Portland State Magazine Spring 2017

16 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2017 RAHMAT SHOURESHI, a champion of collaborative learning, innovative research and community engagement, was unanimously selected by the PSU Board of Trustees to be the ninth president of Portland State University starting in August. “He is an ideal fit for PSU because of his vision and initiatives to enhance research, increase educational and professional opportunities for students, develop community partnerships and boost philanthropy,” says Board Chairman Pete Nickerson. A mechanical engineer, Shoureshi (pronounced Shoe-re- she) has been a university administrator and academic for the past 38 years. He is currently interim president at New York Institute of Technology, where he was provost from 2011 until this recent appointment. As president and provost, he has overseen all university operations, academic programs and faculty of NYIT, which has two campuses in New York, two medical schools, four global campuses and joint degree programs in eight countries. Prior to joining NYIT, Shoureshi served as dean of the University of Denver’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, was a top administrator and professor of engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, and was also an administrator and professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. During his tenure at NYIT and University of Denver, Shoureshi helped increase research funding to an all-time high and raised multimillion-dollar funding for construction of a new engineering building. He also initiated advanced degree programs in partnership with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman and led creation of several new cross-disciplinary degree programs and centers that brought together art, medicine, business, engineering and education to focus on innovations in pedagogy and technology entrepreneurship. An active researcher, Shoureshi earned advanced degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Iran, his native country. He holds nine U.S. patents for biomedical and engineering systems, sensors and devices. “Rahmat Shoureshi’s leadership experience and accomplishments at several prestigious universities will bring the innovation, entrepreneurship and operational knowledge to take Portland State to the next level,” says Nickerson.  CHANGE was also happening to support PSU’s diverse stu- dent body and culture. When Wiewel came to Portland State, the University had two cultural centers and neither exclusively served Latino students, who comprised a large part of the Portland Public Schools population. Now it has five, including the La Casa Latina Student Center. He established the Task Force for Latino Student Success with Carlos Crespo, director of the School of Community Health. That effort resulted in the new center and the hiring of more Spanish-speaking staff for outreach and financial aid. “We did a whole bunch of things to make us more hospitable to Latino students,” says Wiewel. “And it’s paid off: We’ve more than doubled our Latino enrollment, and our Latino student retention and graduation rates are the same or slightly higher than non-Hispanic whites. There’s no achievement gap.” PSU’s Pan-African Commons and the Pacific Islander, Asian and Asian American Student Center, created within the past two years, were also products of that effort toward greater diversity. And at the beginning of this academic year, Wiewel declared the University a sanctuary campus, which means PSU will not—unless compelled by law—share confidential student information, including immigration status; consent to immigration enforcement activities on campus; or enforce immigration law. Wiewel can point to other successes too, but also a few disappointments, including not being able to put a business tax initiative, which would have brought in $35 million a year in much-needed revenue to the University, on the local ballot. PSU pushed for the initiative in 2016, but decided to abandon it because of business opposition and board concerns. Instead of the tax initiative, PSU joined with the local business community to form the College Affordability and Success Coalition, which seeks $25 million a year for need- based scholarships and faculty and staff support. “I’m very encouraged with where that’s going, but we’re not there yet,” Wiewel says. He and Alice are still exploring what comes next, but they plan to stay in Portland and stay involved in higher education, but also travel a lot. As Wiewel says, "there's a lot to be seen and still a lot to be done."  John Kirkland is a staff member in the PSU Office of University Communications. A L ASTI NG LEGACY NEW PRESIDENT CHOSEN