News Releases
June 10, 2004
Edmonds City Council Member Mauri Moore Named 2004 Distinguised Alumna by Antioch University Seattle
Edmonds City Council member Mauri Moore, who earned her bachelor’s degree in 1998, will receive this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award from Antioch University Seattle. Moore will accept the award and give a speech at Antioch’s commencement ceremony June 13 at Seattle’s Town Hall.
Moore was elected to the Edmonds City Council in November of 2003 with 60 percent of the vote. “I find a lot of value in this work,” she said. “Imagine if everyone invested some focused effort to improving just the small world they live in daily.”
Prior to beginning a career in public service, Moore was an internationally recognized news producer and manager who lived and worked in various countries around the world.
As NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv, Israel, she achieved what had never been done before: live broadcasts from Jerusalem’s Old City. She became a specialist in war zones, trouble spots, disasters, uprisings and protests. She has driven roads mined with explosives, been hit with stones, shelled by rocket launchers, sprayed with high-powered water canons, tear-gassed, stalked, phone-tapped and threatened.
As West Coast Producer for NBC’s Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Moore went to Asia, South America, the Middle East and Europe covering stories, including the Persian Gulf War, revolution in the Philippines, conflicts in Central America, the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and the Mexico City earthquake.
“All the while I believed that journalism was a public trust: that we had an obligation to deliver fair, honest, complete reporting,” she said. “This passion for the integrity of public trust stayed with me even though it didn’t stay in journalism.”
Moore took time from her busy career in journalism to organize two major nonprofit efforts. She supervised and coordinated with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) a city-wide fundraiser in Houston, Texas, for Central Americans living in refugee camps in Honduras. She also led a development program for the American International School in San Jose, Costa Rica.
“I am honored and awed by the (Distinguished Alumni) award because, frankly, I never thought I would graduate from college,” said Moore, who left the University of Houston a few credits shy of a degree in journalism to take a job with CBS News in New York.
When she retired and decided to return to school, Moore found “Antioch was the only university that would take me without putting me through years of torture. I entered with the skepticism that any university that would accept me so readily was probably not worth attending. But Antioch is the best university for reentry students. They accepted my 25-year-old credits and together we crafted a degree program that perfectly matched my experience and interests.”
Moore’s advice to the 2004 graduating class? “Look at who you are, the community around you and how you can contribute to making life better for someone else. Pick just one thing you care about: healthcare, eldercare, foster care. I don’t care, but get engaged. Pick battles big enough to matter, but small enough to win.”
Moore resides in Edmonds with her husband Mark Shuler, a Puget Sound pilot. Between them, they have two grown children and one son who attends Edmonds Woodway High School.
About Antioch University Seattle
Antioch University is a trendsetter among institutions of higher learning. Antioch was founded in 1852 as a liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Its first president, Horace Mann, noted abolitionist and founder of America’s public school system, challenged Antioch graduates, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity!” To this day, Antioch remains committed to social justice, community service, diversity and life-long learning. Antioch University Seattle (AUS) is one of six campuses that comprise Antioch University. AUS was established in 1975 and was one of the first schools in the country designed to serve the unique needs of adult learners returning to school to pursue advanced degrees. In addition to a bachelor of arts completion program and a doctoral program in clinical psychology, AUS offers six master’s degree programs.
