News From Fort Schuyler

March 8, 2010 - Volume 10, No. 6


PLUG THE GAPS - SUNY budgets are taking a big hit this year with tuitions and fees rising to make up some of the shortfall. DICK BURKE '72, chairman of the Engineering Department and Presiding Officer of the Faculty, writes: "Our enrollment is at an all time high. The regiment is full, the Coast Guard license programs are full, and our classrooms are full. '. What we offer is in great demand, but unfortunately the State of New York is in the midst of a serious financial crisis. The College budget will be cut substantially, and we are waiting to hear about the magnitude of those cuts. Qualified students seeking financial aid are sure to suffer. We need your help. Attendance at the Admiral's Scholarship Dinner is a start, but a gift would be welcome if you cannot make it. If your firm can sponsor a table or can take an advertisement in the dinner Journal, that will be a bigger help. I urge you to do whatever you can to help the Maritime College'." (Details at www.sunymaritime.edu/admiralsdinner/)

AND THE WINNERS ARE - Two members of the Fort Schuyler NROTC unit were recognized at an award ceremony on January 27th. The MacArthur Cadet Award was presented to Midshipman VINCENT CURCIO 1/c, "' a senior cadet who demonstrates outstanding qualities in academic, military and athletic endeavors." An Assistant Marine Officer National Instructor of the Year Award went to Gunnery Sergeant WILLIE CISNEROS. The awards go to "'.enlisted instructors who display superb instructional and leadership capabilities, and who have contributed 'above and beyond' to their organization and their students." Congratulations to both. (www.sunymaritime.edu/hotnews.aspx?ID=350 )

SS UNITED STATES SAGA - Bids for the scrapping rights to the SS UNITED STATES are being collected this month by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), a subsidiary of the ship's owner, Genting Hong Kong (formerly Star Cruises Ltd.) According to the March 5 issue of Marine Link: "While NCL graciously offered the [SS UNITED STATES] Conservancy first right of refusal on the sale of the vessel in 2009, the Conservancy has not been in a financial position to purchase the ship outright'..The Conservancy has begun discussions with NCL with the intent of covering some of the fees associated with maintaining the ship in Philadelphia as it finalizes plans for repurposing the ship as a stationary attraction on a large metropolitan waterfront." On March 11th there will be a showing of the film, "SS United States: Lady in Waiting," here in New York at the National Academy Museum, followed by a reception and call to action. To register go to http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/SSUS/Home.html (The link for the Marine Link article is http://www.marinelink.com/)

ENVIABLE RECORD - A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about the effect of the trade slump on shipping, noted that: "The world's biggest freight shipping line, A.P. Moller Maersk AS, reported its first full-year loss since its founding in 1904 amid a collapse in global trade." (WSJ 3/5/2010 B1)

TEAMWORK - SUNY Maritime's Department of Professional Education and Training (PET) and the Landfall Marine Training Center of Stamford, CT have announced a series of joint 2-day Safe Powerboat Handling weekend courses from March through July. Day 1 will be classroom work in Stamford and Day 2 will be an on-the-water class at Fort Schuyler. "The class meets the requirements for a Launch Operator course and provides hands-on, on-the-water training in small powerboats. According to Landfall: "This course is the only such program to combine the State Boating Safety Certificate, US Powerboating Safe Boating certification and the United States Coast Guard Limited Master/ Limited OUPV [Operator of Uninspected Vessel] License in a two-day course." (Source: The Darien Times, Wednesday March 3, 2010.) For details about the program to go to http://www.sunymaritime.edu/hotnews.aspx?id=362

NOT ALL CRUISES ARE EQUAL - The graduate program's Shipboard Operation for Shoreside Managers course (TMGT 8370) will be taught aboard the cruise ship CARNIVAL GLORY from June 10-14 by CAPT. JOE AHLSTROM '82. The class is limited to 16 students in the graduate program. According to the college website: "The Canadian port of call on June 12 is at St. John's Newfoundland where you will have a chance to walk on the ocean floor in the Bay of Fundy, which has a 26 foot tidal range." The cost of the cruise ranges from$390 (ocean view) to $456 (balcony). There is much more information and fine print at: http://www.sunymaritime.edu/hotnews.aspx?id=361

EBB TIDE - The founder and first president of the American College in Paris (ACP), LLOYD ARTHUR DeLAMATER Oct '44, died at home at the age of 87 in Nice, France on 10 February. Lloyd, an avid small boat sailor from New Jersey, enrolled at Fort Schuyler in 1942 because he wanted put his nautical skills to use. After graduation he sailed for two years as a merchant marine deck officer in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He entered Columbia University in the fall of 1946, where he earned his BA in 1948 and an MA in economics in 1949. He continued his education in France, earning a doctorate in economics at the Sorbonne. Remaining in Europe, Lloyd worked in the U.S. Foreign Service, including an assignment to the NATO Secretariat in Paris, until 1959. For the next three years he worked on founding the American College in Paris, today known as the American University of Paris. According to an AUP press release: "In Dr. DeLamater's vision, the College was created in 1962 to allow American students already living in Europe with parents in the military as well as the business sector and diplomats, to continue their American studies in Europe; to encourage French students to experience an American-style education; and finally to bring American residents to Paris. Stellar American professors spent sabbatical years in Paris galvanizing the young curriculum, and the college's graduates often finished their degrees in prestigious institutions." He served as president of the college until 1969 and later served as a consultant to other non-profit schools in Europe, specializing in fund-raising and strategic planning. Dr. DeLamater is survived by his widow, Marie-Louise, and 3 daughters, one of whom currently teaches sculpture at AUP. (Sources: Time Magazine (9/14/62), Maritime College Office of University Relations and American University of Paris press release.)