along with Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II. Both Efi and Va'aletoa served as temporary acting heads of state (O le Ao o le Malo) following the death of Malietoa Tanumafili II in May 2007. Head of State - "O le Ao Mamalu o le Malo." On 11 May 2007, following the death of Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoa's head of state since independence in 1962, Tupua became one of the two acting heads of state alongside Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aleto'a Sualauvi II. Tupua was elected Head of state on 16 June 2007. His was the only nomination put forth in Samoa's Fono (parliament) and thus the decision was unanimous. His election was welcomed by many Samoans both in Samoa and abroad. He was sworn into office on 20 June 2007. He was re-elected in July 2012 by a majority vote of the Legislative Assembly. However, he was not re-appointed as of 20 July 2017 after a controversial move by the Prime Minister which saw a legislative assembly vote of 23 to 15. This was after an initial vote that was taken, which saw the Tama-a-'āiga gain the majority of support from the ruling HRPP caucus. This was seen as but a mere formality and that Tui Ātua would again be elected to office to serve as Head of State. However, owing to decades of tension with the then Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, Tui Ātua was instead replaced in a backroom vote by another Tama-a-'āiga, Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aleto'a Sualauvi II. Academia Tupua held a number of academic positions during and after his political career as an MP and Prime Minister. Tupua served as an adjunct professor for Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi in New Zealand. He later became an Associate Member of the Matahauariki Institute at Waikato University. He was a PhD examiner at Australian National University in Canberra for Pacific and Samoan history. Tupua was a resident scholar of the Pacific Studies Centre of the Australian National University and the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Tupua helped to begin excavations at Samoa's important Pulemelei Mound archaeological site. Samoans, under Tupua Tamasese, carried out a ceremony to honour Thor Heyerdahl for his contributions to Polynesia and the Pulemelei Mound excavations in 2003. In late 2007 Tupua established an overseas boarding school scholarship to St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, which allows one student per year to live and be