Thanks for keeping this alive. Any other items coming down the pike?
USMMA-AAF Comments on Advisory Board Report
In a recent presentation of the USMMA Advisory Board Report to the Academy’s Congressional Board of Visitors, Superintendent James Helis and Maritime Administrator Paul Jaenichen put forward their opinion that Kings Point graduates are deficient in leadership skills, further stating that our graduates’ leadership training lags behind that of the other Service Academies and ROTC programs. In addition, the Advisory Board chairman reported that the Academy’s accreditation is at risk if humanities classes are not increased.
The AAF could find no basis supporting these unexpected statements, finding instead that the Academy’s academic and maritime training curriculum, only two years old and a full three years in development, is exemplary. Academic performance metrics continue rising and stakeholders such as the USCG consider the Kings Point program as a model for other maritime academies to aspire.
Mr. Jaenichen and the Superintendent, along with the Advisory report, omitted mention of the Academy’s most distinctive and important leadership development tool: Sea Year. Instead, they referred only to traditional classroom teaching of leadership. This omission signals a lack of understanding of the Sea Year experience and its importance to leadership development as well as maritime training. Sea Year is also a key component that distinguishes USMMA from other Federal Service Academies and State Maritime Schools. Other leadership opportunities abound as Kings Point midshipmen participate in the Regimental system, command vessels on the waterfront, and lead intercollegiate athletic teams, clubs, and professional activities.
The opinion that USMMA should have more leadership and humanities classes is being used to advocate a revamping of the Academy’s curriculum and calendar. The USMMA-AAF is particularly proud of the academic and training curriculum in place at Kings Point and of the dedicated faculty and staff who worked so hard to accomplish it. We therefore find it concerning that, for example, the Academic Dean was not involved in the study’s curriculum assessment, analysis, or final presentation to Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and to the Congressional Board of Visitors.
AAF Response Picks up Where Advisory Board left off
In an effort to correct the deficiencies and omissions in the advisory report, the AAF sent a Response to the Advisory Board Report to the Secretary, the Superintendent, the Advisory Board chairman, and the Maritime Administrator. The response focused on areas that the Advisory Board, lacking Academy and maritime expertise, was understandably unable to adequately and accurately report. The Maritime Administrator as well as Deputy Secretary Mendez have replied, but fundamental issues remain. In addition, graduates in attendance at the briefing of the Congressional Board of Visitors drafted Annotated Meeting Minutes which more completely reflect the presentation.
In their report, the Advisory Board takes the stance that “Students, faculty, alumni, and maritime industry professionals may resist these changes. Nonetheless, the Board strongly supports USMMA’s efforts in these areas and believes that these changes are necessary to ensure continued improvement.” The AAF believes the Academy is best served by a wider net of inclusion, not exclusion, and therefore believe it is in the best interests of the Academy that the study be re-envisioned and re-started. A new study can then have broader stakeholder input, review, and endorsement prior to recommendations being put forth.
Following a new report should be a public comment period, an important part of the transparency of these endeavors that was absent from the current report (though the request was made by a member of the Congressional Board of Visitors). Regretfully, the report’s open-ended recommendations were presented to and approved by the Secretary. Acting on this approval, the Superintendent has formed committees to investigate changes at the Academy including decreases in maritime training, increases in humanities and leadership courses, and what will likely be a disruptive shift from trimesters to semesters with the addition of ‘mini-mesters’. In a letter to the Maritime Administrator, the Congressional Board of Visitors has asked to be involved in any discussions which contemplate changes to the Academy’s current curriculum and course schedule. This request demonstrates the commitment of the Congressional Board of Visitors to the Academy. The AAF remains grateful for their support of Kings Point.
Despite what were clearly the best intentions of the Advisory Board, it was ill-equipped to evaluate a program as complex and unique as USMMA. This further demonstrates the need for a qualified Board of Trustees to provide governance of the Academy. As discussed in the Spring 2014 Kings Pointer magazine, a Board of Trustees of distinguished graduates and maritime and education experts will provide Kings Point with the Merchant Marine Academy and maritime experience missing from its leadership and governance today. A proven model at colleges and universities including State Maritime Academies, a USMMA Board of Trustees is a compelling and achievable solution to the governance issues the Academy has historically and perpetually faced.
Help Us Help The Academy: The AAF has offered to assist the Advisory Board in reaching the external stakeholders whose input was missing from their study and we look forward to playing a supportive role in the success of a new report. We urge Kings Pointers to read all of the materials linked below and send a letter to Secretary Foxx requesting that no changes be made as a result of the Advisory Board Report, and that a new study be conducted with the involvement of all stakeholder groups (graduates, maritime industry, armed services, faculty, students, and parents) who most completely understand the Academy and its mission. We ask that you also encourage the Secretary to meet with the USMMA-AAF so he may benefit from the knowledge of USMMA graduates. We look forward to accepting the recent invitation of the Deputy Secretary to meet with him in the near future.
Kings Point has an existing program of academic and maritime training excellence that develops leaders who are relied on by a diverse maritime and military customer. Changes to this model program cannot be entered into based on an incomplete understanding of the mission of the institution and how that mission is accomplished. Your input can make a difference. Please write your letter and e-mail it to
Anthony.Foxx@dot.gov (cc:
usmmaaf@alumni.usmma.edu). Thank you for helping make a difference to Kings Point.
Sincerely,
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation
Board of Directors
REFERENCE DOCUMENTS: USMMA Advisory Board Report, USMMA-AAF Response to the Advisory Board Report, USMMA 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, Letter from Secretary Foxx, Annotated Meeting Minutes of Advisory Board Briefing to Congressional Board of Visitors
