FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Thursday, August 26, 2004

New Dorm Opens at SUNY Maritime College

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THROGGS NECK � The Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, a specialized college of the State University of New York, opened the East Wing of its new dormitory today with 150 first- and second-class cadets moving in today for the fall semester. Classes begin August 30.

Financed and constructed through the Dormitory Authority, this is the first new building on the Maritime campus in 30 years. Construction was completed on a fast-track basis in just over 18 months.

Developed with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the dorm wing was completed on a fast-track basis in just over 18 months. Skanska USA Building Inc. was the general contractor, and the architect was Mach Architecture & Engineering, P.C.

�Opening our new residence hall in time for the fall term has been a tremendous achievement,� noted Dr. Kimberly Cline, vice-president and chief operating officer at SUNY Maritime. �It represents a collaborative effort on the part of all partners involved including college staff, DASNY officials, Skanska, Mach Architecture and SUNY who worked together to make this project a success. Completion of the west wing is expected by spring, ahead of the projected 2005 schedule.�

The new residence hall is a four-story structure with a total of 300 dorm rooms in two wings. The building�s masonry and stone fa�ade complements the surrounding campus structures and Fort Schuyler�s massive stone fa�ade. At the rear of the building, sections of glass curtainwall enable students to take in views of Long Island Sound while relaxing in any of the central lounges.

Assimilating the comforts of home, the new residence hall has been designed to meet the campus housing needs of today�s student. Fully air conditioned rooms, carpeted corridors and hallways, spacious bedrooms equipped with two data portals, a telephone outlet and a cable television connection, and complete laundry rooms are among the amenities. The project meets the criteria established by Governor George E. Pataki�s Executive Order 111, which emphasizes energy conservation and �green building� design to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

On August 19, 45 specially invited alumni and friends of SUNY Maritime College received a sneak peek of the new dormitory. After a �hard hat� tour, the guests then were served dinner in McMurray Hall and received a Presidential Update from Maritime�s President, Vice Admiral John R. Ryan, USN (Ret).

Vice Admiral Ryan personally guided the tour, conducted by alumnus, John D. Villani �92, commissioning agent for McClave Engineering, a project consultant. Ryan expressed great pride and gratitude about the collaborative effort to meet the fast-track schedule. �Projects of this magnitude typically take three-to-five years, if you�re lucky. Because of the collaborative spirit of all partners involved, we are showing you the east wing that will be occupied by students next week,� he told the group.

�I am very impressed that the new dorm was completed in such a short amount of time,� said the Honorable John G. Ingram, alumnus of the Class of 1964, Acting Supreme Court Justice, New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County, and Twelfth Judicial District. �I came to the College in 1960. Hurricane Donna was a part of that era. They told us that the new dorm would be completed in one year. Three years later in September 1963, we were the first class to enter our new dorm, now considered the old dorms here at Maritime. Initially, my classmates and I had lived on the training ship for three years without any dormitories.�

Alumnus Donald Brennan, Class of 1961, commented that the new dorm, coupled with all the recent campus improvements �bring the College into the 21st century and should help create the right environment for a college educational experience.� Mr. Brennan is a managing partner of South Ocean Investments. Brennan�s brother, John, a 1964 Maritime graduate, also participated in the tour. John is chairman and chief executive officer of ICT Group, Inc.

�The campus looks great in every aspect. It�s nice to be back. Growing up here, I used to play hide-and-go-seek in the fog � in what was then the field. McMurray Hall and the Tiv didn�t exist,� commented Captain James DeSimone, Class of 1973 and new chief operations officer for the Staten Island Ferry.

SUNY Maritime is a four-year college that offers a solid academic program coupled with a structured cadet life in the regiment for both men and women. Founded over 125 years ago, the college was the first commercial maritime institution in the United States. It established a permanent home at its present Fort Schuyler campus in 1934.

Boasting a 100 percent graduate placement rate, SUNY Maritime College is the nation�s first maritime college offering undergraduate degree programs in Engineering, Business Administration/Marine Transportation, Marine Environmental Science, Humanities, International Transportation and Trade and a Master�s degree in International Transportation Management. Maritime�s curriculum also features annual Summer Sea term career training aboard Empire State VI to international ports of call and U.S. Coast Guard license and non-license programs. Maritime is home to the only Navy and Marine Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program in the New York City metropolitan area. For more information, please call (718) 409-7200 or visit our website at www.sunymaritime.edu .

DASNY is the nation�s top issuer of municipal bonds for higher education and health care capital projects. The Authority, founded in 1944, is also one of the premier public building construction agencies in the United States. It is headquartered in Albany.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org or the SUNY Maritime Public Relations Director Diane Zapach at (718) 409 7201 or at dzapach@sunymaritime.edu. The College�s website is http://www.sunymaritime.edu/

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