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Center for Pacific Islands Studies celebrates 50th year
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Posted on Nov 15 2000
By CRAIG DESILVA
For Saipan Tribune
HONOLULU, Hawaii (PIDP)-With 12 years on the job as head of the University of Hawaii’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Dr. Robert C. Kiste is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on a region that spans 7,000 miles wide and whose residents speak a quarter of the world’s languages.
During his tenure at the Center, he has probably fielded more inquiries about the Pacific Islands at his UH-Manoa campus office than anyone else in the nation.
“We get phone calls and informational requests from everyone including the local school teacher who wants to know about a particular lesson to the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. which wants to know about a particular issue in the Pacific,” said Kiste, the Center’s director.
“Two weeks ago, I was in Washington to give a briefing session on contemporary issues in the Pacific to 20 Congressional staffers whose representatives and senators are interested in the Pacific,” he said. “We respond to the private sector and government agencies in Hawaii regarding business opportunities in the Pacific.”
Kiste also recently met with an official with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who was interested in the recent political and ethnic conflicts in the region.
