What is it about Cal Poly that so often causes people to stay so long? I’ve worked at several colleges and universities in my career, and while it can be easy for people to stick around their alma mater, I’ve rarely known the phenomenon to be as strong as it is here.

Working on this issue, I got the chance to meet Professor Emeritus Moon Ja Minn Suhr. Moon Ja originally came to Cal Poly in 1969 to gain English-language work experience. She anticipated staying for six months and then returning home to Korea, where she had another teaching job waiting for her.

That temporary stint at Cal Poly turned into a 42-year career as she fell in love with the university and built a program that established dance as an academically rigorous part of the Learn by Doing experience.

She never expected Cal Poly to become her life. But more than half a century later, the university community has impacted her as much as she has shaped it.

Over my 13 years at Cal Poly, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know incredible people who found themselves bound to this place, influencing the history of the institution and shaping the lives of generations of students.

I’ve interviewed others who shared Moon Ja’s experience. I got to know people like Phil and Christina Bailey, whose names are synonymous with the College of Science and Mathematics, and Walter Harris, who spent decades — first as a student and then as an administrator — building an inclusive community on campus.

Time and time again, I hear the stories of people who thought they were just getting a first job or earning a degree, only to find that they were building a life centered
around learning, action and service.