Portland State Magazine Spring 2017

SPRING 2017 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 15 F OR NINE YEARS, Wim Wiewel has been the face of PSU. He arrived from the University of Baltimore with a big agenda to move the University forward in everything from sustainability to the way it partners with busi- nesses and government. He achieved most of the items on his to-do list and ushered PSU through unexpected changes, including breaking away from the statewide university system and deputizing the campus’s security force. Now it’s time to move on. He's stepping down as Portland State president this summer after helping the transition of PSU's next president, Rahmat Shoureshi, who starts on August 14. Looking back, he points to three accomplish- ments of which he’s most proud: forming PSU’s first independent board of trustees, modernizing the campus, and making the University more wel- coming to students of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. SOON AFTER arriving at Portland State, Wiewel took over the effort to give public universities in the state, including PSU, more autonomy by creating individual boards. “Based on our research, I concluded it would be better for PSU to have its own board. We’d have a stronger group of advocates for the institution, and we’d be more nimble,” he says. “I liked the idea of getting rid of a lot of bureaucracy.” The initiative to divorce from the State Board of Higher Education had started at the University of Oregon. The board fired its president, Richard Lariviere, over his aggressive pursuit of the idea. That left Wiewel as the main proponent for inde- pendence, going against the opinions of the other Oregon universities. It took a lot of work and a lot of politicking to get it through the Oregon Legislature. Not surpris- ingly, some of the staunchest objections came from the state board and the chancellor’s office—both of which were dismantled in 2015 as a result of the legislation. Wiewel says establishing an independent board of trustees immediately raised PSU’s stature. “When I came, there was UO, OSU, and the four regionals. PSU was sort of in-between: too big for the kid’s table; too small for the adult’s table,” he says. “Nobody thinks that anymore. We’re one of the big three now. End of story.” Wiewel tapped international businessman Pete Nickerson, who was on the PSU Foundation Board, to lead the new PSU Board of Trustees. Nickerson was reluctant at first, but says he was so impressed by Wiewel and the other people he wanted to bring to the board that he said yes. “He really got my attention,” Nickerson says. “I listened to what he had to say, and what he said made a lot of sense. In a very short period of time I realized here was one of those unique humans who does what they say they’re going to do. That’s an unusual characteristic.” Within a few months, the new board was embroiled in the decision to create a sworn campus police force, budget deliberations and annual tuition increases—all of which drew protests from student groups. “It was a test by fire of our ability to cooper- ate,” Nickerson says. “Three years later we’re still together.” MEANWHILE, constant building has been changing the look of the University. Construction is entering the final phase at the Karl Miller Center, an expansion and remodel for the School of Business Administration. Wiewel calls the center the crown jewel of all the building projects that have taken place during his presidency. It was the one he was most involved with; he worked with his wife, Alice, an architect, on the nature of the overall design. The center is set to open in the fall. It’s one of 10 campus building projects com- pleted or initiated during Wiewel’s tenure—more than one for every year he’s been president. The projects include a massive renovation of Science Building II, which was renamed the Science Research and Teaching Center; completion of the Collaborative Life Sciences Center on the South Waterfront; the ongoing construction of the Viking Pavilion; the initiation of a renovation of Neuberger Hall; and upcoming construction of a building at Southwest Fourth and Montgomery that will house the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health and the PSU Graduate School of Education. WR I T T E N B Y J OHN K I RK LAND