Spring-Summer
2012
From the Director
André Punt (Photo by M. Duke)
It is with due trepidation that I put “pen to paper” to write this message from the Director, knowing that I am stepping into the role which David Armstrong has fulfilled superbly for the last 14 years. The SAFS community celebrated David’s tenure as Director at the Center for Urban Horticulture in late May, an event that was attended by a broad range of donors, past and present colleagues, and students David has mentored over the years.
Tim Essington emceed the event, a number of friends provided excellent seafood (oysters courtesy of Joth Davis and Baywater Shellfish Farms, and halibut courtesy of Dean Adams and Dana Besecker), and David and Marcus Duke provided music, leading to a delightful evening. Starting last August, David started a well-earned nine-month break from the School. Enjoy your time away, David, but please come back!
The School has faced many challenges over the past year, including budget constraints that continue to motivate us to find innovative ways to do more with less. The SAFS faculty continue to provide the highest quality teaching, mentoring, scholarship, and service locally, nationally, and internationally, increasingly using novel approaches to support our students and faculty. For example, in partnership with the two local NOAA Science centers—the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center—and the School and College of the Environment, we hired our two most recent tenure-track faculty members, Trevor Branch and Chris Anderson; this issue features an interview with Chris.
Our achievements continue to be recognized. This year we received a near-record number of National Science Foundation fellowships (see last issue’s Awards column), and faculty member Bob Naiman was the recipient of the 2012 Eminent Ecologist award from the Ecological Society of America. Our current Awards & Honors column demonstrates the persistence of our students and faculty in garnering recognition for their work.
We continue to be best represented in the community by our alumni who, by their efforts, highlight what the School stands and strives for. In this newsletter, alumni Bill Dewey (BS, 1981) recalls how he progressed from cooking at seafood restaurants in Cape Cod to being public affairs manager for Taylor Seafoods. Bill also recounts how Ken Chew, past Director of SAFS, provided the reference that led him to his current position.
This newsletter highlights an exciting partnership between the School and the North Pacific fishing industry which, along with support from the Walton Family Foundation and the National Science Foundation, is funding SAFS staff and faculty to further develop a database of the world’s stock assessments. The results of this work, led by SAFS faculty members Ray Hilborn and Trevor Branch (see the Global Fisheries Database article), are already allowing us to discern broad international trends in stock status, drivers for sustainable fisheries, and the processes that determine fisheries production. Our collaboration with industry complements our partnership with the two NOAA science centers in Seattle.
During the last year, we saw the departure of two of our longest-serving staff members: Lin Murdock, our student services director, who was with us for 13 years, and Marcus Duke who has been webmaster, publication manager, server administrator, school musician, and general go-to guy for 32 years (see the interview “MD on MD”). Lin has moved to a new position as the Director of Student Services in the School of Social Work, and Marcus is now across the street at Washington Sea Grant.
This year, we have also seen new staff in our student services office (Addi Daisley), a new administrator (Kathryn Stout), and a new assistant to the Director (Sarah Espe). Please join me in welcoming Addi, Kathryn, and Sarah to the SAFS family. Also, I am delighted to announce that Tim Essington has agreed to become the SAFS Associate Director.
The School’s ability to support the next generation of outstanding undergraduate and graduate students and help faculty develop new programs has always been reliant upon your generous contributions—with the decreased funding of the last few years, this is true now more than ever. We sincerely thank you for your dedication to SAFS, and ask you to please consider making a gift to our programs.
As we move into our new positions, Tim and I look forward to meeting with you, our alumni and friends.