Oregon State University has named Jayathi Murthy as its new president.
Murthy, current dean of UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering, was one of two finalists considered to replace F. King Alexander, who resigned in April 2021, amid criticism of his mishandling of sexual misconduct charges while president of Louisiana State University. Alexander served less than a year as the school’s president.
Becky Johnson, who previously served as the vice president of Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, was named interim university president in the wake of Alexander’s departure, becoming the first woman to lead the school in its 157-year history.
The board of trustees voted unanimously to name another trailblazer as university president Tuesday with the selection of Murthy. Murthy is the first woman to serve as dean of UCLA’s engineering school, where she also teaches in the department of mechanics and aerospace. She will become the second woman to lead Oregon State and the first to serve without an interim title.
“I have chosen to join Oregon State University because of the enormous promise of this place and the opportunity to make a difference,” Murthy said at Tuesday’s announcement. “Thank you so much for giving me this chance, this opportunity to serve you.”
Born in India, Murthy was one of two women in a class of more than 200 engineers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, where she studied mechanical engineering. She moved to the United States and earned a master’s degree from Washington State University in 1981 and later her PhD from the University of Minneapolis. Since 1984, Murthy has moved between industry and academia.
Kirk Schueler, chair of the Oregon State board of trustees, applauded Murthy’s leadership in academia and said she embodies the qualities the Oregon State community was looking for in its new president.
“Advancing diversity, equity and inclusion is a deeply held conviction and central to her work as an educator,” Schueler said.
Trustees selected Murthy over Charles Martinez, dean of the University of Texas Austin College of Education. Martinez is the former vice president for institutional equity and diversity at the University of Oregon and a former member of the Oregon State Board of Education.
Oregon State conducted a public search for its next president, in a dramatic departure from its closed-door hiring of Alexander, which resulted in campus mistrust of the board of trustees and the presidential hiring process. Murthy and Martinez visited campus in late May to meet the campus community and participate in public forums.
— Sami Edge
