California State University Maritime Academy

According to the American Association of Port Authorities, the amount of cargo shipped by water is expected to triple by the year 2020. The California Maritime Academy is critical to helping build a strong workforce. Cal Maritime is one of only seven degree-granting maritime academies in the country. Its students enjoy a nearly 100 percent job placement rate. With an average time to graduation rate of four years, Cal Maritime students enter the workforce and begin contributing to the economy earlier than their counterparts.

High Magnitude Economic Impact

Cal Maritime’s annual impact on the Bay Area region and the State of California is enormous:

  • Annual spending related to Cal Maritime ($50 million) generates a total impact of $77 million on the regional economy, and more than $88 million on the statewide economy.

  • This impact sustains more than 590 jobs in the region and statewide more than 740 jobs.

  • Per year, the impact generates more than $4.4 million in local and $4.9 in statewide tax revenue.

  • Even greater—more than $27 million of the earnings by alumni from Cal Maritime are attributable to their CSU degrees, which creates an additional $122 million of industry activity throughout the state.

Cal Maritime improves California’s economy with research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

  • The Pacific Ocean plays a crucial role in the state’s identity, quality of life, and economy. To help advance technologies that protect the maritime environment, Cal Maritime now provides resources aboard its training ship Golden Bear that enable manufacturers of ballast water treatment systems to test and certify their designs for international usage. Prototypes can be loaded aboard the vessel and tested both at berth while the ship is docked at the Vallejo campus and at sea during summer training voyages. Development of such systems is vital in the effort to eliminate marine organisms carried in ballast water before that ballast is discharged in or near foreign ports. The program is administered by Cal Maritime’s Department of Sponsored Projects and Extended Learning.

  • Cal Maritime is committed to taking a leadership position in developing standardized training and curricula for its students and the professional maritime community. Cal Maritime has partnered with maritime, defense, and homeland security organizations to develop statewide standards for homeland security exercises, evaluation, education, and training. Named the Consortium for Maritime Security Exercises and Training, the group is the first California consortium to address statewide maritime security standards. Cal Maritime is designated and funded as the state’s official source of maritime security and exercise training.

  • International cruises aboard Cal Maritime’s training ship Golden Bear provide students with an awareness of the world and its diverse political and economic systems, business practices, and social customs. During visits to foreign ports, student groups visit with area businesses and commercial managers to gain a new understanding of global trading patterns and regional politics, cultures, and economics. Students also can participate in semester or year-abroad programs at foreign institutions of higher education ranging from England and Mexico to Korea and China. Visiting professors from countries such as China and Russia also enrich the campus curriculum with their expertise and fresh perspectives.

Cal Maritime improves life in the Bay Area region and beyond through community service.

  • Each summer Cal Maritime holds a Summer Academic Enrichment Program, which prepares under-motivated and economically disadvantaged teens from the East Bay for college. During the six-week program, each student participates in college life, works as part of a team on an engineering project, participates in field trips to the Port of Oakland and the San Francisco Maritime Museum, and takes sailboat and basic boating lessons.

  • Cal Maritime’s international training cruises open up philanthropic opportunities to students and the campus. Each year, Cal Maritime’s Circle K Club looks at the summer’s cruise itinerary and picks an organization to assist. Donations are raised locally through the Vallejo Kiwanis Club and the Cal Maritime community. Cal Maritime’s Circle K Club recently received the designation of one of the nation’s “Awesome Clubs” by CKI Magazine.

  • English is the language used for international communication at sea. To help increase the English vocabulary of Japanese cadets—specifically their knowledge of maritime terms and technology—Cal Maritime has partnered with the National Institute for Sea Training (NIST), an independent administrative institution under the Japanese Government, on NIST’s Maritime English Program. For the past several years, Cal Maritime cadets have traveled to Japan to teach English to Japanese maritime students aboard Japanese training ships.

The California State University Maritime Academy, 200 Maritime Academy Drive, Vallejo, CA 94590, (707) 654-1000
www.csum.edu