Sa'eu Scanlan

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Sa'euteuga Le'au Scanlan (born 21 March 1937) [1] is an educator in American Samoa. Beginning in 1979 she served for over a decade as president of American Samoa Community College, the territory's only institution of higher education, becoming the first Samoan to achieve such a position in the region.

Contents

Early life and education

Sa'euteuga Le'au Scanlan, known as Sa'eu, was born in 1937 in the American Samoa n village of Fagatogo. She was the fourth of twelve children born to her parents Saipele S. Le'au and Suluama Lea'ai. [1]

Scanlan traveled to the U.S. mainland to study at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University), where she graduated with a bachelor's degree. [1] [2] After teaching in American Samoa for several years, she left again to obtain a master's degree at the University of Hawaiʻi. [1] [2] This was followed by a Ph.D. from Brigham Young University in 1975. [1] [2] [3]

Career

In 1970, Scanlan helped launch American Samoa Community College, which remains the territory's only tertiary education institution. [1] After obtaining her doctorate, she returned to American Samoa and became a dean at the community college, then the school's vice president in 1978. [1] [4] The following year, she was promoted to president of American Samoa Community College, the third president in the school's history. [1] [2] Not only was she the first Samoan to serve as president of that college, but a 1987 profile also identified her as "the first Samoan to rise to that level in higher education in the Pacific territories." [1] [5] [6] She remained as president throughout a formative period for the community college, until the mid-1990s. [7] [8] [9]

Scanlan also served for a period as president of the American Samoa National Women's Association after its founding in the 1980s. [1]

Personal life

Sa'eu was married to the businessman High Chief Fanene Morris Scanlan, with whom she had two children, from 1961 until his death in 2018. [1] [10] [11]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Simon-McWilliams, Ethel; Green, Karen Reed (1987). Glimpses into Pacific Lives: Some Outstanding Women (PDF). Portland, Oregon: Northwest Regional Educational Lab.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wiley, Bonnie (1979-10-21). "With 5 new buildings, community college in Samoa moves forward". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 33.
  3. "Scanlan, Saeu Leau". WorldCat. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  4. Education Directory: Colleges & universities. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1976.
  5. Annual Report. Office of Samoan Information. 1980.
  6. Carter, John (1981). Pacific Islands Yearbook, 1981. Pacific Publications Pty, Limited. ISBN   978-0-85807-049-3.
  7. Iyechad, Gwenda L. (1992-03-11). "Samoan culture in a quandary". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 6.
  8. Mageo, Jeannette Marie (1996). "Hairdos and don'ts: Hair symbolism and sexual history in Samoa". Frontiers. 17 (2): 138–167. doi:10.2307/3346607. JSTOR   3346607.
  9. Mageo, Jeannette Marie (1998). Theorizing Self in Samoa: Emotions, Genders, and Sexualities. University of Michigan Press. ISBN   978-0-472-10920-3.
  10. "Territory Loses Selfless Businessman". Talanei. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  11. "Fanene Morris Scanlan passes away at 82". Samoa News. 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2022-01-11.