{"id":74784,"date":"2013-03-27T09:15:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T13:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=74784"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:13:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:13:17","slug":"class-of-2013-russell-lycan-future-marine-archaeologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/03\/class-of-2013-russell-lycan-future-marine-archaeologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2013: Russell Lycan, Future Marine Archaeologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a series featuring some of this year\u2019s outstanding graduating students, nominated by their academic school or college or another University program in which they participated. Additional profiles of students in the Class of 2013 will be published on UConn Today from now through Commencement.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Russell<\/a>
Russell Lycan \u201913 (CLAS). (Sheila Foran\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russell Lycan figured that starting his college career at UConn\u2019s Avery Point Campus would be a piece of cake. Thanks to the Navy, he had spent 13 years traveling the world. He\u2019d once been stuck in the mud underneath a submarine in his role as a diver and managed to escape that predicament. He\u2019d navigated difficult situations in multiple foreign ports and on assorted oceans. The thought of attending school at a picturesque campus on the shores of Long Island Sound seemed idyllic.<\/p>\n

Little did Lycan know, however, that his new roles as both full-time student and stay-at-home dad with an infant son would present challenges he\u2019d never anticipated. But he\u2019s met those challenges successfully, and is now on his way to graduate school.<\/p>\n

The classroom part of the transition wasn\u2019t that difficult. Hungry for knowledge and matured by his years in the Navy, Lycan was ready to focus on academics. What he wasn\u2019t as prepared for was a change in identity and the sense he had of how others perceived him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be easy,\u201d he says. \u201cI identified myself as a navy diver. And then \u2013 it seems like overnight \u2013 I went from being a hard charging Petty Officer First Class [a non-commissioned Naval officer] with a specific schedule and an often dangerous job to do, to being a father and a full time student. I was older than most all of my classmates, and I had responsibilities they didn\u2019t. At first, I hardly recognized myself; I couldn\u2019t identify with the new me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A change of direction<\/b><\/p>\n

But Lycan has never been afraid to take on a challenge.<\/p>\n

When he was in high school in his native Fort Worth, Texas, Lycan had been an uninspired student. A stint in junior college didn\u2019t really change his attitude.<\/p>\n

Realizing that he was his own worst enemy, he enlisted in the Navy in hopes of finding a sense of direction. He was first trained as a sonar technician and served on the USS Cape St. George out of Norfolk, Va. for six years. But his goal was to become a diver, and when his poor eyesight was surgically corrected by photorefractive keratectomy, courtesy of Navy physicians, he qualified for training as a diver. His initial assignment was the U.S. Submarine base in Groton, where he first heard about UConn\u2019s nearby Avery Point campus with its majors in maritime studies and marine sciences.<\/p>\n

Lycan says his job as a diver included underwater repairs to submarines, security swims, explosive ordinance disposal assistance, mine hunting, salvage work, and a variety of other tasks performed under water and in the dark. Although he loved his naval career, responsibilities of a growing family and his own desire to take on new challenges prompted a move to Connecticut and his enrollment at Avery Point.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought I would major in marine biology,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I\u2019ve always loved history, literature, anthropology \u2013 the humanities in general \u2013 and by majoring in maritime studies with a minor in maritime archaeology, I found I could combine everything I was interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

His choice proved to be a good one. His advisor, Helen Rozwadowski, associate professor of history and coordinator of maritime studies, says, \u201dRussell is by far one of the most interesting students we have had in our maritime studies program. He\u2019s produced some of the most astonishingly good scholarship of any student we have ever had. When we talk, it\u2019s like having a conversation with a junior faculty member. I know he\u2019s got a great future ahead of him because he\u2019s got the right combination of intellect and drive, and he won\u2019t settle for not achieving his goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

A future in resources management and academia<\/b><\/p>\n

Lycan has been accepted into the master\u2019s program in maritime studies at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. In his acceptance letter, he was notified that not only would he receive substantial financial assistance through tuition remission and a graduate assistantship, he has also been nominated for a Graduate Scholar Award in recognition of his stellar academic record and 3.75 GPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first objective is to get my MA in cultural resources management, which is the practical side of maritime archaeology,\u201d Lycan says. He explains that marine cultural resources management involves the preservation of historically important archaeological, environmental, and historical resources when disturbances occur, such as when marinas are built or when aquaculture reefs are developed for fish farming or recreational activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy master\u2019s degree will give me a chance to get real-world experience,\u201d he continues \u201cbut my ultimate goal is to get a Ph.D. so that I can teach marine archaeology. I\u2019ve been inspired to do that because of the great experience I\u2019ve had here at UConn; it\u2019s something I\u2019d like to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for settling down with a \u2018new\u2019 identity, Lycan says, \u201cIn a few months I\u2019ll be move from being an undergraduate student to a grad student, and then I hope to work for a while before continuing my studies. I admit that sometimes I feel a little like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill and watching it roll down again \u2026 but I\u2019ve come to accept that change is pretty much a constant and that\u2019s what makes life interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russell Lycan \u201913 (CLAS) is making the journey from Navy diver to a career in marine archaeology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":74764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-74784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 06:29:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74784"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75010,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74784\/revisions\/75010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/74764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74784"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=74784"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=74784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}