I’ve been a member of First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon since1991, and began attending a UU church in Pittsburgh as a member of its First U. I’ve served First U Portland as a Board member, a Nominating Committee member, chair of its ad hoc Covenant Committee, volunteer teacher in children’s RE and adult spiritual development classes, and member of various social justice action committees. I received a Ph.D. from the multidisciplinary Public Policy Analysis program of the University of Illinois at Chicago (amalgam of educational psych, economics, political science and urban planning). I’m a native-born Oregonian raised in what I’ve come to call “the church of the ocean” through Sunday rambles on the beach with my Dad. I care very much about my church, and my denomination, and hope to help us become an even more powerful force for positive transformation of our communities, nation and world.