Continuing Education Dean Dan Walsh will retire at the end of this month, after more than 27 years at the University.
Walsh has worked with the University to push for more personnel training in the event of a terrorist attack. Some media reports questioned whether his reason for retirement had any connection with his former employee Stephen Hatfill.
Chancellor Mark Emmert fired Hatfill from his position as associate director of the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft described him as a “person of interest” in the investigation of anthrax mailings that killed five people, The Reveille reported in September.
Emmert said Walsh’s retirement has nothing to do with Hatfill or any terrorism investigations.
“I can’t speak for Dean Walsh, but he’s been contemplating retirement for a while now and decided this was the best time for a number of personal reasons,” Emmert said.
Doreen Maxcy, assistant dean of Continuing Education, said Walsh became increasingly concerned about the potential of terrorism in America 10 years ago and convinced University officials to train more firefighters.
“People laughed at him when he talked about this, but he was ahead of his time,” Maxcy said. “He brought federal funds to the University and helped bring the best experts to do training.”
Maxcy said Walsh particularly is concerned with protecting the state’s petrochemical fields because he sees them as a major target for an attack.
She had no comment on whether Walsh’s retirement had anything to do with Hatfill.
Emmert said he and Vice Chancellor Gregory Vincent are planning on hiring someone to fill Walsh’s position soon.