But Lyons, who already had been a nun, a professor of rhetoric, an academic dean and an officer in the U.S. Navy, did not find the situation to be as serious as advertised.
"I think there were some problems, some inappropriate behavior, but there was no cauldron of hostility when I arrived," she said during a recent interview at the academy, whose campus lies almost beneath the Carquinez Strait Bridge at the northeastern end of San Francisco Bay. "But the response was slow, so the problem grew. This was an institution that was caught in a time warp. Things that were happening in higher education generally, were not happening here."
Lyons has done much to change that in less than five years, instituting
these reforms among others:
The California Maritime Academy enrolls about 475 students, 85 percent of them males. Graduates receive a bachelor of science degree and a U.S. Coast Guard license. Even though shipboard jobs have declined as the U.S. merchant fleet has dwindled in recent years, three-quarters of the graduates find jobs in marine-related industries at annual starting salaries of $30,000 to $35,000.
Mary Lyons' biggest headaches have been financial. State General Fund support for the academy has declined from about $7 million to about $6 million per year. Because the academy has been categorized as a "state agency" and not a higher education institution by state budget planners, it has suffered even steeper cuts than the public colleges and universities in recent years.
Lyons trimmed expenses and revised the academic calendar so that full programs were not being offered both on campus and on the annual training cruise simultaneously. But the budget deficit was widening until an old idea-adding the maritime academy to the California State University system-was revived.
The proposal has been approved by Governor Pete Wilson, by the Legislature and by the Cal State Board of Trustees. So, on July 1 the California Maritime Academy will become the 21st campus in the Cal State system.
"The fit is good," Cal State Chancellor Barry Munitz said. "They're too small to make it on their own and it provides a very different piece for us. If we can prove we can help her do a better job, then why not look at some of the other campuses in a more experimental way?"
Lyons hopes the new affiliation will prove to be helpful not only financially but academically as well. There are plans for faculty members from other Cal State campuses to participate in joint teaching and research programs, both on shore and during the training cruises.
"I think it was a defensive move on my part at first," Lyons said, "but now I see many positive benefits from becoming part of a larger community of interest. It's wonderful to have colleagues."