A Legacy of Collaboration
The story of a partnership that became a permanent investment in PSU faculty.
By Bo West Watson
When emeritus professor Craig Shinn and his wife, Kathy, joined PSU supporters Davis and Judy Moriuchi to establish an endowed professorship in sustainability, environment, and natural resources policy and administration, they memorialized a partnership decades in the making.
Craig and Davis met in 1978 in the Master of Public Administration program at Lewis & Clark College, years before the program would eventually become a part of PSU.
Both men had begun their careers years earlier as the environmental movement was gaining national momentum. “I wasn’t an activist,” Davis said, “but the work resonated with me.” Eventually, environmental work became a passion.
Craig, trained in forestry, was pursuing a career in forest sociology, something he describes as studying trees and the meanings people attach to them. “When is a tree a spotted owl habitat, and when is it a mantlepiece?” he asked. “The social side of sustainability is about making and holding those meanings over time.”
After graduation, Davis began a 34-year career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As he advanced through the Corps (eventually serving as a deputy district engineer for project management), he recognized the need for institutional change.
“The Corps used to be an inward-looking, insular institution,” Davis recalled. “The work required major shifts in leadership and culture.”
The two professionals had remained friends over the five years since graduation, and Craig’s dedication to natural resource and environmental policy during their years in the Master’s program was just what Davis was looking for. He approached Craig, who had landed a teaching role at PSU, to help lead the Corps’ transformation.
Together, they co-developed and delivered the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Leadership Development Program (LDP) at the Portland District in conjunction with PSU’s Center for Public Service. The program became a national model and continues today.
Over the next three decades Davis witnessed dramatic change, both in the sustainability of the environment and within the Corps itself. “When I started, we were building dams. When I left, we were doing environmental restoration and fish recovery. Changing an organization is not easy. I’m proud of that.”
After Davis retired, Craig invited his colleague to return to PSU as a Senior Leadership Fellow and as a mentor in the Hatfield School’s Executive Master of Public Administration program, working with mid-career students and shaping curriculum development.
During that time, Davis and Craig began to talk about leaving a legacy of their work together in sustainability and natural resource management. Eventually, they landed on an endowment for a professorship. Their goal was to create something to help the next generation of educators continue healing the relationship between nature and humankind. “We’re trying to give life to whatever comes next,” Craig said.
Each of their spouses were in agreement. Kathy Shinn’s own environmental work had unfolded alongside her husband’s. A multi-degree PSU graduate, she was involved in the university’s early environmental movement as it took root. Her environmental and educational careers (including work with the Bird Alliance of Oregon, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Energy, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, and the Cispus Learning Center) were hugely influential on Oregon’s natural resource management and regional policy.
Throughout Davis’s career, Judy Moriuchi was an equal partner in the decisions that shaped their path, including the choice to create the professorship. Each of their work and their gift reflect a shared belief in education, leadership and stewardship.
While leadership theory often focuses on those at the top, Craig and Davis recognize the importance of supporting people working from the middle of power structures. The theory of “leading from where you sit” reflects a philosophy that shaped both of their careers, and is also a driving force behind Shinn’s book New Public Leadership, co-authored with Emeritus Professor Doug Morgan and former PSU professor Marcus D. Ingle.
“Most of us live our careers from the middle,” Craig said. “There is power there. People in the middle have a functional understanding of how to get things done and the constraints they’re facing. They have lateral connections and discretion. They have significant responsibility.”
The endowment provides practical support for faculty already engaged in community-based work. The professorship provides flexible funding to help the professors engage in their critical work strengthening community partnerships, developing curricula or building out programs. Dr. Jennifer H. Allen was the first Shinn-Moriuchi Professor. Dr. Hal Nelson currently holds the position.
“We hope that our gift will inspire others to get involved and support the university in an area that you care about,” said Craig. “We chose to work together to create a professorship through our estate plans so that we could make a bigger impact together – and the process has been deeply rewarding.”
To learn more about supporting the Shinn-Moriuchi Endowed Professorship, visit this page.
Pictured above left to right: Kathy and Craig Shinn, Judy and Davis Moriuchi.