Welcome back to the 2025–2026 academic year and Fall term at the Hatfield School of Government! I hope you all had a relaxing, exciting, and productive summer, and that you return reenergized for the opportunities and challenges of the new year.

Even over the summer months, the Hatfield School community was busy, and many exciting developments took place—several of which are highlighted in this issue. Of particular note is the launch of the Shinn-Moriuchi Endowed Professorship in Sustainability, Environmental, and Natural Resources Policy and Administration. We are deeply grateful to the Shinn and Moriuchi families for their generosity in establishing this important endowment. More information and recognition of their contribution will follow in the coming year, but I want to take this opportunity to thank them on behalf of the Hatfield School.

Looking ahead, we have many exciting initiatives planned for this academic year. This Fall, we will begin a new Research Showcase Webinar Series, featuring faculty, staff, and students from across the School who will share their innovative and impactful research. The Department of Public Administration is also launching a new curriculum for the MPA program, designed to make enrollment easier and to support students in completing their degrees on time.

In the Winter Term, we will once again host the Friends of Hatfield Speaker Series. Our advisory board members are already working hard to bring in dynamic and engaging speakers for this annual event.

Next Spring, during the week of May 3, 2026, we will celebrate the annual Public Service Recognition event, honoring those who dedicate themselves to serving our communities. And on July 12, 2026, we will commemorate Senator Mark O. Hatfield’s birthday with a special Civic Rights Tour.

Please stay tuned for more details on these events and activities throughout the year. I look forward to seeing many of you at these gatherings as we continue to advance the mission of the Hatfield School.

Warm regards,
Masami Nishishiba
Director, Mark O. Hatfield School of Government

The Mark O. Hatfield School of Government is honored to announce the establishment of the Shinn-Moriuchi Endowed Professorship in Sustainability, Environmental, and Natural Resources Policy and Administration.

This professorship is made possible through a testamentary gift agreement with Dr. Craig W. Shinn and Kathleen A. Shinn in partnership with  Davis and Judy Moriuchi whose vision and generosity will leave a lasting legacy at Portland State University. Their combined estate and lifetime contributions will create a permanent endowment supporting a faculty member  in the Department of Public Administration and the Hatfield School of Government’s centers and institutes. 

Faculty holding this appointment will prepare future leaders to address pressing environmental and natural resource challenges by engaging in professional education, applied research, and deep collaboration with communities and practitioners. The professorship underscores the Hatfield School’s longstanding commitment to co-producing knowledge and solutions alongside those working on the ground—public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community partners—ensuring that policy and administration remain both responsive and impactful.

The contributions from the Shinns, Moriuchis, and their friends and families have already supported the work of Dr. Hal Nelson and Dr. Jennifer H. Allen, both recognized for their leadership and their impacts in sustainability policy and deep community engagement. 

On behalf of PSU, the College of Urban and Public Affairs, and the Hatfield School of Government, we extend our deepest gratitude to Craig and Kathy Shinn and Davis and Judy Moriuchi for their extraordinary commitment to public service leadership and to building a sustainable future. Their gift will ensure that PSU remains at the forefront of educating leaders and fostering scholarship dedicated to healing the relationship between people and the land.

Donate to the Professorship using the QR code below! 

On July 15, 2025, the College of Urban and Public Affairs (CUPA), the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, and the Department of Public Administration co-hosted the Supporting Federal Workers in Public Service Transition event at the Urban Center’s Toulan Library. The gathering drew about 80 federal workers, many of whom are facing employment uncertainty, and connected them with state, regional, and local government leaders and resources

The evening began with welcoming remarks from CUPA Dean Jeremy Youde, followed by a panel featuring Ann Ober (Washington County), Julio Garcia (Metro), Peter Troedsson (City of Albany), and John Paschal (Oregon State Department of Administrative Services). Panelists highlighted the transferable skills of federal employees, explained hiring processes across different jurisdictions, and offered tips for navigating transitions into state and local public service.

The program emphasized networking and dialogue. Attendees had opportunities to engage directly with panelists and peers, learn about pathways into non-federal government service, and consider how their professional expertise could continue to benefit communities in Oregon.

By convening this event, CUPA and its partners demonstrated their commitment to serving as a neutral convener and connector, aspiring to support professionals in transition while fostering stronger ties across levels of government.

Each year on July 12, in celebration of Senator Mark O. Hatfield’s birthday, the Hatfield School of Government hosts a meaningful Civil Rights history tour across the Portland area. Senator Hatfield’s commitment to equity and justice was shaped in part by his experiences during the Second World War, including witnessing the aftermath of Hiroshima. Throughout his career—most notably as Governor of Oregon—he championed civil rights and social justice.

This year’s tour reflected those enduring values by visiting pivotal sites in Portland’s history:

Golden West Hotel – the first hotel in Portland to welcome African American guests.

Portland Expo Center – used during World War II as a temporary detention site for Japanese Americans prior to their forced relocation to incarceration camps.

Former Vanport City – a community built to house wartime shipyard workers, many of them Black families, later destroyed by the 1948 flood.

Albina District – a historic center of Portland’s Black community, deeply affected by redlining, displacement, and the fight for civil rights.

Fred Hampton’s Free Clinic (former location) – an important site for community-based healthcare and activism.

SE 31st & Pine – where Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian student, tragically lost his life to a racially motivated attack in 1988.

Guided by Ron Silver (former U.S. Attorney) and Ed Washington (Vanport survivor), participants heard powerful stories, personal reflections, and historical context at each stop. Attendees included Portland State University faculty, staff, and students, along with community members and their families.

The Hatfield School’s annual tour not only commemorates Senator Hatfield’s dedication to justice, but also serves as a call to action—reminding us of the words once posted at the Portland Assembly Center:

“May the principles inherent in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights be kept alive in the hearts of all Americans so that similar injustices will never be repeated.”

If you’d like to take part in next year’s tour, you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/EDNxxNf4N1TPnnzaA. 

The Mark O. Hatfield Cybersecurity & Cyber Defense Policy Center, founding member of the Oregon Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, received a generous gift from the owners of Fortinet, Ken Xie and Michael Xie, for our K-12 cybersecurity program. This gift has enabled the establishment of the Fortinet Cybersecurity & Cyber Defense Support Fund at PSU. We’d also like to express our gratitude to Fortinet for providing laptops for our summer NW Cyber Camps for K-12 students! Their support will allow the center to continue educating young students and get them excited about careers in cybersecurity. Thank you!

This summer, the Center for Public Service’s (CPS) Japanese Local Governance and Management (JaLoGoMa) program welcomed 15 participants from across Japan for six days of immersive learning in Portland. Centered on the theme “Strengthening the Roots for Future Possibilities”, the program featured site visits, conversations with local leaders, and hands-on explorations of community-driven governance. Highlights included dialogues with the Albina Vision Trust, Councilor Tiffany Koyama-Lane and members of the SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition, a meeting with the Mayor of Milwaukie, exchanges with Oak Grove’s grassroots nonprofit Urban Green, and insights from the Rainbow Road project and the OMSI district’s equitable development efforts. Now in its 22nd year, JaLoGoMa continues to cultivate leaders in community-based governance, with more than 670 alumni to date under the guidance of Dr. Masami Nishishiba.

We are pleased to share that the Center for Public Service (CPS) within the Hatfield School of Government has been designated by the Oregon Legislature as the lead research partner for a new statewide study on farmworker employment conditions and workplace practices. This initiative is funded through House Bill 2548, which allocates $666,791 from the General Fund to support the research.

Working in consultation with Oregon State University, CPS will conduct a comprehensive study of farmworker wages, health and safety, workplace benefits, training opportunities, and access to labor protections. Importantly, the study will engage directly with farmworkers, farm owners, and nonprofit organizations to capture firsthand experiences across Oregon’s diverse agricultural regions.

The effort will be complemented by a parallel study from the Legislative Policy and Research Office (LPRO), which will provide additional data and analysis. CPS will integrate LPRO’s findings as a reference framework to contextualize its research.

Reports will be submitted to the Legislature throughout 2026, with final findings due by December of that year. Together, these studies are expected to guide policymakers in sustaining strong workplace opportunities and ensuring ongoing support for Oregon’s farmworkers and farm owners alike.

This recognition highlights CPS’s long-standing role as a trusted, independent partner in advancing applied research, community engagement, and public service for Oregon and beyond.

On June 18, Portland State University and the Northwest Environmental Justice Center released a report that analyzed the patterns in federal grant and loan spending and found that underserved communities across the country benefited from billions in federal investments, including tripling the investment in rural counties with high unemployment or low incomes.

The report looked at spending patterns from 2010-2024 and found that federal spending had tangible positive impacts on rural and tribal communities. Funds boosted energy and environment investment by supporting active transportation, clean energy, affordable housing, food security and farming. 

“Everyone deserves access to energy to heat their homes, clean water to drink, and the basics to raise a healthy family. Federal funding programs are an essential part in providing those basics to every community across the country, but especially for rural communities and Tribes,” said Portland State’s Bobby Cochran, one of the co-authors of the report. Portland State students also played an important role in the research. PhD student Justin Huber noted, "We weren't sure we were going to be able to look at every federal grant, which was terabytes of US Treasury data, when we started. But turns out we did it. Now we have the computing code and method that lets anyone in the country ask who is benefitting from which kinds of funds, and who is most at risk if those funds go away."

The Mark O. Hatfield School of Government is proud to announce that our own doctoral student, Diane Odeh, has been awarded the PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs Arthur C. and Monika Z. Nelson Endowed Doctoral Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship is awarded annually to one doctoral student in the dissertation phase whose work carries forward the legacy of Dr. Arthur C. Nelson.

Dean Jeremy Youde of the College of Urban and Public Affairs selected Diane for this honor in recognition of her outstanding scholarship and practice. Her dissertation explores neighborhood associations and the motivations of community members who step into leadership roles. In addition to her research, Diane works with SE Uplift, one of Portland’s neighborhood coalitions, bringing lived experience and practitioner insight directly into her academic work.

Diane’s dedication to bridging scholarship and practice reflects the very spirit of Dr. Nelson’s career, and we could not be prouder to see her contributions recognized in this way. We celebrate this achievement and look forward to the impact of her research on community leadership and civic engagement.

Congratulations, Diane — you make the Hatfield School proud!

Do you have a research project you’d like to share with the public?

The Hatfield School of Government will be hosting a Research Showcase Webinar Series in November. This is a great opportunity for Hatfield School members to highlight their work and engage with a broad audience.

How to Apply
If you are interested in presenting, please complete the following survey:  https://forms.gle/iUju2cUBUnj2m72p7

If you have more than one project that may be good for the presentation, please submit a separate survey response for each. (A link to retake the survey will appear at the end.)

For questions or assistance, please contact Amber Quinn:
amquinn@pdx.edu |  503-725-6583