Occidental College is proud to announce the creation of the Derek Shearer Endowed Presidential Professor of Practice. This prestigious appointment will support leaders in diverse fields who embody Shearer’s core values.
Thanks to a gift from former Occidental trustee Ian McKinnon ’89 and his wife, Sonnet, this endowment honors Derek Shearer, the Stuart Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, McKinnon Center for Global Affairs Director, and former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, who will retire this spring after 45 years of distinguished service to the College.
“I am thrilled to recognize my dear friend and mentor,” says McKinnon, a founding partner of Sandia Holdings LLC in Tiburon, CA and Greenwich, Conn. “He created the public policy major at Occidental, and I was fortunate to be in the first class of the program. It was an extraordinary experience that emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of complex issues, as well as demanding a truly ludicrous amount of reading and analysis.”
McKinnon and his wife provided the lead gift for the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, which was dedicated in 2014, and were instrumental in the expansion of the McKinnon Family Tennis Center to a six-court venue.
The Derek Shearer Endowed Presidential Professor of Practice will be appointed through the Office of the President, in consultation with the Dean of the College, and will offer the flexibility to recognize excellence across the disciplines. This prestigious appointment will support leaders in diverse fields who embody Shearer’s core values, with a special emphasis on advancing entrepreneurship in its many forms, including public policy, industry-driven engagement, social impact, global engagement, and the integration of ideas with action.
“A named professorship at Oxy is an honor—even more so because this position reflects the scope of my intellectual pursuits,” says Shearer. “As a professorship of practice, it encompasses the fields of public policy, business, and entrepreneurship—all subjects about which I have written and taught at the College—as well as international affairs. Whoever holds the post will engage the world as it is, taking a reality-based, non-ideological approach to teaching and research as I tried to do in my time at Occidental.”
The McKinnons’ gift is a testament to the lifelong impact of the mentorship Occidental students receive from their faculty and a fitting tribute to Shearer, who over the years has brought countless luminaries to his classroom, including former Secretary of State Warren Christopher; Admiral William Fallon, former head of U.S. Pacific and Central Commands; and former President Bill Clinton.
“It’s been a gift for Oxy to have somebody like that in such a global city, from such a global perspective, to connect this community with the world,” says Eric Garcetti, the former mayor of Los Angeles and U.S. ambassador to India, who started his professional career as an adjunct professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental. Garcetti recently spoke to Shearer’s students in Choi Auditorium.
“I am deeply grateful to Sonnet and Ian McKinnon for their recognition of Ambassador Shearer’s tremendous contribution to Occidental,” says President Tom Stritikus, who recently joined Shearer for a dinner at the residence of Kosei Murota, the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles. “Endowing this position allows us to expand on the exciting work we’re doing to bring innovators in entrepreneurship to Oxy and continue that work for generations to come.”
Alumni and friends of Derek are invited to honor his Oxy legacy by contributing to the Derek Shearer Endowed Presidential Professor of Practice. The College will celebrate Derek Shearer on campus in April.
