Rosenstiel dean Otis Brown to step down

POSTED MAY 6 AT 8:07 P.M.

Otis Brown, dean of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science since 1995, revealed on Friday his decision to step down at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year.

After ending his term as dean, Brown will continue his research at UM, focusing on “several special projects which focus on science and society.”

“One [project] is an eco-system management project and the other is the transition of state-of-the-art hurricane forecast tools to operational settings,” Brown told The Miami Hurricane in an e-mail.

Having served as a member of the U.S. Ocean Commission’s science advisory panel and as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Science Advisory Board, Brown is a prominent figure in the scientific community, recognized for his research in the integration of science and policy, and ocean studies.

Brown has been a faculty member at UM since 1974; his titles including chairman of the Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from 1974 to 1989, and the associate dean for research from 1989 to 1994.

In 2006, Brown was honored with the Charles Franklin Brooks Award by the American Meteorological Society, a leading professional society in the field of atmospheric and related sciences.

“[My experience at UM] has been, and [still] is, very rewarding,” said Brown. “Only at a school like Rosenstiel does one have the opportunity to work with world-class scientists on a daily basis and see ways to measurably improve the way humanity lives on planet Earth.”

After Brown and law school dean Dennis O. Lynch – who announced his retirement in April 2007 – step down, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of the School of Architecture will be the sole dean to not have been named during Donna E. Shalala became president of the university in 2001.

Chelsea Kate Isaacs may be contacted at chelsea@miami.edu.