Coté Named Interim Provost

Mark Coté, MMA class of 1983, has been named Acting Provost and Academic Dean of MMA by President William Brennan until a replacement is named. Coté, a faculty member at MMA since 1992 and full professor, has taught courses in the engineering and engineering technology programs, specializing in power generation and thermal/fluid science areas. Coté offered his insight into the temporary role.

Shipmate: You are the first MMA alumnus to be Provost of Maine Maritime Academy. You have been a faculty member at MMA for 28 years. With an advanced degree, a USCG license, and other employment opportunities, what keeps you here?

Coté: I caught the “teaching bug” during graduate school and found that I was comfortable in that role and liked the fact that, as a teacher, I was always expected to be learning new things and could focus on areas that interested me. MMA gave me a chance to teach and share what I’ve learned and let me do it on the coast of Maine where we have a great quality of life. Honestly, working here is the best job I’ve ever had.

Shipmate: From Professor to Provost, the learning curve must be steep. What is the biggest adjustment or challenge the transition has presented?

Coté: The biggest adjustment is how wide-ranging the Provost’s responsibilities are in the operation of MMA. I’ve had to learn about the inner workings of the way a college operates and make decisions in areas that I never thought I would have to consider. Changing focus multiple times a day; from academic issues, to budgeting, to personnel, etc. has been a big change over focusing on my students and classes every day.

Shipmate: The function of the provost is critically important. It can set the tone when making the vision a reality, and can impact the effectiveness of the organization and the cultural working environment. As Acting Provost, what is your vision and how do you guide the discussion to set an effective and actionable conclusion?

Coté: As Acting Provost, I see my role as leading the implementation of the President and Trustees’ visions for MMA. I also see my role as setting a positive, forward-looking tone to the actions taken at MMA, while focusing on what is right for our students, the faculty and staff, and MMA as an institution. I try to be available and open, and clearly communicate what is happening, what the issues are, and when I make a decision, what the factors were in that decision.

Shipmate: Curriculum and budgets can contribute to curricular challenges. With the advancement of technology and ever-changing work environment for the professions our graduates pursue, curricula have a short shelf life. How do we keep MMA programs relevant?

Coté: In my opinion, what has always made MMA different is the work experience of our faculty and how they bring that to their teaching. We always try to hire new faculty with significant, recent work experience in the areas they will be teaching. For our experienced faculty, we encourage faculty development and continued employment, whether through consulting or active research, in their areas of expertise. Combining our faculty expertise with our Industrial Advisory Committees for each major lays a solid foundation for making sure that we understand the changes occurring in industry and have insight into the direction industry is heading. Our Alumni have also been great resources and often reach out to us with new technologies or trends they see that will impact our programs and graduates.

Shipmate: There are changes in the training that students will receive on the annual cruise. Can you explain these changes and their importance?

Coté: When we had to increase the number of sea days provided to our students as part of the changing international regulations several years ago, we had to increase the duration of our State of Maine training cruise.  This, combined with our enrollment at the time, meant that with the current training ship, we could no longer take all first- and third-year unlimited license major students on the full cruise.  The decision was made to have the junior engineers only do half of the cruise, with a change-out port at the mid-point. After a number of years of this model, we re-evaluated this and realized that it would be a more effective use of the sea time to have junior engineers do the full Cruise. The decision was made to implement that change with the 2020 cruise. To do this, we now will have the first-year students declare their major before cruise and the first-year engineers will do half the cruise focusing on engineering. We understand that this is not an ideal situation, but feel the benefit of having the junior engineers aboard for the full cruise outweighs the negatives with this change.  Please note that this will no longer be an issue once the new training ship arrives and we will again plan to take all first- and third-year students for the full cruise.

Shipmate: Any final comments?

Coté: As I told the faculty at the first meeting to start the semester, this job is not where I planned to be, but I plan to do my best. I have a deep affection for this place, my co-workers, and our students and want to do whatever I can to facilitate their immediate and long-term success.

Photo: Billy R. Sims

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