Advisory board named for Kings Point academy

Seven people, including a Hofstra University professor, have been appointed to an advisory board tasked with examining instruction and management at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.

The appointments, announced last week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, are for terms that cannot exceed three years. The board is responsible for advising academy superintendent James Helis on everything from academic life to the academy’s strategic plan and fiscal situation.

The members are: Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor at Hofstra’s Department of Global Studies and Geography; Sharon van Wyk, an executive with the American Public University System; Kathy Humphrey, vice provost and dean of students at the University of Pittsburgh; Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate Troy; Marty Linsky, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School; Lt. Manuel Maddox of the U.S. Coast Guard, an academy alum; and Bill Pennella, an executive with Crowley Maritime Corporation.