DI Sea Lab Announces New Director

WKRGNews: DI Sea Lab Announces New Director
DAUPHIN ISLAND - Dr. John Valentine has been appointed executive director of Alabama’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab by the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium board of directors.

Valentine, a University of South Alabama marine sciences professor who currently serves as associate director for university programs at the DISL, will assume the position Oct. 1, following the retirement of longtime executive director Dr. George Crozier.

Located on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island, Ala., the DISL is a center for research, education and service in the marine sciences. The laboratory is operated by the MESC, a nonprofit institution composed of 22 colleges and universities in Alabama.

“Dr. Valentine’s long experience with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab makes him a natural choice to lead the laboratory and consortium as they continue their important work in helping us to understand, protect and preserve our valuable marine resources, as well as teaching future generations to appreciate them,” said USA President Gordon Moulton, who serves as chairman of the board of directors of the MESC.

“The board also extends its deepest appreciation to Dr. George Crozier for his dedication and service to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, which spans nearly four decades.”

Valentine, a native of Burlington, N.C., received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and his doctorate in marine benthic ecology from the University of Alabama. He has been at the DISL since 1988, having completed his doctoral research there. Valentine was instrumental in preparing the nomination of Mobile Bay to the National Estuary Program and has led the work on the role of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta as it relates to the Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Most recently, he managed the distribution of the $5 million grant from BP to the consortium for rapid response examination of impacts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“I look forward to continuing the role Dr. Crozier has forged of offering the finest marine science courses to our Alabama students, as well as having a world-class staff of research scientists,” Valentine said. “We have our challenges, economic and environmental, but we also have some of the brightest minds and hardest working individuals around. I am honored by the board’s appointment.”

As current chair of university programs, Valentine is the chief academic officer at the laboratory and responsible for the statewide curriculum of courses offered for the member institutions by resident faculty. He also oversees the graduate programs of some 50 graduate students pursuing advanced degrees through several of the member schools.

Valentine has authored more than 50 papers published in highly visible and widely respected marine journals and served on 32 graduate student research committees at the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University, and USA since joining the faculty at DISL.

Among his many professional accomplishments, Valentine has secured more than $5 million in competitive extramural research and contract funding through 44 proposals to a variety of federal and state sources.

Additionally, Valentine serves as the past-president of the Benthic Ecology Society, which he helped found. The society was incorporated this year at the annual meeting in Mobile. This is the second time that the society has met in Mobile, bringing several hundred international scientists to the Port City