Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Margaret “Peg” Brandon, president of Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, first went to sea with SEA’s flagship study abroad program, SEA Semester, as a URI undergraduate student. Since then, as mariner and educator, she has committed herself to empowering students with life-changing sea voyages of scientific and cultural discovery, academic rigor and personal growth. Established in 1971, SEA is an internationally recognized leader in undergraduate ocean education, taking students of all majors to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans aboard its two tall ships to conduct oceanographic research.

Brandon was a member of SEA’s faculty for more than 15 years, leading numerous SEA Semester voyages, and has logged more than 100,000 nautical miles at sea as a U. S. Coast Guard licensed captain. In 2010, she was awarded the Maine Maritime Academy Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2017 she received the Tall Ships America Leadership Award.

Last year, she was selected as an Arthur Vining Davis Foundation Aspen Fellow for the Aspen Ideas Festival. During her tenure as president, SEA has received the 2016 National Science Board Public Service Award and the 2018 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Maritime Education. Under Brandon’s leadership, SEA continues to equip its students with the tools needed to become environmentally literate leaders prepared to address human impact on the environment.