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Marine Option
Program lives on

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By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

The Marine Option Program at the University of Hawaii-Manoa has patched together enough money to survive another year.

The popular program was threatened with closure when C. Barry Raleigh, dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said in April that he could no longer fund it.

Raleigh said he was cutting the program's $150,000, among other money-saving measures, because it was not a core part of his school and the school's budget has been reduced.

However, his school will continue to pay the salary of the program's director, Sherwood Maynard, and provide office space in the Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

Maynard said he had met with a number of deans, and some are contributing funds "at least to keep a minimal program going."

A Marine Option Program alumni group and supporters also met with UH administrators and deans, urging that the program be retained at Manoa. They presented a petition with nearly 1,500 signatures of students, teachers and professionals from state, federal and private institutions and businesses asking that the program be saved.

Maynard said the College of Natural Sciences is giving the program $50,000. The Oceanography Department is contributing$10,000 and taking over its two graduate certificate programs in ocean policy and maritime archaeology history.

Thomas Reed, president of Oceanic Imaging Consultants Inc., a seafloor mapping firm, also offered help. He said his company will donate money, time and equipment totaling about $25,000. Part of this donation will include hosting a fundraising event with a goal of raising $50,000.

Reed said he knew Maynard and people in the program when he was at UH from 1982-87 working on a doctorate degree in marine geophysics.

"People involved with MOP when I was there never could say enough good about it," he said, adding that students were excited because they were working on projects instead of papers.

Tom Iwai, a program alumnus and state aquatic biologist at the Anuenue Fisheries Research Station, said another $40,000 is needed to provide full funding of $200,000 for the next year.

Alumni and supporters are looking at ways to raise money and to secure dedicated funding for long-term survival of the program, he said.

"There is a lot of support from all over the community," Iwai said. "It is a very valuable program; it has proven itself all these years."

Maynard said the program's annual budget used to be about $200,000 but that it has been running under $150,000 because of deleted positions. He said the undergraduate program, coordinated from Manoa, has about 500 students throughout the UH system. The graduate certificate programs have 15 to 20 students.

The Manoa program and statewide coordinating functions have been supported out of the UH-Manoa budget. But now, he said, "The idea is that more of the recipients of the benefits of the program need to pay."

Edward Laws, Oceanography Department chairman, said Charles Hayes, dean of the College of Natural Sciences, "really stepped up to the plate. That's what's bailed out the undergraduate certificate programs."

Hayes is traveling and couldn't be reached for comment.

"I'm pleased MOP is alive, at least for another year," Laws said, noting that it is "a warm, fuzzy thing people can belong to."

The program offers students activities and camaraderie, he said. "It's just a place to be and belong to for some kids."

The Marine Option Program began in 1971 to create more awareness and understanding of the ocean among students. More than 10,000 have taken the 11 credit courses and 650 have graduated with certificates.