Wim Wiewel heads into final stretch with high regards

Wim Wiewel is likely to become the next Portland State president. Comments by State Board of Higher Education members after an executive session interview with Wiewel Tuesday indicate that they think highly of the candidate’s experience, knowledge and personality.

“I think he is charismatic and very articulate, and would do an effective job as a spokesperson for the university,” said Dalton Miller-Jones, a professor of psychology in the Black Studies department and board member, after the executive session. “I am encouraged by his candidacy and who he is.”

“I think he has a tremendous skill set,” said Brian Fox, a board member and a student at Southern Oregon University. “There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity.”

The two other finalists for the PSU presidency dropped out of the race earlier this month, leaving Wiewel as the final candidate in the running for PSU’s top office.

The board will decide whether to hire Wiewel, the current provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at the University of Baltimore, at their meeting Friday in Smith Memorial Student Union, room 327. The meeting begins at 8 a.m.

If the board chooses not to hire Wiewel, the search for a new president would restart.

George Pernsteiner, the chancellor of the Oregon University System, had a one-on-one interview with Wiewel on Monday and said Wiewel has come across as positive and very interested in Portland State.

“During our discussions, I was pleased with his understanding and vision for a connected urban university,” said Pernsteiner, who was the vice president of finance and administration at PSU until 2003. “I am very intrigued by him and interested as a candidate.”

Jim Francesconi, a member of the board and the chair of the search committee that selected the three finalists for the job, said Wiewel has the experience and understanding to help improve Portland State.

“I’m excited about the candidate,” Francesconi said.

After Tuesday’s executive session, Wiewel ate lunch at Market Street Pub with PSU officials Rod Diman and Amy Ross, who hold two of the closest positions to the president. Ross, the executive assistant to the president, has full access to the president’s schedule and works closely with the president on a daily basis. Diman, who is the special assistant to the president, serves as a catchall confidant, aide and one of the best sources of institutional memory at PSU.

Wiewel is the last of three finalists still interested in the job after the other two candidates dropped out of the race in the span of two weeks. Jon Whitmore, the president of Texas Tech University, pulled his name on April 16. Just a week later, Kathie Olsen, the deputy director of the National Science Foundation, withdrew from the race.

PSU student body president Rudy Soto, who was on the presidential search committee, said last week that he thinks it would make sense for people to see this as a failed search. “I don’t think that this looks good from an outsider’s perspective,” he said on Friday.

The dropouts do not mean the search has failed, however, Francesconi said. He told the Vanguard on Monday that the search for a new PSU president is not a “horse race” and that it is important to find someone who is the best fit for the university.

“PSU needs a strong, confident, open leader who wants diversity and to work with students,” said Hannah Fisher, the 2008-09 PSU student body president-elect and Board of Higher Education member.

“The board wouldn’t pick someone who didn’t qualify,” Fisher said about her thoughts of Wiewel.