THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 5, 1995 TAG: 9509050038
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GLOUCESTER LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Don Wright is a scientist who enjoys working on the murky bottom of the Chesapeake Bay amid tube worms, black mud and the unknown.
What he must navigate now, as the new head of the esteemed Virginia Institute of Marine Science, is much scarier to him - namely, wine-and-cheese fund-raisers, budget meetings, a suit and tie.
Frankly, Wright would rather be back in the mud.
But after the sudden resignation this spring of four-year dean and director Dennis L. Taylor, whose resume was found to include a scientific degree he never received, Wright was picked to lead VIMS through some murky waters.
Wright, a tall, soft-spoken native of Florida, jokes that he was probably tapped for the job because he was out of the country at the time Taylor's academic past became embarrassing news.
But like Gerald Ford replacing a scandal-ridden Richard Nixon, Wright is solid, respected and noncontroversial - a squeaky-clean caretaker who can allow time to heal the institute's morale and reputation.
In addition to the fallout from the Taylor controversy, Wright will be dealing with budget problems.
The 55-year-old institute, a branch of the College of William and Mary, has seen its budget reduced by about 4 percent the past two years by a belt-tightening General Assembly. Federal research money also is scarce as lawmakers in Washington try to cut government's burden on taxpayers.
VIMS, like other public colleges and universities in Virginia, must prepare a restructuring plan describing how it could continue to provide a quality education on a leaner budget.
Wright took over the marine lab on Aug. 1. He will remain behind the dean's desk in the big office with a scenic view of the York River for at least one year. A special committee, announced last week, hopes to conclude a national search for a permanent dean and director by April 1996, according to a letter from college Provost Gillian T. Cell.
``It's a difficult time,'' Wright said last week while doing research on the upper York in a T-shirt and shorts. ``I just hope I get through this without going schizophrenic.''
Wright believes Taylor did the right thing by resigning in May and taking a lower post in the institute's biology department.
``The faculty was very supportive of Dennis, and I was, too,'' he said. ``But the reality is, we need to keep an immaculate image here. So, he really made the right decision for the future of the institute.''
A Newport News lawyer discovered Taylor's incorrect resume while investigating a possible lawsuit against him by another VIMS staffer. Taylor had listed an honorary doctorate of science degree from the University of Wales in 1977. But the school never gave him the honor.
It's not the first time a VIMS director has had to polish a tarnished image. In the 1980s, oyster scientist Frank Perkins took over the dean's chair from Bill Hargis, a 20-year veteran who was accused of misspending $350,000 on unauthorized construction projects and running the institute $7 million into debt.
Wright said he has no desire to become the dean permanently. He only wants to keep VIMS moving ahead professionally and academically until a new director is chosen and he can get back to his real loves - researching and teaching.
His selection comes at a sensitive time for him.
Wright is one of the most active scientists at VIMS, with several ongoing state and federal research projects.
Last Monday, he and colleague Linda Schaffner, a biologist, were busy taking bottom samples from the York River as part of a Navy project that measures how toxic materials travel on the bottom of Chesapeake Bay.
After emerging from a 30-minute dive on the muddy darkness of the river, Wright reveled in discussing underwater currents, sediment and the texture of underwater worms. ``They feel like tiny little pine needles under your hand,'' he said, back aboard the VIMS research vessel.
Schaffner, too, enjoys diving through bottom sediments and sea worms. ``It's very, very quiet down there,'' she said.
``But you know, there's no phones down there; no one can bother you, which I'm sure is good for Don these days.''
Wright smiled and nodded. ``Tell me about it,'' he said, as he changed out of his wet suit and back into his street clothes. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
PAUL AIKEN
Staff
Don Wright, a soft-spoken Floridian, will help heal VIMS morale and
reputation.
Don Wright, interim director at Virginia Institute of Marine
Science, discusses a sediment experiment he and his team have just
set on the bottom of the York River. Wright is much more at home in
this environment than in the suit and tie required by his new
position.
VIMS FACT SHEET
The facility: The Virginia Institute of Marine Science, a branch
of the College of William and Mary, is one of the pre-eminent marine
laboratories in Virginia.
Director: Don Wright, a researcher at VIMS, has been appointed
interim director, pending a national search for a permanent dean
and director.
Established: 1940.
Location: Gloucester Point, on the York River.
Annual budget: $22.4 million (projected for 1995-96).
Research: Federal, state and privately funded projects on a range
of estuarine and coastal issues, including oysters, crabs, toxins,
ocean dynamics (erosion, geology, marine mammals), wetlands and
underwater vegetation.
by CNB