PSU History
Started with Portland State University in 2021 as a part-time contractor (public engagement consultant) with Oregon's Kitchen Table (based at the National Policy Consensus Center).
Experience
Robin has experience as a Public Engagement Consultant (various clients); Executive Director, Healthy Democracy Fund; Executive Director, American Leadership Forum of Oregon; Executive Director, WorldTeach; National Director of Volunteer Development, AFS Intercultural Programs; High School Social Studies Teacher, Crane Union High School. Former 2 time Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana (southern Africa) and Tanzania (east Africa).
Academic/Research Interests
Having worked in the democracy reform and leadership development space for the past nearly 20 years, Robin has a keen interest in how systems support - or don't - the full capacities of individuals to participate fully and meaningfully in civic life. She is interested in building systems that support the dignity and worth of every individual, and how that connects to creating a more just and mutually beneficial community, and how that in turn enhances our capacity for effective self-governance, whereupon we collectively implement systems that better support the dignity and worth of every individual. Robin sees social work as a critical leverage point in creating this kind of virtuous cycle, and she is honored to be part of the SSW at Portland State which is widely regarded as an important leader in the field.
Personal Interests
Robin enjoys walking - anywhere and in any weather - as both a physical and meditative exercise. She picked up flatwater kayaking during the pandemic and now owns 3 kayaks because "that's what always happens". She dotes on a small flock of backyard chickens, one rescue dog (also borne of the pandemic), and a rag-tag pride of feral cats that she adopted me many years ago. Robin is the proud aunt and great-aunt of an amazing array of brilliant young people, most of whom live within driving distance so visits are a high priority. She is a hopeless podcast addict (she still has an iPod shuffle upon which she downloaded her first RadioLab podcast a lifetime ago). When sedentary, which is infrequent (mostly because of all the walking), Robin can be found reading on subjects from politics to nature to hiking to poetry to, well, whatever book lands in her hands, really.