New York, New York

It is Fleet Week in New York City, and I'd like to highlight two items I think folks will find interesting. First, ROTC is returning to Columbia.

Student and faculty leaders voted in April for the move after the military dropped its ban on openly gay service members. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and university President Lee Bollinger plan to sign the agreement aboard USS Iwo Jima as part of New York's annual Fleet Week today.

The Navy will have an office on Columbia's campus, and recruits will train at SUNY's Maritime College in The Bronx. Columbia already participates in Army and Air Force ROTC, as well as the Marine Officer Candidate School, but none of those programs has space on Columbia property.

Second, speaking of SUNY Maritime College, the school is currently conducting a search for new President. Four current flag officers are listed among the six finalist candidates for new President at SUNY Maritime College including RADM Wendi B. Carpenter, VADM Derwood C. Curtis, RADM Joseph Kilkenny, and RADM Michael J. Lyden.

I think the array of candidates interesting, and I also really appreciated that I was able to read the submitted biographies of the applicants online. I think it is interesting to look into the careers of Navy leaders as they present themselves in their own words.

After careful review of each of the biographies, I almost went the way of a homer and was going to root for Rear Admiral Michael J. Lyden for the job because, well, he is an RPI guy. I'm breaking ranks with the hometown cooking criteria though, and I'm cheering for VADM Derwood C. Curtis instead. After careful review of all the biographies, his quickly became the easy choice to cheer for among the listed biographies, because VADM Curtis is the only applicant who lists the United States Naval Institute as one of the associations listed in his biography.

Nice!

Seriously, good luck to all. I think it is good to see several US Navy leaders interested in SUNY Maritime College.

Whether it is the Ivy League or the maritime colleges, only good things can happen as the US Navy and the education communities build closer relationships.