Don Bushnell, longtime consultant to local nonprofits, is finally hanging up his spurs this Wednesday, June 17, during a planning “summit” at the Maritime Museum that begins at 10 a.m.
What makes this retirement unusual is that Dr. Bushnell is 88 years old and is still in active practice.
During the past 35 years, Bushnell has amassed a Who’s Who of clients, including Casa Esperanza, Transition House, Community Environmental Council and Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics. The founding dean of the School of Human and Organization Development at Fielding, Dr. Bushnell is a professor emeritus and a consultant with the Institute for Social Innovation at the university.
The most satisfying part of his long career was working in the nonprofit sector.
“It enabled me to be of service, make money and utilize my talents in the realm of fund-raising, organizing and leading teams, and long-range planning,” Bushnell said. “The nonprofit arena let me use my abilities to the fullest.”
And what does he plan to do in retirement? Not sit on his porch and rock, that’s for sure! He won a gold medal a few years ago in field archery at the Senior Olympics, and he intends to replicate that feat in September. He also looks forward to expanding his locally famous neon garden by “liberating” signs from places going out of business. Additionally, he is formulating ideas for a book.
Bushnell earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He holds the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sociological Practice Association and is the recipient of a commendation from the Office of the Vice President of the United States for his work with urban educational systems and youth gangs.
He has been a consultant to the White House Conference on Youth, the National Commission on Civil Rights and the Senate Committee on Higher Learning. He currently serves on the board of the Global Service Corps International.