Sam McPhetres honored

The 8th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council has adopted a resolution commending CNMI educator and historian Samuel “Sam” McPhetres for his contributions and services to the Northern Marianas College, the CNMI government, the business community and the communities in the CNMI.

McPhetres is an educator at the local college and a recognized authority in the history of the Northern Mariana Islands. He wrote a textbook on self-government and citizenship in the CNMI, which is being used at Hopwood Junior High School. McPhetres is also co-author of a history textbook for the Ministry of Education in Palau on the history of Palau.

McPhetres was a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce board of directors for several years and was elected president in 1996; he held various key positions with the Trust Territory of the Pacific Island, 1973-1990; was program developer for the Education for self-government program, which is political education program designed to educate the citizens of the Trust Territory on self-determination, 1973-1981; was coordinator for international organizations administrating the relations between the Trust Territory government and United Nations in various regional organizations, which included writing the annual reports to the Trusteeship Council, attending the annual sessions in New York and escorting visiting missions throughout the Trust Territory, 1981-1990; was director of the Trust Territory archives, 1981-1990; and was a Peace Corps administrator in the Ivory Coast, Somalia, 1966-1972.
McPhetres is one of the founding members of the Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Science, an Internet academic journal providing an outlet for authors and researchers throughout the Pacific academic community. He is the co-editor of this semi-annual journal.

McPhetres holds a master’s degree in International Relations with a minor in Linguistics from the Centre Universitaire European in Nancy, France, and a bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

McPhetres taught the mandatory Marianas history and political science at NMC under a humanities grant from 1997 to the present, and was part-time instructor at NMC since 1980.

McPhetres has supplemented his classroom lectures with hands-on activities related to governance as well as economics, the presidential debate and the presidential mock election. His students’ projects included the cleaning up of the Japanese jail in preparation for the commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the invasion of Saipan, conducting various opinion polls on current issues in the community and most recently, carrying out projects requested by various government agencies and private entities.

“The members of the Municipal Council and the people of the CNMI are extremely gratified of the exemplary contributions and services of…McPhetres in the development and growth of the people of the CNMI,” the resolution reads.

The resolution was certified by municipal council chair Gregorio V. Deleon Guerrero and vice chair David A. Indalecio and attested by secretary Antonia M. Tudela.