SAFS Spring / Summer 21 Newsletter – Director’s Message
Dear Friends
It is now late summer, and the dog days seem to be behind us—even the blackberries seem to be fading away. We are starting to get ready for another academic year, with a new cohort of undergraduate and graduate students and, of course, new and ongoing challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
We lost three of our emeritus faculty in the last year. In this newsletter, we celebrate the lives and careers of Richard (Dick) Whitney, John Liston, and Glenn VanBlaricom. Dick Whitney was the first Unit Leader for the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (WA Coop) and is well known for being the technical advisor in the case that led to famous Boldt decision. John Liston joined the faculty of the (then) School of Fisheries in 1957. He led the Institute of Food Science and Technology from its establishment in 1969 until his retirement in 1989. Our memorial article highlights John’s contribution to science and also his contributions to mentorship, in particular supporting the careers of female students and faculty. Glenn VanBlaricom retired only a few years ago, following a 30+–year career working for the federal government in several roles, including from 1993–2017 as the Assistant Unit Leader Wildlife in the WA Coop unit. Glenn’s research was multifaced, and he was as at home in the field studying abalone as he was in providing advice to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on the gray whales in the Sea of Okhotsk.
We also lost of a great friend of SAFS: Tanya Bevan, wife of Don Bevan, passed away last year. Don (former SAFS Professor and Director) and Tanya met at Moscow State University in Russia, after which she moved to the USA. After Don’s death in 1996, Tanya established, and made a generous gift to, the Donald E. Bevan Endowed Fund in Fisheries in his memory.
Lisa and Jim Seeb joined the SAFS faculty in 2007 as Research Professors and retired at the end of 2020. They had very successful careers at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, but the attraction of funding to extend their genetics program to Asian nations; the possibility of collaborating with the faculty, students, and staff associated with the Alaska Salmon Program; and the opportunity to work with graduate students was too great to resist. Learn more about what brought Lisa and Jim to SAFS, the highlights of what they did during their 13 years here, and their plans post-retirement in this issue.
We welcomed a new diversity specialist, Michael Martínez, on April 1, 2021. Michael has been learning about SAFS and providing opportunities to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in our unit, including helping to facilitate our current equity audit.
Finally, this very packed newsletter also includes: news about a major award for SAFS Professor Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño and articles about John Horne’s glider program, Josef Mayor’s capstone project about the effects of higher water flow events on salmon, and Martin Hall’s (PhD, 1983) experiences as a graduate student and an employee of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and his ongoing support of graduate students with the establishment of the Martin Hall Fellowship for Fishery Innovations in Sustainability.
Keep safe.
André