Maine Maritime Academy to Honor Its Best and Brightest

CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy will honor its best and brightest at a ceremony to be held on the college campus in mid-November. The college will formally recognize alumni accomplishment, student academic success, and outstanding faculty at its annual Celebration of Achievement on Thursday, Nov. 12.

In total, 25 individuals associated with the college will be recognized for their outstanding accomplishments. According to MMA President Leonard Tyler, several recognition ceremonies are held jointly each year to foster mutual respect, admiration, and inspiration among all honorees. The ceremonies include the college’s Wall of Honor induction, Scheel Scholars and ABS Scholars presentations, and an Excellence in Teaching award. They highlight the interrelationship of alumni professional and civic success, student curiosity and scholarship, and inspired teaching and academic commitment, respectively.

Initiated in 1997, the college’s Wall of Honor was created to recognize alumni, who, through achievements in professional and civic life, have brought honor to themselves and to Maine Maritime Academy. The Wall was established not only to pay tribute to their achievements, but also to allow their success to serve as inspiration to current students and their fellow alumni to strive for personal excellence.

The 2009 inductees will join 54 distinguished alumni honorees with a framed photograph and biographical sketch permanently displayed in the college’s Wall of Honor located in the Kresge Room of the Harold Alfond Student Center. Inductees are selected from nominations made at large by alumni and the public. Selection criteria prescribes that candidates be a graduate of Maine Maritime Academy and own, be a president, chief executive officer, or chair of the board of directors of a company; or have been elected to the office of mayor, governor, U.S. House of Representatives or Senate; or have achieved the rank of flag officer in a branch of the military; or have achieved significant prominence or lifetime achievement in a chosen field. Advanced education, professional awards and honors, community service, and voluntary service to Maine Maritime Academy are also considered for selection. The annual selection process is carried out by a committee comprised of members of the Wall of Honor.

This year’s Wall of Honor induction will recognize the career accomplishments of two distinguished alumni, John W. Fairbanks, MMA Class of 1952, and Douglas W. MacKay, M.D., MMA Class of 1947.