Humanities Scholar

Nicholas J. Goetzfridt holds a Ph.D. and an M.L.S. in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. and B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Minnesota, respectively.

Goetzfridt is currently a professor of library science and Micronesian studies at the University of Guam and serves as Guampedia’s humanities scholar.

His book on Pacific ethnomathematics has been published by University of Hawai’i Press, while his books dealing with indigenous navigation and voyaging, indigenous Pacific literature, and Micronesian historical interpretations have been published with Greenwood Press. He has also published various chapters and articles on information issues in Pacific communal and epistemological contexts and Pacific library history.

Under the leadership of Jillette Leon-Guerrero, former executive director of the Guam Humanities Council, Goetzfridt helped initiate and develop the Guampedia project beginning in 2001 when he wrote a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. He served for several years as Guampedia’s editor-in-chief and also served for eight years on the board of directors for the Guam Humanities Council, including two years as chair.

He is currently working on an extensive bibliographic description of Guam’s historical heritage and regularly paddles outrigger canoes. Goetzfridt is the recipient of the 2008 University of Guam research award.