Moir named NMC veep

After a long-winded selection process, the Northern Marianas College finally picked former Dean of Instruction Barbara G. Moir as Vice President for Academic Affairs, from a string of eligible applicants who vied for the position.

Out of four candidates, Dr. Moir was handed the VP appointment last March 26, filling the sought-after NMC seat left vacant by college president Joaquin Sablan when he accepted the lead post.

Dr. Moir’s new responsibilities entail hand-in-hand partnership with the president in the aspects of planning, organizing, administering, and evaluation academic degree programs, student services, and cooperative research and extension programs and services.

Her essential functions further extend to taking the lead in the college’s program development and management, reaffirmation of accreditation, articulation activities with other institutions, policy development and implementation, process improvement, and human resources management in academic areas.

She will also be responsible for the maintenance of high academic and student support service standards, as well as oversee the operations of NMC’s Learning Resources, the Business Development Center, and the Tinian and Rota campuses.

Paramount in her overall mission as vice president is the to strengthen the college’s role as an institution of service to the community.

“We are–and we want to be–a community college in the most inclusive, service-oriented sense of that term. NMC will provide the education and training opportunities, research and extension programs, learning resources, business development, and assistance programs, and other services to help develop the CNMI’s capacity to prosper in the new millennium,” said Dr. Moir.

“With the public’s aid in identifying and supporting those programs and services that are most needed, the College will be better able to use its resources, not only financial but human and physical, to achieve its mission. We want to be responsive to the educational, economic, and employment needs of the CNMI in these changing times,” she added.

The 12-year CNMI resident was born in Japan but grew up in Massachusetts.

She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in the Social Sciences from New York’s Fordham University. She earned her masters and doctorate degrees in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Recently, Dr. Moir received the prestigious Professional Certification in Leadership Development for Education and Training Managers from the National Chair Academy.

Instead of pursuing a career in a big, stateside university, the new VP chose to enter NMC in the hopes of contributing to its growth.

“I wanted to go to a school that’s new. And I want to see if I can help build it up,” said Dr. Moir.