The University of Guam Press will launch the inaugural issue of the Undergraduate Research Journal of Micronesia this week. Every year, undergraduate students throughout Micronesia engage in integral research that helps them gain a deeper understanding of the unique issues faced in our region. However, they are rarely afforded opportunities to share their valuable research with their community. Thus, the Undergraduate Research Journal of Micronesia was created to provide an academic space for undergraduate research and writing.

UOG Press and the Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) will host the launch of the academic online journal on Thursday, May 4, 2017 from 4 to 5 p.m., at the UOG Jesus and Eugenia Leon Guerrero  Business and Public Administration IT&E Lecture Hall (Room 131). The journal’s editor, Kisha Borja-Quichocho-Calvo, will provide introductory remarks and briefly discuss the journey behind the publication, as well as provide an overview of the journal’s contents. Launch attendees will also have the opportunity to meet some of the students, whose work is published in the journal and the journal’s UOG faculty review board, which includes Dr. Lisa Linda Natividad, Dr. Yoshito Kawabata, and Professor Teresita Perez.

“There are no academic journals in Micronesia which publish the academic work of only undergraduate students, which means that our undergraduate students have little-to-no regional publishing opportunities for their term papers and capstone papers,” said Borja-Quichocho-Calvo, who is also the MARC Publications editor. “Students invest so much time and energy into researching and writing papers, and when they’re finished, they usually just wait for a grade, but don’t really think that they can do anything else with their papers, like publish them. We hope that the journal will continue to grow and that more undergraduate students from our region will submit their academic papers for publication, and that post-secondary faculty will continue to encourage our students to publish.”

As this is the first issue of the journal, one of the main goals of UOG Press is to continue to maintain the publication. This includes growing and fostering a research community at the post-secondary level, beginning with undergraduate students. “At some point, we also anticipate including academic writing from undergraduates at our local and regional community college institutions,” Borja-Quichocho-Calvo added.      

The first issue of The Undergraduate Research Journal of Micronesia features five articles, written by current and recently graduated undergraduate students. Each article relates to a local-regional topic or issue.

The Undergraduate Research Journal of Micronesia is an online publication and will be available, free of charge, at the UOG Press website (www.uog.edu/uogpress) following the launch.

Volume 1 of the Undergraduate Research Journal of Micronesia features the following articles:

1.     “Addressing American Empire in the Pacific: Chamorro-American Identity and Filipino Settler Colonialism in 20th Century Guam” by Kristin Oberiano

2.     “Birds of a Feather Laugh Together: A Correlational Study between Humor and Intercultural Sensitivity” by Maimia G. Orino

3.     “Navigating the Seas: The Canoes of Yap” by Rico Roldan

4.     “No Trust, No Us: Online and Offline Civic Engagement among Millennials in Guam” by Ashley Q. Sablan

5.     “Thinking beyond the Box: The Need for Cognition as a Link between Intercultural Sensitivity and Cognitive Flexibility” by Archie C. Matta Jr.

For more information, please contact UOG Press Managing Editor Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero at (671)735-2154 orvictorialola@triton.uog.edu.