News From Fort Schuyler

May 24, 2000 - Volume 4, No. 18

IT'S ALL RELATIVES - A house full of visiting relatives, combined with the normal end of semester rush of graduation and pre-cruise activities, delayed this issue of NFFS.

BUSY TWO WEEKS - May is always an event filled month at Maritime: Exams end on May 5, followed by the Awards Dinner on 11 May, capped by the 144^th Graduation Exercises on 13 May, and then continued by the sailing of the Training Ship a week later. This year the rains held off for commencement, so graduating students and their families who filled St. Mary's Pentagon basked in both pride and sunshine. The graduation speaker, ADMIRAL. RICHARD LARRABEE, gave a thoughtful, pithy address, following remarks by Regimental Commander JARED T. DELEW, Class Valedictorian STACIE M. SMITH and President DAVID C. BROWN. Outstanding cadets recognized with multiple awards included: STACIE SMITH (5), ANTON J. FIALA (3), JOHN C. MANGANO (3), and COLIN I. SCHNEIDER (3). The award to the graduate student with the highest GPA went to MAHMOUD SOLIMAN. [The official "Graduation 2000" video is being edited by BOB SASSON Director of the Educational Communications Center. It costs $32, including shipping. Contact NFFS for order forms.]

NEXT STOP ROTA, SPAIN - Cold, wind and rain returned to New York City for the departure of the Training Ship EMPIRE STATE VI on 20 May, but the send-off was spirited as usual. Joining the dockside crowd to wish bon voyage to cadets and crew were KARL HUBNER, Class of 1954 and LEN SUTTER, Class of 1953. Len wrote: "Always enjoy the Cadets lining the rail as the ship pulls away from the pier. Wonder what old GEORGE RISER would think of the Cadet who was holding an umbrella ? The world is changing and old guys like me have to change with it." The full SST 2000 itinerary, with mailing addresses and ship's call letters, is posted on the college website - http://www.sunymaritime.edu

PARENTS' ASSOCIATION OUTDOES SELF - For the past twenty years the Parents' Association has provided the Ship's Library with videos for shipboard viewing. For SST 2000, thanks to the PA President Mark Schneider and his board members, the EMPIRE STATE left Fort Schuyler with an astounding 51 new feature films, ranging from Above the Rim to Wild, Wild West. Special thanks to ANDY ARCARIO, father of JAMES ARCARIO. '02, who personally delivered 27 videos to the Librarian's home in Queens on his way home from work. Hats off the all those parents !

FACULTY BRIEFING - The Alumni Association sponsored a special presentation on May 10 about one aspect of the college's Strategic Plan being developed by a committee of faculty, staff, administration, students and alumni in consultation with marketing expert JOE GUSTAFSON, Class of 1965. Joe's illustrated presentation, held on May 10 in the Special Events Room, attracted a large, highly engaged audience of faculty and staff..

HOW OTHERS DO IT - Recently GARY CHILJEAN, Class of 1969, wrote "...last week while the Research Vessel ATLANTIS was in Manzanillo, Mexico, for a port call, we were berthed right next to the California Maritime Training Ship, GOLDEN BEAR. California has an interesting program where not only California Maritime cadets take the cruise, but about 50 scientists (graduate and undergraduate) from California colleges and universities also pay for a berth on board. This makes the GOLDEN BEAR a maritime training ship AND 'an oceanographic research training vessel,' an interesting concept that perhaps other state academy training ships may want to look into." (BTW - Captain Chiljean is the Master of R/V ATLANTIS.)

WINNERS -The voters in West Point, Virginia have elected ANDREW J. CONKLIN, Class of 1957, to the City Council. Classmate BOB LUCAS writes: "Who knows what the future holds: Congressman Conklin, Senator Conklin ?? Andy holds an unlimited Master's license and still sails as Master for the Maersk-Sealand organization." Closer to home, the Maritime College Faculty has elected CHARLES MUNSCH, Class of 1973, as its new presiding office for the 200/2001 term. Charlie, no stranger to the position of Presiding Officer, is also Chairman of the Engineering Department.

VALIANT EFFORTS - Several boats from the Crew Team made it to the Semi-Finals of the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia on graduation weekend, but finished out of the money this year. The Fort Schuyler shells racing in the semis included the Men's F/N 8 and the men's LTWT 4.

A SHELL FOR MILL - According to DONALD DREVES, Class of 1969, a high school in Washington, DC, recently dedicated a new shell in memory of MILLINGTON LOCKWOOD, Class of 1966. Don sent a picture of the dedication which was captioned "In a Sunday afternoon ceremony, the Wilson High School Crew Team dedicated its new boat, the Millington Lockwood. It is named for Lockwood, an active parent at Wilson and co-president of the Wilson Crew Boosters last year. He died of cancer over the summer." Don writes: "I am really impressed and delighted to see this. Mill's son, Billy, was a crew member on the Wilson High School team and Mill was an active participant in the effort. Mill would be out on the Potomac in the chase boat during the practice sessions."

ALUMNI AUTHOR - A head's up from ED DANGLER, Class of 1949, about an article in the April issue of Sealift, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command publication. Its author is SAL MERCOGLIANO, Class of 1989, a doctoral candidate in military and naval history at the University of Alabama. The article, "MSC's Special Mission ships," discusses various oceanographic, hydrographic and range instrumentation ships operated by MSC over the years. In the course of the article Mercogliano also notes that: "The Special Mission ships were the platform from which MSC broke down the gender barrier. In June 1978, Third Mate KAREN McGEE [Class of 1978] a graduate of SUNY Maritime College, reported aboard oceanographic survey ship USNS KANE as the first licensed female mariner permanently employed by MSC." (Sorry, Sealift is not online.)