About

History

The Pacific Center in Human Security, formerly the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), located at the American Samoa Community College, is a subcontracting program of the Center on Disability Studies (CDS) at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.  In 1993, it was established as part of the Pacific Basin University Affiliated Program, currently known as the Pacific Basin University Center for Excellence (PBUCE), to provide technical assistance to American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.  

The three-year goal of PBUAP was to:

• Establish and maintain governance process;

• Conduct a needs analysis and feasibility study to determine the capacity of each site;

• Build programmatic and fiscal capacity within each site; and

• Develop the core function areas that still exist today.

All 68 UCEDDs across the United States and Territories are funded under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000, also known as the DD Act.  It is through planning and related activities that we are able to ensure the essence of the DD Act to protect the legal and human rights of all individuals with developmental disabilities are addressed in a culturally competent manner.

A copy of the 1992-1993 PBUCE Executive Summary.

Learn more about the DD Act throughout the years.

More information to come about the launching of the Center's new name.