CASTINE – Beth Chasse of Molunkus was all smiles Saturday.

She and her classmates had just tossed their white uniform caps into the air in what has become the traditional punctuation mark to end their four years at Maine Maritime Academy.

“It’s amazing,” she said, “to know I’m done. I’m done. Four years of hard work and I’m done.”

Maine Maritime Academy marked its 64th commencement on Saturday. Chasse was one of 172 students to receive a bachelor of science degree from the college and was among those graduates who received their merchant mariner’s license. With that license in hand, Chasse plans to ship out on an oil rig this summer.

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be,” she said. “You’re never really ready. You just have to go for it.”

MMA President Leonard Tyler also conferred 16 master’s degrees during the ceremonies as well as 20 associate degrees, including 16 linked to its educational program with Bath Iron Works. This year’s graduates represent more than 91 Maine communities, 25 other states and five foreign countries.

In addition, the college conferred an honorary doctorate on Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who, Tyler noted, has had a long association with the college and served as the official sponsor of the college’s training ship, State of Maine, in 1997.

Collins, who delivered the commencement address, congratulated the graduates and reminded them that they had learned more than the subject matter they had studied.

“You have learned to become a leader,” she said.

During her speech, Collins recounted the congressional hearings she chaired on the response to Hurricane Katrina.

“That was the first test of our ability to respond to a disaster after 9-11,” she said. “And we did not pass that test.”

There were multiple failures in that response, she said, noting that her committee’s final report concluded that “there was a failure of leadership on all levels of government.”

The two success stories of Katrina, Collins said, came from the U.S. Coast Guard and the private sector, and both were the result of “committed, courageous front-line leadership.”

The legacy of their time at MMA will transcend whatever career choices they make, Collins told the graduates, adding that the world will depend on them as the new generation of leaders.

“You are leaders,” she said. “The leadership skills you’ve learned here will serve you, your community and your country well. It is the best, lasting lesson of Maine Maritime Academy.”

During the commencement ceremonies, John Barlow, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, recognized two retiring faculty members – Buck Minson, the college’s sailing coach, and Ed Biggie, who retired last week after 39 years at MMA, where he taught aquatics, physical education and scuba diving.

Barlow announced that the college’s board of trustees had the day before named Biggie an associate professor emeritus in honor of his years of service to MMA.