Dear Pitt Community Members:

I interrupt your spring recess to share some important news: Portland State University’s Board of Trustees voted earlier today and confirmed Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Ann E. Cudd as the institution’s next president.

Thankfully for us, Ann will continue to serve as provost until her departure, which is set for midsummer. And, despite the inevitable feeling of loss that accompanies such a move, Portland’s recruitment and selection of Ann—a successful leader and bright talent—is hardly unexpected.

Since her arrival to Pitt in 2018, Ann has advanced changes that will have a lasting impact on our institution. Some of her many accomplishments as provost include:

  1. Launching the Pitt Success Pell Match program, which necessitated the largest restructuring of financial aid in our university’s history to help make a world-class Pitt education more accessible and affordable.
  2. Establishing the Provost Academy, a summer bridge program to help students thrive in their first year at Pitt and access opportunities for support throughout their undergraduate career.
  3. Driving an unprecedented demand for a Pitt education, with a record 73,000 applications received in 2022 and the application count on track to climb even higher in 2023.
  4. Overseeing two systemwide cluster hire initiatives—still underway—that have significantly increased the number of faculty hired, promoted and retained in the fields of Latinx issues as well as Race and Social Determinants of Equity, Health and Well-Being.
  5. Hiring two regional campus president positions and four deans (including chairing the search that brought Dr. Anantha Shekhar to Pitt).

It is hardly surprising that the University of Pittsburgh has served as the No. 1 public university in Pennsylvania under Ann’s strong leadership—a position we have held throughout her tenure at Pitt.

Please join me in congratulating Ann on this incredible and well-deserved move!

Sincerely,

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher