University officials recently notified Ivor van Heerden that his contract as a research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will not be renewed in 2010.The outspoken coastal scientist who led the state’s investigation of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was also fired from his position as deputy director of the LSU Hurricane Center.Marc Levitan also stepped down as director of the University Hurricane Center. Joe Suhayda replaced him as the interim director about a month ago.The Times-Picayune reported Thursday that Levitan’s resignation could be related to the University’s decision to eliminate the deputy director position.Van Heerden will remain as director of the LSU Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes until his contract ends next year, Suhayda said.University officials would not comment on their decision. Van Heerden did not respond to messages left at his office and home. Attempts to contact Levitan were unsuccessful as both his office voicemail and Hurricane Center employees said he would be out of town until April 15.”We are not allowed to comment on personnel confidentiality,” said University spokeswoman Kristine Calongne.Van Heerden told The Times-Picayune on Thursday the University did not give him a reason for being fired, but David Constant, College of Engineering interim dean, told him the reason was not because of his performance.Constant referred The Daily Reveille to the office of Human Resources Management on Monday and would not comment further on the issue.Suhayda said he didn’t know why van Heerden’s contract wasn’t renewed, but he said he eliminated the scientist’s position because he wants to take the center in a new direction.”I wanted to start with a clean slate,” Suhayda said.Van Heerden’s position at the center is unpaid and is unrelated to his research position in the College of Engineering, Suhayda said.Van Heerden told The Times-Picayune he thinks the decision to fire him began to brew in 2005 when he agreed to head the forensic investigation team after Hurricane Katrina.Two University officials told van Heerden in November 2005 to stop talking to the press. Several months later, he published a book entitled, “The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina — The Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist.” In the book, he highlighted how state and local officials ignored his predictions about New Orleans’ vulnerability to flooding.He also described personal attacks made against him by University administrators in his book and in an interview with The New York Times in May 2006. In response to van Heerden’s 2006 claims, former vice chancellor for communications Michael Ruffner wrote a letter to both The Times-Picayune and The New York Times defending the University.The University did not limit the scientist’s access to the press to talk about Katrina, but questioned some of his technical and professional expertise to comment on levees and construction, Ruffner said in the June 7, 2006, letter to The New York Times. “At the request of the engineering faculty and its dean, we discussed this with Dr. van Heerden and gained his assurance that he would not speak on matters for which he has no professional credentials or training,” Ruffner said in the letter.—-Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]