Rick Tankersley named Graduate School Dean

Portland State University President Ann Cudd announced that Rick Tankersley, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at PSU, will assume the duties of Dean of the Graduate School effective immediately.

Tankersley brings a wealth of experience in graduate education, having served as a Program Director in the Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation and as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Former Dean of the Graduate School Rossitza Wooster is transitioning into a special administrative assignment in the Office of the Provost and will return to the faculty in the Department of Economics in the fall of 2025.

"Dr. Tankersley brings a wealth of experience to this new role that I know will serve our graduate programs and their students very well. His leadership will be invaluable as we continue to advance our commitment to academic excellence and innovation" said President Cudd. "I am also grateful to Dr. Wooster for her exceptional service to our university community as Dean of the Graduate School since 2018."

Wooster's tenure included the following accomplishments:

• She established a partnership with the Library to design and build the Thomas C. Bielavitz Graduate Student Collaboration Hub which is the first ever space on the PSU campus dedicated to graduate students.
• She spearheaded the campus-wide adoption of Slate in collaboration with OIT and Enrollment Management to implement this modern application platform and oversaw its first-stage integration with other information systems at PSU.
• She continuously initiated and oversaw revisions of PSU's graduate policies such as official transcript requirements, continuous enrollment for doctoral students, and graduate program dashboards in Tableau, among others, in order to increase access, remove barriers, and elevate graduate student success.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as Dean of the Graduate School at PSU for the past seven years," Wooster said. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the Graduate School staff for their dedication, creativity and camaraderie. I cannot be more proud of all the accomplishments we made over the years toward elevating graduate student success and raising the visibility of graduate education both at PSU and throughout the western region."