The Center warmly congratulates our colleague and #CPISfriend, Dr. Ponipate Rokolekutu , who has been selected to join the faculty of San Francisco State University (SFSU) as Assistant Professor in the departments of Race & Resistance Studies and Asian American Studies. In addition, he will contribute to the development of the Critical Pacific Studies minor within the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU.
Ponipate is from Vunimono, Tailevu Province, in Fiji. He was educated in Fiji and the US, completing an undergraduate degree at the University of the South Pacific and an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). Prior to starting graduate school, he taught in high schools in Fiji, Tonga and the Marshall Islands. He completed a PhD in Political Science in fall 2017, and his research focusses on post-colonialism and land alienation with an emphasis on the Fiji experience. While working on his PhD, Ponipate lectured for the Department of Political Science at UHM. Most recently, he has been a lecturer in Pacific Islands Studies at CPIS. Congratulations Ponipate, and wishing you the very best at SFSU!