Portland State Magazine Fall 2008

One ofWiewel's first tasks as acting head of the business school was co work with key faculty co refresh the school's strategic priorities, including an ambitious push co make ir one of the cop 10 comprehensive urban business schools in the country. A year later, W iewel won out in a national search co become the college's permanent dean, and was well on his way co achieving his goals for the school. During his first three years ofleadership, rhe business college moved up from 94th co 49th in US News & World Report's undergraduate college of business national rankings. He increased full-rime tenured and tenure-track faculty by almost 15 percent, which reduced class sizes and expanded course offerings. In rhe process, he infused rhe college with new energy and high expectations. Wiewel served four years as the dean ofUIC's College of Business Adminiscracion. His crowning achievement was land– ing a $5 million gift co establish rhe Liautaud Graduate School of Business. "He was so successful rhac the faculty-economists, man– agement, and information science professors-chose him co be their permanent dean," says David C. Perry, UIC colleague and scholarly collaborator. "That exemplifies Wim. His admin– istrative skill cuts across disciplines. He truly is an administra– tive and intellectual leader who asks the questions and finds the practices that best exemplify the university as an urban anchor." WIEWEL, 58 , was chosen in May as the eighth president of Portland State University. A career academic, Wiewel has a well-documented passion for building urban university programs chat make the cities surrounding them better places to live. A case in point: The UIC Great Cities program created in the early 1990s co address key urban issues in Chicago and around rhe globe. Wiewel was given the task of developing the derails of the program. One of chose specifics, generated through a series of com– mittee and town hall meetings, was the Neighborhoods Initia– tive. Ar Wiewel's suggestion, rhe university worked with two neighborhoods bordering the UIC campus: the primarily African American Near West Side and the mostly Latino Pilsen neighborhoods. TI1rough the initiative, the university created collaborations with the neighborhoods' community, business, school, and health agencies. Substantial federal grants funded research and community programs co improve the quality of life in both neighborhoods. The Grear Cities program is still an integral part of the UIC mission, bringing in millions of dollars in funding annually. "Certainly the Great Cities project is Wim's legacy here," says Joe Persky, a professor of economics at UIC and another frequent Wiewel collaboraror. "He brought people in from all over the world and involved them in research and com– munity development. The Neighborhoods Initiative has made a huge difference here in Chicago. Ir's still one of the defining programs of chis university." A VISIONARY with a wide-ranging intellect is revealed in Wiewel's 25-page resume. It shows a man who has headed major efforrs in academic program development, published books and papers on long-term strategic planning for large cities, presented papers ar major conferences from Shanghai co Belfast, and chaired committees and boards addressing some of the most fundamental challenges facing U.S. cities today. Wiewel holds a master's in sociology and urban planning from University ofAmsterdam, where he was born, and a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University. FA LL 2008 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 9