Former names
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California Nautical School (1929–39) California Maritime Academy |
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Motto | Laborare Pugnare Parati Sumus (Latin) |
Motto in English
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We are prepared to work and fight |
Type | Public university |
Established | 1929 |
Endowment | $7.1 million (2016) |
President | Thomas A. Cropper |
Students | 1,107 (Fall 2016) |
Undergraduates | 1,079 (Fall 2016) |
Postgraduates | 28 (Fall 2016) |
Location | Vallejo, California, United States |
Campus | 89 acres |
Athletics |
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) California Pacific Conference (CalPac) |
Affiliations | California State University system |
Mascot | Keelhaulers |
Website | csum.edu |
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The California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime or CSU Maritime Academy), formerly known as the California Maritime Academy, is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system and is one of seven degree-granting maritime academies in the United States and the only one on the West Coast. It is located in Vallejo, California. The university offers six different Bachelor's degrees, and one Master's degree, but no Doctoral degrees.
The California Nautical School was established in 1929, when California State Assembly Bill No. 253 was signed into law by Governor C. C. Young. The bill authorized the creation of the school, the appointment of a Board of Governors to manage the school and the acquisition of a training vessel. The school's mission was "to give practical and theoretical instruction in navigation, seamanship, steam engines, gas engines, and electricity in order to prepare young men to serve as officers in the American Merchant Marine." By 1930, a training vessel and a school site was acquired; the original location of what would become California Maritime Academy was California City (now Tiburon, California) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Due to the Great Depression, the early days of the Academy were full of financial uncertainty. As early as 1933, some state legislators were calling for the school's abolition. In order to save money, the cadets and instructors alike lived and held classes aboard the training vessel, the T.S. California State. Only after the passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 did the funding for the Academy stabilize.
In 1939 the California Nautical School adopted the name, the California Maritime Academy. By 1940, the Academy was granting Bachelor of Science degrees and Naval Reserve commissions to its graduates; this step marked the beginning of the transition from the status of trade school to college. In 1943, the Academy moved to its present location in Vallejo, California.