Maritime Studies

From very humble beginnings, the Maritime Studies Program at East Carolina University has blossomed into one of the world’s leading academic underwater archaeology programs. It is characterized by hands-on underwater training, primary document historical research, and other practical skills such as remote sensing and grant writing. These skills provide the type of training eagerly sought by employers. Since its inception in 1982 the Program has graduated over 266 MA students in this field, with an overall graduation rate of 71%. Most of our graduates have gone on to get jobs in the field as contract archaeologists, government cultural resource managers, museum archaeologists, curators, museum directors, national and state park staff, conservators, and teachers at all levels.

Qualified students enjoy extensive university support in the form of graduate assistantships and scholarships. These positions supply both teaching and research experience. Yet we don’t just rely on the classroom, the Program in Maritime Studies takes pride in taking theory into the real world to practice it in the field. In the Program exciting careers are not an accident they are the result of planning, introspection, training, and field experience.

Program staff includes professors with both national and international reputations in research excellence including eight full time Ph.D. archaeologists and historians backed by six technicians as well as a fully staffed Diving and Boating Safety Office boasting a well-maintained fleet of research vessels. Our expertise includes cutting edge remote sensing and archaeological survey techniques, skills that attract employers. Our professors have written over 30 academic press books concerning their various research interests plus innumerable articles and site reports concentrating primarily on North American underwater archaeology projects ranging geographically from Bermuda to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea to Lake Superior.

If you have read this welcome then perhaps you are searching for a career that combines a love of exploration, ship and sea faring history, and archaeology. We can offer you this opportunity, while also letting you benefit from a very large network of working alumni. Education is our forte, yet our outstanding job placement after graduation is also a source of pride. It is an element of solid academics and a growing web of working professionals who remember their family here at ECU’s Program in Maritime Studies.