Dr. Jeffrey Osgood was selected as university president by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors.
His permanent appointment began on April 17, 2026, giving the CU community permanent leadership since August 2025.
The student response to Osgood’s appointment
Gia DeLuca, a junior theatre student, thinks Osgood will be great for CU.
She explains further that Osgood has shown continuous support for the theatre community and arts department. He has come to both the main stage shows this past year, and even posted about the department to show his support for them.
“I think he’ll be a great voice of support for the theatre community,” says DeLuca. “It’s just nice to have him in our corner because with our last president, that was not the case unfortunately.”
Colin McGrain, a senior history major says “I think this leadership will be a good change for the university.”
McGrain says that he doesn’t have many concerns since he’s graduating this semester, however from what he’s seeing regarding Osgood’s emails, the future looks promising.
“It’s going to be difficult trying to revert everything that Bashar screwed up, but I think a fresh face is good… You can only dig so far down, the only way to go now is up,” McGrain said.
The background of the presidential search
The presidential search was launched in December. Osgood was selected as the single candidate for the search. After 25 separate interview sessions with CU community constituencies across all three campuses, more than 200 pieces of feedback were shared with the presidential search committee
On March 6, the CU Council of Trustees unanimously voted to present Osgood to the PASSHE Board of Governors.
Osgood was then presented to the Board of Governors at their quarterly meeting which occurred April 16, 2026 at 9 a.m. The decision to appoint Osgood was unanimous across the 20-member board.
“It’s just removing the interim title… I think one of the benefits that we’ve had is that people have had plenty of time to get to know Jeff,” said Dan Knorr, CU’s Chief of Staff.
Knorr says that there are three key things that staff plans to focus on with this permanent presidency; accessibility, university financials, and where to grow.
“He’s very focused on these three things,” says Knorr. “Continuing to be accessible. Continuing to be transparent with our campus community about our financial situation and our progress in solving it. Then also building up a stronger leadership.”
A statement from President Osgood
“I’m looking back over the past eight months and it’s kind of astonishing to think that when I first got here, I told everybody that I would only be here for a year… The faculty, staff and students were just really inspiring to me and I thought ‘this is where I want to stay’,” says Osgood.
Osgood said it was humbling to go through 25 interview sessions. However, he really felt the support from more than 200 people responding to the interview process.
“I’m optimistic about it,” Osgood says. “I couldn’t be more than happy that you all welcome me.”
The Voice asked Osgood what students can expect to change, his response was that they shouldn’t expect any changes in his leadership. He doesn’t want to be somebody that’s different from the leader he’s been for the last eight months.
“What they can expect is my full time dedication to continuing to make improvements they want in their educational journey and college experience… They can expect a leader who will be transparent with them, and somebody who is going to put their entire focus on ensuring that Commonwealth University is sustainable for the future,” Osgood said.
