SF State will close Estuary & Ocean Science Center in Tiburon
San Francisco State University is closing its Romberg Tiburon Campus due to lack of funding, throwing marine biology students and faculty at the Estuary & Ocean Science Center into confusion and despair.
In a Feb. 4 announcement, university President Lynn Mahoney said the school would immediately begin phasing out operations at the Paradise Drive center — San Francisco Bay’s only marine science lab — and moving students and faculty to the university’s main campus.
...Estuary & Ocean Science Center Interim Executive Director Katharyn Boyer said the announcement had caused confusion and distress among the center’s scientists, as it remains unclear whether the work of adjunct professors and researchers will be able to continue.
“People are despondent,” Boyer said. “What does it mean? People are advising graduate students, they’re working on research projects. They’ve got offices and labs. They employ research technicians. What’s going to happen? Nobody knows.”
Boyer made a last-ditch plea to any donor who could help save the struggling marine biology station, which is also home to the Smithsonian Estuary Research Center West and San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
“My only hope is that someone comes out of the woodwork and says, ‘We would like to help you,’” she said.
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