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With a gorgeous view of Pago Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the University of Guam (UOG) is a 161-acre campus on Guam’s east coast. As the largest of some 2,000 islands that make up Micronesia, Guam is about three hours flying time from Tokyo, Manila, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Seoul and occupies a major strategic location for the United States that operates large U.S. Navy and Air Force bases.

UOG is a U.S. accredited, regional, minority serving Land Grant institution that began in 1952 as the territorial College of Guam for the training of teachers. Over the years, the academic programs were expanded to accommodate increasing enrollments and students needs. The College of Guam was first accredited in 1963 and gained university status in 1968 when enrollment reached 1,800 and a faculty of 130. By 1970 the campus had expanded to include the Fine Arts Building, the Science Building, a Student Center, three dormitories, and the Health Science Building. A series of Public Laws 13-194, 17-55, and 19-40, established UOG’s administrative autonomy as a non-membership, non-profit corporation under the control and operation of a nine-member Board of Regents appointed by the Governor of Guam with the advice and consent of the Guam Legislature. In the early 1990’s the Board approved a physical master plan that resulted in construction of a library extension and renovation, construction of the Micronesian Area Research Center, Computer Center, the English and Communication Building, the Humanities and Social Science Building, a large lecture hall, and the School of Education Building. With a $14 million USDA loan, the Leon Guerrero School of Business building was opened for occupancy in July 2006. Currently, UOG has three colleges, an enrollment of about 3,000 students, and 178 faculty that represent a diversity of island, U.S. mainland and Asian ethnicities.

UOG’s mission is Inina, Diskubre, Setbisio – to Enlighten, to Discover, to Serve. UOG is dedicated to the search for and dissemination of knowledge, wisdom and truth. As a community of scholars, the university exists to serve its learners and the communities of Guam, Micronesia, and the neighboring regions of the Pacific and Asia. UOG prepares learners for life by providing the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities through the core curriculum, degree programs, research, and outreach. At the Pacific crosscurrents of East and West, UOG provides a unique opportunity to discover and acquire indigenous and global knowledge (UOG Undergraduate Catalog , 2006-2007, p. 9).

Faculty, administrators, staff, and students participate in university governance, which is conducted according to the procedures outlined in the UOG’s Rules, Regulations, and Procedures Manual approved by the Board of Regents (2001). The Board sets policy and approves broad actions of the UOG administration. The administration in turn provides leadership and approval of changes in the governance structure. The Board appoints the president who has wide authority in the appointment of vice presidents, deans, directors, and other administrators. In response to a Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) 2000 recommendation, the faculty wrote the Bylaws for a Faculty Senate that were approved by the Board in late 2000. The Senate is a full partner in academic governance and the Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs attends all Senate meetings. In addition, the Board negotiates a contract with the Faculty Union every three or four years. The Administrative Council serves as the advisory body to the President on all matters relating to administrative issues. The UOG Faculty Senate represents the interests of the entire UOG faculty in matters of governance and academic affairs. Issues regarding entry and exit requirements for programs, curriculum, program review and assessment, academic freedom, scholarship, research, and teaching, as well as the rights of faculty in governance are routine interests of the Senate. Senators are elected by the faculty of each college. At present, there are 17 senators divided into four standing committees: Senate Executive Committee; Standing Committee on Faculty Excellence; Standing Committee on Evaluation, and Standing Committee on University Budget and Planning (Faculty Senate Handbook; Constitution and Bylaws of the University of Guam; BOR-Faculty Union Agreement ).

The current president of the University of Guam is Dr. Harold L. Allen who began his service in 2001. Administrators who report to the president include the Senior Vice President (SVP) for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Helen J. D. Whippy; the Vice President for Administration and Finance, David O’Brien, and the Vice President for University and Community Engagement, Dr. Jeff Barcinas. Administrators who report to the Senior Vice President include the Dean of College of Professional Studies (CPS), the Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), the Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS), the Director of Micronesian Area Research Center, the Director of Water and Environmental Research Institute (WERI), the Director of Computer Center, the Director of Micronesian Language Institute (MLI), the Director of Marine Laboratory, the Director of Learning Resources, and the Dean for Enrollment Management and Student Services. Dr. Sheying Chen was the Dean of the College of Professional Studies until August 1, 2006 when he resigned from this position. Dr. Vivian Dames has been appointed as Acting Interim Dean, CPS, while a search is conducted during Fall Semester 2006. Dr. Catherine Stoicovy serves as the Interim Executive Director of the School of Education.

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The School of Education (SOE) is one of the three schools in the College of Professional Studies . The sister schools are the School of Nursing, Social Work and Health Sciences (SNSWHS) and the School of Business and Public Administration (SBPA). While Education and Nursing/Health Sciences have their own buildings, the Business School has moved into its impressive new
building to begin the Fall Semester, 2006. Dr. Vivian Dames is currently serving as Acting Interim Dean of the CPS. As one of the most senior faculty members at UOG, Dr. Dames earned an MSW from Wayne State University and a PhD from the University of Michigan. Dr. Dames is responsible for overall academic leadership, planning, and management of the college. Administratively, each school is headed by an Executive Director. The holder of this position is responsible for administration of the school including, facilitating school-wide administrative tasks between the faculty and the Dean, assisting the Dean with faculty annual work plans and performance reviews according to the Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation System (CFES).

The major mission of the SOE is the provision of pre-service teacher education to meet the multicultural and educational demands of the island’s school system as well as providing for the region as a whole. The emerging challenges brought about by social, economic, and political changes within the region have created a need to expand the School’s ability to deliver appropriate instruction and related educational services. Thus, an integral part of the School’s mission has required it to become the academic, research, and service center for Guam and the greater Micronesian area ( UOG Undergraduate Catalog, 2005-2006).

Since the primary goal of the SOE is the delivery of high quality pre-service teacher education, such training must meet the multicultural educational demands of the island school system as well as provides educational leadership for the Micronesian region as a whole. For example, the Director of Education of the Republic of Palau is a UOG master’s degree graduate. Structurally, the faculty is organized into two divisions: the Teacher Education and Public Service (TEPS) Division and the Foundations, Educational Research and Human Services (FERS) Division. Each division has an elected unit representative (UR) as required by the BOR-Faculty Union Agreement. Each program is headed by a program coordinator who is responsible for management of the program. The College Academic Affairs Committee (ACC) is made up of representatives from each of the three schools. These faculty and their administrators meet regularly with the Dean. Furthermore, the CPS is linked to the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the College of Natural and Applied Sciences via the various undergraduate programs, the general education program, and graduate programs.

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The School of Education has had its own building since 1994. Currently, the SOE has 22 full-time faculty, 13 are Asian/Pacific Islander, two are Black, and seven are White. Females outnumber males 15 to 7. All but one hold the doctorate. The SOE provides initial preparation and continuing education opportunities to aspiring teachers. The faculty members are well qualified and work hard. Table 1 shows the academic rank and tenure status of the SOE full-time faculty from Fall 2005 to Spring 2006. The number of the full-time and part-time faculty and students from Fall 2004 to Spring 2005 is summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 1: Academic Rank and Tenure Status of Full-Time Faculty (Fall 2005-Spring 2006)

Academic Rank	Number of Faculty with Tenure	Non-Tenured Faculty
		Number on Tenure track	Number not on tenure track
Professor	2
Associate Professor	9	2
Assistant Professor		7	1
Instructor			1
Lecturer
Graduate Teaching Assistance
Adjunct faculty			9
TOTAL	11	9	11

Table 2: Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty and Students (Fall 2004-Spring 2005)

UOG Student Enrollment Fall 2004-Spring 2005		School of Education Student Enrollment Fall 2004-Spring 2005
Undergraduate Total	2820	Undergraduate Total	273
Undergraduate full-time	2042	Undergraduate full-time	256
Undergraduate part-time	778	Undergraduate part-time	17
Graduate Total	273	Graduate Total	196
Graduate full-time	256	Graduate full-time	104
Graduate part-time	17	Graduate part-time	92
Total Students	3093	Total Students	469
UOG Faculty members Fall 2005		School of Education Faculty Members Fall 2005
Full-time	171	Full-time	22
Part-time	66	Part-time	9
Total	237	Total	31

Most undergraduates at UOG are traditional students, entering college directly after completing high school. According to the UOG Annual Report (2005), “Over the last four years, new student undergraduate enrollment increased more than 30% from 508 in Fall 2001 to 679 in Fall 2005.” A student ethnicity profile shows 42% of undergraduate students are Chamorros from Guam, 34% are Filipinos, 6% are white non-Hispanic, 2.7% are Palauan and 2.3% are Korean. A total of 334 individuals graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in academic year 2004-2005, and some 424 earned degrees in AY 2005-2006 This brings the number of UOG alumni to over 11,500. UOG students receive more than $12M of financial aid annually. The majority of these funds are in the form of Pell Grants and student loans. In addition, the local government provides merit scholarships and scholarships specifically for teachers. Many private scholarships are awarded to Guam students throughout the academic year.

UOG is accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (www.wascweb.org) , a regional higher education accrediting body recognized by the Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation and the United States Department of Education. In preparation for an Educational Effectiveness review for reaffirmation of accreditation, a WASC Capacity and Preparatory Review visit will occur in spring 2007. Concerning the various programs and two other schools, the Nursing Program is approved by the Guam Board of Nurse Examiners and accredited by the National league for Nursing. The Social Work degree program was granted accreditation by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in Fall, 2003. In 1998, the School of Business and Public Administration received official certification from the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education whereby the Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration and all Bachelor of Business Administration Degree programs were fully accredited by that organization. The School is also a member of the Guam Chamber of Commerce (UOG Undergraduate Catalog 2006-2007, p. 9).

Since August 1992, the Dr. Antonio C. Yamashita Educator Corps (YEC) has been playing a pivotal role in supporting Guam’s teacher education needs. YEC provides support for educator certification/ recertification in two ways. One way is to provide full support for a structured curriculum via instruction in improved teaching methods, and by increasing proficiency in language arts/mathematics, and other content areas, and in the use of computers and the internet. The other is to provide space-available, tuition-free courses for recertification that are not part of a structured curriculum. The YEC program was created by Mina’ Bente Kuåttro na Liheslaturan Guahan (Guam Legislature) as Public Law 24-231. The Executive Director of the SOE is a member of the YEC Council. The Council is responsible for approving awards, developing policies, and administering YEC’s mandated support programs. The SOE, in particular, assists first year teachers in developing classroom skills and provides valuable support from experienced educators through mentoring, for instance. Table 3 shows the number of the students financially supported by YEC for Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, respectively.

Table 3: The Number of Students Financially Supported by Yamashita Educator Corps (Fall 2005 and Spring 2006)

	Fall 2005	Spring 2006
School Aide	13	12
Undergraduate	78	78
Graduate	19	15
Recertification	0	45

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The professional education unit is defined as the School of Education, College of Professional Studies. The Executive Director of the School is the head of the unit, and is supervised by the Dean of CPS . The SVP signed the policy change form on March 20, 2006, which officially established the SOE Curriculum Committee, consisting of the coordinators of eight programs, one specialization and one unit (Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Special Education, TESOL, Language and Literacy, Administration & Supervision, Physical Education, the Foundations and Educational Research unit, and Educational Technology). Note that Educational Technology is not a program, but is a specialization that the SOE plans to strengthen into a program in the near future. The Early Childhood and Chamorro Teaching degree programs are included as a part of Elementary Education. Table 4 is a summary of professional education programs offered by the School of Education from Fall 2005 to Spring 2006.

The unit (school) has the following seven teacher education major programs on the initial level leading to baccalaureate degrees: 1) Early Childhood/Elementary Education, 2) Elementary Education, 3) Elementary Education with Chamorro Language and Culture Teaching Specialty, 4) English as a Second Language, 5) Second Language/Elementary Education, 6) Secondary Education, and 7) Special Education. There are two categories of student status at the undergraduate level: Pre-education and teacher candidacy (those formally admitted to the SOE).

The unit offers the following five advanced programs: masters degrees in 1) Administration and Supervision, 2) Language and Literacy, 3) Secondary Education, 4) Special Education, and 5) TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). All advanced level programs offer different credit options for candidates. For instance, both the Language and Literacy and TESOL Programs have two options: Thesis/Special Project; or Non-Thesis/Special Project.

Table 4: Professional Education Programs Offered by the School of Education (Fall 2005–Spring 2006)

Program Name	Award Level	Program Level (Initial or Advanced)	Number of Hours	Number of Candi-dates	Agency or Association Reviewing Program (State, SPA, or Other)	Status of National and State Program Review
						Program Review Submitted (yes/no)	Current Status (initial review, rejoining, or complete)
Early Childhood/ Elementary	B.A.	Initial	124	51	NAEYC	Yes	Nat. Rec. 8-04
Elementary Education	B.A.	Initial	126	69	ACEI	Yes	Rejoining 9-06
Physical Education	B.A.	Initial	60	1	AAHPERD / NASPE	Yes	Nat. Rec. 8-05
Special Education	B.A.	Initial	131	10	CEC	Yes	Nat. Rec. 8-03
Secondary Education: Agricultural Education	B.A.	Initial	30	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: Business Education	B.A.	Initial	30-51	1	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: English/Language Arts	B.A.	Initial	21	18	NCTE	Yes	Rejoining 9-06
Secondary Education: Family Consumer Science	B.A	Initial	30	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: Math	B.A.	Initial	52	7	NCTM	---	Not Rec. 3-06
Secondary Education: Science	B.A.	Initial	41-43	3	NSTA	Yes	Rejoining 9-06
Secondary Education: Social Studies	B.A.	Initial	36	9	NCSS	Yes	Rejoining 9-06
Secondary: ComputerInformation Systems	B.A.	Initial	73-74	1	ISTE	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: Chamorro	B.A.	Initial	133	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education:ESL	B.A.	Initial	39	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: Fine Arts/Music	B.A.	Initial	60	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: History	B.A.	Initial	42	1	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education: Japanese	B.A.	Initial	44	1	N/A	N/A	N/A
Language and Literacy	M.Ed.	Advanced	36	12	IRA	Yes	Nat. Rec. 1-04
Administration & Supervision	M.Ed.	Advanced	36	29	ELCC	Yes	Rejoining 9-06
Special Education	M.Ed.	Advanced	36	4	N/A	N/A	N/A
Secondary Education	M.Ed.	Advanced	36	11	N/A	N/A	N/A
TESOL	M.Ed.	Advanced	36	15	TESOL	Yes	Awaiting Response

The Secondary Education Program requires students to declare a double major and a subject area of the students’ choice as listed above.

Several examples of SOE faculty collaboration within and between programs are noted here. The Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (CEDDERS) has served as a training, technical assistance, and research center in the Western Pacific region for the past 12 years. CEDDERS has been consistently 100% funded through federal grants and contracts. One of CEDDERS major initiatives for FY 2005 is Project HATSA (a Chamorro word that means “to raise” or “to build”). This is a fitting name for this project, which aims to raise teacher standards to improve student performance). CEDDERS in partnership with the Guam Public School System (GPSS) wrote the successful Teacher Quality Improvement Grant for the GPSS, garnering $9.3M over a three-year period that will focus on improving the quality of in-service and pre-service teachers in the GPSS. CEDDERS facilitates a wide variety of interdisciplinary training activities at the pre-service, in-service teacher education and training.

Faculty collaborations. Research initiatives by Dr. Yukiko Inoue and her SOE colleagues, for instance, include the following: (1) Book project, Technology and diversity in higher education: New challenges (involving M. Miller , N. Schmitz , and C. Stoicovy ); (2) Book project, Roses, you must be (with C. Stoicovy); (3) Research article, The Chamorro adult male identity and development (with J. Sanchez ) ; and (4) Research article, Collegial training and innovative, creative teaching for college students (with M. Jackson ). Additionally, The Micronesian Educator (current editor is Y. Inoue) is a refereed journal of educational research and practice published annually by the SOE. The journal invites contributions from a wide audience of researchers and practitioners, and offers insights and understandings about education in Guam and Micronesia. The journal serves as a forum for sharing current research, theoretical perspectives and innovative practices in education with a particular focus on the Micronesian region.

Another example of faculty collaboration is the research team set up in 2006 by Dr. Lourdes Ferrer . This team is made up of six faculty members that will cooperate in research focused on communication strategies, critical thinking, group work, classroom management as related to student learning, accountability, and accommodating diversity. Additionally, SOE faculty members have recently improved their distance education skills through training in use of Moodle . This is being done in-house by Dr. Paul Wallace .

All faculty working on NCATE. The SOE strives for excellence in its teacher preparation programs. To improve and maintain unit standards, the NCATE accreditation effort has become a key activity for all faculty members. A newsletter, SOE Vision , is published twice a year and the NCATE website (www.uogsoencate.net) has been developed and is serving as an online “document room.” Thus, the SOE is determined to pursue continuous improvement of teacher education and NCATE accreditation. One of the NCATE requirements is technology use, and the SOE faculty has focused on technology integration. In Inoue’s (2006) research, UOG students perceived that it is always exciting to take a course where the professor energizes learning by introducing educational technology and new electronic media into the curriculum. The SOE faculty has been encouraged to improve their technical proficiency, and to facilitate candidate mastery of technology for improved classroom instruction.