Kurt Bedell is the director of digital marketing in University Communications at Portland State University. He leads the university’s digital strategy across a decentralized web ecosystem—connecting SEO, analytics, campaign design, and content structure to support recruitment, enrollment, and institutional storytelling.
Kurt serves as the de facto content lead for pdx.edu, helping guide content strategy, user experience, and standards across PSU’s more than 200 individual school, college and unit websites. He collaborates with partners across campus—including Enrollment Management, OIT, and academic units—to improve performance, ensure brand consistency, and make PSU’s digital presence more useful and accessible to all users.
He began his tenure at Oregon’s urban research university in 2015 as the School of Social Work’s first marketing and communications manager. Since then, he has held multiple leadership roles in University Communications, where he has stewarded major institutional initiatives including Commencement, Portland State of Mind, summer term marketing, and the university’s transition to GA4 and tag management.
Before joining PSU, Kurt spent over two decades in the private sector leading marketing, communications, and business development efforts, with 17 of those years at Apple. His work spanned higher education strategy, channel development, product storytelling, and customer engagement across the U.S. and Europe. He made the transition to higher education because he believes deeply in its ability to transform lives and expand opportunity, especially for students from underserved communities.
The product of multiple generations of educators, Kurt grew up in the small Midwestern town of Holland, Michigan, studied history at Northwestern University, and taught ninth-grade English in Bangkok, Thailand his first year after college. He has called Portland home off and on since 1995 and currently lives in the Belmont district.