December 14, 2012 — DARTMOUTH — A revamp of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute will mean that acclaimed marine scientist Dr. Brian Rothschild at UMass Dartmouth will be out as co-director after 10 years.
UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Divina Grossman on Wednesday announced the changes, which were proposed by the UMass President's Office.
It will consolidate the institute at the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology in New Bedford. It is now part of the president's office.
The institute is a partnership with the state Division of Marine Fisheries to promote and publicize fisheries research. But it lacked an oversight board, a budget and annual reports and it wasn't coordinated well enough to solicit research grants from industry, government and other institutions, said university spokesman John Hoey.
The new arrangement would place the SMAST dean, Dr. Steve Lohrenz, as co-director along with Paul Diodati from Marine Fisheries. Lohrenz will be the conduit between the state and the UMass campuses.
Rothschild would be out, and that has some of his colleagues angry.
Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times