Steve Hollenhorst to serve as interim director of Western’s Shannon Point Marine Center

Steve Hollenhorst, dean of Western’s Huxley College of the Environment, will also serve as interim director of Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes. Steve Sulkin, SPMC director for the past 28 years, is retiring during the summer.

“I am pleased to announce that Steve Hollenhorst, dean of Huxley College, has agreed to serve as interim director of SPMC effective Sept. 1. Dean Hollenhorst is looking forward to meeting with SPMC faculty and staff to discuss how he can help to sustain and support new and existing programs,” said Western Provost Catherine Riordan.

A search is under way for a permanent SPMC dean, and exceptionally strong candidates for the position remain in the applicant pool, but there is not enough time in this current academic year to schedule campus interviews for additional candidates; so search activities will resume fall 2013 with the hope that a new director could begin early in 2014.

Western will contact the pool of remaining applicants to advise them of the situation and to invite them to continue their candidacies. In addition, some advertising of the position will take place in early September with the goal of increasing and strengthening the applicant pool.

Riordan thanked Brian Bingham and other members of the search committee, and added that she feels confident continuing search efforts in the fall will yield a successful outcome.

Riordan thanked Sulkin for his service. “His contributions to Western and Shannon Point Marine Center are many and significant. Under his leadership, SPMC has become one of the top marine centers in the nation,” she said.

The Shannon Point Marine Center’s mission is to support and promote marine science academic programs at WWU, develop new information about local marine environments, train the next generation of marine scientists, and provide public education events. More information about SPMC can be accessed at www.wwu.edu/spmc.