Michael Fuller

"I studied for a year at the University of Dakar in Senegal," says Michael Fuller, at the time a philosophy major at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where his graduation requirements included study abroad and work-study in the US, "and I taught outdoor school in Maine." After graduation, Fuller returned to Ocean Park, Maine, to continue teaching outdoor school. He moved to Eugene four years later, in 1986. "I met my wife, got married in '89," he says, "and I went back to school at the UO for a master's in special ed." The couple moved to Portland, where he taught in Beaverton schools for six years and served summer internships at local tech firms. "After my internship at Intel, I didn't go back to teaching," he says. "I worked 19 years for Intel, managing programs in engineering, product development, and IT. I worked in every area but sales, HR, and finance." When he retired from Intel in June of 2016, he applied to the Encore Fellows program sponsored by Social Ventures Partners Portland, an organization that matches business retirees to non-profits. "I'm the only Encore Fellow in Eugene," says Fuller, who began a year of half-time work on digital security for ELAW (Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide) in September. "It's a big draw for me. ELAW supports grass-roots activists in 80 countries. The Fellows program pays me a stipend. ELAW doesn't pay." He and his wife moved back to Eugene, where they have found a house for sale next door to her parents, and where he can enjoy commuting to work by bicycle.