Posted on April 18, 2002 at 3:00 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — James B. McClintock, Ph.D., has announced he will step down as dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics to return full time to teaching and research. McClintock, who in September was named the first recipient of the Polar and Marine Biology Endowed Professorship at UAB, will continue to serve as dean until the appointment of a successor. A campuswide search committee will be formed and a national search initiated in the near future, said Arol Augsburger, O.D., interim UAB provost.

“Dr. McClintock has provided outstanding leadership to the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics for five years, first as interim and for the last three years as dean,” Augsburger said. “In addition to his skills as an administrator and teacher, his work as a researcher has brought national and international acclaim to both himself and our university. We regret the loss of his leadership, but we are thrilled that he will continue to put his talents to work in the classroom and laboratories at UAB.”

"I am very proud of how NS&M has progressed during my tenure as dean," McClintock said. "Our research funding has almost doubled from $2.8 million five years ago to $4.8 million today and our enrollments are up by 20 percent. We have strengthened focused interdisciplinary programs in areas such as materials science, funded new innovative technologies in our teaching laboratories and surpassed our $1.5 million capital campaign goal by more than 30 percent.

"While I have found the past five years of administrative service to UAB most rewarding, it is now time for me to return full time to my scholarly pursuits of teaching, research and service as an Endowed Professor of Polar and Marine Biology."

McClintock is an internationally recognized polar and marine biologist. He has made major contributions to the understanding of polar and marine biology and is well known for his research in marine invertebrate chemical ecology, its associated drug discovery, and for his research in marine invertebrate reproduction and nutrition. The endowed professorship was made possible from the Robert R. Meyer Foundation of Birmingham and is the first step in the creation of an endowed chair in polar and marine biology. McClintock joined the UAB faculty in 1987 as a professor of biology. In 1993, he won the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Award for Scholarly Distinction at UAB.