Virginia universities provide expansive maritime education

Virginia’s first bachelor’s degree program in coastal and marine sciences at a public university gets underway this fall at William & Mary‘s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, adding to a plethora of maritime education offerings across the state.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia formally approved the new bachelor’s degree program earlier this year. Applications for the first class were set to be accepted beginning in April.

The William & Mary program brings an undergraduate natural sciences option to Virginia’s existing maritime programs, while other universities focus more on logistics and supply chain management.

Entering the Batten program their junior year, students will receive an educational foundation in coastal and marine sciences along with an emphasis on hands-on learning and research. The new bachelor’s degree marks the first time undergraduate courses will be taught at VIMS’ Gloucester Point campus.

Currently, the Batten School offers master’s and doctoral degrees, a professional master’s degree and an undergraduate minor in marine science that prepare students to tackle challenges in estuarine, coastal and marine systems. Nevertheless, William & Mary’s undergraduate courses in coastal and marine sciences have tripled in popularity since 2019.

“We didn’t want to create an undergraduate degree that would only result in students going on to grad school,” explains Siddhartha Mitra, associate dean for academic affairs at the Batten School and VIMS. “With this degree, they will have a variety of career options in coastal and maritime fields available to them, such as coastal resilience or policy.”

Students will spend a marine science immersion semester at VIMS, be transported between Williamsburg and Gloucester Point for classes and conduct research alongside the school’s faculty and staff.

The first cohort is projected to have about 10 students. Over the next five years, the program will grow to approximately 50 students in the major.

“We really want to do this carefully to make sure that every student that goes through this program gets a really good education with opportunities for internships and research,” Mitra says.

Record-setting gifts are providing major funding for the Batten School and the new degree program. Last summer, Hampton Roads philanthropist Jane Batten donated $100 million to William & Mary, naming the school and establishing an endowment for its academic and research work in coastal and marine sciences.

Batten’s gift is the largest in the university’s history, as well as the most ever given to a research institution studying coastal and marine sciences. Through Batten’s support, William & Mary will hire new faculty members, and each coastal and marine sciences major will receive $5,000 for independent research or an internship.

In addition, William & Mary alumnus and former liver surgeon Dr. R. Todd Stravitz donated $50 million to create a full-tuition scholarship fund for each student in the undergraduate program. The endowment is the largest gift ever made to the university’s scholarship fund and the most for a school of coastal and marine sciences.

Other Virginia universities also offer maritime-related programs. Last fall, Old Dominion University launched its School of Supply Chain, Logistics and Maritime Operations, with about 60 students in undergraduate and graduate courses.

Undergraduate majors include a bachelor’s degree in supply chain and maritime logistics and a minor in supply chain management. Graduate programs cover maritime trade and supply chain management, with graduate certificate programs in ports, logistics and supply chain management.

The school is one of only a few maritime-based supply chain programs in the country, says its director, Kuntal Bhattacharyya, and its curriculum was designed to align with industry needs.

“Our uniqueness is the maritime focus with the port, shipbuilding and shipping that are not taught in most supply chain programs,” he says. “The maritime industry is extremely supportive of our curriculum, and many industry partners teach in our program.”

He adds that students are encouraged to obtain multiple internships: “Employers are looking for problem solvers. Problem solving doesn’t happen when you learn from textbooks.”

ODU plans to enroll up to 30 students annually in the bachelor’s degree program and 40 to 60 students in online certificate courses this fall. Graduate certificate courses will be taught as eight-week asynchronous classes, which offers flexibility to working professionals, Bhattacharyya says.

Similarly, Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach offers a supply chain management and logistics certificate available to current students as well as nondegree-seeking students. The program requires students to obtain an internship to supplement their classroom work.

In Central Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in supply chain management, as well as master’s programs in decision analytics and certificates in supply chain management and decision analytics. The 30-credit master’s degree program is targeted to professionals in the corporate and military sectors seeking to advance in the global logistics management field.