On May 15, 2026, California State University, Chico awarded Miyamoto International founder and CEO Kit Miyamoto an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD). The recognition is for nearly four decades of humanitarian leadership, professional excellence, and an enduring connection to the California State University.
It is also one of the rarest honors the University confers. In 139 years, Chico State has awarded just 23 honorary degrees. Kit’s name now joins that list.
For us, this is more than a personal milestone. It is a marker for a body of work that has spanned more than 100 disasters, 600,000+ damaged buildings assessed, and 50,000+ structures reconstructed across the globe.
An Honor Decades in the Making
The honorary doctorate is conferred by the Board of Trustees of the California State University and Chico State. The criteria are exacting: humanitarian leadership, extraordinary professional excellence, and a meaningful connection to the CSU.
Kit Miyamoto (Civil Engineering, ’89) meets each of those criteria several times over. Under his leadership, Miyamoto International has grown from a small Sacramento engineering firm into a global disaster risk reduction and structural engineering company with 30 offices worldwide and a humanitarian arm, Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief, that applies the firm’s engineering expertise after fires, floods, earthquakes, and wars.
Across his career, Dr. Miyamoto has treated disaster-stricken regions not as project sites, but as communities deserving dignity, safety, and hope.
President Steve Perez, California State University, Chico
From Chico State to the World
Kit’s path to global civil engineering started in Chico, where small classes, accessible professors, and a culture of curiosity gave him room to ask big questions.
“Civil engineering is broad. You can go into structural, water, or transportation. But through his classes, I found my focus in structural engineering, and more specifically, earthquake engineering,” he says of Professor Emeritus Russell Mills, whose courses set Kit on the path he would never leave.
After graduation, Kit joined Marr Shaffer, the Sacramento structural engineering firm he would later purchase from his mentor John Shaffer in 1997. He went on to earn a master’s degree in civil and structural engineering from Sacramento State and a PhD in earthquake engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
In 2002, he renamed the firm Miyamoto International. There were no global offices yet. Just a mission, set in writing from day one: make the world a better, safer place.
The Battle Cry: Sichuan, 2008
The mission stayed quiet for a few years. Then, in May 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Sichuan, China. School buildings collapsed onto thousands of children. Surrounding buildings, designed and detailed only marginally better, remained standing.
Despite government travel restrictions, Kit flew to Beijing on a tourist visa and traveled into the disaster zone to understand why the failures had happened. What he saw changed the firm.
We already had the mission to make the world safer, but after Sichuan, it became much more urgent. It became our battle cry.
Kit Miyamoto
Since that day, Miyamoto teams have responded to more than 100 global and U.S. disasters. We have assessed more than 600,000 damaged buildings and reconstructed more than 50,000 structures. Communities recover, rebuild, and thrive because the engineering that holds them up was given the time, attention, and humanity it deserved.
In Kit’s Words
When the news of the honorary doctorate was announced internally, Kit wrote a short note to the global Miyamoto team. The line that stood out most:
I may be the one receiving this honorary degree, but it represents all our work, all of you.
Kit Miyamoto
He added, simply:
We inspire others. It is an honor to be part of this team.
Kit Miyamoto
That framing matters. It is the same framing he brings into every disaster zone we work in. The work belongs to the people who do it, and to the communities who let us into their hardest days.
Where We Have Responded
A partial timeline of the disasters Kit and the Miyamoto teams have answered:
- 2008. Sichuan, China. M7.9 response that became Miyamoto’s “battle cry” moment.
- 2010. Haiti. Kit lived in Haiti for nearly four years, helping lead a damage assessment effort, training 700+ Haitian engineers, and supporting the repair of hundreds of thousands of buildings to international standards.
- 2015. Nepal. Post-earthquake reconnaissance and rebuilding.
- 2017. Mexico. Structural assessment after the Puebla earthquake.
- 2022. Ukraine. Engineering support amid ongoing conflict damage.
- 2023. Türkiye and Morocco. M7.8 and High Atlas earthquake responses.
- 2025. Los Angeles. Reconstruction work following the devastating wildfires.
Kit has provided expert engineering and policy guidance to the World Bank, United Nations agencies, governments, and major corporations. He has served as a California Seismic Safety Commissioner since 2011, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown and reappointed by Governor Gavin Newsom. In 2024, Engineering News-Record selected him to receive its Award of Excellence.
From the Stage
The People Behind the Work
What our colleagues say about Kit, almost without exception, is that his bravery is unmatched and his humanity is what stays with you longer.
What stands out most about Kit is not only his technical expertise but also his profound humanity. Whether coordinating disaster recovery efforts in devastated regions or mentoring young engineers in seismic design, he exemplifies what it means to use one’s education for the greater good.
David Alexander, Dean, College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management, Chico State
Kit puts the same point a different way. The work, he says, is sustained by people. “I have seen that adversity often brings out the very best in human nature. Whether it is war, fire, or earthquakes, you see incredible acts of courage and humanity. In Haiti in 2010, I witnessed even gang members risking their lives to save their neighbors. That kind of selflessness stays with you.”
That mindset shows up in every project Miyamoto takes on. It is also the mindset that an honorary doctorate from a 139-year-old university quietly recognizes.
Continuing the Work
Congratulations, Kit. From your 300+ Miyamoto colleagues around the world, the honor is shared, and the work continues.
About Miyamoto International. Miyamoto International is a global disaster risk reduction and structural engineering firm with 30 offices worldwide. Through Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief, our philanthropic arm, we apply engineering expertise after fires, floods, earthquakes, and wars. Our mission, since 2002: make the world a better, safer place. Learn more.
