‘Tec’ Takes NSU’s Diving Program to New Depths

It would be of little surprise if Thomas “Tec” Clark was born with gills. After all, water has been his world for basically his entire life.

Tec is the Associate Director for Scuba Diving and Outdoor Recreation at Nova Southeastern University, where he teaches and directs the NSU Academic Diving Program. He goes by “Tec” – his name’s initials – a nickname he has carried for most of his life. To meet Tec is to meet a cool operator with a calming aura. He engages with a confident charm, infectious smile, and a surfer’s swagger.

Since his arrival to NSU, Tec has continued to take its diving program to new heights. NSU’s scope of offerings and quality of instruction in its program rival any university in the nation.

As for Tec’s certifications, qualifications, and accolades? They stand for themselves.

Tec has appeared as a diving expert on A&E, The Learning Channel and The Outdoor Life Network. Tec has co-edited several diving texts and has written numerous articles for Skin Diver Magazine. He has been quoted in such publications as Rodale’s Scuba Diving, Dive Training, The Dive Report, and Aquatics International. In 2004, he was named in the Who’s Who in Aquatics. He is the founder and host of ScubaGuru.com, as well as founder and director of Reef Ministries. And the list goes on.

When Tec was a child, his mother taught him how to swim in his grandparents’ pool. He took to the water like a fish. When he wasn’t in school, Tec was in the pool. When his grandparents threw pool parties, he would dazzle the gatherings with his underwater breath-holding skills.

Tec’s mother was a nurse and lifeguard. She along with her parents raised him. Under mom’s wing, Tec would become a competitive swimmer. His grandfather – one of his heroes – stoked Tec’s passion for the ocean by taking him on deep-sea fishing trips, and his influence didn’t stop there.

“He taught me how to be a gentleman,” Tec says.

During his fishing trips, Tec developed a longing to dive deeper in the underwater world.

“When we would catch these beautiful fish, I would watch them die and turn colors, and that bothered me because I wanted to see them alive in their habitat,” he said. “Most often I would just stare over the side of the boat into the cobalt blue Atlantic Ocean.”

At the age of 12, Tec had the opportunity to try beach diving off Lauderdale by the Sea. It would be his first scuba dive.

“It was great, and I remember fixing my instructor’s tank underwater for him,” he said. “I guess you could say that was my first taste of being a dive professional.”

Not long after that experience, Tec became Open Water certified and then Advanced Open Water certified.

Fast forward a few years, and Tec found himself at the University of Florida enrolled in an assistant diving instructor class. From there, he became a scuba instructor at UF in 1988. He worked with the Gators’ Academic Diving Program – teaching and certifying hundreds of divers a year. Tec was in his element.

“Teaching people how to enjoy exploring the underwater world has been an absolute blessing to me for more than three decades,” he said. “Plus, I feel closer to God underwater than anywhere else on Earth.  It’s beauty, balance, colors, and peacefulness are absolutely brilliant.”

Tec left Gainesville in 1988 and headed back to South Florida taking a job as a divemaster and scuba teacher at Orbit Marine Sports in Pompano Beach. He also served as a volunteer public safety diver for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. He eventually returned to UF, getting his Bachelor of Science in Recreation and gaining professional credentials with multiple diving organizations such as the YMCA, National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). In 1990, Tec became the managing director of UF’s Academic Diving Program.

Coming to Nova Southeastern University was a mix of serendipity, curiosity, and opportunity for Tec.

“A friend asked me about when I ran the University of Florida Academic Diving Program, and after that discussion I thought to myself, ‘Here in South Florida NSU would be the perfect university for an academic diving program,’” he said.

Tec investigated and found out that NSU was teaching scuba through its Recreation Aquatics Department with Kevin McCarthy, an adviser with the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. McCarthy was also a NAUI scuba instructor.

“Kevin had heard about the University of Florida Academic Diving Program that I managed, so he was happy to have me teach at NSU,” Tec said. “Then he turned over all training to me, and I became a contracted employee teaching scuba for aquatics.”

That is when the real opportunity struck.

NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II became one of Tec’s students for a refresher diving course. The president was impressed. Hanbury told Tec that he learned more in his refresher course than he learned in his PADI Open Water Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver courses combined.

“I explained that my teaching was the strength of the academic diving program background I had at the University of Florida for 10 years, and that NSU would be the perfect university for an academic diving program,” Tec said. “Then Dr. Hanbury asked me to write a proposal, and the rest is history.”

In Fall 2012, Tec was named the Assistant Director for Scuba Diving at Nova Southeastern University, where he taught and directed the Nova Southeastern University Academic Diving Program. His title was later slightly modified to Associate Director for Scuba Diving and Outdoor Recreation.

This year will mark the 11th-year anniversary of the NSU Academic Diving Program, the third-largest university dive program in the country – training more than 350 students a year.

For Tec, the diving program has been a dream come true – a place where he can participate in producing some of the best diving professionals in the industry.

“The goal from the beginning has been to develop excellent leaders,” he said. “When we develop great diving leaders, then the programs they teach are outstanding.  In the future, I can only hope that we continue our legendary diving industry reputation and status as being the top university diving training program.”

Posted 05/21/23