Thank you Denis Wiesenburg (UAF)

Dr Denis Wiesenburg (center) with Drs Ian Dutton and Clarence Pautzke at a recent NPRB meeting.

The Alaska SeaLife Center and the Alaskan marine science community is losing one of our truly visionary leaders.  Dr Denis Wiesenburg, Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently announced that he is resigning to take up a new appointment as the Vice President for Research at the University of Southern Mississippi.  Denis leaves us in June.

Denis has been a remarkably productive and energetic leader.  Over the past six years he has overseen a rapid growth in both undergraduate and graduate student numbers enrolled in fisheries and ocean sciences programs at UAF.  He also co-led the successful proposal to secure funding for the new arctic research vessel Sikuliaq and the building of the new Lena point SFOS campus of UAF in Juneau.

I had the privilege of serving with Denis on numerous boards and committees and he truly was a consistent advocate for building marine science capacity here in Alaska at all levels.  He pursued school level education through the Alaska Tsunami Ocean Sciences Bowl competitions with the same passion as funding for new advanced research technologies; he pursued recruitment of social scientists with the same vigor as he sought oceanographers.  In the often siloed world of university education it is rare to find such an "all round" approach to the ocean sciences.

His work with the SeaLife Center exemplified his commitment to quality research and education outcomes for Alaska.  He was both a strong advocate for the UAF staff at ASLC and a strong advocate for the ASLC in the broader Alaskan and national science communities -- he understood and valued the power of our partnership.

I will be eternally grateful for Denis's support during my first year at the SeaLife Center, and inspired by his vision for marine science in the North Pacific - he leaves a tremendous legacy at UAF. 

We wish Denis and his family all the very best in their new lives in Mississippi... true to form he has already jumped in to the Gulf oil spill response and so I suspect we'll be swapping notes for many years to come!