Penina Tudala

Penina Tudala (born February 17, 1975) is an American academic and politician. She is currently a Professor of Contemporary Politics at Middlebury College, Vermont, and is a candidate for election as the Senator from Vermont.
== Early life and education ==
Tudala was born in the village of Tufana, American Samoa, on February 17, 1975. She is the only child of the brief marriage of Seaman Tamati Tudala, an American national, and Katherine Michaels, a US citizen originally hailing from Nevada, who worked in American Samoa’s tourism sector. Married in January 1975, Michaels died in a car crash in 1977. As Tamati was posted to the mainland United States that year, Penina grew up with her paternal grandparents, who had retired. She is bilingual in English and Samoan as a result of her upbringing.
Penina attended Tafuna High School on American Samoa, and had a passion for the history of her home, a passion that was fostered by her grandfather, a former librarian. She attended the National University of Samoa from 1993 to 1996, and majored in History. She was one of several fortunate Samoan students to be given a scholarship to study abroad, and so completed an MA in Arms Control and International Security at King’s College London from 1996 to 1998.
== Political and academic career ==
She returned to American Samoa that year, and was elected as a Member of the American Samoa House of Representatives from the 8th District, a nonpartisan role. She was re-elected in 2000, and so served two full terms.
In 2002, she was elected as the Delegate to the US House of Representatives from American Samoa, and served one term in Washington, D.C. from 2002 to 2004. While in Washington, she began a PhD at John Hopkins University, with her disseration focused on nonproliferation. She stayed in DC after the end of her term, and finished her PhD in 2006. She moved to Vermont where she became a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in 2006, as well as Lecturer in History at Middlebury College to which the center was attached.
She retained this role, becoming a senior lecturer, before being nominated and confirmed as Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance in 2009. In 2011, she became Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, a role that she held until 2014, when she returned to Middlebury College as a Professor of Contemporary Politics.