Bishop Hill State of upheaval
Nov 15, 2012 Climate: Mann Michael Mann's boss at Penn State, Bill Brune, has suddenly announced that he is standing down as head of department. Brune, as readers of Hiding the Decline will know, was a consultant to the Penn State inquiry into Mann's conduct. He also spoke about the inquiry a year or so ago. According to my correspondent, an email was sent out to faculty by the dean of the School of Geosciences, William Easterling. This is is the relevant section:
It is with mixed feelings that I announce Bill Brune's intention to step down as department head effective January 1, 2014, after a stellar 13 year term as Head of Meteorology. Bill has led the Department through a period of expansion into new and important areas, including eddy flux measurement and modeling, tornado genesis, climate variability and change dynamics, surface-atmosphere interactions, and weather and climate risk. Outstanding faculty members were recruited into all of those areas under his leadership. Bill also oversaw the transformation of the Weather Station into the state of the art Joel N. Myers Weather Center. His reorganization of business operations in the Department now stands as a model for other departments. Bill led the Department through the first National Research Council ranking of meteorology doctoral programs; Penn State Meteorology is now ranked among the nation's elite doctoral programs. Bill is a highly respected atmospheric chemist and currently holds one of EMS' distinguished professorships. He plans to rejoin the faculty to devote more time to his research and teaching.
It could be nothing. But then again it could signify something. Penn State still seems to be in a state of upheaval with the state auditor general calling for an overhall of the university. Meanwhile, there is continuing speculation that the recent firing of the president of Mann's former base at the University of Virginia was linked to climate change controversies.
Reader Comments (9)
"overhall"
Is that a sort of mezzanine..?
:-)
January 2014?
14 months away.
"State of Upheaval" nice title for a new book about Penn State, Andrew!
Another possible book title after Steyn creams mann in court: "The Decline of Mann"
And so the rats start jumping ship
As the shit begins to hit the fan
Nobel secrets hidden deep
Alas! the decline of Mann
My understanding is that academic fame means dollars in the American education industry. If they didn't get rid of Sandusky, they were unlikely to remove a mere charlatan like Mann. I'm sure they just want the whole affair to dissolve into history.
It's a strange coincidence but Penn State's ability to conduct an enquiry into a well known climate scientist was called into question by their failure to fully investigate a paedophile sports coach and 4 of the BBC executives who attended the 28gate meeting have been suspended for failure to accurately investigate charges of paedophilia.
PA Auditor Gen. Jack Wagner just released a report on the "lack" of oversight exercised by the board of trustees and the administration over the Jerry Sandusky affair.
Wagner has recommended that the state's Sunshine Law be applied to Penn State so he and his fellow Democrats can go after Gov. Tom Corbett, who sat on the board while attorney general.
The open records law would then apply to L'affair Mann as well.
Rats...sinking ship.
Given the scientific basis of AGW, and that two data points linking sex scandals with institutions that promote the cause of AGW should we now look for sex scandals at the UEA and the IPCC
". . . .Bill Brune, has suddenly announced that he is standing down as head of department" 14 MONTHS FROM NOW.
How much did you have to drink before you wrote that gem?