John Baldwin

University Planning, Public Policy and Management associate professor John Baldwin taught Russians how to resettle the radiation-ravaged land around Chernobyl. He spearheaded a study of the effects of long-term growth in the Willamette Valley and started the University’s Environmental Studies Program and the Institute for a Sustainable Environment. John did much international work in the field of sustainability during his life.

He was a member of a group of University professors that traveled to the former Soviet Union after the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl to help with re-inhabiting the area. John’s job was to educate locals about the lingering dangers of radiation and help them resettle safely. He also studied zoology and wildlife ecology, and as part of his doctoral work he helped to run a reserve for sandhill cranes.

John wrote an early book on environmental planning in 1984, Environmental Planning and Management, and co-authored Corporate Environmental Policy and Government Regulation in 1994. As an associate professor in Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM), he taught courses on environmental planning and impact analysis, world energy policy and planning, sustainable development and Oregon’s land use program. He served twice as PPPM department chair.

John died in 2005.