MMA to Establish Center for Professional Mariner Development

Design and planning begins on first phase of a state-of-the-art center for student and professional training.

Maine Maritime Academy is establishing a Center for Professional Mariner Development to support its mission and programs. Revenue from the Center will help to sustain the college’s financial future. The Center will be developed in phases, the first of which is to build a firefighting training facility on academy-owned land in Penobscot, Maine. The goal is to complete the new classroom space and equip the facility with required technology for firefighter training for MMA students and professional mariners to use in the 2018-19 academic year.

“The facility will also be used by Continuing Education to provide professional mariners with re-certification courses required by the U.S. Coast Guard,” says Dr. William J. Brennan, MMA President, “and ultimately, we believe it will offer beneficial training opportunities for surrounding communities. We will continue to assess program expansion opportunities that can both advance professional mariner careers and enhance the skills of our students.”

Currently, MMA students travel to an off-campus location for most firefighting training, so there will be an immediate benefit from having a local site for the training. It will also provide a contemporary, high-tech simulation environment built to the standards of certifying organizations. This includes a live-burn training structure, using a propane burn system, a classroom structure with storage, and power/water utilities run to the build site.

We will continue to assess program expansion opportunities that can both advance professional mariner careers and enhance the skills of our students.

“Utilizing a purpose-built live-burn facility, we will be able to replicate the internal environment of a ship which is quite different from a traditional building, architecturally speaking,” says Capt. Nathan Gandy ’92, Dean of Maritime Training and Commandant. “The burner systems will allow for simulations that replicate numerous dangerous scenarios without the danger of using traditional Class A burn materials.”

The estimated cost to complete the live-burn structure and classroom/storage area, which comprise Phase One of the new Center for Professional Mariner Development, is $2.5 million. “The firefighting facility will be a public-private venture, funded through a combination of private donations, Continuing Education revenue, and MMA operating funds,” says President Brennan.

Approximately $750,000 in private contributions have been pledged toward the project, an initial site evaluation has been completed, and work with Harriman Associates, an architectural services firm, has begun.

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