American Maritime Centers of Excellence

The United States Secretary of Transportation and the Maritime Administration have issued the designation of American Maritime Center of Excellence upon the six state maritime academies: California State University Maritime Academy, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Great Lakes Maritime Academy, the State University of New York Maritime College, and Texas A&M Maritime Academy. In a congratulatory correspondence sent to each state university president, the U.S. Transportation Secretary stated, “This achievement speaks well of the academic and professional education provided by your great institution.”

Established by Congress under Title 46 of the U.S. Code, the federal designation supports maritime workforce education and training at Centers of Excellence. The legislation allows Centers of Excellence to develop and prepare students for careers on board U.S. vessels, or ashore supporting the maritime industry. This includes efforts to admit additional students, recruit and train faculty, expand facilities, create new maritime career pathways, and award students credit for prior experience including military service.

The maritime industry is central to the global transportation of goods. Young men and women who graduate from any of the six maritime academies receive specialized training in merchant marine operations, contribute to the economic and national security of the U.S., and may serve as officers in the Nation’s intermodal transportation system, U.S. merchant marine, and U.S. Armed Forces.   

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About California State University Maritime Academy:
Cal Maritime, a campus of The California State University, is one of only seven degree-granting maritime academies in the United States, and the only one on the West Coast. Tucked away on scenic Morrow Cove in Vallejo, Calif., Cal Maritime offers students four-year degrees in business administration, facilities engineering technology, global studies and maritime affairs, marine engineering technology, marine transportation, and mechanical engineering, preparing them for the evolving global economy.

About Maine Maritime Academy:
Maine Maritime Academy is a public, co-educational college located in the coastal town of Castine, Maine. MMA students benefit from hands-on education, international sea-time aboard the Training Ship State of Maine or the Schooner Bowdoin, cadet shipping aboard commercial vessels, and cooperative education assignments. Students become world-class mariners and engineers, supply chain managers, logistics professionals, and scientists in Maine and beyond.

About Massachusetts Maritime Academy:
Massachusetts Maritime Academy provides a quality education for graduates serving in the merchant marine, the military services, and those who serve the interests of the Commonwealth, Nation and global marketplace. The Academy does so by combining a rigorous academic program with a regimented lifestyle that instills honor, responsibility, discipline, and leadership.

About Great Lakes Maritime Academy:
The Great Lakes Maritime Academy prepares students for the challenge of operating commercial ships of unlimited tonnage with a particular emphasis on the needs of the Great Lakes industry, where ships can stretch to one thousand feet in length. Our deck cadets graduate with a Coast Guard license endorsed for service as a mate on the oceans, and first-class pilotage on the Great Lakes. Our engineers graduate with an unlimited horsepower license, endorsed for service on steam and diesel vessels.  

About SUNY Maritime College:
SUNY Maritime College educates dynamic leaders for the global marine transportation industry, shipping business, engineering, energy, facilities management, finance, the armed forces and public service. Students choose from 11 undergraduate majors, including five ABET-accredited engineering programs, and two master's degree programs. Students participate in 17 varsity athletic teams and more than 40 clubs and organizations, ROTC options and U.S. Coast Guard license programs. The license program prepares students to navigate, power and operate marine vessels.

About Texas A&M Maritime Academy:
The Texas A&M Maritime Academy, one of seven in the U.S. and the only academy integrated into a Tier 1 academic institution, trains over 400 cadets annually for maritime service and employment around the world. The Academy is ideally located in Galveston, Texas on the Gulf Coast where it is surrounded by industry, environment and programs essential to fulfilling its special purpose mission. The Academy is part of Texas A&M University at Galveston, an ocean-oriented branch campus of Texas A&M University which educates nearly 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students in a unique blend of marine and maritime programs. Aggies are known for their deep commitment to the success of each other and their strong desire to serve. Together, the Texas A&M Maritime Academy and Galveston Campus are driving the development of the blue economy in the Gulf Coast Region and are critical contributors to Texas A&M University’s sea-grant portion of their rare land-, sea-, space-grant mission.

Contact:
Odalis Mino, SUNY Maritime College
P: 718-409-7277 

omino@sunymaritime.edu