Hancock Region
Castine: MMA tries Puerto Rico ties
By Rich Hewitt
Saturday, February 09, 2008 - Bangor Daily News
CASTINE, Maine — Maine Maritime Academy is seeking to strengthen its ties with the Pontifical Catholic University in Ponce, Puerto Rico, a move officials said would increase opportunities for students and faculty.
The connection could open other opportunities for MMA in the wider Caribbean region with new port development in Ponce expected to help the island become a hub in international shipping.
Academic Dean John Barlow and Associate Dean William DeWitt, MMA's director of graduate studies, were in Puerto Rico recently to discuss expanding the college’s offerings at Pontifical, and MMA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the college toward that end.
For the past two years, MMA has provided specialized courses to Pontifical students to complement that college’s programs. According to DeWitt, Pontifical has a strong academic program that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in business, but has no programs in logistics or international business. MMA offers those programs through the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics.
The new ties with Pontifical will open up new opportunities for both colleges, DeWitt said, which could include student and faculty exchanges and integrated programs with students taking classes at both campuses. It also will allow MMA to increase and upgrade the distance education programs it offers.
"We're looking into the possibility of tying into the University of Maine system, which has teleconferencing capabilities," DeWitt said. "That would allow us to offer Internet-based videoconferencing for those courses."
That would require additional technology to provide what is known as synchronous delivery, he said, which would allow faculty in Castine to be linked with students in Puerto Rico in real time.
Pontifical already has the necessary equipment to handle that type of setup and MMA is looking at purchasing the same technology. There is a cost involved, DeWitt said, but initial pricing has indicated it will be less expensive than operating the dedicated line MMA now uses for the distance education program with Pontifical.
MMA would like to get the program established as soon as possible and could begin some offerings as early as spring. The technology, he said, also could open other opportunities for MMA.
"Once it's in, we can go anywhere," Dewitt said.
While in Puerto Rico, Barlow and DeWitt met with representatives from the Caribbean Shipping Association, a consortium representing shipping interests in the region, about providing training for industry managers which will be needed to meet an anticipated growth in international shipping in the region.
More and larger ships are expected to move through the Panama Canal after work expanding the canal by adding a third lock is completed in 2015, DeWitt said. That growth is expected to increase the demand for more staff at ports throughout the region, and shipping companies anticipate a need for training people to fill those posts, he said.
Puerto Rico and the port of Ponce in particular are poised to become a key link for the shipping that comes through the expanded canal, DeWitt said. The port, which has been renamed Port of the Americas, is strategically located and recently has dredged the harbor to a depth of 50 feet. It also has acquired more than 300 acres surrounding the harbor it plans to develop to handle cargo from those ships, DeWitt said.
"We think there is an opportunity to send some students and faculty down there to help in its development," DeWitt said.
The port development not only offers an educational opportunity, he said, but it also is a potential source of employment for MMA graduates in the future.
rhewitt@bangordailynews.net
667-9394