(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.: Jan. 13, 2009) Crowley Maritime Corporation will enhance its scholarship grants with the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport beginning in the fall. The company has pledged to increase its donation from $10,000 to $20,000 a year for deserving and need-based students in the program.
The increase in funding will allow more students – two students each semester, or four students each year – to benefit from the Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship Program, and further illustrates Crowley’s commitment to the education of those interested in maritime pursuits and to the educational programs offered at Williams-Mystic.
“The Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship has been a fundamental part of our scholarship program at Williams-Mystic since 2003. As of this coming spring 2009 semester, 15 students from 12 different colleges — including Dartmouth, Wheaton, Mount Holyoke, Emory, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore — have attended the Maritime Studies Program because of the Crowley scholarships,” said Dr. James T. Carlton, director of Williams-Mystic and a professor of Marine Sciences at Williams College.
In the fall of 2008, Nicole Singer a student from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Penn. was awarded the $5,000 scholarship to attend the program. A native of New York City and studio arts major, Singer aspires to be an art teacher. Her love of the maritime world was evident in her admissions essay to the program.
“In New York City, the sea is often forgotten. In school, we learned about how New York is a city of immigrants, but rarely did classes address the voyage to New York and the experiences aboard ships as turning points in the lives of immigrants. Indeed, it is probably the only experience first waves of immigrants had in common upon arriving in the United States,” Singer wrote.
The diversity of the students, in terms of their majors, interests and life experience, is a testament to Crowley’s commitment to education. The increased financial gift will allow more students to experience the first-rate program at Williams-Mystic.
“These students, selected to become Crowley scholars based on both their force of character as well as their financial need, receive the opportunity to learn about the history, literature, policy, and science of the world’s oceans,” Carlton said. “We are absolutely delighted that the Crowley Maritime Corporation’s generosity in increasing the Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship beginning in the fall 2009 academic year will now permit us to double the number of Crowley scholars able to attend the program.”
Susan Rodgers, Crowley senior vice president of administration, said the decision to increase the financial gift was in part due to the quality of students entering the program and those attending internships at Crowley.
“Over that last few years, Crowley has offered internships for Williams-Mystic students. We have seen first hand the quality of these students and the focus Williams-Mystic gives them in marine related interests whether it be environmental, legal/policy, commercial or recreational. Having highly motivated leaders of tomorrow interested and knowledgeable about maritime fields is good for Crowley in the long run,” Rodgers said.
The Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program at Williams College is a one-semester interdisciplinary ocean and coastal studies program integrating marine science, maritime history, environmental policy and literature of the sea.
Over the years, Crowley Chairman, President and CEO, Tom Crowley Jr., has continued to give scholarship dollars to deserving students at the maritime academies and other select institutions in the U.S., Alaska and Puerto Rico in the name of his father Thomas B. Crowley Sr., who guided the company to extraordinary heights before passing away in 1994.
Since 1984, Crowley has provided more than half-a-million dollars in scholarship funding for approximately 184 students studying at maritime academies and other select institutions. In 2006, the program expanded to Central America and to date has provided financial assistance to 15 students in that region.
Jacksonville-based Crowley Holdings Inc., a newly formed holding company of the 117-year-old Crowley Maritime Corporation, is a privately held family and employee-owned company that provides diversified transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets by means of six operating lines of business: Puerto Rico/Caribbean Liner Services, Latin America Liner Services, Logistics Services, Petroleum Services, Marine Services and Technical Services. Offered within these operating lines of business are the following services: liner container shipping, logistics, contract towing and transportation; ship assist and escort; energy support; salvage and emergency response; vessel management; vessel construction and naval architecture; government services, and petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution and sales. Additional information about Crowley its subsidiaries and business units may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.
