MARINER ISSUE 2 · 2020 | | 2020 · 2 ISSUE MARINER MARINERThe ALUMNI MAGAZINE of MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY — ISSUE 2 · 2020 — IMPACT DONOR HONOR ROLL FY20 ROLL HONOR DONOR IMPACT Pushing Science Vessel Manager ‘s passion for research Tale of Two Comforts Two hospital ships with an MMA connection. Semesters Like No Others MMA weathers Covid-19 CONTENTS 12 Semesters Like No Others How MMA has weathered COVID-19 16 Making It Maine Two families team up in business to build for their future and their hometown. 21 Tale of Two Comforts One was a former hospital ship that became MMA’s first TS State of Maine, and the second is an active U.S. Navy hospital ship with an MMA alumnus in command. 28 Pushing Science As manager of RV Investigator, David Witzke ’05 is passionate about marine research. DEPARTMENTS 5 President’s Watch Focus Amidst Uncertainty 6 Alumni President’s Message Facing the Challenges Ahead 7 Campus Currents For the Love of the Game, Successful Collaboration, Late Fall, MMA Shifts to Remote Learning, Mural for Inclusiveness, New Hires in Key Positions 31 Alumni News Alumni Connect Virtually, Wall of Honor Inductee, Outstanding Alumni, Board Elections, and Mariner Survey Results 35 Class Notes Sculpting Change, Connecting Shippers with Tech, plus updates from classmates. 42 Eight Bells Notice of Deceased Mariners 47 Impact: The Donor Honor Roll Our generous community made FY20 successful. On the Cover: RV Investigator is an Australian research vessel with David Witzke ’05 aboard. 2 MARINER 2020 · ISSUE 2 MARINER.MAINEMARITIME.EDU 3 Lost Balance THIS SPECTACULAR PHOTOGRAPH by Makena Merideth, an MTO major from Washington state, was taken in Port Angeles, Washington this past summer on the oldest U.S. Coast Guard base in the United States. It won 1st place in the Nature category of MMA’s Annual Photo Contest. The image features a Pacific Sea Nettle (West Coast Sea Nettle). “These carnivorous creatures have toxins in their nematocysts (tentacles) that catch and trap prey much like a Venus Flytrap,” says Merideth. “The jellyfish are non- lethal to humans, but they can be quite painful, causing temporary blindness if their toxins reach your eyes (I speak from experience). “Although seemingly rare when I was younger,” she says, “their populations are increasing at an alarming rate in response to global warming and a lack of predators brought on by overfishing.” To see the winners: mainemaritime.edu/photocontest 2 MARINER 2020 · ISSUE 2 MARINER.MAINEMARITIME.EDU 3 MMA BOARD OF TRUSTEES EARLE A. CIANCHETTE ’77 ANNE DEVINE HON. W. TOM SAWYER, JR. CHAIR Portland, Maine Dedham, Maine Saco, Maine UNUM Corporation Sawyer Environmental Services AZcO, Inc. Retired President & CEO (Retired) Senior Vice President TED DEY MARY SHEA ‘19 JASON ONEY ‘96 Portland, Maine Brownfield, Maine VICE CHAIR RBC Wealth Management Student Trustee Falmouth, Maine Vice President – Financial Advisor Strategic Maintenance Solutions ROBERT SOMERVILLE ‘65 President & CEO GREGORY S. FRYER Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Cumberland, Maine American Bureau of Shipping MILES UNOBSKY THEEMAN Verrill Dana, LLP Chairman (Retired) TREASURER Partner Bangor, Maine ARTHUR “KITT” WATSON Northern Light Healthcare CAPT. WENDY MORRISON ‘85 New Canaan, Connecticut Retired Dickinson, Texas Watson Enterprises Incorporated Galveston Texas City Pilots President & CEO MORTEN ARNTZEN Captain Fairfield, Connecticut J. DOUGLAS WELLINGTON, J.D., LL.M. Team Tankers International, Ltd. CAPT. ROBERT J. PEACOCK II ‘71 Castine, Maine Executive Chairman Eastport, Maine Husson University Quoddy Pilots, USA Associate Professor CAROLYN BRODSKY Captain & Pilot Windham, Maine Emeriti: Sterling Rope Company WILLIAM C. BULLOCK, JR., WARD I. GRAFFAM, President ESQ, RICHARD J. GROSH, WILLIAM E. HAGGETT, Retired WALTER E. TRAVIS MARINER Magazine STAFF ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE RELATIONS PRESIDENT Jennifer DeJoy | [email protected] Dr. William J. Brennan MANAGING EDITOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Billy R. Sims | [email protected] | 207-326-2224 Dr. Keith M. Williamson ART DIRECTOR V. P. FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Deanna Yocom | [email protected] Christopher J. Haley, MBA WEB PRODUCTION V. P. FOR FINANCIAL & INSTITUTIONAL SERVICES Bryan Wolf | [email protected] Richard Rosen ADVERTISING INQUIRIES V. P. FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS & ENROLLMENT [email protected] MANAGEMENT Dr. Elizabeth True Postmaster: Please send change of address notice to Alumni Relations, Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, ME 04420. Sent free of charge to all MMA alumni. DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS Printed by Creasey Printing Services Inc. Jeff Wright | [email protected] | 207-326-2337 Letters to the editor may be edited for length. Opinions are those of the authors, and no material may be republished without the editor’s written consent. 4 MARINER 2020 · ISSUE 2 MARINER.MAINEMARITIME.EDU 5 MMA PRESIDENT’S WATCH Focus Amidst Uncertainty WE WERE SUCCESSFUL in keeping our campus during this time, we know we were lucky to get nearly COVID-free from August through October. A that far. summer full of planning for the Fall 2020 semester A key to our success was a testing partnership paid off as we began bringing students back to with The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) and Puritan Castine during the most challenging time in MMA Medical Products that began in June, which helped MMA PRESIDENT history. We greeted students with temperature- us to develop our on-campus COVID-19 testing Dr. William J. Brennan taking, entry testing, and quarantine, and program. JAX is now our ongoing surveillance amazingly, we had just a few positive cases in that testing provider. Because of that partnership, our first week. students were able to safely “cruise” aboard the It took an extraordinary community effort on the TS State of Maine and accrue their final hours of part of students, faculty, and staff to get us through sea time in order to graduate and obtain their U.S. October. We committed to a set of safety principles Coast Guard licenses. Testing continues to be key and guidelines, “12 Ways to 12 Weeks,” practiced to safe operations on campus. social distancing The reality of this and daily hygiene circumstance is that we protocols, avoided must remain flexible and large gatherings, kept “We will need adaptable, planning for small social circles, variations of a future that and stayed focused unwavering resolve to is unknowable as we weigh on educational and keep focused, stay safe, community health trends, professional goals. student behavior, and testing During a fall term and...carry out our outcomes, all of which affect that was all about mission.” daily decision-making. separating people Leadership, faculty, staff, and keeping them and students are continually safe, the event that adjusting to new information brought us together was Ship Jump. Though a and guidelines. We know how to pivot, and we will if couple of weeks later than usual and quite different we need to. because of social distancing and safety protocols, While we made the swift change to remote the event was a community triumph that made us instruction to minimize the impact of the virus feel like we belonged on campus, focused on our in November, we were also looking toward the mission together. future. At this time, our plan for January is to However, like the rest of Maine and the hold a Spring 2021 term on campus, though we entire U.S., we were seeing increasing positive will begin the semester with at least two weeks of COVID-19 cases in our community in early remote instruction. November. The highest number of known COVID- We will need unwavering resolve to keep focused, positive individuals numbered 13, but total close stay safe, and continue to carry out our mission. contacts grew to over 100 who needed isolation or quarantine in on-campus and off-campus housing. As a result, we transitioned all courses to remote instruction for the final 10 days of the Fall 2020 semester. Seeing what other colleges resorted to 4 MARINER 2020 · ISSUE 2 MARINER.MAINEMARITIME.EDU 5 ALUMNI PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Counting on Mariners BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT CAPT. WILLIAM S. FULL II ’76 I AM HONORED to step into the role of Cumberland Center, ME president of the Maine Maritime Academy [email protected] Alumni Association. My predecessor, Joe Cote, and I worked closely together on the VICE PRESIDENT association’s strategic plan over the last FRANK TEPEDINO, ESQ. ‘58 San Diego, CA four years while he was president and I [email protected] was VP, along with fellow board members, and we are seeing elements of that plan TREASURER implemented. Thank you, Joe, for helping CHARLES LECHMAN ’65 pave the way for us. Harpswell, ME In the next few months, as the school REGISTERED AGENT (CLERK) weathers the storm and impact of ANDREW STROSAHL ’05 COVID-19, challenges will emerge that Dover, NH we may not foresee now. While we are [email protected] fortunate that, with President Brennan’s leadership, the school is well positioned to PAST PRESIDENT “We did not deal with its effects, it will be incumbent JOE COTE ’82 on all of us to rise to meet the challenges, Brewer, ME just meet the [email protected] whatever they may be. This is the challenge, we hallmark of what it means to be a Mariner. blew it away.” Throughout our history, as Maine BOARD MEMBERS Maritime Academy alumni, we have MYLES BLOCK ’06 JAMES D. PROUIX ’85 always been leaders. In the workplace, Bangor, ME Concord, NH I found that MMA alumni distinguished [email protected] jimproulx@ themselves by always doing more than others were willing to, and when things proulxoilandpropane.com PATRICK CLOUD ’21 were especially difficult, they would find the ability to do what others simply (student) STEVE RENDALL ’96 could not. While I hope that any new challenges emerging do not require the Castine, ME York, ME grit we are capable of mustering, I know I can count on my fellow Mariners if it [email protected] [email protected] is required! I am proud to cite a recent example of this; meeting the “Vision 2020” PAUL GALLAGHER ‘87 CAPT.