Maine Maritime Academy is cutting one ocean studies major and has put another on probation amid declining student interest.
But the Castine school also plans to expand its offerings in a different direction next fall with a new nuclear engineering technology major.
The shifts come as marine-related employment opportunities in Maine’s “blue economy” and maritime industries are projected to continue growing.
The academy’s board of trustees voted this month to end the oceanography program, one of three majors in its Corning School of Ocean Studies along with marine biology and coastal and marine environmental science. The environmental science major was put on probation in May contingent on a “success plan” approved this month that aims to grow enrollment, retention, graduation and career placement.
MMA is one of six state maritime academies in the country focused on preparing students for licensing to work on commercial vessels.
Its environmental science major differs from other such undergraduate programs, Ocean Studies school chair Jessie Muhlin told the board earlier this month when presenting a faculty-developed success plan aiming to preserve it.
It has a unique curriculum with local stakeholders and hands-on experience focused on technical and problem-solving skills from the academy’s waterfront, she said. The Gulf of Maine is also one of the most complex, emerging, changing marine and coastal environments on the planet, according to Muhlin.
“So it’s really a wonderful living laboratory to have students learn how to be environmental scientists,” she said.
But the oceanography program has had low enrollment for “many years,” officials said at a May trustee meeting when they voted to suspend it, without discussing clear reasons why. One freshman and a couple of fourth- and fifth-year students were enrolled, with two or three of those set to graduate by the end of the year.
No faculty would be affected by the suspension, officials said in May.
The academy also originally slated the environmental studies major for suspension, attendees said, but faculty were given time to try to grow it using a success plan that officials said could also help serve as a template for evaluating other programs.
In a statement after the meeting, the academy said it “continues to strengthen its culture of continuous improvement” through efforts including program reviews and interactions with stakeholders, such as industry advisory committees to make sure programs are relevant, sustainable and meet student needs and demands.
“For some programs that have experienced consistent enrollment declines, some academic resources, including faculty, may be realigned to meet existing needs with the goal of retaining all faculty, even from programs that have or may experience suspension or closure,” the statement said.
Enrolled students will be able to continue through graduation, enroll in required courses and continue to get full academic and career support, the academy said.
The nuclear engineering major, meanwhile, is already seeing “a great deal” of excitement, external support and student interest, according to the academy.
The academy has offered a minor in the field for two years, and netted a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to add a major and establish the “Center for Education and Training of the Nuclear Merchant Mariner,” the Weekly Packet newspaper previously reported.
Students concerned about the climate see nuclear power as a form of cleaner energy more reliable than renewable sources, chair Paul Wodlowski told that newspaper in May. The new program will prepare students to work for nuclear power plants, according to the Weekly Packet, and nuclear power can also be used to propel ships.
The new major is expected to put MMA at the forefront of a “rapidly transforming and expanding” nuclear energy field, in which the academy was a leader in the 1960s, according to the statement.
