Steve Percy sits at his desk, alone, chewing a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. It’s 2:15 p.m., another late lunch in his suddenly very hectic life.

To Percy’s amazement, the Portland State Board of Trustees plucked him out of the classroom in May to lead the university. The long-time dean of PSU’s School of Urban and Public Affairs was named interim president in June.

After the short and turbulent reign of Rahmat Shoureshi, Portland State faculty and students say Percy is just what the university needed: A low-key insider who knows how PSU works.

“Healing is a word I’ve heard used several times,” said Prof. Sy Adler, acting dean of the urban and public affairs school. “Steve is doing a remarkable job providing that healing.”

Percy is reluctant to say anything about his predecessor. But he does talk freely about the impact the Shoureshi controversy had on Portland State. “It’s been a hard time on campus,” he said. “My job is to reassure people that we will continue moving forward, that we have not lost our stride.”

For Percy, the promotion marked a thrilling and much-needed positive development after a difficult time. His long-time partner died in 2018. A year to the day later, his mother passed away.

“The things he’s gone through in the last year have made him a better leader,” said Sona Andrews, former Portland State provost. She and Percy go way back. They met in 1988, when they both were new professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“People who have been through a loss often recommit to their career or a cause,” she said.

Committed to PSU

Nearly everyone interviewed for this story feels that Percy is a good fit. He’s spent his career at urban universities -- scrappy, sometimes overlooked, and some overshadowed by other, larger universities. He said his years at Wisconsin-Milwaukee were a formative experience for him.

He was named director of the university’s Center for Urban Initiatives and Research. Among other things, he was asked to study the viability of Milwaukee’s money-losing public pools. Percy was in his glory meeting with neighbors, kids and lap swimmers trying to determine a path acceptable to all.

Ultimately, the city closed the pools, converted the buildings to meeting places and opened public fountains for locals who needed to cool off.

Percy said he’s proud of Portland State’s civic engagement and wants to promote even more.

Steve is a “joiner,” Andrews said. “Every time you needed someone to do something, you needed someone to join a group, sit on a taskforce or chair a committee, Steve raised his hand.”

Adler said Percy is the embodiment of Portland State’s motto: “Let knowledge serve the city.”

To that end, Percy said he will continue to support the university’s new centers to research homelessness and smart cities, as well as the Co-op program, a supercharged internship program that will pair students with major employers. The three programs were enthusiastically promoted by Shoureshi.

Yet Percy has put on hold Shoureshi’s plan to open a program in Nanjing, China.

Different styles

Percy and Shoureshi are a study in contrasts. Shoureshi handed out business cards embossed with gold. He traveled the world looking for donors and meeting alums. In rapid-fire fashion, he proposed new programs and new proposals, like a partnership with a Chinese university in Nanjing, that were expensive and risky.

Percy spends more time in the Park Blocks than the airport. He’s more comfortable on a task force than acting unilaterally. He’s an avid gardener and accomplished baker. Adler said the only negative he can see in Percy’s promotion is that he won’t be bringing his fruit pie to staff meetings.

While Shoureshi was accused of trying to destroy public records, Percy volunteered information about his compensation.

It was money that began Shoureshi’s problems with university trustees. Between his salary, a $9,200-a-month housing stipend and $1,000-a-month transportation allowance, Shoureshi’s total compensation was beyond $800,000 a year. And he wanted more.

Last August, Shoureshi successfully sought a 4% raise. It was only fair that his raise matched the faculty’s, he said. Trustees granted the raise only to learn the faculty did not get 4% raises, but rather 2.3%. Some board members felt misled.

It was the beginning of the end for Shoureshi.

By April, the trustees had decided Shoureshi had to go. He refused until the trustees granted a severance package worth $875,000.

Percy earns a handsome salary. The university doubled his pay when he was named interim president to about $425,000 a year. But he gets no transportation allowance, no housing stipend.

Challenges remain

It’s not all smiles at Portland State.

Its students struggle to stay in college, struggle to pay the cost.

A nearly 5 percent tuition hike approved in June won’t help, though it’s better than the 11 percent increase initially proposed.

A food bank will gear up a location on the campus, which pleases Percy and dismays him at the same time. It’s unacceptable, he said, that students should be unsure about where there next meal is coming from.

His is a big fan of the student hardship funds that have sprung up around campus. Two other PSU departments had started collecting money from faculty and other individuals to assist struggling students and Percy followed their lead at at the school of urban and public affairs. “

These programs could prove particularly important at Portland State, where non-traditional students are more common. “Some of ours are studying, working and raising kids,” Percy said. “They are one financial setback from having to drop out.”

Wim Wiewel, PSU president before Shoureshi, is among Percy’s fans who believe he should be considered for the permanent job. “He’s not the kind of guy who comes into a room and fills it with his personality,” said Wiewel, who now leads Lewis and Clark College. “He’s a quiet guy who inspires trust. With Steve, it’s not about him. There’s no ego to get in the way”

Percy is cagey about whether he even wants the top job permanently. But there’s no doubt where he stands on Portland State.

“I’m bullish,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity to be a transformative place for a lot of our students.”