Many AGU members recall with regret the closing of the New York University (NYU) department of meteorology in 1972. That department had been one of the world's best, growing to prominence under the chairmanship of Athelstan Spilhaus (1938–1946) and continuing under the leadership of Bernhard Haurwitz. It was one of only five meteorology departments in the United States at the time of its founding. Now the phoenix has risen from its own ashes, although in a somewhat different guise.