with the land donations, the georgia general assembly created the "ocean science center of the atlantic (osca)" in 1967. the skidaway institute of oceanography was officially created in january 1968 with thomas jackson (formerly of georgia tech) as director, two co-directors, a secretary, and several former workers inherited from the roebling farm. its first faculty member, herbert l. windom, began work in july 1968. president richard nixon and governor lester maddox dedicated the first building of the program in 1970. governor jimmy carter dissolved osca in 1972, at which point skio became an independent research unit in the university system of georgia.