June 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 9. Waterfront News M A I N E M A R I T I M E A C A D E M Y N E W S


Maine Maritime Academy Training Ship Departs May 5 for Eastern U.S. and European Ports


CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy students, offi cers, and crew departed Cas- tine on Tuesday, May 5 at approximately 1:30 PM on the Training Ship STATE OF MAINE (TSSOM) for the annual training evolution to foreign and domestic ports of call. This year’s itinerary includes stops in Charleston, South Carolina; Cadiz, Spain; Portland, Maine; Cobh, Ireland; Norfolk, Virginia; and Searsport, Maine.


Under the direction of Captain Leslie B. Eadie III, master of the Training Ship STATE OF MAINE, the educational cruise commenced in port on Friday, May 1, for pre-sailing preparation. Captain Eadie, of Brewer, a 1976 graduate of the Academy, assumed command of the vessel in 2011. Well-wishers were welcomed and viewed the vessel departure from the Maine Maritime Academy waterfront. Friends, family, and fans are invited to follow the ship’s journey through the cruise blog at cruise.mainemaritime.edu and the cruise Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ mainemaritimecruise.


The ship will host the yearly family day sail on the return leg from Searsport to Castine on Monday, July 27. For this section of the trip, Second Class students may invite their parents aboard. The day sail allows par- ents the unique opportunity to see the high level of technical profi ciency and leadership achieved by the students. Training activities will continue in port through Wednesday, July 29.


In response to an increase in sea time and instruction required by STCW (Stan- dards for Training, Certifi cation and Watch- keeping), the cruise has been lengthened to 90 days. Students pursuing an offi cer’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard as a third mate or third assistant engineer are now required to train at sea for at least 300 days during their fi rst three years at the Academy. Freshmen and juniors sail aboard the MMA vessel while sophomores are assigned to merchant ships worldwide. In past years, MMA training cruises have taken students to Aruba, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Poland, Puerto Rico and Russia, as well as other European and Caribbean countries.


Complementing the educational focus


of MMA’s training cruise, students and staff sailing aboard the STATE OF MAINE will work for the eighth consecutive year with the Belfast-based organization, Education- al Passages, which utilizes 4.5-foot-long unmanned sailboats to enable the study of ocean wind and current patterns by school and community groups. Boats are crafted to sail indefi nitely downwind and will transmit their location and boat speed via a GPS interface for up to one year. The boats rely solely on wind and current power. Initial sea trials were launched from MMA’s schooner BOWDOIN in 2008 off the northeast coast of North America.


Coordinated by program founder, Rich- ard Baldwin, this year’s boat launch from the TSSOM will provide an exciting learning opportunity for students at the Houlton Southside School in Houlton, Maine. To learn more, visit http://www.nefsc. noaa.gov/drifter/drift_ep_2013_2.html or contact Richard Baldwin at dick@educa- tionalpassages.com or 207-322-1901 for more information.


Maine Maritime Academy to Dedicate New ABS Center for Engineering, Science, and Research


Dr. William J. Brennan, President of


Maine Maritime Academy, announced that the community, along with special guests, celebrated the completion of the ABS Center for Engineering, Science, and Research with a dedication ceremony on May 1 at 4 p.m. Governor Paul R. LePage joined by


Christopher J. Wiernicki, Chairman, Pres- ident and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and other dignitaries spoke at the event. The dedication was followed by an Open House at 5 p.m. Faculty, staff, and students were available to answer questions from visitors about the newly constructed academic building.


President Brennan said, “The people of the State of Maine, ABS, and many other foundations, businesses and friends have supported the building of the ABS Center, which represents the core of our academic mission. It is an essential facility for our students and faculty who are increasingly engaged in cutting-edge research on energy technologies, on the development of clean fuel alternatives, and other industry-relevant scientifi c study.” The ABS Center is the fi rst academic building to be constructed on the Maine Maritime Academy campus in 30 years. In November of 2014, Maine voters approved $4.5 million in state funding to support the public-private partnership to build the new facility. The remainder of the funding need- ed to complete the estimated $14 million project was raised through a lead gift of $2.5 million from ABS (the largest corporate gift to have been received by the Academy), and very generous gifts, pledges and challenge grants from alumni, friends of the college, foundations, and businesses. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 21, 2013, and foundation work began in January of 2014. Construc- tion was completed in approximately 12 months by general contractor, Nickerson & O’Day, Inc. The architect for the project was Harriman Associates.


The Center was opened for class- es on January 12, 2015. The 3-story, 30,000-square-foot facility provides state- of-the-art teaching and research labora- tories, classrooms, student study spaces, faculty offi ces and workrooms at the center of the campus.


Commencement Saturday, May 2 The 2015 Commencement was held at Maine Maritime Academy on Saturday, May 2 at 11 a.m. at the Alexander Field House. Christopher J. Wiernicki, an internationally recognized naval architect and business leader, was the college’s commencement speaker. Wiernicki currently serves as the Chairman, President and CEO of the Amer- ican Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a leader in classifi cation and certifi cation services for the global offshore and marine industries, and Chairman of ABS Group, a leading global provider of technical services. Mr. Wiernicki was presented with an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Mr. Wiernicki holds a Bachelor of Sci- ence in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt, a Master of Science in Structural Engineer- ing from George Washington University, where he was later elected to the George Washington University Engineering Hall of Fame, and a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from MIT. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.


Commencement activities began at 9 a.m. with the annual awards program in Delano Auditorium in Leavitt Hall. Com- mencement Exercises were held at 11:00 a.m. in the Alexander Field House. Dr. William J. Brennan, MMA Pres- ident, presented diplomas. Dr. David


Gardner, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, presided at the exercises. The oath of offi ce was administered to new U.S. Merchant Marine offi cers by Captain Brian Gilda, United States Coast Guard. Captain Michael A. Hegarty, United States Navy, administered the oath of offi ce for Navy Offi cers. A formal commissioning ceremony took place one hour following the conclusion of Commencement on the lawn in front of Leavitt Hall.


Maine Maritime Academy Student Con- tributes Lead Gift of $500,000 to Schooner BOWDOIN Fundraising Campaign from Family Foundation Dr. William J. Brennan, president of Maine Maritime Academy, announced that the BOWDOIN Centennial Campaign—a $1.6-million-dollar fundraising campaign launched by the Academy in November of 2014—received a lead gift of $500,000 from the Herman D. Pollock Family Foundation. The gift was initiated by Jeffrey Pollock of Houston, Texas, a master’s degree candidate in the Global Logistics and Maritime Man- agement program.


The Herman D. Pollock Family Foun- dation, of which Jeffrey Pollock, his brother Russell Pollock, and their mother Lois Geyer are Trustees, was established to fulfi ll Herman’s wish to gift some of his wealth to a charity of the family’s choosing. Herman was Jeff and Russell’s great uncle, and he died when the brothers were young, but they remember going with their father, Gary, to bring a check from Herman’s estate to the Salvation Army around Christmas time. “It was fun to give money away,” remembered Jeff. The brothers and their mother inherited the responsibility of gifting fi nal assets from


Herman’s estate when Gary died. The family set up the foundation to fund maritime initia- tives, and the gift to MMA will be the fi nal gift to be disbursed from the foundation, which will be closed later this year. The schooner BOWDOIN was launched in 1921 as a specially designed Arctic exploration vessel for Donald B. MacMillan. BOWDOIN was acquired by Maine Maritime Academy in the late 1980s and soon after was designated a National Historic Landmark and the Offi cial Vessel of the State of Maine. The ship has made 28 trips above the Arctic Circle; 25 under the command of MacMillan and three captained by Academy faculty and staff. Students in MMA’s Vessel Operations and Technology (VOT), Small Vessel Operations (SVO), and other programs navigate and maintain the 88-foot tall ship as part of their at-sea training. Maine Maritime Academy is the only college in the United States with a dedicated sail training program that leads to a U.S. Coast Guard license as mate on an auxiliary sail vessel.


“The purpose of the BOWDOIN Cen- tennial Campaign is to celebrate the BOW- DOIN in excellent condition on her 100th birthday in 2021,” said Campaign Director, Kay Hightower of Castine.


The Bowdoin Centennial Campaign Cabinet includes: Co-Chair Capt. G. Andy Chase, Co-Chair Alexander Watson, Fred Atkins, Capt. Bill Cowan, Capt. Cate Cronin, Capt. Dave Fenderson, Lawrence Kaplan, Matthew P. Murphy, Capt. Alec Schoettle, Capt. John Worth, and Capt. Heather Stone. Honorary Cabinet Members include (to date): former Maine Governor Kenneth Curtis, Dr. Pete Rand, Phineas Sprague Jr., Dr. Ed Morse, and Gordon Bok.


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