Academics

Maritime Studies Professor Mary Malloy

Mary Malloy quickly set the tone of Maritime Studies S-193. "She opened her first class by singing a song," recalls Kett Murphy, 20, a student. "It was a very refreshing change from everything. It shocked us into attention."

It was through music that Mary came to Maritime Studies. Music was Mary's life until well into college, as she pursued a career as a classical violinist. In 1976, while an undergraduate, Mary traveled to Ireland and fell in love with traditional music. Upon her return to the states, Mary… Read More...

Chief Scientist Chuck Lea

Chuck Lea, a bear of a man known as much for his signature pony tail as his sharp wit and loquacious manner, spoke recently about what has kept him enthused about teaching at SEA for 20 years. "Each time you do it," says Lea, a chief scientist, "It's like a new adventure."

On one cruise north of the Gulf Stream, Chuck watched in awe as a large shark chomped away at the ship's log while he was lecturing. "I could hardly believe it. I was looking aft on… Read More...

Captain Phil Sacks

It was a summer's night north of Bermuda, with winds as high as 60 knots and seas of 50 feet. As the Westward made her way through the storm, the chief mate was slammed by a wave and hurtled into the wheel, snapping it in half. Captain Phil Sacks quickly took charge. For the first time in his almost 25 years with SEA, Phil required students to stay below, as waves of eight feet broke across the side of the stern. With conditions too dangerous for the crew to… Read More...

Chief Scientist Kara Lavender

It’s a good thing Chief Scientist Kara Lavender doesn’t make snap judgments. Here’s how she remembers the cruise for her SEA job interview from Key West to the Bahamas : "I was sick as a dog my first day, it was pouring rain and I was freezing, laying on the deck. I was miserable, I thought, ‘I’ll do any other job than this.’ But the next day the seasickness passed, we had a few days of nice weather and by the time I got off I thought, ‘This is… Read More...

Chief Scientist Jeff Schell

From childhood, Jeff Schell was intrigued by the ocean. But growing up in an Ohio farm town, he only imagined the sea, via a picture book of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . "It seemed to be the great unknown. I had no frame of reference so my imagination ran wild. I associated adventure and mystery with oceanography," recalls Jeff, who didn’t experience the ocean until his mid-teens. "Even before I saw the ocean, I wanted to be an oceanographer. I magined Jacques Cousteau, a bunch of scuba diving… Read More...