Caption:Dr. Oreta Mapu Togafau will provide the keynote address at the Spring 207 ASCC Graduation Ceremony on Friday, May 18th. Dr. Togafau, who currently serves as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor, also holds the record for the longest continuous membership on the Board of Higher Education. (Photo: J. Kneubuhl)

Born in American Samoa to Siaumau and Moli Tufaga Mapu, Dr. Togafau left the Territory at the tender age of 6 months when her maternal grandparents joined the first wave of the local fitafita guard who left along with the Navy in 1951. While her parents continued their military service in California, Dr. Togafau lived with her grandparents in Laie, Hawaii. “My parents would come to Hawaii to visit each year,” she recalled, “but my grandparents basically raised me like a proper young Mormon girl in Laie, Hawaii.”  She later rejoined her parents, by that time stationed in Louisiana, at age 14.

With her father assigned to duty in Viet Nam, she returned in 1968 along with her mother and siblings to American Samoa, where at age 17 she took her first job with the American Samoa Government as a clerk in the Records Department of the LBJ Hospital. The hospital position only lasted for the summer, after which Dr. Togafau got her first experience in the field of education by serving as an instructor at Samoana High School during the 1968-69 school year. Subsequently receiving an ASG scholarship, she attended Northwestern University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and later completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in 1973. 

Returning to Am Samoa after college, Dr. Togafau took a job with the with the High Court of American Samoa as a Juvenile Commissioner, while at the same time teaching Psychology courses at the ASCC.  A year later, the Governor’s selection committee unanimously chose her as the Territory’s Intern to the Office of Insular Affairs in Washington, D.C. Concluding her internship, she returned home in 1975, and then moved to Hawaii the following year to take a position as Program Administrator for the Samoan School Assistance Program, initiated by the administration of then Governor George Ariyoshi.  This program provided tutoring and counseling services for Samoan students at 14 high schools throughout Oahu.  

In 1977, Dr. Togafau received an award as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America, thanks to a nomination by Governor Ariyoshi himself.  During this period, she also served as a member of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women.  That same year, she married Malaetasi Togafau, who at the time worked as Legal Counsel for American Samoa’s Delegate to Washington, A.P. Lutali, and the newlyweds made their home in the nation’s capitol.
Dr. Togafau continued her career in Washington, first under a short term contract with the Department of the Interior, and next as Staff Assistant to the Territory’s succeeding Congressional Delegate, Fofo Sunia. After three years working for the Congressman, she returned to American Samoa to join her husband, who had run successfully for representative of the Ituau district.  Dr. Togafau returned to ASCC to serve as the first Director of the Upward Bound Program from 1983-1988, after which she joined Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin’s staff when he won the seat in 1989.  Following a long career with Faleomavaega, Dr. Togafau retired in 2005, but continued her public service by accepting an appointment from Governor Togiola Tulafono to her current position as Senior Policy Advisor.

            Even while balancing the responsibilities of raising a family with her professional life, Dr. Togafau sought to further her education, and she received her Masters degree in Mental Health Administration in 1982 from the University of the District of Columbia. While working for Faleomavaega, she concurrently joined the BHE in 1993, and remained on the Board until the Governor revised its membership this year. In the midst of her busy career, she nevertheless found time to complete her Doctor in Public Administration (DPA) degree with Golden Gate University in 2001.  

            Currently in Honolulu to tend to family business, Dr. Togafau relayed via telephone that she looks forward to addressing the graduates at the forthcoming ASCC ceremony. “I won’t give my whole speech away in advance,” she said, “but I will say that it will touch on the themes of volunteerism and public service.” College President Dr. Adele Satele-Galea’i explained that Dr. Togafau’s many years with the BHE give her a unique perspective on issues facing today’s ASCC graduates. “Dr. Togafau has observed the progress of the College for over a decade,” said the President, “and I look forward to her sharing the insights she has gleaned during her long association with us.”  

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