Dr. Graham Benton received a B.A. from Bates College and his MA and Ph.D  in 2002 from Rutgers University in Literatures in English. He is the author of "Unruly Narratives: The Anarchist Dimension in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon" (2012), and over two dozen articles on contemporary fiction, cultural representations of the sea, and, more recently, numerous articles on pedagogy, curricular reform, globalization, and maritime education.

Dr. Benton taught at several colleges and universities in the Bay Area before joining the faculty of Cal Maritime in 2001.  He has served as Coordinator of International and Exchange Programs, Chair of the Academic Senate, Chair of the Institution-Wide Assessment Council, Chair of the General Education Program and Chair of the Department of Culture and Communication. Since joining the administration full time in 2015 he has served as Accreditation Liaison Officer, Academic Head of the Graduate Program, Co-Chair of the Campus Leadership Council, and Interim Dean of the School of Letters and Sciences. He has been intimately involved in many strategic planning initiatives as well as several state-wide CSU projects to enhance the quality of academic programming at Cal Maritime.