Salvatore Mercogliano, Associate Professor of History and incoming chair of the History, Criminal Justice and Political Science Department at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, earned his B.S. in Marine Transportation from the State University of New York Maritime College along with his merchant marine deck officer license. He sailed for the Military Sealift Command (MSC).
He left government service to pursue his M.A. in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University and his Ph.D. in Military and Naval History at the University of Alabama. Professor Mercogliano has produced articles for Sea History, The Nautical Research Journal, Northern Mariner, Proceedings, Naval History, and the Journal of Military History. He is a frequent contributor to gCaptain and a guest on FreightwavesTV. His monogram, Fourth Arm of Defense: Sealift and Maritime Logistics in the Vietnam War was published by the Naval History & Heritage Command and Naval Historical Foundation in 2017.
He has taught at Methodist University, East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the U.S. Military Academy. He is an adjunct professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy offering a course in Maritime Industry Policy. At Campbell University, he was twice named Professor of the Year, the recipient of the D. P. Russ Jr., and Walter S. Jones, Sr. Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, and he received the Excellence in Teaching award from the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
In 2021 he began the What's Going on With Shipping YouTube channel following the grounding of the containership Ever Given in the Suez Canal. Since then, the channel has grown to over 135 thousand subscribers and 20 million views.