UC Toxics News: Summer 2001
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Associate Director Jim Hunt Retires from TSR&TP by Jerry Last, TSR&TP Director

 

 

 

 

Former TSR&TP Associate Director Jim Hunt examines a poster at the 2001 Symposium in Lake Tahoe.

As of July 1st, Professor Jim Hunt started a long overdue sabbatic leave, and stepped down from his position as Associate Director of the TSR&TP, a post in which he had served for more than 5 years.

Jim was a participant in the TSR&TP at its inception, as he was a recipient of one of our first sets of grants awarded in 1985. The project was to model the effects of steam injection as a novel modality for removal of solvents from soil, an approach that has subsequently been commercialized by one of his co-workers and has been used for site remediation work in California and elsewhere.

It is difficult to describe exactly what the duties of an Associate Director are, as each person who has served in that role has defined the job description in their own unique ways. Neither Jim, who is based at UC Berkeley, or the other Associate Director, Arthur Winer of UCLA, has been paid anything for their service to the program. Each received modest discretionary funds to seed new research initiatives to assist the program in its attempts to be dynamic, to be truly multicampus, and to continuously try to become involved in new areas.

Jim brought us a general focus upon water issues, especially issues related to water reuse and to exotic toxics issues that might arise from water reuse. He served as Acting Director during my sabbatical in 1999, and it is a tribute to his very competent behind the scenes approach to things that I doubt that many of the Program’s constituency were aware of my absence. But his biggest contribution to the TSR&TP, in my opinion, has been as a consistent and articulate spokesperson for the UC faculty point of view when issues arose at the Executive and Advisory Committees. He also served as a constant source of sound, common sense based, advice to me when I sought it (and sometimes when I didn’t). The TSR&TP is fortunate that Jim volunteered to serve in this role for as long as he did, and I am fortunate to have made a lasting friend in the process.

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