The White Falcon - 10.11.1995, Blaðsíða 4

Tomei new director of Navy Campus
By J02 David W. Crenshaw
The Navy Campus Office recently saw a change of leadership
as Anthony Tomei took over temporarily as director. The for-
mer director, Elise McGuire, departed Iceland to take on
responsibilities at the education center at Naval Station Norfolk,
Va.
“I’m up here for six weeks,” said Tomei, a 46-year-old educa-
tion specialist who calls Virginia Beach, Va., home. He
explained that someone was needed to fill the gapped job while
Civilian Personnel reviewed the applications for the permanent
position. According to Tomei, the temporary fill was critical to
Keflavik’s Education Center because of all the services Navy
Campus provides. “We provide guidance counseling,” he said.
“We have a Discover program that can help a person get into the
world of education and work opportunities. We have catalogs
that list all the colleges in North America. On the base, we have
City Colleges of Chicago, Central Texas College, the University
of Maryland and the University of Oklahoma. We also provide
tuition assistance.”
Tomei explained that perhaps what’s most critical to the Navy
Campus Office are the tests. “Navy Campus is a DANTES
(Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) test
site,” he said, “which means students have the option of taking
college entrance tests or they can earn college credits by exami-
nation. We need to have someone here or the test site probably
would shut down. It’s very difficult to shut one down and then
try to reopen it, so my temporary position definitely helped the
Navy Campus Office.”
Tomei’s most recent assignment before coming to Iceland was
at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., but before that, he was
the director of the Navy Campus Office at Keflavik. “I was up
here from 1991 to 1992,” he said. “ So I’m a little bit familiar
with the base and procedures, of course, with mostly new faces.
I really enjoyed it up here and found that the Keflavik communi-
ty pulls together like no other community has. I liked that aspect
of it, so I’m looking forward to working here.”
Tomei, who holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a mas-
ter’s in human relations, noted that he hoped his tenure would
be more than temporary. “I’ve put my application in to become
permanent.” A
A 25-year veteran of working in and around the Navy, TomeS
started his career on active duty. On the civilian side, he’s ^
worked in training and development, and civilian personnel, but
his education background brought him to Navy Campus. “I’ve
been working with people doing many different things in educa-
tion, so when an opportunity arose to work with Navy Campus, I
applied, and they accepted. It’s very rewarding because I’ve
been wanting to do something I enjoy and they pay you for it. I
enjoy it tremendously.”
Christmas mailing
Have you started your Christmas shopping or holiday greet-
ings cards yet? Though Christmas is still a month and a half
away, mailing deadlines are fast approaching. It’s never too
early to mail your cards and packages to and from military
addresses overseas.
Beat the last-minute rush and mail your items by the follow-
ing suggested dates.
Mail Air letters/ Parcel
addressed to: Cards Priority Airlift
APO/FPO AE
(Zips 090-098) Dec. 4 Dec. 4 Nov. 24
APO/FPO AP (Zips 090-098) Dec. 4 Dec. 4 Nov. 24 ^
APO/FPO AA
(Zips 340) Dec. 5 Dec. 5 Nov. 24
U.S. domestic Dec. 5 Dec. 5 Nov. 24
For deadlines on other destinations, call the NAS Post Office
at ext. 7981.
Iceland’s president steps down
Vigdis Finnbogadottir, the president of
Iceland, has announced that she will not
be a candidate in the presidential election
to be held in the middle of next year. The
president thus brings an end to her fourth
term in office after serving Iceland for 16
years.
The fourth president to take office
since the foundation of the Republic of
Iceland in 1944, Finnbogadottir is also the
first woman to be elected Iceland’s head
of state.
Throughout her career in the country’s
highest public office, Finnbogadottir has
earned her popularity with the people and
gained the trust and respect of the nation.
In addition, she has worked tirelessly as
Iceland’s ambassador on the international
stage. Icelanders have not failed to notice
that their president has always attracted
more than the usual share of attention,
and as a result, the profile of Iceland and
its people has grown among the nations of
the world.
A recent opinion poll showed that a
clear majority of Icelanders wanted
Finnbogadottir to serve as their president
for an additional term. Many Icelanders
were clearly disappointed by her decision
not to stand in the forthcoming election,
although she had indicated she would not
be seeking reelection three years ago.
At a press conference following the
announcement of her decision,
Finnbogadottir said that two issues had
been particularly close to her heart during
her time in office: the cultivation of both
the Icelandic language and the Icelandic
soil.
Both of the issues are ever present in
the minds of Icelanders as they strive to
protect and strengthen their language in a
world of ever increasing and closer com-
munication between nations - and grow-
ing difficulties for relatively small lan-
guage communities in preserving their
cultural heritage.
Cultivating and safeguarding Iceland’s
diverse vegetation is a perennial challenge
for Icelanders and is entwined with their
love of their native country.
Icelanders are of course already specu-
lating on who will become the republic’s
fifth president, and much is expected of
whoever will fill the nation’s higher
office. ^
Courtesy of The Icelandic Reporter
4
The White Falcon