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MODIFIED OPERATIONAL STATUSDUE TO SNOW – MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2026

To ensure the safety of our staff and midshipmen, the Academy campus will be in a Modified Operational Status on Monday, January 26, 2026, due to inclement weather. Employees with an approved situational telework agreement in CASTLE are expected to work remotely unless they are taking approved leave. Employees who do not have an approved situational telework agreement in CASTLE shall use unscheduled leave (e.g., annual leave or other approved time off). For those who are at a critical level with respect to leave time, there may be a way to still telework on Monday, 26 January 2026; If OPM declares a closure and has the government operating under a Continuity of Operations Plan, emergency telework can be used. Please work with your supervisors to ensure you are using “Safety” as your ultimate guidance with respect to the Academy’s intent to modify operations this Monday. All scheduled classes (first through eighth periods) will be conducted virtually. We will seek to keep the library open depending on the availability of staff to provide student study space or connections to virtual class. Faculty will communicate directly with students regarding the status of their classes. The Seafarer, Navy Exchange and the Navy Federal Credit Union will be closed. Please note that additional emergency notifications may be sent to contacts on file. For the latest updates on the Academy’s operating status, visit www.usmma.edu.

 
U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy

Captain Anthony J. Ceraolo, USMS

Captain Anthony J. "Tony" Ceraolo, USMS/USCG (Ret.)

Captain Ceraolo assumed the role of Acting Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy on June 24, 2025.

Ceraolo, who has been USMMA’s Chief of Staff since August 27, 2023, spent 34 years in the U.S. Coast Guard before retiring in July 2023. Throughout his career, he had the honor of commanding multiple Coast Guard (CG) cutters and large ashore units. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Executive Assistant to the Coast Guard Deputy Commandant for Operations (DCO).  In that role, he served as a principal advisor to Vice Admiral Pete Gautier, and as de facto Chief of Staff for a DCO Enterprise comprised of 3.2 thousand personnel and an $800M budget across 5 CG Assistant Commandant and 9 Headquarters directorates in the creation of CG strategy, operations policy, budget formulation, doctrine, capabilities, and requirements.

Earlier in his career, he served as a Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security where he spearheaded and coauthored DHS’s first ever Strategic Approach for Arctic Homeland Security (DHS Arctic Strategy - signed in 2021); as well as Director for Maritime Security and Director for Arctic Region Policy on the National Security Council (NSC) Staff at the White House. While on the NSC, he was instrumental in developing Presidential Policy Directive-18, updating national maritime security policy and led the development of the United States’ first-ever National Strategy for the Arctic Region in 2013. He also served as Military Assistant and Policy Assistant to Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and was responsible for a portfolio that included the Maritime Administration.

His command experience includes service as Commanding Officer of two Coast Guard cutters – an 82’ patrol boat in California; and a 140’ domestic icebreaking vessel on the Great Lakes; as well as a deployment as Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia – the Coast Guard’s largest command outside the continental United States; and, as Sector Commander and Captain of the Port for San Francisco and Northern California.

A native of Nesconset, Long Island, New York, he graduated with honors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1993. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2003, and a Master of Arts with Distinction in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2006. He is also a graduate of the Joint Forces Staff College, a designated permanent cutterman, and an Eagle Scout. He and his wife, a retired Coast Guard Reserve Commander, are the proud parents of one daughter.

Applications for the Class of 2030 open on 1 May 2025

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