California Maritime Academy has been officially renamed California State University Maritime Academy by the CSU Board of Trustees. The action took place during a regularly scheduled public meeting.

“(Wednesday’s) action by the Board of Trustees is of symbolic importance to both the California State University and to the California Maritime Academy,” commented CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White. “We are enriched through our common cause and shared mission, which is why this change of the formal name of the campus is of such significance.”

CSU Maritime Academy was founded in 1929 as the California Nautical School, serving as the only United States maritime academy on the West Coast and becoming a campus of the CSU system in 1995. Currently serving more than 1,100 students, CSU Maritime Academy continues to evolve and expand on its traditional role as a nautical training school for seafarers by becoming a diversified university that grants undergraduate degrees that prepare students for careers in engineering, transportation, international relations, business and global logistics. CSU Maritime Academy also offers a master’s degree in Transportation and Engineering Management, as well as a number of extended learning programs and courses.

CSU Maritime Academy’s graduates have filled leadership roles within maritime and transportation-related fields that are critical to the economies of California, the nation and the world. CSU Maritime Academy’s graduates enjoy high placement rates of more than 90 percent into lucrative careers at sea and on shore. CSU Maritime Academy continues to fill a key role as the only degree-granting U.S. maritime academy on the Pacific Rim, with the mission of training, educating and developing graduates for leadership roles in the expanding global maritime profession.

“We want our name to clearly and unambiguously indicate that we are a maritime university that delivers world-class education while conferring baccalaureate and master’s degrees,” said CSU Maritime Academy President Thomas Cropper. “We want our name to celebrate that we serve all of California as a public institution of higher education in the world’s largest and finest system of collegiate learning.”

During the Board of Trustees meeting, CSU Maritime Academy was also designated a “Purple Heart University,” a distinction acknowledging its standing as a veteran-friendly university, and to honor the service of alumni who have been killed or wounded in combat.

About the California State University

The California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 47,000 faculty and staff and more than 460,000 students. Half of the CSU’s students transfer from California Community Colleges.