Ode to the modern mariner: sailing the seven seas of U.S. maritime education

University Business,  June, 2008  by James Martin,  James E. Samels

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EVER SINCE REVOLUTIONARY times, Americas schoolchildren have learned about the central role the merchant marine has played in the nation's defense, transportation, and commerce. Whether in times of war or peace, the U.S. merchant marine has secured our ports and the safe passage of commerce across the seas. In World War I, and especially in World War II, our merchant mariners navigated treacherous U-boat infested waters and risked loss of life in service to the American military.

Of the merchant marine, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "They have delivered the goods when and where needed in every theater of operations and across every ocean in the biggest, the most difficult, and dangerous job ever undertaken."

Originally under the U.S. Maritime Service's purview, contemporary maritime education has transformed into a seamless network of venerable institutions--augmenting the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. As we peer over the horizon in the new millennium, we witness a fast-morphing global marketplace--mixed with random acts of terror, modern-day piracy, and environmental catastrophes rapidly crossing national borders. Our Coast Guard and Navy can no longer ensure safe passage and commerce around the world without the help of a well-trained merchant marine fleet.

Today, American mariners are educated at seven maritime academies: The California Maritime Academy, Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Northwestern Michigan College, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, State University of New York Maritime College, the Texas Maritime Academy of Texas A&M University at Galveston, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (N.Y.).

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Administrators, faculty, and staff at these institutions work hard and smart to prepare the next generation of officers, crew, and experts in marine science, technology, and engineering. What our modern midshipmen learn goes far beyond navigation and seamanship to cover liberal arts, humanities, global business, energy, environmental studies, and military history--and of course, safety, security, engineering, operational sea skills, and maritime leadership and marine management competencies.

These academies are rigorous educational institutions whose missions convey regimental discipline, highly structured study, and cutting-edge academic programs. Cadets earn a degree while they pursue a U.S. Coast Guard, Merchant Marine engineer's, pilot's, or mate's license, or a naval officer commission.

A SEA OF PROGRAMS

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, established at King's Point, N.Y., in 1943, is the culmination of years of effort to institutionalize the training of citizens for merchant mariner service. Its creation followed the tragic loss of life in the 1934 fire on the Morro Castle passenger ship, which moved Congress to pass the Merchant Marine Act in 1936.

Today, USMMA programs in marine transportation, technology, logistics, engineering, systems and shipyard, and business management prepare cadets for progressively responsible positions they will assume in marine transport, engineering, and international business.

Admiral Joseph Stewart, USMMA's superintendent, shares that, over the past several years, the USMMA and the New York Institute of Technology have teamed up to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon Competition in Washington, D.C. Relying on teamwork, creativity, and ingenuity, USMMA midshipmen and NYIT students created a solar house in a class of its own--the only solar house designed and built to utilize a hydrogen-based energy storage system.

SUNY Maritime allows students the flexibility of participating in regimental activities as a cadet or remaining a civilian while pursuing licensure and maritime degrees. Joseph C. Hoffman, vice president of academic affairs and provost, says, "The international nature of the maritime industry and SUNY Maritime College's close relationship with industry brought the college to create two very unique higher education programs with an international flavor. The Master of Science in International Transportation Management is one of a kind in the United States and is one of only a handful of programs like it in the world. At the baccalaureate level, SUNY offers a Bachelor of Science in International Transportation and Trade that is particularly attractive to two-year college graduates with associate degrees in international business, management, and finance."

SUNY Maritime's Admiral John Craine highlights the international nature of SUNY's programs, in which not only the course material is international but increasingly the students are, as well. "It is no surprise that these programs attract a large number of international students. In the graduate program, 30 percent of the students are international students, mostly from maritime nations. The undergraduate programs have large cohorts of Turkish and Bahamian students."