CORVALLIS, Ore. - Selina Heppell, an Oregon State University conservation biologist, has been named head of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences.

She is the first woman to hold that position in the department's 80-year history.

Heppell succeeds former department head W. Daniel "Dan" Edge, who earlier this year was named associate dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences. A faculty member in fisheries and wildlife since 2001, Heppell has served as associate and interim head of the department.

"Selina has provided terrific leadership during her term as interim head of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and I am delighted that she will continue to lead the department, which is one of the best in the nation," said Dan Arp, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences. "She is a distinguished researcher and teacher with a demonstrated commitment to excellence."

Heppell will lead one of the largest natural sciences programs at OSU, with more than 600 registered undergraduate majors in Corvallis and online, 180 graduate students and eight degrees and certificates. There are about 140 (non-student) employees in the department, which brought in about $7.4 million in research grants and contracts in 2015.

"We're a big family," Heppell said, "and I am very happy to work with such a fantastic group of faculty, staff and students."

Heppell came to OSU after a post-doctoral appointment at the Environmental Protection Agency in Corvallis. Much of her research has been devoted to the study and protection of some of the slowest-growing animals in the sea, including sturgeon, sea turtles, sharks and West Coast rockfish. She uses computer models and simulations to examine how these species respond to human impacts - and how they may respond to future climate change.

She shares a laboratory with her husband, Scott Heppell, on campus and at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. The Heppells teach a conservation biology course in Eastern Europe, and have done field research on fish in the Caribbean, in addition to their West Coast research.

Source: 

Selina Heppell, 541-737-9039, [email protected];

Dan Arp, 541-737-2331, [email protected]

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