Texas A&M to Reduce Tuition For Merchant Mariner License Students
Texas A&M University at Galveston said it will reduce fees for current and future out-of-state students seeking a merchant mariner license from the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, in an effort that aims to help the maritime industry fill worsening labor gaps.Texas A&M Maritime Academy students earn their U.S. Coast Guard license while completing one of several license-option four-year bachelor’s degree programs at Texas A&M at Galveston.Effective September 1, under a new three-tiered fee structure approved by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents…
University of California Not to Divest from Fossil Fuels
The University of California voted on Friday to maintain its investments in fossil fuels, frustrating a student-led effort to divest its portfolio in oil, natural gas and coal. UC is among the major college endowments have been reluctant to shake up their portfolios by pulling out of fossil fuels after Stanford University, one of the most prestigious and wealthiest in America, took that step in May. Jagdeep Bachher, UC Regent's Chief Investment Officer, said in a presentation that UC's fossil fuel holdings amounts to $10 billion of the $91 billion in the college's investment portfolio. In a statement, the UC Board of Regents said it intended to invest $1 billion in a plan addressing solutions for climate change. Diminishing investments in fossil fuels was an option, but divestment was not.
Padelford Packet to Build New Showboat
The Minnesota Centennial Showboat is returning to the Mississippi River. The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance of the University of Minnesota is announcing plans, pending approval by the Board of Regents, to purchase a historic replica of the nineteenth century floating theaters being built by the Padelford Packet Boat Company of St. Paul. The original showboat, also known as the General John Newton, was acquired and renovated in 1958 during the celebration of Minnesota's first 100 years of statehood. Throughout the next 35 years, more than 400,000 people from all 50 states and 48 nations attended productions by University theatre students-from Shakespearean comedies to vintage melodramas, mysteries, and musicals.
FEATURE: A Family Tradition
The one constant about the management of offshore vessel operating companies is the domination of family members of the founder. Except for the largest of these companies, Tidewater, Inc., that is a public NYSE-listed firm, most of the companies in this category, large and small, are run by the descendents of the founder. Many of these companies still bear the founder's name and most of the vessels are named after family members. In 1948, Abdon Callais converted a shrimp trawler into an offshore service vessel and that began a company that is in its third generation of providing transportation of fluids and cargo to offshore oil and gas rigs. Abdon's sons Harold and Ronald became involved with offshore oil buisness.
