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Dr. Marsha Diane Akau Wellein is an American author and has been a professional educator since 1969 - teaching many grades, subjects, types of students K - 12, undergraduate, graduate, school principal, curriculum specialist, children's book author, grants writer, test administrator. Dr. Wellein has experience and great skills in working with military personnel and their family members, from the very basic skills programs (reading, writing and arithmetic), technical programs, distance learning, managing learning centers to coordinating college programs from the associate degree level all the way through doctoral programs.

Biography
In 1983, she began working full-time for the Department of the Army at Fort Shafter, and Schofield Barracks, HI, and subsequently accepted positions at active-duty Army Education Centers in Germany, Egypt, Hawai’i, Panama, Honduras, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, and then returned to Fort Shafter, Hawai’i. In between these 25+ years overseas. Dr. Wellein has trained and worked at over 39 countries, temporarily or full-time.

Early life
When Marsha Wellein decided in the mid-1980s to accept an offer to work overseas in her capacity as a U.S. Department of Defense Civilian in Army Education Services at Larson Barracks, itself located within a very small U.S. Army garrison in the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) in the West German town of Wurzburg, she had absolutely no realization at the time that this innocuous one-time assignment was to be the first step in what would eventually form a substantial block of time comprising multiple back-to-back permanent change of station (PCS) assignments across a broad swath of the world. After a posting in Germany, Dr. Wellein accepted a tour to Egypt, and three years later, returned to Hawaii. Then it was off to Panama and Honduras for a couple of years, back to Hawaii, then onward to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia following the end of the war. Japan and then South Korea were next. The Army promoted her to Director of Education and Library Services for US Southern Command in Puerto Rico, responsible for 24 military groups in South & Central America and part of Florida. In 2001, as the Army Reserve Regional Director of Education for Pacific & Asia, Dr. Wellein cared for Army Reservists from Alaska, the islands of Hawaii, to Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, & Asia. Education is in her blood, so she earned a doctorate in 2010, and then when she finally retired from DOD in late 2012, she returned to her first love, teaching. She offers compelling ideas, Pearls of Wisdom to teachers, administrators, actually anyone interested in improving education in America.

Marriage and children
After graduating from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Dr. Marsha began a Masters in Audiology, but stopped to start a family. She got married to her beloved Daniel Navarro Atoigue, born in Sinajana, U.S. Territory of Guam who passed away on February 23, 2021. Marsha has 3 children; Geoffrey Michael Wellein, Nicholas Patrick Wellein, and Daniet Hokule’a Naomi Atoigue. She also has 4 grandchildren; Max Andrew, Stephen Daniel Wellein, Daniel Kekaimalu and Naomi Kauhiwai Legaspi.

Philosophical views
Her philosophy is that anyone who does anything worthwhile will make a mistake hence we should expect mistakes. She usually says, "A person who never makes any mistakes usually is not doing anything and the goal is not to make the same mistake, repeatedly".

Published works
Education Essays from My Perspective: 50 Years as a Professional Educator Offering Pearls of Wisdom for Your Journey, Book 1, January 2021, author, by MD Wellein, Inc., available from Amazon.com in softcover and eBook Kindle format.

Factors Associated with Army Reservists Using Educational Programs and Services at 9th Mission Support Command, a doctoral dissertation published in 2010, Hawaii (Available free from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database; UMI No. 3429228).

Duellberg, D. J., & Wellein, M. D., March 18, 2011, Innovation in Learning Communities, a Collaboration of U.S. Coast Guard and U. S. Army Reserve Education Programs and Services, De Quarterly, DEHub Journal, No. 7, autumn 11, ODLAA Education Summit: Global Challenges and Perspectives of Blended and Distance Education, Sydney, Australia.

Biographical Entry in Remembering Those Who Have Made a Difference in United States Military Voluntary Education, 2006, by Dr. Clinton L. Andy Anderson, Department of Defense & Servicemembers Opportunities Colleges, Washington D.C.

Contracts Writer, U.S. Army Fort Shafter for 9th Mission Support Command, Honolulu, HI, as part of the duties as Army Reserve Regional Director of Education, Pacific & Asia, for Non-Personal Services Contracts (2004-2008) at the Education Services Office; serving also as Installation Technical Representative, Quality Control, and Contract Officer Representative.

The Military Educator, a professional Newsletter of the AAACE Armed Services Continuing Education Unit & later, Commission on Military Education and Training. (Clinton L. Andy Anderson, Editor.) Author, Be All You Can Be, The True Meaning of Adult Education: Vol. 4, No. 3: Sept 1996, The James Eddie Thompson Story. Vol 5, No. 1: Dec 1996 The PV2 Anthony Gilbert Story. Vol. 12, No. 2: Aug 2004, The Steven Hebrank Story. Vol 13, No. 2: July 2005, The Scott Martin Story.

Kalihi Kids Can Communicate, Editor, a Language Arts Resource Book for educators, published in 1976, Honolulu, Hawaii; Trude M. Akau is author.

The Endless Summer – An Adventure Story of Guam, author, a hardback children’s chapter book, published in 1976, New York.

Day Care Centers on Guam, author, an extensive 1973 study, available at University of Guam Library System, Richard Flores Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC), Guam.

Recognition
If you know what Dr. Wellein has actually accomplished - not talked about - but initiated and completed, you might understand the reason for her writing this Book 2 for you. She has seen it. She has done it, with all the difficult, snarly, unspeakable obstacles facing her, and now, she wants to share with you what she has learned. You will be delighted when you read about Dr. Wellein’s experiences as she explains different theories on three major areas in real-life terms: Multiculturalism, Prejudice, Racism, and Lies, then Change is the Only Constant, and finally Adult and Higher Education: Life’s Challenges. When she made mistakes, she tells you why, so YOU can avoid the pitfalls. Her philosophy: if you do not make any mistakes, it means you are not doing anything! Just try not to make the same mistakes, the next time! Do You Know that Dr. Wellein was the FIRST


 * Female teacher at Hawaii Job Corps to work there for over 2 years.
 * Master’s Degree in Reading Education Candidate at the Univ. of Guam who brought in her own IBM Wheel Writer typewriter, typed 36 pages, single spaced, in one day for the Written Exam, doing so brilliantly that Dr. Donald Kenneth Maas, her professor waived the Oral Exams.
 * Mother with her youngest son of 5, to ride their own horses in Guam’s Liberation Day Parade, bedecked with hundreds of flowers, wreathes, and flowing silks, representing the village of Sinajana, U.S. Territory, Guam. She taught for the Dept. of Education and University of Guam for over eight years.

Dr. Wellein was the FIRST Education Services Officer, U.S. Army


 * in Sinai, Egypt, under the U.S. State Department, Multinational Forces & Observers, (an international military force that monitors the decades-old IsraeliEgyptian peace accord) who renovated a kindergarten building to that of a fully functioning education center. She brought in trailers, outfitted them with computers & printers, offered Head-Start language courses in Spanish, French, Arabic to several thousand active-duty military on base from 11 countries. She developed a college program bringing in professors from Germany on Military Air Command (MAC) flights to teach University of Maryland & Big Bend Community College courses, open to all, at North Camp, El Gorah, Sinai, Egypt. Please
 * in Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Central America, (flying in every 6 weeks from Panama), to establish a series of permanent Spanish Survival language courses, hire a permanent test examiner, and make that center fully operational, with Central Texas College courses (with an on-site permanent instructor).
 * in Panama, Central America, following Operation Just Cause, at Fort Kobbe Education Center who instituted day time college courses, based on company commanders’ requests. Military members especially loved the lunch-time and late afternoon specials!
 * in Camp Doha, Kuwait, Middle East, (following Desert Storm/Desert Shield) to establish a series of computer courses by flying in professors from Germany on C-5 cargo planes loaded with computer equipment. She orchestrated a fully wired room for these University of Maryland classes, inviting personnel from all services to enroll. And they did!
 * in Camp Zama, Japan, to create a unique telephone – facsimile tuition assistance request procedure, reducing hours that soldiers spent waiting in line to register for courses, to just minutes.
 * in Puerto Rico, for U.S. Army Southern Command, after that major command transitioned from Panama to Puerto Rico, taking charge of Army military personnel testing in 24 nations: South and Central America, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and part of Florida. She was the first to bring in bachelors and master’s degree programs to Fort Buchanan, and expand the associate degree programs as well.

Returning to America in 2001, Dr. Wellein transitioned from Active-Duty Army education to the Army Reserve education, where she was the: FIRST Education Services Officer, U.S. Army Reserve
 * to authorize 200K of tuition assistance (TA) to reservists in Pacific and Asia in the first year (2001), and over 1 million dollars a decade later. She attended numerous college graduations (invited by soldiers) who told her, “If it wasn’t for YOU, I never would have gotten my degree!”
 * to provide information by facsimile, telephone, e-mail, and in person about college programs, testing, scholarships/grants to reservists and family members throughout Pacific and Asian: Alaska, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Japan, Korea.
 * to purchase over 70 computers, 12 printers and 25 webcams with microphones and cameras for reserve centers in a special, unique outreach initiative allowing family members and military to communicate when military personnel trained for or served in war zones. She paid the annual Internet charges from her budget!
 * to organize joint services (Coast Guard and Army Reserve) education fairs in Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan with counselors, military personnel, and colleges’ representatives from the U.S. mainland, Veterans Affairs, ROTC, and additional local schools and agencies.
 * to establish a Veterans Affairs Work Study Program at Ft Shafter, Honolulu, with VA paying participants while attending school.
 * to establish a Basic Skills program in partnership with Hawaii State Dept. of Education paying for certified instructors and the Army Reserve providing classroom and supplies.
 * to win the ‘Federal Program Manager of the Year – U.S. Pacific’ in HI, representing 9th Mission Support Command, HI, and U.S. Army Pacific levels; the Unsung Hero Award, Headquarters, Department of the Army, Wash., DC; the Education Services Officer of the Year (worldwide) by Army Reserve Headquarters, MO.
 * to present (with Coast Guard Education Officer, Dr. Donna Duellberg) in worldwide competition in Sydney, Australia at the DEHub (Innovations in Distance Learning), a prestigious international symposium: The Education Summit 2011-2021, Global Challenges and Perspectives on Blended and Distance Learning. Dr. Wellein and Dr. Duellberg also wrote ‘Innovation in Learning Communities, a Collaboration of U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Reserve Education Programs and Services,’ a professional journal article in the DEQuarterly DEHub Journal, funded by the Australian Government Dept. of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
 * to initiate hosting 18 college counselors weekly (Army Reserve and Coast Guard education offices on their respective bases) to meet with interested, perspective students.

Dr. Wellein recently received the 2021 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, featured in the Lifetime Achievement section of Who’s Who in America for more than 20 years of excellence in education. She was also recognized as a member of the prestigious International Society of Female Professionals, including those from 75 countries. Other accomplishments are too long to list here. She is supremely qualified to talk about educational issues in the military and civilian arena, as someone who has been there, done that, and asked the hard questions!