Malopao Dr. Akenese Nikolao keynotes ASCC Graduation

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The commencement for the Fall 2018 semester at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC), is  this Friday, December 14, in the auditorium of the college’s Multi-Purpose Building.  The ceremony begins at 10 am .

About 119 students are to receive degrees and certificates contingent upon the results of the final examinations the prospective graduates just finished taking.

The keynote  speaker will be Malopao Dr. Akenese Epi Nikolao, a 1991 ASCC graduate who now serves as Acting Director of Human Resources for the LBJ Tropical Medical Center.

Dr. Nikolao is one of six children of the late Malopao Rev. Deacon Ta’afulisia Pula Tuiteleleapaga Iuli Nikolao of Fagatogo/Utulei, Leone and Pago Pago, and Faletua Susitina T. Nikolao of Vaimoso, Malie, Satupa’itea, Salelesi and Saleaula.

The Faasao High School and ASCC graduate is a single mother of five.

An ASG scholarship helped her study and earn her Bachelor of Science in Socialogy and Psychology from Northwest Missouri State University.

Upon returning home, Dr. Nikolao taught at Samoana High School for three years  while also participating in the University of Hawaii – Manoa Masters in Education cohort program in American Samoa.

She later received her Master of Science Degree in Business Organizational Management with a concentration in Human Resources Management and Development from the University of La Verne in California.

Dr. Nikolao also obtained a Doctorate of Education from the University of Southern California (USC) where she defended and published her dissertation “An Examination of Resource Allocation Strategies and Finance Adequacy:  Case Studies of American Samoa Department of Education Secondary Schools,”

In  2012, having completed her Doctorate, she moved her family back to American Samoa with the intention of caring for her mother while also seeking a way to give back to her family and the community.

After more than 15 years as an educator in Hawaii, Guam, California and American Samoa, Dr. Nikolao’s current position at LBJ involves her overseeing the functions of all of the hospital’s Human Resources-related activities while enforcing personnel policies and procedures for a workforce that numbers approximately 750.

Dr. Nikolao’s background in education and emphasis on the importance of workforce development and training has earned her additional duties which include: Grants Manager; Public Relations Officer; Professional Education and Training Officer; Education Liaison with external agencies; and Grant Writer

In December 2017, she fulfilled a longstanding wish to serve in a cultural role when she and other family members of the Sa Afoafouvale and Sa Lutu of Fagatogo/Utulei were bestowed with chief titles to serve and tautua the spirit of the family and the culture.

She humbly accepted the title that once belonged to her father, Tofa Malopao Reverend Deacon Ta’afulisia Nikolao.

Another highlight for Dr. Nikolao came this year when, thanks to a grant proposal she had written, LBJ was successfully awarded over $1.1 Million in Technical Assistance from the Department of Interior – Office of Insular Affairs for LBJ Tropical Medical Center.

The funding will provide technical training in nursing, pharmacy, dialysis, support staff and finance. She is also LBJ’s liaison for the Governor’s Medical Physician Scholarship to Fiji and the Oceania University of Medicine (OUM) Medical Physician Scholarship.