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United States Merchant Marine Academy

Military Academy

Mailing Address
300 Steamboat Road
Kings Point, New York 11024
Phone
(866) 546-4778
Email address
admissions@usmma.edu
School Information
"Known for its rigorous academic program, USMMA requires more credit hours for a baccalaureate degree than any other federal service academy. This challenging coursework is augmented by the Academy’s Sea Year experience, which affords midshipmen the opportunity to acquire hands-on, real-world experiences aboard working commercial or military vessels sailing to ports around the world. Midshipmen who master this demanding curriculum earn a unique combination of credentials: a highly-regarded Bachelor of Science degree, a U.S. Coast Guard license, and an officer’s commission in the U.S. Armed Forces" (Source: https://www.usmma.edu/about). The academy has a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1 and a student population of 975.
General Information
A strategic plan was created for the purpose of incorporating diversity and inclusion goals. The academy is in the process of orchestrating training on concepts of diversity. This involves integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion teachings into the Educational Program for Midshipmen as part of Strategic Priority #2. The academy plans on creating a Chief Diversity Officer position in addition to engaging in other structural adjustments which promote DEI goals. See updates below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • The academy committed to another step as part of its Strategic Plan's Priority #2. The goal is set to "update and refine the Academy’s brand and establish a marketing plan to facilitate recruitment and retention of diverse, highly qualified faculty, staff, and Midshipmen."
  • The academy's Task Force One Navy Final Report recommends that "Navy officer recruitment efforts should be targeted toward increasing awareness of the officer career path, emphasizing efforts geared toward non-white college market youth."
  • On May 31, 2023, the Academy's Superintendent issued a "Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging" which states that the academy would "hire and retain a diverse faculty and staff and recruit students from diverse backgrounds in the interest of promoting acceptance and understanding within the community."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • The academy's Task Force One Navy Final Report states that "Self-awareness (SA) tools are a critical part of bias awareness and are administered at various leadership levels, without the benefit of a comprehensive and deliberate SA continuum."
  • The academy's Diversity Training Officers work with the Office of Student Activities and will "assist in the opening of hearts and minds through carefully planned and executed training." The Office also states that "Leadership experience in this critical area is needed by both industry and military.  This midshipman gains event planning, supervision, creative decision making, and program development skills."
  • In 2022, the Academy's Center for Teaching and Learning announced its "Seventh Annual Conference on Teaching & Learning: Faculty Development Workshops on Online Teaching" which included: "Making expectations explicit to avoid implicit bias," "Answering the Superintendent’s Call to Action: A Reflective Writing Assignment on Race and the Military," and "The Making of a Token. A Case Study for Stereotype Threat, Stigma, Racism, and Tokenism in Academe.”
  • On May 31, 2023, the Academy's Superintendent issued a "Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging" which states that the academy would provide "ongoing professional development, training and education to our faculty, staff, and students on issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging."
  • Diversity Training Officers at USMMA "work with the Director of Student Activities to form and carry out training for regimental periods, indoc [sic] and events for heritage months" and "assist in the opening of hearts and minds through carefully planned and executed training."
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • The academy set a strategic plan with a goal to "integrate elements of diversity, equality, and inclusion into the Educational Program for Midshipmen." Strategic Priority #2 prompts the academy to “promote and reinforce Academy-wide focus on issues of diversity, equality, and inclusion through integration into human resources practices and professional development programs.”
Resources
  • Strategic Priority #6 of the academy's Strategic Plan is to "leverage athletic programs to foster an environment of inclusivity and community based on the Academy’s core values."
  • According to a report by the National Academy of Public Administration (titled "U.S. Merchant Marine Academy: A Path Forward Implementation Plan"), the Maritime Education and Training Executive Review Board has created a working group to address "diversity, equity, and inclusion."
  • To "increase institutional capacity to build diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "create a DEIB Office staffed with individuals experienced in DEIB in undergraduate institutions of higher education, preferably with a STEM focus."
  • To achieve the goal of "supporting and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "promote, support, and provide resources and meeting spaces for student affinity groups, and consider including leadership of affinity groups as a Midshipmen leadership position or experience."
  • To achieve the goal of "supporting and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "develop and implement an Academy-wide DEIB plan aligned with the Strategic Plan, with DEIB goals, objectives, metrics, databases, and assessment tools."
  • To achieve the goal of "supporting and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "develop and implement DEIB policies and programs."
  • To achieve the goal of "collecting and analyzing performance data," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "develop and implement DEIB assessments."
  • As part of the Marine Corps Association's "Call To Action: Race In The Marine Corps: Let’s Have The Discussion," one article asked Marines, "Is the current paucity of African American officers at the rank of Lieutenant General and above an indicator of institutional racism in the Corps, or the result of a combination of factors that lead to a shortage of qualified officers?" The article also asked, "Are incidents of 'racial micro-aggressions' indicative of conscious and unconscious racial bias in the Corps or are they symptomatic of a general rudeness and degeneration of civil behavior in the nation as a whole?"
  • Military.com reports that the Defense Department reversed a Trump administration action to "halt training on subjects including critical race theory and white privilege."
  • The academy published its "Task Force One Navy" Final Report which states that the "Task Force is evaluating options to best mitigate implicit bias in the performance appraisal process to ensure accurate assessment takes place and warranted promotion and advancement opportunity for underrepresented Sailors is assured."
  • The academy's "Task Force One Navy" Executive Summary states that "TF1N set out to analyze and evaluate issues in our society and military that detract from Navy readiness, such as racism, sexism and other structural and interpersonal biases to attain significant, sustainable I&D-related [Inclusion & Diversity] reform."
  • From July to December of 2020, the Academy's Task Force One Navy "Participated in the DOD Board on Diversity and Inclusion (DBDI) to address DOD-wide issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging."
  • On March 3, 2023, Fox News published an article entitled "Midshipmen warn left-wing politics are infiltrating Merchant Marine Academy: 'Last frontier for woke ideology'" which states that the academy's Superintendent, Vice Admiral Joanna Nunan, "boasts of having helped 'spearhead efforts to expand diversity and inclusion in the Coast Guard'." One of the academy's senior midshipman "laid partial blame for the cultural changes on both her and Buttigieg, claiming the transportation secretary 'has put a bunch of people in power' with 'a warped perspective' regarding how the school must be made more diverse."
  • The purpose of the USMMA Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Committee is to "cultivate, foster, and promote a diverse and inclusive culture of excellence through awareness, education, and the facilitation of productive communication amongst student athletes, coaches and athletic department staff."
Symbolic Actions
  • The academy states that it will "create a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive culture to attract and educate best-in-class maritime leaders."
  • To "increase institutional capacity to build diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration recommended the academy to "create a Chief Diversity Officer position that is part of the senior leadership team to inform decisions, policies, programs, and procedures."
  • To achieve the goal of "supporting and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging," the National Academy of Public Administration stated that the "DOT and Academy leaders should strongly and clearly communicate the value and commitment to DEIB at USMMA and DEIB’s linkages to Academy values."
  • Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley defended the study of critical race theory in a June 2021 congressional hearing. Milley said, "So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend? And I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers of being, quote, ‘woke’ or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."
  • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in June 2021, "We do not teach critical race theory, we don’t embrace critical race theory and I think that’s a spurious conversation...We are focused on extremist behaviors, and not ideology, not people’s thoughts, not people’s political orientation."
  • The academy's "Task Force One Navy" Executive Summary states that "By embracing Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) in our day-to-day work and decisions at a fundamental level, we harness the creative power of our differences, putting forward actions and strategies that accelerate and enable our Navy’s warfighting advantage" and "After the nation-wide protests in the spring and early summer of 2020, CNO encouraged dialogue about race relations and inclusion in America and how to actively strive for strong measures of I&D in the Navy."
  • The academy's "TF1N [Task Force One Navy] Pledge" states, "I will invest the time, attention and empathy required to analyze and evaluate Navywide issues related to racism, sexism, ableism and other structural and interpersonal biases. I pledge to be actively inclusive in the public and private spheres where I live and work, and proactively encourage others to do the same. I pledge to advocate for and acknowledge all lived experiences and intersectional identities of every Sailor in the Navy."
  • On May 31, 2023, the Academy's Superintendent issued a "Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging" which states that "[h]istorical, systemic, or institutional barriers have impacted some members of our community, and we are committed to addressing these disparities through equitable policies and practices."
Last updated December 13th, 2023
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