4 The RAPS Sheet Summer 2020 New manager takes over RAPS office for 2020-21 RAPS’ NEW OFFICE MANAGER, Samantha McKinlay, is exchanging palmy and balmy Florida for chilly, coffee-swilling Portland. McKinlay, who will begin her pursuit of a Master of Social Work in fall, grew up in West Palm Beach, then moved to Gainesville, home of the University of Florida. There she completed a bachelor’s degree in family, youth, and community science, which “was as close as UF had to social work,” she explained. McKinlay focused on community access, child development, and family structure, and minored in sociology. She was admitted to Portland State’s MSW program in 2019, but deferred for a year to gain more practical experience. For the past 18 months she has assisted individuals with disabilities and their families in finding support services in their communities. Previously she worked in a crisis intervention center and a retirement home, and participated in a six-month internship at The Peace Foundation in Auckland, New Zealand. Although she’s a lifelong Floridian, McKinlay is not unfamiliar with Oregon. “My partner’s family is from Corvallis,” she said. “He would go to Corvallis for Thanksgiving every year, and I would go every other year.” She would make side trips into Portland, where she explored the PSU campus. “I was planning on applying eventually,” she said. “It’s beautiful.” McKinlay plans to arrive in Portland in early August, and she’ll be bringing a new family member with her. During the coronavirus quarantine, she fostered a terrier-cocker mix named Carson and eventually adopted him. She also enjoys soccer, and once settled, she hopes to join a recreational soccer league. NEW RAPS CO-PRESIDENT Pat Squire may be new to the board, but she is no stranger to volunteer organizations or the Portland State faculty. Squire retired from Portland State in 2011 after a quartercentury as executive director of the PSU Alumni Association. Since her retirement, Squire has served in a number of volunteer roles, including the Lake Oswego Branch of the American Association of University Women, which she served as president, Lake Oswego Reads, and the Lakewood Associates. And at every organization, she’s sought out Portland State faculty members as speakers. Squire became involved with the AAUW through the late Dawn Dressler, a PSU physics professor. “I was in charge of securing speakers, and I called up everybody I knew at Portland State,” Squire recalled. She also drew on the well of PSU faculty expertise when she joined Lake Oswego Reads. “Over the past five years, we’ve probably had 10 to 15 speakers from Portland State,” she said. Squire came to PSU in the late 1980s after an advertising career in San Francisco and serving as alumni director at Berkshire School, a private prep school in Massachusetts. One of her first offices was in the long-gone Mill Street Building. The RAPS office—then called REPPS, for Retired and Emeriti Professors of Portland State—was down the hall. “Talking to alumni over the years, I heard stories about favorite faculty—Charlie White and Steve Brannan and dozens of others.” Those stories and everyday interaction with the faculty inspired Squire to spearhead the creation of the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, which was presented during PSU Salutes. “I felt really good about that,” said Squire. She also developed PSU Weekend, an annual continuing education program that featured lectures, many by Portland State faculty, and PSU Advocates, a volunteer group that promotes the University. Squire views emeriti professor as “the alumni of the Portland State faculty,” pointing out their continuing contributions, including their critical role in preserving PSU’s history. Squire acknowledged that the pandemic is a challenge for RAPS. She noted that Dawn White, chair of the Program Committee, has developed a compelling list of speakers for 202021, but many members, quite reasonably, have anxieties about attending meetings on campus. The challenge, she said, is engaging people while also addressing their safety concerns. Squire joins Steve Brennan as co-president, and succeeds Dave Krug (see story on page 5). Pat Squire and Prof. Craig Shinn in February at Lake Oswego Reads, where Shinn spoke on U.S. environmental policy. Squire joins RAPS board as co-president
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