MIAMI, Aug. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrity Cruises
is proud to announce a unique partnership with the Regional
Maritime University (RMU) in Ghana. For the first time in cruise industry
history, female bridge officers will be openly recruited from a
West African country through a new Celebrity Cadet Program in
partnership with RMU.
With the announcement, the brand is also excited to welcome the
first official new crew member from the program, RMU Cadet
Nicholine Tifuh Azirh, who will be joining the bridge team onboard
Celebrity Equinox.
The partnership with RMU came about when Celebrity's President
and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo met with
students from the Mandela Washington Fellowship at Florida International University (FIU). There, she
met Tifuh Azirh who shared her inspiring story of perseverance;
Tifuh Azirh holds two degrees, yet following graduation she
struggled to find opportunities in the maritime industry as an
African female despite her academic performance, subsequent
teaching at RMU, and cadet experience.
"After hearing Nicholine's story, I met with our SVP of Global
Marine Operations, Patrik Dahlgren,
to see what we needed to do in order to give her, and others, the
opportunities they've earned. A year later, I'm so excited to share
the news of our partnership with RMU and to welcome Nicholine
onboard," said Lutoff-Perlo. "Nicholine isn't just a new-hire, she
symbolizes hope for women around the world who dream of working in
a very male-dominated industry; she's the face of our
industry-leading partnership; and she is an incredible example of
Celebrity's commitment to opening up the world."
"Nicholine's success is our entire world's success. Her story
shows the power of win-win partnerships and the positive impact
they have on our communities – and beyond," said FIU President
Mark B. Rosenberg. "FIU is proud to
be the only university in Florida
to host the Department of State's Mandela Washington Fellows
program – and use our resources, talent and partnerships to help
prepare the next generation of our world's leaders. We are so proud
to have been a part of Nicholine's journey to a successful
career!"
"The goal of our partnership with RMU is to inspire and disrupt
the social norms that burden female officers in western African
nations, such as Ghana," said
Patrik Dahlgren, SVP of Global
Marine Operations, Celebrity Cruises. "Nicholine is our pioneer
cadet and a pioneer for women in her country; moving forward, we
will continue to evaluate candidates and continue to push the
envelope in developing a growth sector for marine officers in a
part of the world that traditionally underserves female
officers."
Tifuh Azirh is scheduled to join the Celebrity Equinox
family on August 27, 2017.
About Celebrity Cruises:
Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with
its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences
where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and
the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to
provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers' precious time.
Celebrity Cruises' 12 ships offer modern luxury vacations visiting
all seven continents. Celebrity also presents incredible cruise
tour experiences in Alaska and
Canada. Celebrity is one of five
cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL). For more information, dial
1-800-437-3111, visit www.celebritycruises.com, or call your travel
agent.
About FIU:
Florida
International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1:
Doctoral Universities - Highest Research
Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie
Community Engaged university. It is a public research university
with colleges and schools that
offers bachelor's, master's and
doctoral programs in fields such as business,
engineering, computer science, international relations,
architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU
contributes almost $9 billion each
year to the local economy. The university is ranked second in
Florida in Forbes Magazine's
"America's Best Employers" list and received honors in all
categories of The Chronicle of Higher Education's 2017 "Great
Colleges to work for" survey. FIU graduates are consistently
among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public
and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is
Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems
of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its
mission with multiple state-of-the-art research
facilities including the Wall of Wind
Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina
Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials
Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than
220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two
campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell,
FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and
Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic
and cultural engagement through its three
museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art
Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and
the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a
member of Conference USA and more than 400
student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information
about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
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SOURCE Celebrity Cruises