To provide partial support to hire an Associate Director for the program.

Currently the Associate Director position is a half-time position for an individual who also serves as the Program Leader for our Extension Program. We wish to broaden this individual's role to include more research and teaching by making it a full-time position and having the individual also serve as Associate Director of Stone Laboratory. As we have brought Stone Laboratory under the Ohio Sea Grant umbrella, we have been able to increase the number and quality of courses offered for college credit, the impact of our workshop and field trip program, and amount of research conducted at the Laboratory. Annual enrollment during the 1990s is 350 percent higher than annual enrollment during the 1980s. Since 1990, students attending the Laboratory have come from 37 different Ohio colleges, 21 out-of-state colleges, and 200 different high schools. In 1995 over 3,300 students participated in the workshop and field trip program -- a 3-fold increase over the number 10 years ago. In 1996, 20 research projects (many supported by Ohio Sea Grant) were conducted at the Laboratory by 56 investigators and 12 laboratory assistants. We believe that an Associate Director position which is half-time in charge of our Extension Program and half-time in charge of programs at Stone Laboratory, will be a very attractive position and allow us to attract some excellent candidates.