Jane Lubchenco, seen here with Sen. Ron Wyden (D. Oregon), is retiring from her position with NOAA (photo: Todd Simmons)

Jane Lubchenco, on leave from her position as professor of zoology at Oregon State University, is stepping down from her position as NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Administrator in February and returning to the Pacific Northwest.

According to an email Lubchenco sent to NOAA staff members, she is returning to family and academia.

Vince Remcho, interim dean of the College of Science at OSU, said he has been in communications with Lubchenco about her next steps, and that her position in the Department of Zoology awaits her return home.

“She has accomplished much at OSU, yet has so very much more to offer than ever before given her public policy experience leading NOAA,” Remcho said. “I am eager to see what opportunities await the college and the university working in partnership with Jane and Bruce (Menge).”

Lubchenco, the Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology, earned her Ph.D. in ecology from Harvard University in 1975 and taught there before joining the OSU faculty in 1977. OSU is home to one of the largest and most respected group of marine scientists in the United States, a distinction that she helped to build over 30 years.

Among her numerous awards and recognitions are a MacArthur Fellowship (more commonly known as a “genius grant”), the $640,000 Blue Planet Prize, 18 honorary degrees and the title of “Distinguished Professor of Zoology.”

During her tenure in Washington, D.C., Lubchenco was on leave from her position on the OSU faculty. Her husband is OSU Distinguished Professor of Zoology and Valley Professor of Marine Biology, Bruce Menge.

~ Theresa Hogue

Pres. Ed Ray addresses a crowd gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Operations Center in Newport.The center will be built just west of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. From left, Rep. David Wu, Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, Governor Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Kurt Schrader listen during the presentation. Date: June 3, 2010 (photo: Mark Floyd)

As NOAA’s leader, Lubchenco follows in the footsteps of former OSU President and NOAA administrator John Byrne, who still maintains close ties with the university, and lives in Corvallis.

Byrne, speaking from his OSU office Jan. 2, reminisced about his own time as NOAA chief during the Reagan Administration in the 1980s, and the challenges Lubchenco is likely to face.

“She’s going to run into the same types of problems (I did),” Byrne said, including perpetual budget problems. “There just isn’t enough money.”
Byrne anticipates that she’ll find many of the issues NOAA considers priorities will be subject to power struggles between the legislative and executive branches, with the fight often overshadowing the substance of the issues.

There is also the challenge of running a very large agency, where various branches are more interested in their own issues than in NOAA as a whole.
“It’s a challenging job, very diverse,” he said, with the weather service and the fisheries industries among some of the more powerful voices.

One challenge Byrne faced that he hopes Lubchenco won’t is the breakdown of a weather satellite while she’s in office.

“They’re so expensive they’ll eat up her budget,” he said.

Byrne said Lubchenco is a good match for the Obama administration, which has made environmental conservation and climate change a priority. He said that Lubchenco’s appointment, coming even before President Barack Obama is inaugurated, indicates that his administration is conscious of the importance of NOAA.

“I wasn’t appointed until March (of 1980),” Byrne said. “I think that President Reagan didn’t know what NOAA was about.”

And while her nomination has temporarily put OSU in the news, he said Lubchenco will be too busy with national issues to spend too much time thinking about her home state once she’s settled into her new position. Besides, OSU is already nationally recognized for its sea grant program and other work in atmospheric sciences, he said.

“OSU has a good reputation with NOAA.”

~ Theresa Hogue