College of Micronesia-FSM president calls on college to ‘choose to be great’

  PAIKIR, Pohnpei-Dr. Joseph Daisy, in a ceremony witnessed Tuesday by many of the senior leaders of the Federated States of Micronesia, became the fifth president of the College of Micronesia-FSM. At his investiture ceremony in Pohnpei on the national campus of COM-FSM, Daisy said the college will recommit itself to its and the nation’s core values and reach for greatness.

“This important journey upon which we now embark will be perpetual. On this journey, let us confront our challenges and in all things, let us create our future. In all things, let us aspire. In all things, let us dream. In all things, let us choose. And in choosing, let us not choose just to be good, rather in all things let us choose to be great,” Daisy told an estimated 600 people gathered at the college’s FSM-China Friendship Sports Center.

Daisy, a native of Boston, Massachusetts who most recently was executive vice president at the private Cambridge College in the United States, has been an educator for 34 years. He also has significant experience as a senior staff member for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., a major regional academic accrediting agency. Daisy’s dissertation for his doctorate in education degree was on the positive impact of accreditation on student learning.

The new college president used his investiture address as a rallying call to develop a broad, system-wide understanding of the value of accreditation at the college.

“We should fully and completely embrace accreditation as a framework for ongoing self assessment and improvement. Affirmation from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges independently and objectively demonstrates that we not only meet high standards and provide quality higher education for our students, but that we continuously strive to become better,” he said.

He emphasized that by developing a culture of self-assessment and continuous improvement, COM-FSM would better serve its students and the nation. “We must continue to strengthen the college’s culture of assessment and accountability. We have a responsibility to internal and external stakeholders to demonstrate that we are successful; that we are making progress and are improving; and, that our students are learning and are successful. So let us actively engage as an institution in a continuous process of inquiry, reflection and self-assessment.”

In his first formal address to the College of Micronesia community, Daisy acknowledged that there are many challenges facing the institution. But he also offered a path forward that, if followed, would lead College of Micronesia to a successful future.

“From accreditation, finances, communication, college readiness by students, geographic expanse, persistence to graduation; the challenges are many, the challenges are significant, the challenges are daunting, yet the challenges are not insurmountable,” said the president.

“These challenges, large and small, known and yet to be known, immediate and emerging are critical to our building a secure future. Successfully confronting them will require the very best of each of us working together to marshal all of our, individual and collective intellectual and human capital and resources. Only together, and by that I mean everyone gathered here today, and members of our community dispersed across the country, will we be successful,” said Dr. Daisy.

The president told the large crowd that he knew, first hand, the importance and power of earning a college degree. He said the experience changes lives for the better, and strengthens communities and the nation.

“As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I have experienced first-hand the life transforming and empowering impact of a college education. Education has the power to change lives exponentially. The impact of THIS college reaches not only to the students we serve, but to their families, to their communities, and to the country,” he said.

Dr. Daisy assured the audience that he also understood the unique role College of Micronesia-FSM plays in the Federated States of Micronesia. It has an important and unique mission, Dr. Daisy noted.

“The core idea that forms the Federated States of Micronesia is that islanders of different cultures, languages and traditions can find common ground. This nation is founded on the belief that its citizens can ensure a better future for themselves and their children by working together across linguistic and cultural divides,” Dr. Daisy said. “Let us be mindful then, that the things that bind us together are far stronger than the things that divide us. This college binds us together.”

Dr. Daisy earned his B.A. and M.Ed. from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. and his Ed.D. from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, FL. During his long career in education, he has served as a teacher, school principal, and college administrator. He also was a senior staff member on the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc., the academic accrediting body that oversees schools, colleges and universities in the northeast of the United States. Dr. Daisy was selected to be the president of the College of Micronesia-FSM following an international search for a replacement for President Spensin James, who stepped down in 2011.