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| May 08, 2008 |
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Imagine finding long lost artifacts and then learning the skills to unwrap them, peeling away the grime laid down by time to reveal what lies beneath. Sounds pretty exciting to me.
Doing just that, and much more, is what you can learn when enrolled at University of West Florida's Maritime Studies Bachelor of Arts Program. Their motto: "Get in over your head!"
Courses are taken in anthropology, archaeology, environmental studies, history, government and biology. You even get a chance to dive in nearby Pensacola Bay on Spanish shipwrecks dating back to 1559.
Who knew such a neat program existed? Certainly not me, but I discovered this unique program while doing a VISIT FLORIDA story on underwater archaeology and where you can see the finds in Pensacola.
Pensacola Bay and nearby estuaries and rivers are a real asset. University of West Florida uses this asset. Students get wet making discoveries during field experiences. Let's see, we're going to school, we're going underwater, getting wet and getting a grade too. Sounds like a plan.
I also didn't realize that maritime studies could open a lot of doors. Careers include the fields of coastal zone management, the Coast Guard, tourism, maritime history, navigation, nautical archaeology and much more.
Too old to change careers or go back to school? Nope, you are not. Think change. Think new directions. Think doing what you've always wanted to do. I went back to school ten years ago and got a degree in graphic design technology (while working full time) and let's just say I'm a bit over 30. If I can do it, so can you!
John Bratten was a high school science teacher in Nebraska. One day while monitoring study hall and putting out new books that had arrived he found a book called "The Sea Remembers" about nautical archaeology by Throcknorton.
He read the book. That did it. A career change came quickly. Because of his science background he was accepted at Texas A&M and earned a Ph.D. Underwater conservation was his specialty.
Meanwhile, far away in Florida, underwater archaeologists with the State of Florida in 1992 found the first ship in Pensacola Bay from the ill-fated de Luna Spanish expedition. A hurricane in 1559 decimated the fleet. There is a photograph in the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Museum in downtown Pensacola showing the huge anchor from this ship being raised out of the water.
Bratten was hired in 1993 as an underwater conservationist and worked for the state for five years. He was the first underwater archaeologist with the Archaeology Institute at University of West Florida and in 2004 helped start this BA program in Maritime Studies.
If you want to know more about this program contact Dr. John Bratten, Department of Anthropology, University of West Florida, Pensacola, office phone (859) 474-2706 and e mail: jbratten@uwf.edu
Online take a look at uwf.edu/maritimestudies |
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| Dr. John Bratten, Assistant Professor, Archaeology Institute, University of West Florida in Pensacola, holds a brick found underwater in Pensacola Bay at the site of a Spanish shipwreck fromn 1559. |
| Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Florida Expert |
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