Contact: Jeanne Kouhestani FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(202) 482-6090 5/22/95
The U.S. Senate confirmed Rear Admiral William L. Stubblefield on May 16 as director of the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced. Stubblefield officially assumed his new position today upon the reading of his orders during a ceremony led by NOAA Administrator D. James Baker.
The NOAA Corps, the nation's seventh uniformed service, manages NOAA's fleet of research and survey ships, research and mapping aircraft, diving operations and commissioned personnel in support of NOAA's overall mission of mapping and charting, oceanographic and meteorological research, and fisheries management.
Before taking over the top position today, Stubblefield served as deputy director of the Office of NOAA Corps Operations. His leadership and experience embraces the broad spectrum of NOAA's activities. He has served as executive director of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; special assistant to NOAA's chief scientist, where he conducted a community-wide effort to assess the next generation of NOAA's research ships; commanding officer of the NOAA ship Surveyor; chief scientist for NOAA's Undersea Research Program; program monitor within the Office of Sea Grant; deputy director for the Marine Geology and Geophysics Laboratory at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory; research oceanographer in coastal processes at AOML; and duties on several NOAA and Navy ships.
Stubblefield received a doctorate from Texas A&M University in geological oceanography, a master's degree from the University of Iowa, and a bachelor's from Memphis State University (now called the University of Memphis). He is a son of George A. Parrish and the late Jessie R. Parrish of Medina, Tenn.,p.
He lives in Potomac, Md., with his wife Bonnie McGregor Stubblefield, who is the associate director of the Interior Department's U.S. Geological Survey.