Gourt Home::Gourt :: California Maritime Academy
The California Maritime Academy (also known as CMA, Cal Maritime and CSU, Maritime) is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system and is one of only seven degree-granting maritime academies in the United States. It is located in Vallejo, California.
History
Cal Maritime was established as the California Nautical School in 1929 when the California State Assembly Bill no. 253 was sign into law by Governor C. C. Young. The bill authorized the creation of the school, appointment of a Board of Governors to manage the school and the acquisition of a training vessel. The school's mission was "to give practical and theoritical instruction in navigation, seamanship, steam engines, gas engines, and electricity in order to prepare young men to serve as officers in the American Merchant Marine." By 1930 a training vessel and a school site was acquired, the original location of what would become Cal Maritime was California City (now Tiburon, California) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Due to the Great Depression, the early days of the Academy was full of financial uncertainty. As early as 1933 state legislators would call for the abolishment of the school. In order to save on costs the cadets and instructors both lived and held classes onboard the training vessel, the T.S. California State. Only after the passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 did the funding for the Academy become stabilized.
In 1939 the California Nautical School changed its present name, the California Maritime Academy. By 1940 the Academy was granting Bachelor of Science degrees and Naval Reserve commissions to its graduates, this marked the beginning of the transition from a trade school to a university. During World War II the Academy was evicted from its site in California City and moved to its present location in Vallejo, California in 1943.
After surviving another round of budget cuts and calls for the Academy's abolishment in the 1970's Cal Maritime became a four-year institution. The 1970's also marked the time when the first minority and female cadets graduated from Cal Maritime.
In 1995 Cal Maritime became the twenty second campus of the California State University system. The current training vessel is the T.S. Golden Bear.
Superintendents and Presidents of the California Maritime Academy
Superintendents- Emil Topp (1930-1934)
- Richard C. Dwyer (1934-1937)
- Neil E. Nichols (1937-1940)
- Claude B. Mayo (1940-1947)
- Russel M. Ihreg (1947-1955)
- Carroll T. Bonney Acting Superintendent (1955)
- Henry E. Richter (1955-1965)
- Francis T. Williamson (1965-1971)
- Edwin C. Miller (1971-1972)
- Joseph P. Rizza (1972-1975)
Presidents
- Joseph P. Rizza (1975-1983)
- Mary E. Lyons (1990-1996)
- Jerry A. Aspland (1996-2001)
- Willam B. Eisenhardt (2001- )
Academics
Cal Maritime offers six undergraduate degree programs, all of which are tied to a nautical curriculum. The six majors offered are as follows:
- Business Adminsitration
- Facilities Engineering Technology
- Global Studies and Maritime Affairs
- Marine Transportation
- Marine Engineering Technology
- Mechanical Engineering
Cal Maritime is the only campus in the CSU system that does not offer any graduate degree programs. In 2005 the U.S. News and World Report ranked Cal Maritime's engineering program as one of the top 80 such undergraduate programs in the country.
Athletics
Cal Maritime has a long history of athletic activities before it joined regular intercollegiate athletics the teams from Cal Maritime usually played military teams from local bases. Cal Maritime began to organize it's sports under intercollegiate guidelines in the 1970's and the student body chose the "Keelhaulers" as the Adacemy's mascot. Until then the Cal Maritime teams were known as the Seawolves.
Today, Cal Maritime is a member of the NAIA and the Men's Soccer, Basketball, Golf and Women's Volleyball teams are charter members of the California Pacific Conference. In the 2004-2005 Academic year the Women's Basketball was formed and now also competes in the Cal Pac Conference. Other sports offered at Cal Maritime include Rugby, Sailing, Crew, and Water Polo.
External links
California State University | Maritime colleges in the United States | Universities and colleges in California | Western Association of Schools and Colleges
"California Maritime Academy"