Cowen retiring as head of Hatfield Marine Science Center; Ballance to become interim director

OSU The Hatfield Marine Science Center is the second-largest marine science research facility on the West Coast and is home to 450 OSU faculty, staff and personnel from seven state and federal agencies involved in ocean research.

NEWPORT — Robert Cowen, the longtime director of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, is retiring at the end of the month.

He will be replaced on an interim basis by Lisa Ballance, director of the center’s Marine Mammal Institute. A national search for Cowan’s permanent replacement will be launched this summer.

“Since joining OSU in 2013, Dr. Cowen has played a transformative role in advancing marine research, education and outreach,” Irem Tumer, OSU’s vice president for research and innovation, said in a statement. “Under his leadership, the Hatfield Marine Science Center has grown into a premier hub for interdisciplinary marine and coastal studies.”

The Hatfield center, which opened in 1965, helps the university develop its extensive marine research and education program. It currently employs more than 450 professional staff members and hosts more than 500 students.

The center, by its own estimates, has an economic impact to the Oregon coast of nearly $100 million and facilitates undergraduate and graduate students with hands-on research opportunities and experiential instruction.

Tumer said Cowen has been instrumental in expanding Hatfield’s research opportunities and infrastructure, including the development of the Marine Studies initiative, construction and opening of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building, among other projects. More recently, he assumed leadership of the centralization of all marine operations into the university’s Division of Research and Innovation.

“Taken from the enterprise perspective, this singular move opens the door for bringing all of OSU’s marine facilities and operations to the level of excellent required to support our world-class marine scientists,” according to Tumer’s statement.

Cowen was feted in a retirement party last week at the center.

Ballance, whose first day as interim director will be July 1, has overseen expansion of the Marine Institute to its current staffing level of 60 scientists, a doubling of when she started in 2019.

In addition, she has brought in more than $10.7 million in philanthropic funds, overseen and operated the 80-foot research vessel Pacific Storm, chaired the university’s marine operations task force and co-created a new graduate certificate in marine mammalogy.