Andrew Rossiter Named Director of the UH Waikiki Aquarium

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Jim Manke, (808) 956-6099
Director of Public Affairs
Kate Wester, (808) 956-9095
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: Feb 20, 2004

The new director of the Waikiki Aquarium is Andrew Rossiter, who will move to Hawaiʻi from Kusatsu, Japan, where he has been senior research scientist and deputy chief of the aquarium exhibition section at Lake Biwa Museum. Rossiter‘s appointment was approved at today‘s meeting of the Board of Regents at Honolulu Community College.

"I am delighted that Dr. Rossiter has accepted the director‘s position," said UH Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert. "The aquarium is one of our premiere research units — celebrating its 100th anniversary this year — and Dr. Rossiter is exceptionally well-qualified to lead the program, its team of scientists and the visitor staff into a second century of outstanding work and service to the public."

Rossiter has been in the exhibitions section of the Lake Biwa Museum since 1999, working to upgrade the educational and scientific content of aquarium displays while maintaining or improving their entertainment value. He also was in charge of the museum‘s Life Sciences Research Group, overseeing research activities of 18 staff scientists and their junior employees and students.

Rossiter said, "I am both delighted and honoured to have been selected to head this prestigous institution into its second century. I look forward with great enthusiasm to working with the excellent aquarium staff already in place, the university research community, and the people of Hawai‘i, to consolidate and strengthen the mission and objectives of the Waikiki Aquarium."

The new director received his BS in Zoology at the University College of Cardiff, Wales, and his Ph.D. in Aquatic Organismal Ecology at the University of North Wales, U.K. His appointment is efffective February 23.


[Note to editors: Further information about Andrew Rossiter — incuding a photograph, his resume and a biographical summary — may be accessed on the Web at http://www.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/aquarium/.]

For more information, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/aquarium/