The First Woman to Lead the Oregon University System

The Oregon State Board of Higher Education appointed Melody Rose as the interim chancellor of the Oregon University System. She is the first woman to lead the state university system which enrolls more than 100,000 students in seven universities. Dr. Rose will assume her new duties on March 2.

Since last August Dr. Rose has served as vice chancellor for academic strategies for the state university system. Previously, she was vice provost for academic programs and instruction and a professor of political science at Portland State University. She had been on the Portland State staff since 1995. Dr. Rose is the co-author of Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009) and the editor of Women and Executive Office: Pathways and Performance (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012).

Dr. Rose is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz. She holds a master’s degree in public administration, a second master’s degree in government, and a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.