Propeller Club honors Lynn Brown with Club Member of the Year award

At the Propeller Club's recent Change of Command ceremony, 2016-2017 President Tammy Emerson honored Lynn Brown, Associate Director of UNF's Transportation & Logistics Program, as Club Member of the Year.Our club is fortunate to have many active and talented members who are passionate about the maritime industry. Certainly one of the most outstanding of those is our Member of the Year, Lynn Brown. Lynn is the Associate Director of the University of North Florida (UNF) Coggin College of Business Transportation & Logistics Flagship Program. Lynn has been a member of the Propeller Club Port of Jacksonville for 18 years. She works tirelessly on behalf of our very active Propeller Club Student Port at the UNF.The Transportation & Logistics Program in the Coggin College of Business is one of the nation’s best business schools, as ranked by The Princeton Review in 2017, which was the 10th consecutive year the school has earned this recognition. It was selected by UNF as one of its Flagship Programs and this is a testament to the quality of the faculty and administrators like Lynn. She is herself a graduate of the UNF Transportation & Logistics Program and was a member and President of the UNF Propeller Club Student Port. Now, as the Associate Director of UNF’s Transportation & Logistics Program, she personally provides leadership in the role of Faculty Advisor to the UNF Propeller Club Student Port.A dynamic and enthusiastic advocate for her students, she knows them all by name, knows many of their families, their GPAs, ambitions and career goals. Lynn is a mentor to many of these students. Where their interests lead them toward a career in the maritime industry, she helps them to gain knowledge of marine transportation businesses, to develop relationships through her numerous associates in the industry, and find internship and employment opportunities. Our maritime community as well as her students benefit greatly from this fine educator and spokesperson.The UNF Propeller Club Student Port, because of Lynn’s dedication and with generous support from the Jacksonville Club and its member companies, enjoys a variety of events and experiences throughout the academic year. These include a networking event with students and club members and volunteer and networking opportunities at club events including CEO Spotlight event, State of the Port, US Coast Guard & Customs and Border Protection Appreciation, and Maritime Day. Over the past 15 years, the Propeller Club has decorated the Hubbard House Women’s Shelter in the spirit of the holiday season. This project had a modest beginning, but because of Lynn’s efforts and the UNF Student Port, it has grown dramatically, with the students making personal donations and raising donations throughout the school year of thousands of dollars in donations, through bake sales and a fun run.The premier Student Port event is our annual Port Tour for UNF Propeller Club students. Lynn has always called it “Big Sea Day” and now it is not known by any other name. Always on a Friday (not a big day for classes at college), it is the busiest day of the week for our port with the greatest amount of activity and number of ships completing their cargo operations in order to get underway before the weekend. In the midst of all this carefully choreographed activity, our maritime companies make time to give the Propeller Club students a close-up and personal look at the real world of marine transportation. We have been given the use of ocean going tugs and U.S. Coast Guard Cutters as our private transportation around the port, been served lunch aboard ship, watched cargo operations with the ship’s Captain from the wing of the bridge, stood on the Ro-Ro deck with hustlers charging all around us, witnessed the activity at the interchange gate, seen how the cargo stowage is planned, visited an auto processing facility and a fully automated container terminal. During the last two Big Sea Day events, our students have witnessed maritime history with a guided tour of the world’s first two LNG fueled container ships. Big Sea Day is a truly amazing experience and is never forgotten by the participants. Thank you, Lynn (and everyone in the Jacksonville maritime community) for inventing Big Sea Day.Lynn Brown is a great friend of the club and an inspiration. She recruits many of the best and brightest young people from the UNF T&L program to join our beloved maritime industry. Exemplifying what a fully engaged member can accomplish in support of the mission of the Propeller Club of the United States, Lynn Brown is a deserving recipient of recognition as the Propeller Club of the United States – Port of Jacksonville, Club Member of the Year 2016/2017.