Audrey Bilger
Audrey Bilger is currently serving as the 16th president of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ in Portland, Oregon. She was appointed to the position in 2019 and is ºìÌÒÊÓƵ’s first woman president. Her previous position was at Pomona College, in Claremont, California, where she served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College and Professor of English.
Bilger earned an MA and a PhD in English from the University of Virginia and a BA in philosophy from Oklahoma State University. She was a member of the English faculty at Oberlin College and professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. Bilger held a number of leadership positions during her 22-year tenure at Claremont McKenna, including founding faculty director for the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, chair of the literature department, coordinator of gender studies, and member of the board of trustees academic affairs committee. While at Claremont McKenna College, Bilger was selected to participate in the program, the nation’s leading program for preparing academic leaders for presidencies. Bilger currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), the Annapolis Group, Project Pericles, Inc., and the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges & Universities (OAICU), on which she previously served as secretary. Additionally, she is a member of the LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education.
Bilger is a prolific author of scholarly books, articles, and chapters, as well as reviews, creative nonfiction, and journalism for the popular press. Her acclaimed work focuses on comedy, Jane Austen, the English novel, feminist theory, popular culture, and gender and sexuality. Her most recent book, , co-edited with Michele Kort, was a 2013 Lambda Literary Award finalist. She is the author of . She serves on the Ms. magazine Committee of Scholars and was the Gender and Sexuality section editor of The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her work, which has appeared in Ms., The Paris Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Los Angeles Times, has frequently covered issues pertaining to same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights.
Bilger’s spouse, Cheryl Pawelski, is a 4-time Grammy-award winning producer and co-founder of Omnivore Recordings.