October 2000: Pam Rogers, Editor
New Art in the Library
Jackie Niemi, a Beaver Creek artist, recently donated her sculpture, Bycatch, to the Guin Library where it has been installed in the entrance to the Seminar Room. Thanks to Bob Miller and Tom Matteson for hanging the art for us. Please read Jackie's explanation of the piece below.
Bycatch by'-catch: secondary result, unintended or unexpected product of capture On the physical plane, "By catch" is a commentary on current fishing practices. What is happening to fish that get squeezed out of traps (i.e. nets)? Are they killed by the stress, or does the stress make them easy targets for predators? Do we need to fish this way, by scooping up everything in the path of the net? On the symbolic plane, fishtraps represent the capacity of an image to trap that which is elusive, volatile, ever-in-movement. It contains the transformational spirit. How do these two tie together? Fish/ideas die because they lose their freedom of expression and association. They are crowded together and pushed out of the enclosure. Overcrowding of ideas symbolizes distraction from one's inner voice. Death is our inability to perceive transformation. When you try to ensnare something elusive, what do you get? By scooping up everything indiscriminately, you get a lot that don't survive. Through distractions and trying to include everything, the idea or elusive spirit risks being sacrificed. Transformation occurs with focus and selectivity.
Jody Stecher Assists Reimers in Ocean Research
Hilmar "Jody" Stecher (pronounced Stek-er) is the marine chemist chosen to work with Dr. Clare Reimers on her research. Jody earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware, his M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry at Northwestern University, and his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Penn State University. He has worked for marine chemists and scientists his whole career, doing environmental research, and comes to us from the Seattle and Anacortes area. His interest in the ocean comes naturally, as his father received his degree in Oceanography from the University of Washington.
Jody and his wife, Linda, have one daughter, Morgan, who is five and a half. Linda teaches four- through seven-year-olds. Modestly, Jody reports that he is not THE Jody Stecher who is a famous bluegrass musician, though he does play the guitar "badly." He also enjoys ultimate frisbee, kayaking and building mobiles out of rocks (see the one he made hanging outside his office window).
New Roofs for HMSC Dining Hall, Bunkhouse and Li House
Several of the HMSC housing units are getting some badly needed new roofs. The Dining Hall (1977), the Bunkhouse (1975) and Li House (1972) still had their original shake roofs. Yaquina Roofing Company is the contractor and the work should be done by the end of September, for a total cost of $23,000.
The project has been made possible in part by contributions from the Winton Housing Fund through the Oregon Community Foundation. The Winton Family was responsible for donating the money to build all twelve of the units named after John Winton and those units were completed in 1985. Since that time the fund has given annually toward maintenance of the housing units. It is with deep appreciation that the Center thanks the Wintons and the Oregon Community Foundation for making the essential housing units available.
When the Center was originally built in 1965, the only housing provided were two bunkrooms in the main building, holding maybe up to six people with one shower. It wasn't until the Li House and then the Bunkhouse/Dining Hall were built that the Center was able to successfully host more than summer-term courses, due to the cost and availability of affordable housing in the Newport resort area. Dr. James Winton, son of John Winton, worked with the Fish Disease Lab for a number of years and when the family decided to honor Mr. Winton, he knew the great need for additional housing at the Center.
Melody Pfister, Housing/Scheduling Coordinator, reports that the housing units have been running at near capacity year-round, up considerably from past years. In the summer there basically are no vacancies, due to the teacher education courses, summer interns and seasonal workers.
HMSC Impresses National Sea Grant Review Team By Terri Nogler
On Thursday, September 14, the HMSC played its part in wowing a team of six people in town to evaluate the Oregon Sea Grant program.
HMSC researchers and educators participated in issue-based panels and poster sessions in the areas of fisheries, seafood and education that showed the Program Assessment Team (PAT) results of HMSC's extensive relationship with Sea Grant.
The PAT members, who are for the most part fisheries and oceanography specialists, were impressed with the Visitor Center and the fact that Oregon Sea Grant is the only national program to assume complete administrative responsibility for such a center.
The HMSC visit was one portion of a week-long review that included a trip to the Seafood Lab in Astoria and a drive to Netarts to view the extensive coastal hazards in that area and to learn about OSG's involvement in natural hazards research, outreach and public policy education.
Panels presented on the main OSU campus focused on Sea Grant involvement with watershed restoration and salmon recovery; and biotechnology for the control of disease and the enhancement of immune systems.
All 30 national Sea Grant programs undergo this new four-year review process. At the end of their visit, the PAT rates the various programs in four categories: strategic planning, organization and management, connecting with and producing results for users, and producing significant results. Oregon Sea Grant received a rating of "Excellent" in all four categories. This high rating pretty much assures that Oregon Sea Grant will receive a merit award that could be as high as $1,000,000 over the next four-year period.
HMSC Business Office Changes
Luke McIlvenny has accepted a position as supervising accountant for the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and will begin transitioning there in mid-September. He began in the Business Office in April of 1993 and moved up from accounting technician to supervising accountant after Marilyn Sander retired. Luke's wife has already begun work for the school district in Corvallis and they will be moving over there shortly. The search for his replacement is underway.
New to the Business Office as of June is Debi Furay. Debi and her husband Dave moved to the coast last year from Boulder, Colorado. Debi worked for nearly two decades with Storage Technology, serving in just about every financial capacity in the company. Since her father was in the Air Force, she has traveled quite a bit, going to high school in the Philippines and spending lots of time in Japan. She earned her bachelor's degree from Wayne State, Nebraska.
Dave, a mechanical design engineer, and Debi are heavily involved in vintage cars and started the Shelby America Museum (racing sports car) in Colorado. They own a Shelby displayed in the museum and still drive it in auto races.
Library News
Food Science and Technology Abstracts on the Web, Finally
The OSU Libraries recently started a subscription to the core index in food
science, FATS. It is available through the Silver Platter software. Here's
the burl: http://osulibrary.orst.edu/research/databases/spaccess.htm
You can also get to it via the newly redesigned OSU Libraries Research
Gateway, http://osulibrary.orst.edu/research/
Get the most out of the Guin Library
Beginning October 13th (yes it's a Friday), Janet will be giving an orientation once a month to the library and its ever-evolving suite of services.
The first session will focus on Oasis, the library's catalogue. You'll
learn the following and more:
This session is aimed at people new to the Center as well as those who need a reminder of our services and resources. We will meet in the Library Seminar Room at 11 for a brief introduction and then will move to the computers for some hands-on practicing.
The next session, November 10, will focus on the indexes and requesting
material through them. If you cannot make these sessions and still want
some orientation, please contact Janet (7-0108).