The community college now known as the College of the Marshall Islands came into official existence when the Board of Regents of the Community College of Micronesia issued its charter on October 10, 1989, designating it as the College of Micronesia- Majuro. Less than two years later, in January 1991, it was given its present name and accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. In April 1993, CMI became an independent entity with its own Board of Regents and was chartered through the College of the Marshall Islands Act 1992 to be the “post-secondary education agency to serve the needs of the Republic.”
As an institution, CMI can trace its origins to several earlier programs. The oldest of these was a school of nursing established by the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Begun on Moen Island in Chuuk in 1953, it was later moved to Pohnpei, then to Palau, then to Saipan in the Northern Marianas, and finally, in 1986, to Majuro. This School of Nursing was affiliated with the University of Guam in 1972 to confer the Associate of Science degree in Nursing. In 1975, the Trust Territory Department of Public Health assigned responsibility for the school to the Community College of Micronesia under the Trust Territory Department of Education. Responsibility was then shifted to the Board of Regents of the College of Micronesia in 1978.
The origins of elementary education courses at CMI can be traced to the Micronesia Teacher Education Center opened in 1963 on Pohnpei for in-service instruction. This center soon established a branch on Majuro, known as the Marshall Islands Teacher Education Center. In 1970 the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory issued a directive making the educational centers into the Community College of Micronesia (CCM). Majuro’s program then became an extension of CCM, offering pre-service elementary teacher education. Three years later it added a Curriculum, Learning, and Training Center, which awarded graduates a two-year degree in education. The dual focus of this Center was on teacher education and curriculum development. Curriculum development covered most elementary subjects and was tested in Majuro’s Rita Elementary School. In 1990 the program, now called the Continuing Education Center, ceased to be an extension of the Community College of Micronesia and was renamed the CMI Division of Instructional Services.
A third component dates from 1981, when the Community College of Micronesia, based in Pohnpei, now CMI, was awarded U.S. Land Grant status. It began operations on Majuro in 1983, offering noncredit courses in agriculture and home economics, among others, and it continues to do so. By 1987, all three programs — nursing, education, and the Land Grant extension — were housed together in Majuro on the present College campus. In 1988, they were integrated under a single administrator by directive of the College of Micronesia Board of Regents. In 1989, they were combined to constitute the College of Micronesia-Majuro, which became independent in April 1993 as the College of the Marshall Islands.
In 2006, the College entered a phase of rapid improvement in facilities, including the opening of new residence hall facilities (2007) and Tolemour Hall — a new Math, Science and Nursing Building with a state-of-the-art Simulation Nursing Laboratory (2008). Since then, the College built a new energy building housed in the Physical Plant. Another classroom building, Wapepe Hall was added in 2009. The inside of Rebellip and deBrum Halls were completed in 2010. The new Administration Building which houses the Office of the President, the Board of Regents Conference Room, Financial Affairs and Business Services, as well as Human Resources was completed in 2011. The College Center, which contains the Library, Special Collections, Nuclear Institute, and Instructional Technology upstairs and GED, Academic Affairs and Student Services downstairs was completed in late 2012. The new Students Center was completed in Fall Semester of 2016. The Jaluit center began offering college classes and services to the Jaluit community in Fall of 2017. In summer 2018, the Arrak CMI Library was completed and opened for service to the Arrak students and the Laura and Ajeltake communities. Apart from the Ebeye center going through its ABE and Academic diploma graduates, Jaluit for the first time saw its first graduates at the May graduation.
The Motto of the College of the Marshall Islands
According to a Marshallese proverb Jitdam̗ Kapeel means, “Seeking knowledge guarantees wisdom”.
Jitdam̗ means to question. Traditionally it refers to the young people asking their elders about their lineage. The road to knowledge begins with questions that arise within a culture. The beginning of an answer comes from these queries. Questions about our origins are the most basic of all questions. The answer begins to tell our story- who we are, how we fit into the scheme of things, and where we are going. From it, we sense our meaning; know our identity; and shape our values, religion, law, economy, and society.
Kapeel means skillful. It refers not only to manual skills but skills of the intellect and of the heart as well. Educated people are those who have honed the critical skills of analysis and judgment, and who have become proficient and creative in the skills of craft. Their creative expressions, whether in the sciences or the arts, are informed by values which emanate from the story of who they are, where they are from, and where they are going.
