Dr. Jeffrey Osgood has been selected as Commonwealth University’s permanent president and permanent appointment will take effect April 17, 2026.
Osgood was presented to the Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) at their quarterly meeting which occurred today, April 16, 2026 at 9 a.m. The decision to appoint Osgood was unanimous across the 20-member board.
An email was sent out at 10:51 a.m. by the Presidential Searching Committee, announcing this to the Commonwealth University community.
With the presidential search coming to a close, this will give the CU community permanent leadership.
The search background
The presidential search was launched in December of last year, and Osgood was selected as the single presidential candidate.
According to the email sent out this morning, the process evaluated Osgood’s candidacy across 25 separate interview sessions with CU community constituencies across all three campuses. Following these sessions, more than 200 pieces of feedback were shared with the search committee.
On March 6, the CU Council of Trustees unanimously voted to present Osgood to the PASSHE Board of Governors.
Last Monday, April 6, an email from the search committee was sent out to the campus community. This shared that Osgood would officially be presented to the PASSHE Board of Governors.
In the April 16 email sent by the search committee, chair of the PASSHE Board of Governors, Cynthia Shapira said, “As interim president, Dr. Osgood has already shown the right balance of collaboration, passion and leadership to guide Commonwealth University into the future… Jeff has demonstrated a remarkable ability to bring people together, listen to their ideas and develop strategies that foster a strong academic program and a healthy campus community. We are proud to appoint him as the university’s next president.”
In an email sent out this morning Osgood stated that he was honored to be joining Commonwealth University. “When I joined this community in August, I expected to serve for one year during an important moment in the university’s journey… It became clear very quickly that this was a place where I wanted to help shape what comes next. Together, grounded in trust, respect, and a shared sense of purpose, I know we can build a stronger and more vibrant future for Commonwealth University.”
