University Welcomes New Dean for College of Science and Mathematics

By Jim Mortenson

Kenneth P. Sebens has finally come home. With considerable experience at local universities Harvard and Northeastern, Sebens will move here from the University of Maryland (UM) in December to begin his appointment as the first dean of UMass Boston's new College of Science and Mathematics.

"I can't express how much I am looking forward to returning to New England, especially Boston, and helping lead the faculty, students, and staff of the new college to national prominence as a center of research and teaching excellence," Sebens said.

Sebens's research and administrative experience, particularly in the marine environmental sciences, is consonant with UMass Boston's current and future interdisciplinary research and teaching goals.

From 1991 to 1997, Sebens was director of UM's system-wide Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Graduate Program, one of the largest such programs in the country. He also served as director of Northeastern's Marine Science Center as well as its East-West Marine Biology Program from 1985 to 1991.

"I have a great deal of experience in developing and assessing science curricula and programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels," Sebens said. "I'm looking forward to working with the college's faculty and staff to provide our students with better and more useful programs of study and research."

Sebens brings an outstanding record of achievement in both research and scholarship to UMass Boston. He is an expert in the marine ecology of coastal regions, with a focus on benthic populations and community/ecosystem studies in both temperate and tropical locations. Over the past 25 years he has published more than 75 papers and book chapters, and obtained more than 35 grants for research.

In 1982, the journal Ecology published his paper "The Limits to Indeterminate Growth: An Optimal Size Model Applied to Passive Suspension Feeders," which earned him the Ecological Society of America's 1983 George Mercer Award for outstanding ecological research published in the United States and Canada. He is also an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award in 1998.

At present, Sebens is carrying out two major research projects, both funded by the National Science Foundation for up to 25 years. One is an investigation of community and population dynamics that highlights long-term (1978-2003) changes in rocky subtidal habitats in Massachusetts. "The project is one of the most extensive long-term studies of subtidal marine communities anywhere in the world," Sebens said. The other project examines the effects of water flow, nutrient availability, and zooplankton capture on reef coral nutrition and growth.

"Chancellor Gora and I are very pleased that Dr. Sebens has made a commitment to lead our new College of Science and Mathematics," said Provost Paul Fonteyn. "His success in building and strengthening science programs will mean greater research opportunities for our faculty and, I'm happy to say, our students."

Sebens has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses throughout his career, even during his administrative appointments. He has developed lecture and laboratory courses in oceanography, theoretical ecology, tropical ecology, and marine ecology, and graduate courses and specialized seminars in marine ecology. His courses often include strong hands-on field and laboratory components owing to his conviction that such activities stimulate student interest and enthusiasm for any science.

"Teaching and student learning are always uppermost in my mind whenever I consider academic and administrative issues and matters," Sebens observed. "So I believe that strong research programs make faculty better teachers. Our students deserve the best science faculty and programs that we can provide."

Sebens earned a B.A. in biology from the University of Connecticut in 1972, and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1977. His first academic appointment was as an assistant professor and later associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University from 1977 to 1985.

Image: Dean Sebens begins his tenure at UMass Boston in December. (Photo by Kingstown Studio)

Go to menu