From left, Marian Deleon Guerrero Tudela, chairwoman, 17th Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council; Dr. Anita Enriquez, University of Guam president; Tonie Manibusan Tudela, vice chairwoman, 17th Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council; Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba, UOG interim senior vice president and provost accreditation liaison officer; and Dr. Alicia Aguon, UOG dean of the School of Education.
(SNIMC) — Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council Chairwoman Marian DLG Tudela and Vice Chairwoman Tonie Manibusan Tudela applauded University of Guam President Dr. Anita Borja-Enriquez and the UOG leadership team for enabling a game changing effort in advancing UOG’s historic launching of Guam’s doctoral degree program in instructional and academic leadership expected to begin in fall 2024 for the region.
During the council’s leadership meeting with the UOG chief attended by UOG senior vice president, Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba, and the dean of the School of Education, Dr. Alicia Aguon, whose family hails from Saipan, the Saipan council leaders requested that three slots be reserved for students from the Commonwealth interested in pursuing UOG’s four-year 60-credit cumulative hours online doctoral program.
The doctoral program is estimated to cost $11,000 per 15 credits per year, which includes the doctoral dissertation portion built in as coursework in the program of study.
Following the UOG approval of the doctoral program by its Board of Regents in June 2023, UOG is also undergoing an accreditation approval by the WASC Senior College and University Commission for the new program.
The need for a doctoral program in Guam was highlighted by a survey that the university conducted, involving over a thousand respondents from the FSM, CNMI, U.S., Guam and other jurisdictions: 94% expressed interest in the program, nearly 60% of whom were teachers at elementary and high schools or higher education faculty members.
The Saipan council leaders also introduced AMIM Resolution No. 2023-28-01 during the Mariana Islands’ Association of Mayors, Vice Mayors and Municipal Council Members November conference. AMIM unanimously adopted the resolution authored by Marian Tudela and Tonie Tudela recognizing and congratulating Dr. Anita Borja-Enriquez on the occasion of her investiture as president of the University of Guam at the Calvo Field House in Mangilao, Guam on Nov. 14, 2023.
Dr. Borja-Enriquez is no stranger to the CNMI as she she once served as a business and economic consultant to the Commonwealth Legislature.
