John K. Bullard, President of Sea Education Association
  to give Opening Keynote Address at the
American Sail Training Association's
32nd Annual Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships
Tacoma , WA
November 4 – 6, 2004

ASTA is pleased to announce that John K .Bullard, President of the Sea Education Association will give the opening keynote address at the 32nd Annual Conference on Sail Training and Tall Ships. Mr. Bullard's keynote will address the question “Can You Study Overseas on a Tall Ship?”

      “Increasingly, universities see the benefit of encouraging their students to study “overseas.”  President Larry Summers of Harvard has recently reversed a long standing policy of discouragement to create an “expectation” that all students will study overseas.  Despite this, the number of students who do a semester abroad by undertaking an ocean experience is very small.  We live on the “ocean planet.”  We encourage students to study “overseas.”  A tall ship is recognized by many as one of the best teaching platforms ever conceived.  We should be well positioned for growth.”

Prior to joining SEA, John Bullard served on Chancellor Jean MacCormack's senior staff at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  

From 1986 – 1992 John was mayor of the City of New Bedford .   During his three terms he introduced community policing, recycling, AIDS prevention and other programs.   He also brought the city into compliance with the Clean Water Act by planning and financing a secondary wastewater treatment plant. Fierce neighborhood opposition to the siting of the plant cost him re-election.   He lost by 390 votes – the price of clean water.  

In his service to New Bedford , John also led the revitalization of the waterfront historic district from 1974 to 1986.   The area surrounding the Whaling Museum is now a National Historic Park and continues to serve the working waterfront.   He also worked for the fishing industry as they faced the crisis of depleted stocks. 

That work led him to Washington, where he joined the Clinton administration in 1993.   As head of the first federal Office of Sustainable Development, John developed programs to assist fishing families in New England, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.   He also worked on the President's Council on Sustainable Development developing policies to unite the goals of economic opportunity, environmental health and social equity.   John's work on sustainable communities led him back home in 1998 after completing a fellowship at Harvard's Institute of Politics.  

John earned his Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude at Harvard in 1969.   He received both a Master of Architecture and a Master of City Planning from M.I.T. in 1974.   He has lectured widely and received numerous awards including an Honorary Master of Public Service from UMass Dartmouth.   In 2002 the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce named him Community Leader of the Year.  

John is active in many local organizations.   He chairs the Board of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and is the immediate past Chair of the SouthCoast Learning Network. 

John has spent a lifetime on the water in sailing vessels.   He has made three transatlantic passages and many off shore races, including national and world championships in the one-ton class.   With his wife, Laurie, he has restored a 1965 Concordia yawl, which they cruise in the northeast.   Laurie and John also have restored an 1845 Gothic Revival house in New Bedford, which has been their home since 1977.   They have three children – Matthew, who lives in Boise; Lexie, who lives in Pittsfield; and Toby, who lives with his wife, Jen, in Charlotte.