UAPB's head of fisheries unit to retire

PINE BLUFF -- The director of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's Aquaculture and Fisheries Center and chairman of its aquaculture and fisheries department will retire from the university June 30, a Friday night news release said.

The approval of an "early retirement agreement" for Carole Engle was listed among business to be handled in executive session at the University of Arkansas System board of trustees meeting May 21.

Engle, whose 2015 salary was listed as $109,651, had said earlier this year that she planned to resign over disagreements about the future of the aquaculture and fisheries program.

UAPB Chancellor Dr. Laurence Alexander has said the program should focus more on new research, while Engle said a focus on new research would damage the program's mission of assisting fish growers with work such as disease testing and prevention.

The news release said professor Rebecca Lochmann will serve as interim director for the center and interim chairman of the department after Engle's retirement.

"I know you join me in thanking Dr. Engle for her many contributions to UAPB, particularly with the Aquaculture/Fisheries Center and the Department, and in wishing her the very best in the future," Alexander said in the release.

State Desk on 05/30/2015

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