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DOE director expresses delight over ASCC accreditation

The former president of the American Samoa Community College, Vaitinasa Dr. Salu Hunkin-Finau is “extremely delighted” with ASCC getting a 5-year accreditation for its Bachelor of Education Degree (B.Ed) program, that will greatly assist with getting qualified teachers into the public schools.

 

Hunkin-Finau, the current Education Department director, has suggested nursing as another subject area for a bachelor's degree program for ASCC.

 

In a letter dated July 10 and signed by Commission president Ralph A. Wolff, the Western Association for Schools and College’s Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (WASC-ACSCU) informed ASCC president Dr. Seth Galea’i that it has granted Initial Accreditation status to the ASCC degree program.

 

Responding to Samoa News questions, Hunkin-Finau said the accreditation for the Bachelor of Education degree program “is a milestone and a historical achievement for a 2-year junior college.” She said Dr. Galea’i and ASCC should be commended for their diligence, especially Dr. Lina Galea’i-Scanlan, director of the ASCC Teacher Education Department and her staff.

 

“During my tenure there as President, this was one of my initiatives and it gives me great pleasure to see it come to fruition under the watch of Dr. Galea’i,” she said.

 

Dr. Hunkin-Finau said she expressed her thoughts to Dr. Galea’i and especially to Dr. Galea’i-Scanlan that the B.Ed program at ASCC “must assure this department (the DOE) that the teacher education program will not only provide basic teacher education preparation, but equally important are the courses/experiences which will help DOE teachers address the cultural and linguistic uniqueness of the students we teach: 95.7% of the students in DOE grades ECE to high school are Samoan.”

 

“This means these children come to school with a wealth of cultural and linguistic knowledge, experience and skills which must be recognized and capitalized to enhance cognition and other aspects of the development of the whole Samoan child,” she pointed out.

 

“I have expressed the importance for our teachers to learn how to contextualize lessons so that concepts to be taught can be learned with ease as they relate to local milieu/environment and our Samoan ways,” the DOE director said.

 

“The movement in education is not only technology, but integrated technology transitioning the children from the ‘known world’ to the ‘unknown world’ with confidence,” she said.

 

Wolff, in his July 10 letter to Dr. Galea'i, said the Commission was pleased to learn that ASCC has finalized a contract with ASDOE “that shows strong support for the [BE.D] program. This will provide substantial financial assistance to ensure a stable program.”

 

Hunkin-Finau said DOE has an agreement with ASCC “to prepare our elementary teachers who are assigned to teach children in grades K-6” while the University of Hawai’i is contracted to prepare teachers who will teach grades 7-12.

 

“All teachers are required to take courses to teach content areas, especially teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and Samoan language arts,” she said.  

 

OTHER DEGREE PROGRAMS

 

Besides the BE.D program, Samoa News asked Hunkin-Finau about other areas of study that she would like to see ASCC accredited for a Bachelor degree program.

 

“We need a four-year degree nursing program, and a well planned and community connected Trades & Technology program for a lot of our students who want to enter in the world of work without having to ‘hang’ in the college or academic pathways,” was her reply.

 

“This would include students who want to enter the military, start their own businesses, and/or work for the private sector of our community or abroad,” she added.