Home / Academics / The Office of Scholarship, Research, and Innovation / Center for Arctic Study and Policy / Prof. Craig H. Allen

Prof. Craig H. Allen

Fellow

Professor Allen joined the University of Washington Law School faculty in 1996, following his retirement from the U.S. Coast Guard. During his 20 year Coast Guard career he served on four patrol cutters and in maritime safety, security and stewardship and legal adviser roles.

Professor Allen’s teaching and research interests include maritime and international law, national and homeland security law, and Arctic law and policy. He is a fellow in the Nautical Institute and the Royal Institute of Navigation and a member of the Maritime Law Association of the U.S. Professor Allen is on the board of editors of Ocean Development and International Law, the Journal of Navigation and the Journal of Ocean Technology. He is also the author of International Law for Seagoing Officers (6th ed. 2014), Maritime Counterproliferation Operations and the Rule of Law (2007) and Farwell’s Rules of the Nautical Road (8th ed. 2005).

Professor Allen has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School and the University of Oregon. For the 2011-2012 he served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Maritime Studies at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the inaugural Fellow in the Academy’s Center for Maritime Policy and Strategy. During the 2006-2007 academic year he served as the RADM Charles H. Stockton Chair in International Law at the U.S. Naval War College. In 2006, the Secretary of Homeland Security appointed him to the U.S. Navigation Safety Advisory Committee.

Sponsor Family Application

Thank you for submitting your application to be part of the Sponsor Family Program. Your application will be processed in the upcoming week. Coast Guard Academy’s policy on background screening now requires all adults (everyone 18 and older living in the home) who volunteer to mentor, teach, coach or sponsor cadets, whether on or off Coast Guard Academy grounds, to be screened every 5 years. They are required to provide personal information (name, birth date and social security number) for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check.

The Security Officer at the Coast Guard Academy, CWO2 Gina Polkowski, is overseeing this process. Her email is: Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.

Sponsor Family designations fall into several different categories. Below are the guidelines to help you determine how best to meet the background screening requirement:

If you are Coast Guard active duty you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are a Civilian working for the Coast Guard you do not need to apply for an additional Background Check. You will be vetted through the Coast Guard system by CWO2 Polkowski.
If you are non-Coast Guard Active Duty, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
If you are non-Coast Guard civilian who has a current security clearance or National Agency check, you are required to provide proof of your current security clearance or National Agency Check that is to be emailed by your Command Security Officer (CSO)/ Security Office to CWO2 Polkowski at Gina.M.Polkowski@uscg.mil.
All civilians in the families who are 18 years or older and do not have a security clearance or a National Agency Check are required to be vetted through Mind Your Business, the third party vendor hired by the Coast Guard Academy for the vetting process.

After you complete your application, please e-mail the Sponsor Family Program Coordinator at CadetFamilySponsorProgram@uscga.edu. In your e-mail, you must include the e-mail address and phone number of every adult living in the home. The Sponsor Family Coordinator will then initiate the background check process and you will receive an email with further instructions.

Important things to note:

There is a Sponsor Family Training that is a one-hour training which we ask sponsors to attend once every four years. This training is designed to give you an overview of the program, what is expected of you as a sponsor, and what you can expect from your cadets. This training will also help familiarize you with the cadet regulations onboard CGA. You will be notified via e-mail once the training is scheduled.

The matching process of swabs to families will occur during July and August. Please bear with us and remain flexible through this process. There will be a meet and greet scheduled on Campus, typically in late August. This will give families an opportunity to formally meet their cadet if they have not already done so. Details on this will also be via email.