Oceanography chair named

The UW's oceanography school has a new big fish.

The school selected Russel McDuff, one of its leading professors, as its new director.

McDuff came to the UW in 1981 as a research assistant professor and became an associate director in the School of Oceanography in 1990. As an associate director, he dealt with services inside the school, as well as the department's research vessels.

McDuff has taught marine geology and geophysics in the graduate program and, more recently, co-taught a course on spatial information technology to undergraduates.

Recently, McDuff has been involved in research on undersea volcanic hot springs and the biological communities where the base of the food chain consists of organisms that derive energy from chemicals in the vent waters, instead of sunlight.

While McDuff plans to continue his research to the extent that he can, his focus has shifted to administrative responsibilities.

"Being a director's pretty much a full-time job," McDuff said.

As director, McDuff is primarily responsible for the school's budget, course planning, promotion and tenure and helping the department respond to changes in the field of oceanography. He is particularly interested in the department's efforts to reach out to undergraduates.

"One of the things that we think is important to do is to play a greater role in undergraduate education on the campus," said McDuff. "We need to do a better job of marketing the program because students in it think of it as something that's valuable to them, something that has relevance to their lives. It opens up lots of opportunities to them."

Oceanography has a relatively low profile among undergraduate departments, according to McDuff.

"We're not on the main pathways of campus," said McDuff of the department's facilities on Portage Bay, south of the health sciences complex, and its overall visibility in the campus community.

However, McDuff emphasizes the positive aspects of the department.

"Because we have lots of faculty that are mainly supported on research grants. There's lots of opportunities for undergraduates to work in individual faculty's research groups, so you really get a hands-on feel, sort of like being in a small college inside a big university," explained McDuff.

"Many of our undergraduates go to sea two, three or even four times during their undergraduate career," said McDuff, referring to the opportunities for undergraduates aboard the department's research vessels.

McDuff said that oceanography appeals to a wide variety of people.

"Some work in the ocean sciences, but they do as varied things as become lawyers and a fair number of them work out at Microsoft now," he said.

The previous director, Bruce Frost, began to address the department's outreach to undergraduates, according to McDuff. One change being implemented is assigning every student in the department to a faculty adviser, which McDuff believes would help build a sense of community in the department.

The department is also reworking its undergraduate program to engage students throughout their undergraduate career, not just in their final year of study.

"To some extent, we need to change the way we teach oceanography," said McDuff. The department is looking into how to tie research into undergraduate education, and how to change its curriculum to adapt to new technologies in the field.

Despite the changes in progress in the department, McDuff is quite optimistic about the future of the School of Oceanography, which is ranked as one of the top three oceanographic institutions in the country, according to the National Research Council.