About Featured Alumni: Each issue we feature an Alum to show in depth how SMEA has been part of their career trajectory in order to celebrate their accomplishments and to inform and inspire current students and our alumni about their education. In this issue, we feature an alumna whose career so far has been with the US Coast Guard (USCG).  SMEA has benefitted enormously from the mid-career officers and officers mustering out of the USCG.  Amanda Fisher SMEA in mid-career and graduated in 2010.  She is now retiring after 21 years of service and is contemplating how to share her expertise with SMEA and launch the next stage of her career.

Congratulations to Aina Hori, a recent SMEA graduate, who was selected as a finalist for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship! The Knauss Fellowship is a prestigious one-year fellowship awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce announced that Jamie Goen, Executive Director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers and SMEA alum, has been appointed to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC)

Sara Adams, SMEA student and Program Manager at Quiet Sound, highlights the achievements that earned her program a Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Education and Outreach from the Port of Seattle.

Yesterday, SMEA alumni hosted a lively Maritime Trivia Night at Broadview Tap House. The event was a fantastic opportunity for SMEA alumni, faculty, and both incoming and current students to connect and have fun

Please join us this Thursday, May 30th, from 12-1 PM in FSH 203 or on Zoom for our final SMEA Speaker Series: Careers in Marine and Environmental Affairs. This week we will be hearing from four panelists: Chris Boylan, Dan Hull, Elise Lasky, and Annika Saltman who will be sharing their experience working in the private sector.
Zoom: https://lnkd.in/dPa4uAQG
Meeting ID: 927 8726 9100
Passcode: seminar 

By Dave Fluharty
Brian Offord (1983)
By Brian Offord
I worked for the office of the Governor in the States of Hawaii and Washington, and US Territories, Northern Mariana Islands, as manager of coastal zone and marine programs in the Pacific Region, and major riverine and estuarine stems the Columbia River and Puget Sound. It has been and remains a very gratifying experience that has given me opportunities for broad involvement in a variety of disciplines. 

Strategic Planning
By Dave Fluharty
It has been more than 10 years since SMEA developed a Strategic Plan. Many changes have occurred since the last effort and SMEA is facing many challenges. Therefore, SMEA Director Nives Dolšak led faculty and staff into a planning process during Autumn 2023 and Winter 2024 with facilitation by consultants Brian Murphy and Maddie Immel from BERK Consulting, Inc., Seattle. 

By Bryce Lewis-Smith and Kurt Ellison 
As global temperatures continue to rise due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gasses, we need to rethink business-as-usual. Therefore, various sectors and industries are pulling together to determine pathways to reduce their carbon footprints. Maritime shipping, ports, and the connected supply chain play a pivotal role in tackling a globally integrated challenge. 

Commercial ships are a critical link in the global supply chain, transporting raw materials, goods, and products across oceans and driving economic growth. 

By Dave Fluharty and Leah Gerber
Purpose of this Feature: SMEA likes to recognize the contributions our graduates are making.  We’d like to feature everyone but with nearly 900 alumni that is not realistic.  Let us know when you are ready to contribute your accomplishments and failures so we can learn.
Leah Gerber graduated from SMEA in 1993.  Her Master’s Thesis was titled, Endangered Species Act Decision Making in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty: A Case Study of the Steller Sea Lion with Professor Warren Wooster as her committee supervisor.