UO's Hodder, Institute of Marine Biology lead new ocean education center

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Dec. 10, 2007) -- Jan Hodder, a professor in the University of Oregon's Institute of Marine Biology, has been named to head the Pacific Partnerships Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE), the newest regional collaborative center dedicated to ocean education and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Other members of the COSEE Pacific Partnerships are Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center, Humboldt State University's Marine Laboratory in California, the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii and Western Washington University's Shannon Point Marine Center. Scientists at each lab will partner with regional community colleges and informal science educational projects to promote ocean education, Hodder said. The partnership institutions all belong to the Western Association of Marine Laboratories.

COSEE Pacific Partnerships, like previously named COSEE centers, will receive $2.5 million over five years from the NSF. The centers are designed to integrate ocean-science research into delivery of high-quality education programs and to promote a deeper public understanding of the oceans and their influence on quality of life and national prosperity. Each COSEE partnership is intended to foster interactions among ocean research institutions, formal education organizations and informal education providers such as aquaria.

The primary goal of COSEE Pacific Partnerships is to integrate marine research and education for audiences that traditionally have had limited access to an understanding of the ocean.

"We will engage two audiences that are not specifically targeted by existing COSEEs," Hodder said. "We plan to increase educational and professional development opportunities for community college faculty, which, in turn, will increase ocean literacy and the career potentials of their students. The second underserved audience involves informal science educators from whom the general public gets most of its ocean science information. This diverse group ranges from professionals employed by government and non-profits to volunteers who staff visitors' centers or provide outreach programs. We will provide opportunities for these audiences to learn about current findings in marine research."

Hodder is principal investigator and director for COSEE Pacific Partnerships. Four co-principal investigators named under the NSF grant are: co-director Shawn Rowe, extension marine education specialist for Sea Grant Oregon; George Boehlert, director of OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center; Jane Hodgkins, director of professional and technical programs at Oregon Coast Community College in Newport; and Kerry Carlin-Morgan, director of public programs at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

The national COSEE network includes regional centers that serve California, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast and the West. The Northwest also is served by a COSEE Ocean Learning Communities collaboration that is based at the University of Washington.

The UO's Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) is on the southern Oregon coast in Charleston and about 120 miles southwest of the main university campus. OIMB is a residential campus with six faculty members, visiting scientists, graduate and undergraduate students. Educational programs at OIMB feature a marine biology undergraduate major and graduate-degree program, an NSF-funded graduate-teaching-fellowships program in K-12 education and a series of public lectures and other outreach activities.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Jim Barlow, 541-346-3481, jebarlow@uoregon.edu

Source: Jan Hodder, associate professor of marine biology, 541-888-2581, ext. 215, jhodder@uoregon.edu