Center for Inland Bays welcomes Dr. Susie Ball as board chair

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, a National Estuary Program based in Rehoboth Beach, welcomes Dr. Susie K. Ball as the new chair of its board of directors. Ball takes over the role from Joanne Cabry after she stepped down in November following three years of dedicated service as chair.

The board of directors directs the activities of the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, and controls its affairs and funds, including the approval of an annual operating budget. In her resignation letter to the board, Cabry left the members with some wise words: "It is science that will restore the bays, but it is the staff, volunteers, partnerships, stakeholders and the board who will get the work done. You have made my role as chair the past few years an enjoyable one."

The center would like to sincerely thank Cabry for her remarkable dedication over the past nine years and welcome Ball to the position.

A graduate of both The City College of New York and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Ball held a medical internship at Temple University, completed her residency at Jefferson Medical College, and boarded in General and Geriatric Psychiatry. Before moving to Delaware in 2012, she worked as director of geriatric psychiatry with Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa., and served on the faculty of Temple Univeristy and the Drexel School of Medicine.

Ball began her work with the center as a volunteer, serving as a team leader for the annual horseshoe crab surveys and as a presenter with the center's many outreach campaigns. In 2013, she was elected chair of the Citizens' Advisory Committee, a group of stakeholders charged with bringing issues of public concern to the board of directors.

She was elected as secretary of the board of directors in 2014, then as vice chair of the board this past March. Ball is no stranger to Delaware's environmental scene. In addition to her current roles, she also serves as treasurer of the Sussex Bird Club and as board member and education coordinator for the Friends of Prime Hook. This past fall, she led a five-week course about the Inland Bays at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Lewes.

"I am honored and excited to be acting board chair for the coming year," she says, "Our estuary and its tributaries are a nursery ground for multiple species of fish, oysters, horseshoe crabs and birds. Without clean water in our bays, these species will struggle to survive. Through science, education and restoration, we are working to improve the health of our bays. I look forward to the year ahead to increase public awareness of our role and to increase private donations to help us with this critical work."

Meetings of the BOD occur quarterly and are open to the public. Learn more about the board at www.inlandbays.org/board.

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is a nonprofit organization established in 1994, and is one of 28 National Estuary Programs. With its many partners, the CIB works to preserve, protect and restore Delaware's Inland Bays, the water that flows into them, and the watershed around them.

For more information, call Katie Young at 302-226-8105, Ext. 109, email communications@inlandbays.org or go to www.inlandbays.org.