Aisake Casimira
From Pasifika Communities University (19 November 2025)
Pasifika Communities University proudly announces the appointment of Mr. Aisake Casimira as the new (Tapasa) Dean of Strategic Visioning.
A respected Rotuman scholar and leader from Matuea, in the district of Noatau, Rotuma, Mr. Casimira brings more than two decades of distinguished service in theological education, regional leadership, and social transformation across Pasifika. He is married with three children.
Before his appointment, Mr. Casimira served as Director of the Regional Institute for Leadership Development, where he played a key role in cultivating ethical, community-centered leadership for the region. His extensive career includes senior positions such as:
• Director, Institute for Mission and Research, Pacific Theological College (2016–2024)
• Programmes Coordinator, Pacific Conference of Churches (2006–2016)
• Director, Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (2001–2005)
Throughout his career, Mr. Casimira has been a driving force in shaping Pacific-led approaches to leadership, research, theology, and sustainable development. His accomplishments include securing multimillion-dollar funding for capacity-building and ecological research projects, leading institutional reforms across faith-based organizations, and producing major regional publications that redefine Pacific paradigms of knowledge, justice, and resilience.
A prolific writer and editor, Mr. Casimira has co-edited and authored seminal works such as:
• The ‘Whole of Life’ Way: Unburying Vakatabu Philosophies and Theologies for Pasifika Development(2024, with Upolu Vaai)
• reStorying the Pasifika Household(2023, with Upolu Vaai)
• From the Deep: Pasifiki Voices for a New Story(2020, et al)
• Relational Hermeneutics: Decolonising the Mindset and the Pacific Itulagi (2017, with Upolu Vaai)
• A Historical Overview of Ecumenical Formation and Development (co-author with Ms Anna Anisi); Authored the chapters, A Battered Vaka in Swirling Waters: Ecumenism in Tonga; Neither Hot nor Cold in a Changing Climate: Ecumenism in Kiribati; and, Ecumenism in the Pacific Islands - A Stocktaking at the beginning of the 21st Century, in the publication titled Navigating Troubled Waters: Ecumenical Movement in the Pacific Islands Since the 1908s, Pacific Theological College, 2017.
• Citizenship; and Perspectives and Implications in the publication Voices of the People - Perceptions and Preconditions for Democratic Development in Fiji, Pacific Theological College, 2013.
His scholarly contributions and practical leadership continue to influence Pacific thought and policy on governance, theology, and ecological stewardship.
As Dean of Strategic Visioning, Mr. Casimira will provide visionary leadership in articulating and implementing the university’s long-term strategic directions. The office which he now leads will focus on the stewardship and nurture of the university’s ‘whole of life’ vision of education, and its operation philosophy of ‘Vakamareqeti Na I Yau Bula’; embedding Pasifika philosophies in institutional and academic learning, and community education frameworks; strengthening regional partnership and creating innovative regional programmes on leadership and on ‘whole of life’ education, and ethics of care; and ensuring the university’s ethics of care and its vision of ‘whole of life’ education resonate with the collective aspirations and values of Pasifika peoples.
Pasifika Communities University warmly congratulates Mr. Aisake Casimira on his appointment and looks forward to his continued service in shaping a transformative and future-focused vision for Pasifika higher education.