Contact:
Skip Burdon at ABYC
(410)
990-4460, x25
sburdon@abycinc.org
Contact:
Caryn Vinson at The Boat School
(207)
853-2518
vinsonc@husson.edu

DETC Approves Westlawn
Institute’s New Eastport, ME Campus
July
16, 2010, Annapolis, MD and Eastport, ME: The Westlawn
Institute of Marine Technology and The Boat School are pleased to
announce that DETC (the Distance Education and
Training Council, based in Washington, DC) has inspected and approved
Westlawn Institute’s new offices in Eastport, Maine.

On June
23, 2010, DETC executive director, Mike Lambert, personally conducted the site
inspection of the Westlawn Institute office on the second floor of the Boat
School shop building. After reviewing Westlawn’s operations and set-up with
Westlawn director Dave Gerr, Lambert also toured the shop and classroom
facilities of The Boat School, guided by Boat School instructor Brian Duffy.
In his
report to the DETC Accrediting Committee, Mike Lambert stated, “The synergies
between the boat-centric City of Eastport, The Boat School and Westlawn are
already producing results, with Westlawn staff providing guest lecturers to the
Boat School.”
“Not only
is the Eastport and The Boat School a prefect fit for Westlawn Institute,”
noted Westlawn director Dave Gerr, “but everyone we’ve met in Eastport as been
incredibly helpful. Whether it’s been city manager Jon Southern, city council
president, Bob Peacock, or chief of police Matt Vinson, or the staff at The
Boat School (Caryn Vinson, Bob Turcotte, and the other faculty members), or the
wonderful proprietors at Raye’s Mustard, New Friendly, or The Pickled Herring
(to mention just a few), everyone has gone out of their way to make Westlawn
welcome.”
In the
evening, Mike Lambert and his wife Carol joined Westlawn director Dave Gerr;
Boat School office manager Caryn Vinson and her husband police chief Matt
Vinson; city council president Bob Peacock and his wife Jeanne; and adjunct
Boat School instructor, Dean Pike for a wonderful dinner at The Pickled
Herring. The group presented Mike and Carol with personalized mustards from
Raye’s.
“Thank you
so much for all you did to make us feel so genuinely welcome in Eastport, Maine’s
best kept little secret,” said Mike Lambert.
On July 6,
2010, Westlawn Institute received its revised certificate of accreditation from
DETC finalizing Westlawn’s official move to Eastport Maine.
“Westlawn
Institute is the oldest school in the U.S. teaching boat design,” said Westlawn
director Gerr. “We have always been 100% distance learning and distance
learning only, so we don’t have classes on site. It can seem like there’s not a
lot going on, but we have over 200 students all over the world. There’s a great
deal happening behind the scenes. We could be located anywhere, but we chose
Eastport as the best fit for Westlawn’s mission, and we’re proud to be new
citizens of the City of Eastport.”
(Westlawn Institute is an independent educational partner of
The Boat School. Though Westlawn and The Boat School collaborate, they are
wholly sperate institutions.)
Founded in
1930, the Westlawn Institute of Marine
Technology is the only nationally accredited distance-learning school of
small-craft design in the United States. As the not-for-profit educational
affiliate of the American Boat and Yacht Council,
the mission of the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology is threefold:
■ To provide our students with
the skills and knowledge required to build a rewarding career in the profession
of yacht and small-craft naval architecture.
■ To support continued growth of
the recreational and small-craft marine community through the development of
well-trained, safety-oriented, boat designers developing better products for
the benefit of the boating public.
■ To provide continuing
education to marine-industry professionals.
To learn
more about Westlawn, please call (207) 853-6600 or visit the Westlawn website
at: www.westlawn.edu.