformation (PIVOT), which is guiding our decisions about program changes. Oversight committees for these processes have included student representation, and I am grateful for the critical input that those representatives have provided.
If you have any questions and/or would like to get involved further around these issues, please email the Associated Students of Portland State (ASPSU) at askaspsu@pdx.edu.
For more information, students can visit the Building a Resilient Future page or contact their advisor.
Good luck on finals and Go Viks!
Ann Cudd
PSU President