Municipal council lauds humanities awardees

The 8th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council adopted a series of resolutions commending the 2004 Governor’s Humanities awardees.

The awardees, which were given out by the NMI Council for the Humanities, were Dr. Dirk Spennemann, Noel B. Quitugua, Lino Olopai, Howard Willens, Deanne Siemer, and Pacific STAR Center.

The resolutions stated that Spennemann, who is an associate professor in cultural resource management at Charles Sturt University in Australia, had had a longstanding commitment to promote the humanities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Quitugua, on the other hand, was commended for his longtime work in studying Chamorro history and culture. “His knowledge of ancient history and his artistic abilities, have allowed Quitugua to replicate tools and other material culture used in ancient times.” Quitugua is a humanities teacher and is now serving as the exhibits curator at the NMI Museum of History and Culture.

Olopai, for his part, was honored for preserving traditional and cultural practices. Like Quitugua, he is also longtime student of history and culture, albeit of the Carolinian line.

“Over the years, he has been a strong advocate of reviving and using traditional cultural practices as a means of effectively dealing with the challenges of the modern world,” the municipal council said.

Willens and Seimer, who share a lifetime of achievements in the humanities, have made significant contributions to the discipline in the Commonwealth over the past three decades, the municipal council noted.

Willens first became involved with the Northern Mariana Islands in 1972 when he was retained to represent the Marianas Political Status Commission in negotiations with the United States regarding their future political status.

Following the status negotiations, he served as counsel to the first and third constitutional conventions. Seimer also served as counsel to the first and third constitutional conventions. In the 1980s, Willens and Seimer began research that culminated in two scholarly works entitled National Security and Self-Determination: United States Policy in Micronesia (1961-1972) and an honorable accord: The Covenant between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States.

Pacific STAR Center was formed to nurture the minds of young writers. It preserves CNMI history and recently oversaw the completion of a project that had students collect oral accounts from the elderly relatives about their experiences during World War II.

The municipal council resolutions stated that its members and the people of the CNMI are extremely proud of the work of these individuals in the field of humanities and extend to them a special recognition, congratulation, and commendation for a job well done.

The resolutions were certified by chairman Gregorio V. Deleon Guerrero and vice chairman David A. Indalecio and were attested by secretary Antonia M. Tudela.