Vision
Pacific FocusED envisions a world in which indigenous peoples are able to practice their cultures and languages proudly, locally and globally.
Mission
Pacific FocusED’s mission is to advance indigenous Pacific Island education, values, and languages locally and in a global environment.
History
Pacific FocusEd, short for Pacific Focus Education was founded in 2013 by Dr. Vidalino Raatior and deepened by Dr. Natalie Nimmer and Dr. Mary Hattori. Itʻs as a way to centralize their Pacific-focused consulting experiences & research interest into a portal to support needs in Hawaii and the Pacific region. They all earned their Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degrees from the College of Education at UH Manoa. Contact us if you wish to contract any or all of us to work with you.
About Us
CONTACT
Company: Raatior Ventures
Website: www.raatior.com
Email: vidraatior@gmail.com
Phone: 831.200.4265
BIO
Dr. Vidalino “Vid” Raatior is a Chuukese Micronesian international educator, social entrepreneur, and community organizer living in Northern California. Belonging to the Pwaraka and Alengeitaw clans of Chuuk, FSM, Dr. Raatior has been working in higher education in the US for over 20 years. Currently, he works at the College of Professional & Global Education at San Jose State University coordinating study abroad & bilateral international exchange with partner universities in Asia and the Pacific. Previously, he served as Director of the Pacific Islander Student Center (PISC) and the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institute (AANAPISI) Project at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He also worked for 10 years at Santa Clara University in California as the Assistant Director of International Programs and as Associate Director of the Center for Multicultural Learning. Vid began his career in education as a teacher and later as Assistant Director at Xavier High School in Chuuk, FSM.
Dr. Raatior has been an advocate for Pacific Islander empowerment in the United States. He founded the Pacific Leadership Assistance Network (PLAN), Pacific FocusEd, Raatior Consulting, and co-founded the We Are Oceania (WAO), the Dr. Joakim Peter Memorial Scholarship, the COFA – Community Leadership & Advocacy Network (COFA-CLAN), the Navigating Success and other initiatives aimed at advancing educational and social equity for the Pacific Islander diaspora in the United States.
Dr. Raatior is originally from the Northwest region of Chuuk State in the FSM where he attended public schools before coming to the US for college. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Guam, a Masters degree in school administration from the University of San Francisco, and a Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degree from the College of Education at University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Vid and his wife Desha live in Northern California with their two children, Keala Naihangiluk (16) and Keoni Rahutow (12). For more info, visit: www.vid.raatior.com/about
CONTACT
Company: Pacific Relevance Consulting
Website: www.pacificrelevance.com
Email: natalie@pacificrelevance.com
Phone:
BIO
Dr. Natalie Nimmer has spent her career working in foundations, nonprofits, and schools. From teaching and serving as a principal in public and private schools in the Marshall Islands to consulting with Hawaiian-focused charter schools, Natalie strives to find ways to improve educational opportunities for students across Oceania. Natalie earned her EdD in Professional Educational Practice from the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa in July 2017, with a dissertation entitled Documenting a Marshallese Indigenous Learning Framework. She founded Pacific Relevance Consulting in 2012.
CONTACT
Company: East-West Center
Website: www.maryhattori.wordpress.com
Email: maryhattori@gmail.com
Phone: (808) 739-8530
BIO
Dr. Mary Therese Perez Hattori is the Director of the Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP) and formerly Program Specialist at the East-West Center. Previously, she worked as director of Chaminade University’s Center for Teaching and Learning and as Outreach Director for UH Manoa’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies with responsibility for all aspects of outreach, including organizing events and conferences, editing Pacific News from Mānoa,expanding the center’s digital outreach, and helping administer the CPIS National Resource Center (NRC) grant. She holds a B.Ed. and Professional Diploma in Secondary Social Studies with a concentration in Pacific Islands History, an M.Ed. in Educational Technology, and an Ed.D. in Professional Educational Practice from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her academic interests include culturally responsive education and leadership, leadership development, and indigenous research methodologies. Her dissertation examines culturally responsive educational technology practices.
Dr. Hattori also serves as a lecturer for the Learning Design and Technology Department and the Educational Doctorate in Professional Educational Practice of the College of Education, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, teaching topics such as distance learning course design, indigenous research methodologies, digital leadership, and digital wisdom. Prior to coming to CPIS, she was Coordinator for the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology at Kapi’olani Community College, where she was responsible for coordination and management of campus technology and taught educational technology courses in the preservice education program.
She is also passionate about leadership development, especially for Pacific Islanders, and has participated in a number of programs, including the UH System’s President’s Emerging Leaders Program, the UH Community Colleges’ Wo Learning Champions Program, and the Pacific American Foundation’s National Pacific American Leadership Institute. She is involved in community service, professional development, and outreach activities for a number of organizations, including local high schools, colleges, and universities, as well as private sector and not-for-profit groups.
A native of Guåhan (Guam), she is one of nine children of Paul Mitsuo Hattori and Fermina Leon Guerrero Perez Hattori (familian Titang) and resides on O’ahu.