Professor Tom Lennon is a member of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Department at Mass Maritime. He joined the faculty in 2010 after serving on active duty with the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard for 25 years. His areas of emphasis include international relief and maritime security. Professor Lennon has developed several international education programs and exchanges for Mass Maritime including programs in Haiti, Guatemala, and Denmark. Professor Lennon’s military assignments included positions supporting Coast Guard and Department of Defense operations and missions worldwide including two deployments to the Middle East. Professor Lennon also held faculty positions and/or senior leadership positions at the United States Coast Guard Academy, at the Naval Justice School, and with the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies. He also served as adjunct faculty at the Naval War College, and has lectured at institutions and at conferences throughout the world including South America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
Jim McKenna is the newly appointed Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Since earning his Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, Jim has served in a variety of academic and federal agency positions. Academic appointments include Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Williams College where he taught and served as Associate Director for the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program; Professor of Marine Biology and Chair of the Ocean Studies department at Maine Maritime Academy; and Associate Dean for the Bartlett College of Science and Mathematics at Bridgewater State University. Jim’s agency work includes serving as a National Park Service Research Learning Center coordinator in Acadia National Park and as Associate Director of Research for the Maine Sea Grant Program. Jim’s interest in the marine world extends into his personal life; he is a passionate sailor and enjoys vacationing with his wife and two children along the coast of Maine and Cape Cod.
Dr. Samantha Montano is currently an associate professor of Emergency Management at the Academy. Montano does research on a variety of topics related to emergency management including disaster volunteerism, the role of the nonprofit sector in disaster, the relationship between emergency management and climate change, and the intersection of gender and disasters. In addition to research, she does science communication work and emergency management policy advocacy.
Current courses: Introduction to Emergency Management and Emergency Management Policy