On June 20, Outgoing Portland State President Wim Wiewel announced he will become Lewis & Clark College President in October.
“Today, Lewis & Clark College will announce that they have appointed me as their 25th president. I will be starting on October 1.
This is a change from my original plan, which was to take a year-long sabbatical and then return as a part-time faculty member at PSU’s Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. As my final day as PSU’s president came closer, several organizations began to approach me about other opportunities. Most of these were of no interest to me, since Alice and I definitely wanted to stay in Portland.
Accepting the presidency at Lewis & Clark will allow us to stay in the community we’ve come to love and call home. It will allow us to continue to be deeply involved in shaping higher education and contribute to Portland’s success.
As previously planned, I will continue to serve as Portland State’s president until Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi becomes PSU’s ninth president on August 14. I will be available to assist him in the transition as needed, since I will still be close by. Lewis & Clark and PSU are sufficiently different that there’s little or no overlap or competition between our two institutions. In fact, I think there are opportunities for future collaboration.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve as your president, for all the support we’ve received over the years, and for the many warm wishes of the last few weeks. I am proud of everything we have accomplished together during my nine years at PSU. I will miss you all. But I’m sure I will be seeing many of you in the community in the months and years ahead.
Go Viks!”