Panama City (May 20, 2005)--FSU Panama City will host a symposium featuring four of the diving industry's most influential women on Thursday, June 9 from 1 to 5 p.m. in the FSU PC Auditorium. The symposium, titled a¿?Discovering the Depths of Diving,a¿? will provide a unique opportunity for diving enthusiasts to interact with four members of the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

The featured divers are Capt. Marie Knafelc, expert in special warfare and saturation diving; Connie Morgan, president of Kirby Morgan Dive Systems, Inc. and designer of diving and life support equipment; Tanya Streeter, world champion freediver and record holder who has been featured on The Discovery Channel and National Geographic; and Mary Bonnin, the first woman to qualify as a master diver in the U.S. Navy. All four women will speak for 50 minutes about their areas of expertise, followed by a 10-minute question and answer session with the audience.

Prior to the symposium, members of FSU PC's SHARC (Scuba Hyperbaric and Recreational Club) will entertain and provide lunch for over 100 members of Girls Inc. The girls will have the opportunity to learn about the equipment used by the FSU PC Underwater Crime Scene Investigation program.

For more information about the dive symposium, please contact Nikka McDaniels, special events coordinator, at 522-2097.

A press conference will be held on Wednesday, June 8 at 2:30 p.m. in the FSU PC Dean's Conference Room for media interested in interviewing the divers.

Meet the Diversa¿¦

Capt. Marie Knafelc M.D., Ph.D., MC, USN (Ret.)
Marie Knafelc, a native of Ambridge, PA, began her career in the Navy after she graduated from Temple University's School of Medicine. After completing a Family Practice internship at the Pensacola Naval Hospital, she joined the fleet to focus on diving medicine. In 1981, she fulfilled the requirements to become the first woman medical officer qualified in submarines. She transferred to the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) in Panama City in 1985, where she evaluated breathing performance and life support capabilities of underwater breathing apparatus, and became the first woman saturation diving medical officer. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2000. Since her retirement, she is employed by the Anteon Corporation and is still contracted by the Navy to support its specialized diving programs.

Connie Morgan
Connie Morgan was born in the diving industry. Her father and diving legend, Bev Morgan, opened one of the first dive shops in Southern California, and played an instrumental role in Connie's love for the diving and surfing industry. She is currently the vice president of Kirby Morgan Dive Systems Inc., which was founded by her father, and manufactures life support equipment for divers in the commercial, scientific, search & rescue, military and entertainment industries. Connie also holds several patents on diving masks and helmets and is proud of her participation in the design of the a¿?Kirby Morgan Super Mask M-48.a¿? Her influence on dive education and safety earned her the honor of being inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2000.

Tanya Streeter
Tanya Streeter was born and raised in Grand Cayman and spent much of her childhood in the water. By the time she left Grand Cayman for Brighton University in England, Tanya could dive 21m effortlessly. She set her first free diving record in January of 1998 and has since set 11 world records, seven of them remaining unbroken. In 2000, Tanya was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame and has been featured on the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic and in dive magazines all over the world. In addition to free diving, Tanya is the spokesperson for environmental organizations such as The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and The Coral Reef Alliance. She and her husband, Paul, are currently living in Texas.

Mary Bonnin EMCM (SW/MDV) (Ret.)
Wisconsin native, Mary Bonnin, has had an active career in the diving industry for 29 years. After graduating at the top of her class in both air and mixed-gas diving, Mary became the only woman in the U.S. Navy to qualify as a master diver. She has trained more than 1,000 military divers and has worked in ship husbandry, salvage and rescue. During her last active-duty tour, Mary served as the naval diving safety authority at the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk Virginia. She retired from the Navy in 1996, and was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2001. She is currently employed at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City as an in-service engineering agent for diving and life-support equipment. Mary is married to retired Navy saturation diver, Ralph Bonnin. They have four children: Mark Victor, 26; Michael 20; and 10-year-old twins Matthew and Martin.