Director, Marine Programs & Commanding Officer, Training Ship Golden Bear

Veteran staff member, research worker, and administrator Captain Sam Pecota is the newly master of California State University Maritime Academy ‘s Training Ship Golden Bear beginning in August .

” Captain Pecota has safely captained the Golden Bear on six cruises and over 50,000 miles, ” said Cal Maritime President Tom Cropper. “ His know as a dominate mariner, faculty extremity, and academic dean make him uniquely qualified and a natural choice to be the future leader of Marine Programs. ”

Pecota has served as Cal Maritime ‘s academic dean since 2015, leading a passage to reorganize the Academy ‘s academic programs under three discrete schools, creating a more efficient and effective academician presidency and supporting the growth of the University .

” I am honored to take on this new function which is thus critical to the operation of the Academy and the education of our cadets, ” said Pecota adding, “ I am gladiolus to have this opportunity to build on the superb shape that Captain Bolton and the gang have invested in making the Golden Bear the finest train transport in the world. ”

Pecota joined the staff at Cal Maritime in 2001 in the department of Marine Transportation. He has held every staff situation from lecturer to full professor. His specialties are marine electronics and the development of new maritime educational and training pedagogies with especial vehemence on practice-based determine through pretense .

He is the author of the textbook Radar Observer Manual ( 6th Ed., 2006 ) and numerous technical papers on e-Navigation which have been delivered at international conferences.

Pecota served as professorship of the Marine Transportation Department from 2009-2011. In 2013, he was awarded the title of distinguished professor in recognition of his research and scholarly work at Cal Maritime. In 2014, he served as the president of e-Navigation Under Way North America, an international conference dealing with the latest developments in marine seafaring equipment and vessel see systems, held on the Cal Maritime campus .

At the Academy, he has besides served as conductor of model since 2013, and relief master of the Training Ship Golden Bear since 2011. Since 2014, he has served as a council penis of the Nautical Institute, the governing body of the international arrangement for maritime professionals, based in London, England .

Pecota graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York in 1980. He spent 20 years as a merchant officer, working his way up from 3rd checkmate to master. He served as captain aboard the MV Stuyvesant from 1989 until 2000. Pecota earned a headmaster ‘s degree in Transportation Management from American Military University in 2005 .

Twenty years of serve aboard bombastic grasshopper dredges have given Pecota significant know in embark wield, vessel management, and shipboard maintenance, haunt, and modifications.

Each summer, Cal Maritime cadets who are working to earn a U.S. Coast Guard license in summation to a bachelor ‘s degree leave the Academy ‘s Vallejo campus for a two-month, external coach cruise. For the duration of the cruise, Cal Maritime cadets are responsible for running the embark, including voyage and drive, repairing and overseeing the engines, and maintaining the vessel. The cruises are supervised by the ship ‘s captain, along with the head engineer, staff members, and a team of know mariners .