On June 14, 2022, Vice Provost Shelly Chabon, Ph.D. announced that Dr. Alex Sager has agreed to serve as the Executive Director of University Studies, effective September 16, 2022. Please join us in welcoming Alex!
Alex joined Portland State University in 2009 as a shared-line faculty in Philosophy and University Studies and most recently served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy. His history with UNST is long and strong. Alex has taught FRINQ, SINQ, nine separate junior cluster classes, and the Philosophy for Children Capstone. He is a social and political philosopher who has published widely in the philosophy of migration, including the recent books Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility: The Migrant’s-Eye View of the World (Palgrave Pivot 2018) and Against Borders: Why the World Needs Free Movement of People (Rowman and Littlefield International 2020). In his role as department chair, Alex worked to diversify the philosophy curriculum through partnerships with the School of Gender, Race, and Nations, created a Philosophical Writing major requirement, and led the department’s efforts to develop an online “flex” degree. He has also served widely on the Faculty Senate, including two years as co-chair of the Education Policy Committee. Finally, Alex is the founder of the Oregon High School Ethics Bowl that has brought together hundreds of high school students, teachers, PSU undergraduates and faculty, and community members in ethical conversation.
As University Studies Executive Director, Alex is looking forward to continuing ongoing work on student success and career readiness, integrating PSU’s new Race and Ethnic Studies requirements into general education, and strengthening collaborations and connections with Portland-area K-12 schools.
Alex is especially excited to initiate conversations about how to use our general education curriculum to support a junior transfer experience so that transfer students benefit from University Studies’ decades of experience in supporting students’ academic and life success.
Special Thanks to the Executive Director of University Studies Search Committee
Linda George, Chair
Interim University Studies Director
Chris Carey
UNST shared-line faculty representative
Marie Lo
UNST Junior Cluster Coordinator representative
Meredith Michaud
UNST Mentor Program Representative
Sarah Newlands
UNST Associate Exec. Director
Pronoy Rai
UNST Council representative
Sonja Taylor
UNST full-time faculty representative