Evan Brown—Director, Communications: Seamen’s Church Institute 

The Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) Center for Maritime Education (CME) has been designated a Center of Excellence for Domestic Maritime Workforce Training and Education by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), recognizing CME’s demonstrated success in training and developing the nation’s maritime workforce. 

The five-year designation places CME among maritime training and education organizations recognized by MARAD for their role in preparing mariners with the skills needed to support the U.S. maritime industry. 

For SCI, the recognition reflects decades of investment in practical, industry-driven maritime education. Through training centers in Paducah, Kentucky, and Houston, Texas, CME works closely with maritime companies and active mariners to provide training that reflects the vessels, operating environments, and challenges mariners encounter on the job.  

“Our approach has always been to listen to the industry and to the mariners doing the work every day,” said Capt. Stephen Polk, Director of SCI’s Center for Maritime Education. “The closer our training reflects the vessels they operate, the waterways they navigate, and the challenges they face on the job, the better prepared they are to operate safely and confidently. This recognition affirms an approach CME has been committed to for decades.”  

At the center of that work is advanced simulator-based training. CME’s full-mission bridge simulators allow mariners to practice navigation, vessel handling, bridge resource management, and other complex operations in realistic environments where skills and decision-making can be developed without putting crews, vessels, or infrastructure at risk.  

MARAD highlighted the scope of that work in announcing the designation. From 2023 through 2026, CME recorded 5,840 participant completions across 715 training sessions, including approximately 3,600 completions associated with advanced captain and pilot pilothouse operations.  

But CME’s work increasingly extends beyond the classroom. SCI collaborates with vessel operators, naval architects, engineers, government agencies, technology providers, and experienced mariners on projects that use simulation to examine real-world maritime challenges. These partnerships include vessel modeling, navigation and infrastructure feasibility studies, simulator research and validation, and evaluating proposed waterways and infrastructure before construction begins. That collaborative approach reflects a fundamental principle behind CME’s work: maritime education is strongest when it remains connected to the people and organizations operating vessels every day.  

For SCI, the Center of Excellence designation places CME within a broader national effort to strengthen the maritime workforce. As the industry works to recruit, train, retain, and advance mariners, CME remains committed to connecting education with real-world operations and working alongside the companies and mariners it serves.  

“At the heart of SCI’s mission is a commitment to the men and women who build their lives and livelihoods on the water,” said the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, President and Executive Director of the Seamen’s Church Institute. “Through CME, we have the privilege of helping mariners develop the skills and confidence they need to work safely, advance in their careers, and return home to the people who depend on them. We are grateful for this recognition and remain committed to preparing today’s mariners—and the generations who follow—for safe, rewarding careers in the maritime industry.” 

For more than a century, SCI has stood alongside mariners and seafarers, supporting their safety, wellbeing, and professional lives. MARAD’s Center of Excellence designation recognizes CME’s important role within that continuing mission and the work it does to serve inland and near-coastal mariners. It is recognition of the quality and integrity of CME’s training and a meaningful affirmation of SCI’s enduring commitment to the people at the heart of the maritime industry.