The Caribbean Maritime University As An Agent Of Change
This inaugural issue of the Anchor Awards Magazine tells the story about the important and compelling work being accomplished by the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) and the American Caribbean Maritime Foundation (ACMF). Under the visionary and energetic leadership of former Consul General Geneive Brown Metzger and her thirteen member board, the ACMF was created to raise scholarship funds for CMU students, 90% of whom need financial aid, and to support the university’s infrastructure needs. The issue also draws attention to the importance of protecting the future of the Caribbean with its invaluable waterways, and investing in the Caribbean people.
However, the Anchor Awards Magazine is really about CELEBRATIONS.. We are celebrating three outstanding honorees whose contribution to the maritime industry is unparalleled, and deserving of the recognition; and, we are celebrating the unique partnership between the Caribbean Maritime University and the American Caribbean Maritime Foundation.
As a higher education institution guided by its mission, the CMU has the capacity to initiate and drive academic, social, and economic change in the community in which it lives and thrives. It is a model for other islands and countries to embrace and utilize, successfully preparing students across the Caribbean with academic, job, and life skills. Located in Kingston, Jamaica, the CMU offers opportunities to train and employ community members, provide access to new learning opportunities through extension courses, raise individual aspirations, cultivate strategic partnerships locally and internationally, and promote employability and healthy practices.
The CMU’s president is the dynamic and brilliant Dr. Fritz Pinnock. His leadership has overseen the growth of the university from 300 students when he was hired at the then Caribbean Maritime Institute to its current 4,000 plus ambitious and eager students, and a concomitant increase in its faculty and staff in the now accredited CMU. The CMU offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees in a range of maritime and logistics studies. Dr. Pinnock understood that to affect change in society, investment in its people is the essential component, and that education is the tool to accomplish this goal. His success in cultivating key relationships locally and globally is related to his natural enthusiasm and his commitment to transform the lives of, not only his students, but also of their families and communities.
To support the mission of the CMU, the ACMF is holding its first Gala in October 2018, at the New York Yacht Club, to be attended by the Honorees, Board members, several Caribbean dignitaries, and Friends of the ACMF/CMU Partnership. A highlight of the evening will be the awarding by the ACMF of the first two scholarships to CMU students who will be present to receive their awards. In a recent conversation with award-recipient Glenardo Simpson, Glenardo raved about his time at CMU, saying, “I have garnered a burning zeal and desire for its growth and development.” Glenardo shared that CMU has not only catered to his academic side, but it has also fostered the development of his soft skills in creating a “well-thinking and holistic” individual. These Signature awards signal the commitment of the ACMF to address its mission “to alleviate poverty and transform lives in the Caribbean through maritime education and community development.”
In a recent letter to his community, the president of Columbia University raised a critical question: “How do we connect the enormously valuable intellectual work of the university to have the greatest possible impact on the problems of our time?” Through its mission, preparation programs, and initiatives to meet the employment needs of the maritime industry and the Caribbean communities, the CMU is answering that call, and is well on its way to building a better, more informed, economically sustainable, and humane society.