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NMI’s first coordinator for higher education visits NMC
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Posted on Jan 06 2012
By Moneth Deposa
Reporter
Reporter
The Commonwealth’s first ever coordinator for higher education, Kit Van Meter, paid a visit to the Northern Marianas College on Tuesday-29 years after she left the institution.
Meter, who played an important role in the creation of the college, was designated in March 1978 as the first coordinator for higher education, less than a year after NMC was founded in August 1976 through a proclamation.
In an interview with Saipan Tribune, Van Meter said she is overwhelmed by the amount of growth she has seen at the college.
“I had a wonderful day! It’s been a long time since I’ve been back.and I am overwhelmed to see all the growth at NMC,” she said.
Van Meter said she was overjoyed to learn that, from just nine employees during the maiden years of the community college, NMC now has about 130 staff and personnel.
She toured the college’s cafeteria, bookstore, student center, and various laboratories on campus. “We didn’t have those things at all. It was quite exciting and a bit overwhelming,” she said.
Van Meter was welcomed by faculty, staff, and some guests, including former NMC presidents Jack Sablan and Agnes McPhetres. A special reception was accorded her throughout the almost four-hour tour of the campus Tuesday.
Saipan Tribune learned that Van Meter is on island for a friend’s wedding and her daughter took the opportunity to contact college officials to give her mother a tour of the campus.
Now semi-retired and doing consultancy work, Van Meter last visited the island in 1983. She lived on Rota from 1967 to 1969 and worked for the Public School System’s bilingual program in 1975.
Van Meter said that NMC, by virtue of an executive order, was established in March 1981, offering limited courses and services. It was in January 1983, however, by virtue of a bill that NMC was formally established and earned the institution its candidacy to the accreditation commission.
NMC saw its first group of graduates in August 1982, with 17 associate degree holders and eight with bachelor’s degrees from the University of Guam where NMC had a partnership then.
