Chancellor Irwin (center) meets with student fundraisers on Sept. 16, 2024, at the Student Calling Center in Honolulu. (Photo by Ty Yamaguchi/UH Foundation)
This message was sent to UH Hilo faculty and staff via eblast on Sept. 18, 2024.
Aloha kākou,
We are excited to announce that the UH Foundation Fundraising Calling Drive is currently in progress.
After spending time with the student fundraisers, I was impressed by the students’ enthusiasm and interest in UH Hilo. It’s clear that their dedication and enthusiasm will make a meaningful impact. They will represent our campus well with donors and alumni.
If you receive inquiries regarding the nature of these calls, please know that they typically begin with a brief update on contact information before transitioning into the fundraising appeal.
Should you have any questions or need further clarification, please feel free to reach out.
Mahalo for the many ways you support our university, our community, and especially our students,
Chancellor Bonnie Irwin (left) at the Sept. 6 “Kuleana and Community Weekly Talk Story” featuring Gerald DeMello (right), former director of UH Hilo’s university relations and external affairs now retired, who talked about his advocacy for showcasing Hawaiʻi history via plaques, wall murals, and walking tours in Hilo and the former plantation town of Honokaʻa. (Courtesy photo)
The Office of the Chancellor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is co-sponsoring a series of weekly gatherings where students, faculty, staff, university retirees, and members of the local community get together in a safe and welcoming environment to share their thoughts around a common topic.
Colby Miyose
The goal of the series, named Kuleana and Community Weekly Talk Story: Building Community Through Conversation, is to strengthen the university’s connections to the local community through conversation. Topics cover Maunakea stewardship, mental health, better communication, houselessness in Hawaiʻi, entrepreneurship, and more. Following a short talk by a featured guest, attendees break out into discussion groups and then share their manaʻo with everyone.
The program launched Aug. 30 with Assistant Professor of Communication Colby Miyose, a co-organizer of the weekly events, who shared his thoughts on “Communicating with Empathy.”
On Friday, the second of the series featured Gerald DeMello, former director of UH Hilo’s university relations and external affairs now retired, who talked about his advocacy for showcasing Hawaiʻi history via plaques, wall murals, and walking tours in Hilo and the former plantation town of Honokaʻa.
Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin
“The topic of preserving our local history was something every person in the audience could relate to,” says Chancellor Bonnie Irwin who attended the event. “Gerald DeMello is such an engaging speaker and deeply committed to preserving our local history.”
Schedule of upcoming talk-story events
The talk story events take place on Fridays, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the Kilohana Academic Success Center, which is located on the first floor of Edwin Mookini Library. All members of the university community and the general public are invited. Light refreshments are served.
Upcoming talk story events this fall through November 15:
Sept. 13: Charmaine Higa, “Small Shoulders, Big Worries: Understanding Childhood Anxiety in a Post-Pandemic World”
Sept. 20: Randy Kurohara, “Our Responsibility for Health”
Sept. 27: Clifton Sankofa, “Reclaiming Health Through Food”
Oct. 4: Kaleo Pilago, Maunakea Stewardship
Oct. 11: Beverly Tese, Prizma Hawaiʻi LGBTQ Center
Oct. 18: Carla Kuo, Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce
Oct. 25: Brandee Menino, Hope Services
Nov. 1: Mike Miyahira, UH Regent and business owner
Nov. 8: Julie Mitchell, Kuikahi Mediation Center
Nov. 15: Sue Lee Loy, Hawaiʻi County Council Member
Sponsors
Carolina Lam
The Kuleana and Community Weekly Talk Story events are sponsored by the UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor, Kīpuka Native Hawaiian Student Center, Kilohana Academic Success Center, Center for Global Education and Exchange, with support from Assistant Professor of Communication Colby Miyose and Associate Professor of Sociology Alton Okinaka.
“This series is about more than just conversation, it’s about building relationships and expanding our understanding of the world,” says Carolina Lam from the Center for Global Education and Exchange. “Through these talks, we hope to create a community that learns from one another and encourages curiosity about life beyond our island’s boundaries.”
Participating students and attendees in this year’s Islands of Opportunity Alliance STEM Symposium were from UH Hilo, UH Mānoa, Kapiʻolani Community College, Hawaiʻi Community College, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, American Samoa Community College, Guam Community College, University of Guam, Northern Marianas College, Palau Community College, and College of the Marshall Islands. (Courtesy photo/IOA/UH Hilo)Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin
Summertime at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is vacation time for some, but also a time of academic and social enrichment for many students and prospective students.
This summer, UH Hilo hosted Upward Bound programs wherein young people took steps to follow their educational potential. We had PIPES and Akamai interns on our campus and in our community, and we welcomed Nalukai Academy that offers intensive leadership and entrepreneurship programs for high school students. We also organized the annual symposium for the Islands of Opportunity Alliance where university and college students from Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region showcased their research projects.
Upward Bound is a year-round program with services and activities to assist high school students pursue their educational and career goals. Upward Bound Summer Academy is a six-week program where students are welcomed to stay in a university residence hall and take classes that count as credit for their upcoming school year. This year’s class was treated to one of our geology courses, allowing them to learn about the unique geologic features of the island on which we live. There are also recreational activities, sports, workout sessions, and games, all in the spirit of providing a supportive foundation upon which students can thrive academically, socially, financially, and emotionally to ensure success in college and their future careers.
The Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science or PIPES is a summer program that supports ʻāina-based internships in our local communities and island environments with the goal to grow the next generation of leaders in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. PIPES offers four program pathways — ancestral, ecological, community, and research — each focusing on internships and mentorships that help students track into careers that improve the quality of life for themselves, their ‘ohana, and their communities. Many alumni of this program work with state and federal agencies charged with environmental stewardship, jobs for which they are well prepared.
The Akamai Internship Program, led by the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators at University of California Observatories in partnership with UH Hilo, is an eight-week summer program for Hawaiʻi university and college students who want hands-on work experience at an observatory, company, or scientific facility in Hawai‘i. In addressing specific workforce needs that come with Hawai‘i observatories, the program has a community of mentors who collaborate with Akamai staff in support of students from a wide range of STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and math). Participants presented their work publicly in a series of forums in Hilo, Waimea, on Maui, and in California.
The Nalukai Academy Summer Startup Camp was held at UH Hilo in July. Nalukai’s programs offer Hawaiʻi high school students training in social, cultural, and commercial entrepreneurship. The summer startup camp is a 10-day program where students receive mentorship from industry experts, educators, and cultural practitioners to conceptualize and pitch ventures of their own creation. During the process, participants learn about leadership, networking, and the entrepreneurial drive it takes to address the challenges of Hawaiʻi communities. I was honored to hear the final products of teams which were universally creative, socially conscious, and well considered.
Also in July, more than two dozen university students from Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region took part in an international STEM symposium organized by UH Hilo. The students and participants — who hailed from American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Hawaiʻi, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau — spent three days near Kīlauea volcano presenting their independent research projects, taking huakaʻi (journeys), and doing independent self-guided pilina (connection)-building activities.
This annual symposium is an event of the Islands of Opportunity Alliance, which is administered by UH Hilo and supported by the National Science Foundation through the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program that has a mission to increase underrepresented populations in the STEM fields.
The grant supporting the alliance has just been renewed at $2.5 million for the next five years. I’m grateful that the NSF recognizes the value of the program with another grant cycle. The network we have built around STEM across the Pacific and the opportunities the program gives to students is an important component of improving all of our island communities.
Welcome to the fall semester! Those of you who participated in the Fall New Student Convocation have already felt the excitement in the air as we have more activity on campus. It was such a joy to welcome new members of our ʻohana!
Mahalo
Mahalo to those of you who were able to come out for the campus clean-up mālama ʻāina event coordinated by our new Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement Pele Harmon on August 15. I regret that I was at the Regents meeting on Maui that day, but I have heard about the enthusiasm and camaraderie of the day. Just as we care for our students and colleagues, we care for this place. Also here to welcome our new and returning students is the campus dining center lanai, which promises to be a popular gathering place on campus this fall.
Mahalo also to those of you involved in writing grants, supporting grants, and doing the work that earns us grant money. As I mentioned in July, we had our highest grant year since 2015 this past year ($22,597,700 — a 27% increase over last year), and also had an all-time high as far back as we have foundation records for gifts ($8,316,760 — a 9% increase over last year).
WSCUC (i.e. WASC)
In June, our hard-working accreditation liaison officer Seri Luangphinith and I traveled to Oakland, CA, to meet with the WSCUC Commission. We had a good conversation with commissioners and they delivered their Action Letter in July. It has been posted on our WSCUC webpage.
The Commission rightly commended the campus for the great progress we have made in program review and program assessment. My sincere thanks to all of you who have embraced that work and recognized its importance, not just for WSCUC, but for the sake of continuously improving our programs for the benefit of our students.
Because work on the strategic plan has not been completed and because we did not yet have an enrollment plan, the Commission has decided to schedule another visit in Spring 2025. The visit will take place the last week of April. By that time, they wish to see the harmonized strategic plan, a strategic enrollment plan, and more information about multi-year financial planning.
Strategic Plan
Throughout the summer, our strategic plan harmonization team — Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa, Karen Pellegrin, Kalei Rapoza — have been working on this project. Fresh vision and mission statements and a statement of purpose and values have been developed, and the actions from the three campus plans are being consolidated into a single plan which will be available for campus comment at the end of next week. Once the campus has vetted it, we will also circulate this new plan to external communities and stakeholders, with the goal still to have it approved by our governance groups and posted by the first of the year.
Enrollment Management
Echo Delta, our enrollment management consultants, were on campus at the beginning of August and are reviewing our enrollment and student success data. The conversations were rich, challenging questions were asked, and the team is eager to help us improve both our recruitment and retention. They are confident that they can have a plan for us before the WSCUC visit this spring.VCSA Chris Holland is on point for this project and will have updates along the way.
Multi-Year Financial Plan
Each year the UH System does a high-level multi-year financial forecast. Using that as a model, we will be producing one for the campus, based on similar assumptions. VCA Rapoza also has meetings scheduled with the Faculty Congress budget committee and will be meeting with colleges to discuss budgets as well, in the hopes of raising the level of knowledge and engagement of the campus with the budgeting process.
Institutional Research
While not included in the scope of the next visit, WSCUC recommends we continue working on strengthening the data-informed culture of the campus. To that end, Jennifer Stotter and I have re-engaged with the Student Success Equity Initiative (SSEI) of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), to which we belong. Working with AASCU and some partners with whom they work, we will be doing a landscape analysis of the student journey (Where are the obstacles? What can we improve?), working to capture the student voice through focus groups, conducting a climate study of the campus, and doing a curriculum mapping project, among other things. The team from AASCU will be on campus in mid-October.
Communication
We are always seeking ways to improve communication for both internal and external audiences. You will be seeing a new communication from University Relations coming out soon. Interim Director Amy Kalili and the UR team have been working through the summer on the purpose and design of this new communication, which will be coming out every two weeks. Look for the first issue to include updates on many things, including Kaʻi i ka Wēkiu activities. Susie Enright has also revived Keaohou, which contains research profiles of several of our faculty.
It has been a busy summer here on campus, and I am thrilled to see the students back and the campus back in action.
Image shows the outline of Maui and Maui’s flower, Lokelani Rose or Blush Damask. (Photo of flower: Orfano Mondo/Flickr
This message was shared with the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo ʻohana on August 8, 2024.
E ka ʻohana o UH Hilo, aloha nui ʻoukou,
As we remember the events of August 8, 2023, that deeply affected our entire state, I want to extend my heartfelt aloha to each of you, especially those directly impacted by the devastating fires that swept across Maui a year ago today. The destruction and loss experienced by our Maui ʻohana are profound, and we stand with them in this time of remembrance and recovery.
To our faculty and staff who are from Maui or have ʻohana there, please know that we sending love and light to you, especially today. The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is a close-knit community that embodies and practices aloha, mālama, and kōkua. While the path to recovery for our Maui ʻohana will be long, it is a journey already characterized by these principles, deeply engrained in our Hawaiʻi community.
UH Hilo remains committed to providing support and resources to all members of our community affected by this disaster. We are here to assist in any way possible, whether through counseling services, basic needs accommodations, or simply being there for one another. Mahalo especially to those of you who supported our Maui students last year and continue to do so.
The flags in Hawaiʻi, including on our campus, will be lowered to half-staff today through August 12 in solemn remembrance of the lives affected by the Maui fires, honoring their memory and reflecting our shared commitment to support and solidarity.
I encourage all of you to take a moment today to uplift our Maui ʻohana as they move forward with strength and resilience, like the “ipu kukui ʻā mau, pio ʻole i ka makani Kauaʻula,” the enduring flames that remain alight, even against the strongest Kauaʻula winds.
