Anne Swenson Ticknor is a Professor at East Carolina University. She teaches graduate and undergraduate literacy education courses with a focus on equity. She has nearly 30 years of experience as an elementary teacher, professional development facilitator, literacy specialist, and teacher educator and has worked with a range of learners from child to adult, Her newest co-authored book, It’s Not “One More Thing”: Culturally Responsive and Affirming Strategies in K-12 Literacy Classrooms, provides practical ways to enact more affirming and culturally responsive literacy instruction. She has collaborated with educators on Saipan since 2017 and this program is a result of this collaboration.
Jennifer McKinnon is a Professor at East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History. She is an underwater archaeologist who has worked in the US, Australia, the Pacific, and Europe on archaeological sites ranging from the colonial period to WWII. She has been working in the Mariana Island and Saipan for over a decade and co-edited a book entitled, Underwater Archaeology of a Pacific Battlefield: The WWII Battle of Saipan.
Hafa Adai,
I’m Fred Camacho. A Chamorro, explorer, discoverer, hiker, forager among other jungle ventures. Becoming a Grandpa last year to a cutie has given me more of an incentive to continue with my jungle passion, to search and discover a new site and to name after my granddaughter, Ahia Rée. Even after years of “jungling,” I know there are still areas on Saipan that I have not been to. So “boots on” – let’s go!
Nancy Bo Flood earned her PhD in Psychology and Child Development at the University of Minnesota and also her credentials as a child and family therapist. Her work in Micronesia included teaching for Northern Marianas College and she taught classes in educational strategies, psychology, and developed courses in Pacific Literature. While teaching on Saipan and Tinian she began her research for writing Warriors in the Crossfire. Many times she stood where the atomic bomb was stored then loaded, reflecting on the meaning of war. Nancy especially enjoyed talking with students of all ages and also elders about their island. Their “own voices” reflections are published in Marianas Legends, part of a three-book series about Micronesia published by Bess Press in Honolulu. Nancy states, “The best reward is when a child glances at me while reading one of my books and says, ‘I am in this book.’”
Jennifer L. Gallagher is an Assistant Professor in the Literacy Studies, English Education and History Education department of the College of Education at East Carolina University where she teaches social studies education courses and serves as the program coordinator for the undergraduate and graduate history education/social studies programs. Dr. Gallagher is originally from northern Wisconsin and earned her B.A. and Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota. She taught middle grades social studies for several years in Colorado and then earned her Ph.D. at Iowa State University where she also taught diversity courses, social foundations of education and social studies methods. Her research and her professional efforts focus on supporting teacher candidates, in-service teachers and P-20 students in critical inquiry of the social world.
Galvin Deleon Guerrero is the president of Northern Marianas College, He has over 25 years of teaching and leadership experience in K-12 and higher education, having served on the Northern Marianas State Board of Education and the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English literature, a Masters of Arts degree in School Administration, and an Education Doctorate in Organizational Change Leadership. He has also taught English and social studies at the secondary and post-secondary levels; has coached speech, debate, and mock trial; and has produced over 50 stage and film productions on Saipan.
Anna Yamada was born in Pohnpei, moved to Saipan with her nine siblings during the Trust Territory days. After NMC and SJSU, came the countless adventures and mis-adventures of being a special education teacher and a mother of a son and a daughter. With the addition of a son in law, life rekindles excitement by granting a granddaughter; talk about a game changer! Oh, let’s not forget the husband – who is… somewhere.
A July 2023 memory etching will include time spent with those who continue to collect and share informational-treasures that could reshape our future generation’s heart and soul. It’s time again to be open to hear about human strength, compassion, grace, honor.
Dr. Christy Howard has been an educator since 2002. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Literacy Studies, English Education, and History Education at East Carolina University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. Her research interests focus on content area literacy, teacher preparation, diversity and identity. Her research has been published in several journals including Language Arts, Literacy Research and Instruction, and Journal of Literacy Research.
Don Farrell earned a B.A. in Biological Sciences from California State College at Fullerton in 1973 and a degree in Secondary Education from California State College at San Bernardino in 1975. Mr. Farrell’s writing career began on Guam with the 1981 publication of The Americanization of Guam: 1898-1918, which was followed by The Sacrifice of Guam: 1919-1943 and Liberation—1944.
Farrell moved to Tinian in 1987, publishing the first History of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1991. In 2011, Don published History of the Mariana Islands to Partition, and in 2018 Modern History of the Northern Mariana Islands. In 2019, Don published Tinian and the Bomb. He is now in the process of publishing Seabees and Superforts at War: Tinian’s Critical Role in the Ultimate Defeat of Japan. Mr. Farrell has also written numerous magazine and newspaper articles on the history of the Mariana Islands.
Ms. Genevieve S. Cabrera is an indigenous daughter of the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) whose interest in the native culture and history of the Marianas Archipelago is a life-long endeavor. Her traditional upbringing was replete with the recounting of Chamorro and Carolinian oral history as taught and shared by family and community elders. Coupled with an academic background in art history, cultural anthropology, and archaeology, Ms. Cabrera continues to engage in field research, community projects, and the publication of papers that expound upon the nuanced and diverse culture and history of the Northern Mariana Islands. From archaeology that spans four millennia to the last five centuries of contact period history wherein the global community’s footprint continues to litter the shores of the NMI (alongside those of the neighboring Micronesian island entities inclusive of the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands), there is literally not an inch of the NMI that is without layers of cultural and historical information. Sharing this information with interested parties both within and without the indigenous cultural community is of paramount import to Ms. Cabrera as it is the inherent cultural legacy of responsible stewardship entrusted to her by her indigenous ancestors.