Vice Chancellor Haymet to Retire from Administrative Roles at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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Following six years of service as Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences and Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Tony Haymet has announced his decision to retire from his administrative duties on January 1, 2013. Upon his retirement his title will change to Vice Chancellor - Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dean of the Graduate Program in Marine Sciences, Emeritus, and he will remain a Distinguished Professor at UC San Diego.

“Tony Haymet furthered enhanced the stature of Scripps Institution of Oceanography around the world, highlighting our faculty’s scholarship in climate change and all aspects of protection of the earth and its resources,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We are grateful for his leadership and service.”

Vice Chancellor Haymet joined Scripps in 2006 from Australia.  During his tenure, he significantly improved Scripps’ budget and reinvigorated Scripps’ academic personnel and infrastructure through an innovative agenda.   He put in place an excellent leadership team who together achieve his five-point plan of people (including diversity), infrastructure, vessels, outreach and teaching.

He oversaw the recruitment, appointment and promotion of more than 44 stellar academics, including 25 at the assistant professor or assistant researcher level.  He completed funding and construction for the Robert Paine Scripps Forum for Science, Society and the Environment.  Under Haymet’s leadership, Scripps won competitions for the Navy’s AGOR-28 research vessel and the new MESOM research building; established funding for renovation of “Building D” on the old NOAA Southwest Fisheries site and replacement of Scripps’ Point Loma MARFAC pier; and completed strategic planning for the future of the Birch Aquarium.  In September, Scripps submitted its proposal to the National Science Foundation for the design and build of NSF’s next generation of mid-sized research vessels.

Richard C. Atkinson, President Emeritus of the University of California system and former Chancellor of UC San Diego, noted: “Tony has done an excellent job as director of SIO.  He can point to a long list of accomplishments.  However, most important is the fact that he had incredibly good taste in hiring truly talented faculty.  In the long run, what makes an institution great is the caliber of its faculty and Tony has proved to be very effective in identifying and recruiting the best.”

Outreach efforts during Haymet’s tenure included a visit by a Scripps’ team to Compton High School in 2010, which led to the annual summer residential program at UC San Diego for students from Compton and three San Diego high schools.  Haymet also established Scripps’ first institutional postdoctoral program, and launched a successful effort to provide philanthropic fellowships to many of Scripps’ first year Ph.D. students.  Most recently, Scripps launched a new Marine Biology undergraduate major this fall, and also expanded its masters programs.

Recognizing the critical role private industry must play in transforming research into environmental solutions, Haymet co-founded CleanTech San Diego in 2007.  He has served as Chair and Vice Chair, and continues to serve on its executive committee.  He also hired Scripps’ first Assistant Director for Business Development to move promising intellectual property from the campus out into the job-creating commercial world.

“Tony Haymet has been an invaluable leader in the development of a clean energy industry and the jobs and companies CleanTech San Diego has fostered during his tenure as a founder and Vice-Chair.  I know he will continue to be a leader and important voice on national issues of climate change, energy independence and the move to a renewable energy future, "said former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.

An international search will be conducted for his successor.