Elizabeth Diaz Rechebei

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Elizabeth Diaz Rechebei (born 1949) is a Northern Mariana Islander academic. One of the first Chamorro women to receive a graduate education, she went on to hold several educational leadership roles on the islands, including director of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands' Department of Education and head of the Northern Mariana Islands' public school system.

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Early life and education

Elizabeth Diaz Rechebei was born on Saipan in 1949. [1] She was the first child of six born to a Chamorro father, Francisco Diaz, and a Japanese mother, Reiko Tanaka Diaz. [1] [2] Elizabeth grew up in the village of Chalan Kanoa and attended Saipan's Mount Carmel School, graduating in 1968 alongside future politician Felicidad Ogumoro. [1] [2] As a high school student, she worked as a clerk for the Congress of Micronesia. [2]

In a fairly uncommon move for women in her community at the time, she enrolled at the University of Guam, becoming one of the first two Micronesians to receive a scholarship from the Guamanian government. [1] In 1972, she graduated with a psychology degree. [1] [2] After working for two years, she pursued graduate studies at the University of Hawaii, completing a master's in educational psychology in 1976, which made her one of the first women in the Northern Mariana Islands to earn a master's of arts. [1] [2] Decades later, she went back to school and earned a doctorate of education from the University of California, San Diego, in 2003. [3] [4]

Career

After graduating from the University of Hawaii, Rechebei returned home and began what would become a long career with the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands' Department of Education. [1] [5] After around a decade of working for the Education Department, overseeing testing across the territory and developing a local achievement testing system, she was appointed as the department's deputy director. [1] Shortly thereafter, in 1984, she was promoted to director of the Department of Education, becoming the first woman and the youngest person to fill the role. [1] She remained in the position until the dissolution of the Trust Territory in 1987. [2] She later became director of the Northern Mariana Islands' public school system, but was removed in 1991 amid a teacher strike. [2] [6] After finishing her career as a public servant, she went into private consulting. [2]

Rechebei is also known for her 1997 survey of Palau an history, History of Palau: Heritage of an Emerging Nation, written in collaboration with historian Samuel F. McPhetres. [5] [7] She later helped lead an effort to update the Chamorro–English Dictionary. [4] [5] [8] [9] In 2009, she received a Governor's Humanities Award for her efforts to preserve local culture. [10]

Over several decades, she has worked with various regional organizations and served on different boards across the islands seeking to improve educational access and gender equity, including the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents and the Commission of the islands' public school system. [1] [5] [11] [12] She also helped establish the first public library in the Northern Mariana Islands and the NMI Museum of History and Culture. [5]

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Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Mariana Islands</span> Unincorporated territory of the United States

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago; the southernmost island, Guam, is a separate U.S. territory. The Northern Mariana Islands were listed by the United Nations as a non-self governing territory until 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands</span> US-administered UN trust territory (1947–1994)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saipan</span> Largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands

Saipan is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385, a decline of 10% from its 2010 count of 48,220.

Carolinian is an Austronesian language originating in the Caroline Islands, but spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is an official language of the Carolinian people. Carolinian is a threatened language according to the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (ELCat), but available data is scarce. There are approximately 3,100 native speakers in the world. Carolinian has 95% lexical similarity with Satawalese, 88% with Woleaian and Puluwatese; 81% with Mortlockese; 78% with Chuukese, 74% with Ulithian.

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The Chamorro people are the Indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, politically divided between the United States territory of Guam and the encompassing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia, a U.S. commonwealth. Today, significant Chamorro populations also exist in several U.S. states, including Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, and Nevada. According to the U.S. Census, they are collectively designated Pacific Islander Americans.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Simon-McWilliams, Ethel; Green, Karen Reed (1987). Glimpses into Pacific Lives: Some Outstanding Women (Revised) (PDF). Northwest Regional Educational Lab. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Siemer, Deanne C.; Willens, Howard P. (1997-04-01). "Interview of Elizabeth D. Rechebei" (PDF). Northern Marianas Humanities Council. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  3. ↑ Diaz Rechebei, Elizabeth (2003-03-01). "Political Leadership Perceptions on the College of Micronesia System in the Federated States of Micronesia". Dissertations. doi: 10.22371/05.2003.014 .
  4. 1 2 "Chamorro-English dictionary project enters its 3rd month". Saipan Tribune. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Notes on Contributors". Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America. 35 (35): 398–403. 2014. doi:10.1353/dic.2014.0007. ISSN   2160-5076.
  6. ↑ Shuster, Donald R.; MCPHETRES, SAMUEL F.; KING, JOAN; BETTIS, LELAND; INDER, STUART (1992). "Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1990 to 30 June 1991". The Contemporary Pacific. 4 (1): 178–190. ISSN   1043-898X. JSTOR   23699848.
  7. ↑ Levine, Stephen (2016-06-01). Pacific Ways: Government and Politics in the Pacific Islands. Victoria University Press. ISBN   978-1-77656-026-4.
  8. ↑ "Council obtains a grant to study Chamorro language". Saipan Tribune. 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  9. ↑ Salvatore, Cecilia Lizama (2018-01-17). Cultural Heritage Care and Management: Theory and Practice. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4422-7218-7.
  10. ↑ "Froilan has 2 other consultants on $1 contracts". Saipan Tribune. 2011-12-21. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  11. ↑ "Regents vote for 1-year renewal of Hart's contract". Saipan Tribune. 2015-07-28. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  12. ↑ "Historic 1st meeting of past, present PSS Commissioners". Saipan Tribune. 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
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