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Divers Academy International is a technical educational institution in New Jersey that offers training in commercial diving and underwater welding.

Divers Academy was founded in 1977 by Captain William M. Brown, a Korean War veteran, as the Divers Academy of the Eastern Seaboard, to meet the high demand for commercial divers in the offshore oil industry, inland harbors, and rivers. In 2001 the school was renamed Divers Academy International. As the commercial dive industry has evolved, Divers Academy has expanded the curriculum, certifications, facilities, technology, and faculty to meet current industry needs.

Campus
Divers Academy is currently based in Erial, New Jersey. It moved from its original campus in Camden, New Jersey to a custom-designed facility in Erial in 2006. The school campus includes a 32-acre 60-foot deep commercial dive training quarry, hyperbaric chamber, Lincoln welding facilities and fully-equipped classrooms. In 2013 Divers Academy expanded, adding a custom mixed gas deep dive training facility in Allentown PA. The 50-acre, 300 foot deep dive quarry is the deepest dive training quarry in the US, and is used exclusively for mixed gas deep dive training.

Leadership
The Director of Divers Academy International is Tamara Brown, Captain Brown’s daughter. Brown has been active in the commercial diving industry since 1982. She became school director in 1990, and was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2000.

Brown plays an integral part in the commercial diving and training community, and is a regulatory specialist in vocational and diving education and safety, advocating high standards in commercial diving training.

Brown has served as president of the Association of Commercial Diving Educators (ACDE) multiple times, and had an inaugural role in writing and accrediting the commercial diving certification standards through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). She also works closely with the Association of Diving Contractors (ADC) on their safety and education committees.

Training Curriculum
Divers Academy offers four commercial diving programs to prepare students for working in both offshore and inland commercial diving.

The Professional Commercial Diving Technology Program is a comprehensive 25 week program. It includes a core 20 week program to certify students for entry-level work in commercial diving, followed by a five week elective course to give students advanced, specialized training and experience according to their specific career goals.

The Commercial Deep Sea Diving Program is the core commercial diving program, lasting 20 weeks, and offers all of the certifications required to work in commercial diving. Students who successfully complete the program can also choose to extend their 20 week training to the full 25 week Professional Commercial Diving Technology Program

Two unique elective programs will be launched in early 2014. These advanced five-week programs are designed to be taken by students who have completed a core commercial diving program (either at Divers Academy or another commercial diving school). They offer enhanced training towards specific career goals within commercial diving and underwater welding.

The International Mixed Gas Technology Elective Program is a unique mixed gas training course that takes place at Divers Academy’s 300 ft dive quarry in Allentown, PA. The Underwater Welding Technology Elective Program allows commercial diving students to build on the underwater (wet) welding skills learned in the core program, giving them more practical experience than usually offered in commercial diving and underwater welding training programs.

Accreditation
Divers Academy is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). This allows Divers Academy to provide students with access to federal financial assistance such as Pell Grants and direct student loans.

Divers Academy is also accredited and affiliated with leading technical and diving organizations:

Accreditation and Approvals

 * •   Accrediting Commission for Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)
 * •   Association of Commercial Diving Educators (ACDE)
 * •   New Jersey Department Labor - Division of
 * Workforce Development
 * •   The State Approval Agency for the training of
 * Veterans (NJ)

Memberships and Affiliations

 * •   American Society for Materials (ASM)
 * •   American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT)
 * •   American Welding Society (AWS)
 * •   ANSI/ACDE-01-2009 Commercial Divers

Training Standards

 * •   Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI)
 * •   Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU)
 * •   Canadian Association of Diving Contractors (CADC)
 * • Diver Certification Board of Canada (DCBC)
 * •   International Diving School Association (IDSA)
 * •   International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA)
 * •   Private Career Schools of New Jersey (PCSA)
 * •   National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI)
 * •   Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS)

Military Friendly Status
For three consecutive years Divers Academy has been recognized by GI Jobs Magazine as a Military Friendly school. This is a shortlist of universities and tech schools in the US that received recognition for offering support and opportunities to service members and veteran students. Veterans who enroll at Divers Academy can use their Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) or Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30) to cover up to 95% of tuition.