IMLA

Professor, Massachusetts Maritime Academy

25 years sailing onboard,14 years teaching

Co-chair for the IMLA-INSLC18  

Captain Craig Dalton holds a U.S. Coast Guard Unlimited tonnage Masters license along with corresponding STCW documentation. He holds a BS degree in Marine Transportation from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and a MS in Management from Cambridge College.

Upon graduation from Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1974 he sailed with Exxon Company USA for 25 years, most of the time as Master. For the last 14 years he as been employed as full time, tenured faculty, at Massachusetts Maritime Academy rising in ranks from assistant to full professor. For nine of these years he has served as Marine Transportation department chair. The challenge of being the captain for a department comprised of many captains for nine consecutive years requires a truly unique sets of skills and he has performed magnificently in his role.

Craig has led the department through a major curriculum review to ensure compliance with the 2010 Manila Amendments. He has also taken the lead role in acquiring state-of-the-art simulation including new simulators that support: Bridge Team Management, ECDIS, ARPA, GMDSS along with Tugs and Towing. He does not hesitate to step forward whether it might be as sea term training coordinator for the deck training program or serving as the academy liaison to the U.S. Maritime Academy Council (MAC).

Craig's commitment to academic excellence is the benchmark for the department. He holds firmly to the academic standards yet makes himself readily available for student advising or counseling. Over his nine years as department Chair he has doubled the enrollment for his major. He has earned the respect of students, peers and from management. He leads with the determination of nothing but success yet at the same time he can make anyone laugh with a joke. His academy is particularly proud to call him one of their own as a graduate and now full professor. He has earned his stripes in so many ways and is deserving of recognition of the international MET community.

Tenured Professor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Researched, designed layouts, and wrote Request For Proposals for Massachusetts Maritime Academy's:

Ø  Liquid loading simulator in 2006

Ø  Electronic Navigation Lab and Full Mission Convertible Tug Simulator in 2008

Ø  Full Mission Ship Simulator (Projection Type) in 2011

Unlimited U.S. Coast Guard Masters License upon Oceans

First Class Pilotage for ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and 

Prince William Sound, Alaska

Tankerman PIC in DL and Chemicals

Consultant and Expert Witness concerning Rules of the Nautical Road, Navigation and Marine Transportation

Honorable discharge as Lieutenant from U.S. Navy

Past member of the board of the Fulton Project Charter School. A middle-school with education based upon the maritime industry. School received state funding and approval.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Boston Marine Society - Lifetime Member

Council of American Master Mariners

Nautical Institute - Associate Fellow - Vice Chair of US Northeast Branch

International Maritime Lecturers Association

Member of Steering Committee of International Navigation Simulator Lecturer's Conference

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Alumni Association

EDUCATION

B.Sc., Marine Transportation - Massachusetts Maritime Academy (1974)

Graduated Valedictorian

Master of Management degree - Cambridge College (2000) with certificate in business.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Certificated for Company/Vessel/Facility Security Officer and Awareness and Vessel/Facility Personnel with Specific Duties.

Assisted in drafting MARAD’s Liquefied Gas Training standards.

Panelist at the Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP)  Maritime Education Conference

Member of Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) group that reviewed STCW Manila Amendments assessments for able seafarer for the USCG

Graduate of the LNG simulator training course at Star Institute in Dania, FL.

Graduate of the MASC Train the Trainer for Simulation

Moderated assemblage of Master Mariners and pilots for evaluation of the Manned Model Program offered by The Center For Maritime Training at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.  Instructor for course.

Graduate of the Warsach Shiphandling School at Southampton, UK. 

Graduate of the ship handling course at Port Revel, France. 

The followed is an autobiographical sketch that tells more about Captain Craig Dalton.

Since I started teaching at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1998 I have learned a great deal about teaching.  Perhaps the most astonishing thing I discovered is how little I really knew about a subject, until I was preparing for a class lecture on it!  Being a professor has provided me the opportunity for continuously learning, increasing my level of knowledge tremendously, while making me more aware of how much I still need to learn.

While at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, I have had the privilege of serving as the Marine Transportation Department Chair for over ten years.  During this time, the Academy received its first USCG STCW-95 certification, and went through its first five-year renewal.  Recently I lead the rewriting of the new STCW curriculum for Marine Transportation at MMA, which was quickly approved by our Coast Guard's National Maritime Center.  Through my tenure, our department has grown in students, faculty and simulation.

I have been a longtime supporter and the faculty liaison to the women's cross country team at MMA.  I am a frequent supporter of MMA athletics and promote them whenever possible. Participation with an athletic organization opens up another avenue of communication and possible education.

As a member of the Maritime Professional Staff at my academy, I accompany the Academy's training cruise every other year.  During the sea term, we are able to see another side of the students, and they have the opportunity for practical training that would not otherwise be afforded them.  It is an ideal environment to put to practice and hone maritime skills that the students are introduced to in the classroom.

I have been associated with maritime history since a child, and as a faculty member, I have attempted to make our students more aware of our maritime heritage.  When the SS JOHN W. BROWN - a restored, working, WWII liberty ship was going to make a stop at the Academy on its way to Boston, my students raised money to help support fuel costs for the trip.  I have since, taken students on a weekend trip (Boston to Baltimore) to sail aboard that vessel and to visit the Nuclear Ship Savannah.  These students were able to live history.

Being a faculty member at MMA has also allowed me to audit courses at the academy, to attend specialize courses outside the Academy, and to attend conferences.  All have allowed me to continuously learn and share the knowledge gained with my students.  I find this one of the greatest benefits to being a professor at a maritime university today, and I look forward to many years to come.

Two years ago while on sabbatical, and wanting to keep my knowledge of the industry and skills up to date, I made arrangements to sail on a product tanker and an LNG tanker.  I was able to bring back to the classroom current skills and procedures that students will encounter when they graduate.  Although going back to sea and leaving home is always somewhat unsettling these days, it was well worth it.

I believe that it is our experience and firsthand knowledge of the arts and sciences of the maritime industry that ratifies what we are conveying to the students.  Without use of practical examples, thoughts and ideas would be lost in an endless babble of facts and figures.  But, illustrate the lesson with a practical example, hopefully one with humor, and the ideas remain.  Classes and learning should be entertaining and fun.  While many subjects may be dry, it is our responsibility to enliven the classroom so as to encourage participation and retention.  This philosophy has carried over to our annual training sea terms aboard the Academy's training vessel, where, as Training Coordinator for Marine Transportation, I introduced competitive events to demonstrate the acquired abilities of the students. 

Throughout it all my effort has been to acquire knowledge and opportunities for our students to learn from everything that is out there, in the US or worldwide, and to make friends and acquire contacts to help continue this. 

Thus I have been a member of the Council of American Master Mariners, the Boston Marine Society, and am an Associate Fellow in the Nautical Institute.   As Vice Chair of the Northeast Chapter of the Nautical Institute, I organized a regional meeting and invited author Andre Le Goubin to speak to members about his recent book: Mentoring At Sea.  The event was attended by Academy students as well as professional mariners.  I was one of the primary promoters of the Maritime Academy Council's Department Chairs' meetings each year, where the two professional maritime training departments (Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering) of all the maritime academies can discuss mutual problems and solutions, and get to know each other better.  I have attended international conferences in Trinidad, St. Johns Newfoundland, Gdynia, Poland, San Francisco, California, and Warnemunde, Germany.  During all, I have been fortunate in making many friends among the faculty of these famed worldwide maritime institutions.  This year, I am the MMA Co-chair for the INSLC 18, to be held at Massachusetts Maritime Academy this coming September and look forward to this assemblage of distinguished maritime lecturers. 

When Shanghai Maritime University approached Massachusetts Maritime Academy with the prospect of an exchange program, I could readily see the value to our Marine Transportation students being participants.  It was a struggle to arrange:  There were curriculum issues, STCW and USCG issues, and sea term issues, but with great perseverance and guidance, our department has sent Marine Transportation students each year, in increasing numbers, to Shanghai Maritime University.  I was fortunate enough to accompany our first exchange students in this program.  In addition, I later arranged for one of our Marine Transportation faculty members to teach at SMU for a semester. 

On a personal note, I have been involved in ships and shipping all my life.  As a small child, I was instilled with a sense of awe of ships and the sea, and wanted to go to sea from a very young age.  After attending Massachusetts Maritime Academy I did sail for 24 years, all on tankers, retiring at the rank of Master.  The only regret I have is that most of my sailing was around the coastal United States and not worldwide.  (I think I have travelled to more places after retiring from sea, while working at MMA, than when I sailed).   Ships and the sea have been my life.  For the last 16 years, I have been transferring that love to our students.  It is a great pleasure when you have a job that allows you to be in an environment that you really enjoy.

Up until very recently I always had a small sailboat and sailed it on Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth Bay.  I recently acquired a beautiful 17 foot rowing boat with very fine lines, and row her on our local Jones River and Plymouth Bay.  I am always on the lookout  for another sailboat though.

I have two grown sons: One a graduate with a degree in music and sound recording, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and the other who just achieved his Masters in Biology.  I live in Kingston, Massachusetts with my wife of 35 years and enjoy going to work each day. I look forward to improving my teaching skills and continually learning about our industry and the world.

Captain Wu Huiguo, is a professor at the Merchant Marine College of Shanghai Maritime University, a postgraduate supervisor, and former Deputy Dean of SMU's Merchant Maritime College.

NORDAN Award granted to Capt.Wu by Danish Princess Alexandra Christina

Capt.Wu worked onboard the Chinese Naval Convoy Vessel in the Gulf of Aden Somalia as the Escort Captain

• Escort Captain of the Chinese Naval Convoy to the Gulf of Aden and Somalian Waters
• NORDEN Award granted by Dampskibsselskabet “NORDEN” A/S
• Member of the China Ministry of Transport Maritime Investigation Committee
• Expert of MSA China Navigation Safety Impact Assessment on Surface and Underwater Activities
• Author of the undergraduate teaching textbook Navigation
• Published Paper Martime Traffic Accident Analysis by Using Fuzzy Clustering
• Published Paper Ship Master's Absolute Power When Preventing and Resisting Pirates
• Research project on the Large Ship's Mooring Force Measurement Technology Application

Günther Zade (1936–2006) was an internationally renowned scholar and educator in maritime education & training (MET), serving the World Maritime University with great distinction for almost a quarter of a century.

Günther Zade grew up in East Germany, studied mathematics at Leipzig University, and embarked on a seafaring career in 1957, rising from ordinary seaman to master mariner with a Master Mariner Certificate obtained from Bremen Nautical School, then completed further postgraduate studies in Nautical Studies and Education and rose through the ranks from Lecturer to Professor, Vice-Rector and finally to Rector in Bremen Hochschulefür Nautik from 1968 until 1983.

From 1983 to his death in May 2006, Professor Zade played a pivotal role in the development and progress of the design and establishment of the World Maritime University (WMU), located in Malmö, Sweden, after being asked for assistance from the then Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Dr. C P Srivastava, in 1982. For almost twenty years, he has been dedicating to make the University more successful in the design and development of the academic teaching and research program. He was truly one of the Founding Fathers of the World Maritime University and the profound contribution to this institution will never be matched.

Günther Zade’s reach went far beyond WMU; he left his indelible mark on maritime education worldwide. As founding member and first chairman of the International Maritime Lecturers’ Association (IMLA), he was a driving force for the establishment and raising of global standards of maritime education & training of seafarers and also a prolific researcher and author of many studies on subjects of maritime education and training.

His outstanding contribution to IMLA, WMU and to maritime education worldwide has been recognized and honored in many ways: the Government of Germany awarded him one of the highest German honors, the Bundesverdienstkreuz 1.Klasse; the Government of France created him Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Maritime; Shanghai Municipality bestowed on him the Magnolia Silver Award; and Lloyd’s List presented him with the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Maritime Training. The World Maritime University awarded him the distinction of Professor Emeritus and established an ongoing student scholarship in his name.

To honor the memory of Professor Zade, the World Maritime University has sponsored an annual public event – the Günther Zade Lecture – in connection with the annual meeting of the University’s international Board of Governors. Distinguished experts from the international maritime education milieu could speak on issues of maritime education & training (MET) to which Günther devoted his professional life.

Günther Zade was a remarkable man who was worth being remembered forever for his great intellect, his life-long service and devotion to IMLA, WMU and the international maritime community, and his courageous battle with a terrible disease. He set a shining example to all of us. He made a real difference to the maritime world, and inspired many of us personally.