Friends and Colleagues:

Welcome back!  Students and faculty are back in force for the 2nd semester.  Historic events and personal angst have intervened since last semester, but our life does go on.
 
I had the pleasure of spending several days recently in San Francisco, at a conference of the Gordon and Betty Moore grantees to their Ocean Management and Fisheries Management initiatives.  It's quite striking to see how the Mass Ocean Partnership (MOP) that we are housing is genuinely unique in its plan to facilitate development of a comprehensive, multi-use ocean management plan for Massachusetts coastal waters.  We will be working hard to advance the MOP science and governance models for application to larger and larger marine ecosystems, and to continue to make environmental policy a more significant discipline at MGS.
 
I'm also pleased to report that the strategic planning process is continuing, and is becoming increasingly constructive.  When we began, we thought that perhaps the process itself would be the only real outcome; but we are heartened to see the process begin to generate commonalities and thematic strengths and interests, which we hope to be able to discuss with you in the next couple of months.

I look forward to seeing you around the campus and around town. 

                     
Sincerely,

Steve Crosby
Dean