Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin’s remarks were delivered June 28, 2023, at the ground blessing of new USGS research facility on the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo campus.
Aloha kākou and welcome to the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
We are honored to have with us today Secretary Deb Haaland, Director David Applegate, Senator Brian Schatz, Senator Loraine Inouye, and County Council Member Jenn Kagiwada.
Our university has a long and rich partnership with the United States Geological Survey, and especially the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center.
Much like the codependence within an ecosystem, UH Hiloʻs future is inextricably linked to that of our local community, and we work hard to live up to our role as regional stewards. We work with our private and public partners to provide opportunities for our faculty to conduct applied research that benefits our local community and our planet. Even more importantly, we work with our partners to provide learning and serving opportunities for our students, who will in turn serve as the next generation of professionals and leaders in our communities.
Because we live in the most awe-inspiring living and learning laboratory on the planet, these experiences are all the more rich, and our kuleana is all the more important. Our fragile island ecosystem and our diverse human community rely on the knowledge that is generated by our Indigenous community, our researchers, and our partners such as USGS. We are both proud of and grateful for the responsibility entrusted to us as hosts of this new facility. The collaborations forged here will carry this knowledge forward for the benefit of future generations.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated Aunty Edith Kanakaʻole with the United States Mint and the Smithsonian Institution. We reflected on the legacy of this influential kumu hula and on the words from her chant that grace the new quarter: “E hō mai ka ʻike” (“Granting the wisdom”). The wisdom and experience with this land that comes from our Indigenous community here on Hawaiʻi Island provides our researchers with a strong foundation for their work, and their discoveries give new knowledge back to these communities. Thus knowledge and wisdom, intertwined through our relationships with one another, nurture the future of this island and our state.
I am grateful for all the support UH Hilo has received from the UH System, President Lassner, and our Board of Regents to be able to build this partnership with USGS. I am also grateful to our faculty and staff, some of whom are here today, who have worked side by side with our USGS partners to make this day a reality.
Finally, I am grateful to the ʻāina itself, that provides us a home in which to live and work, and as our collaboration with USGS continues to flourish here on this land, we will continue to nurture a relationship with it that is reciprocal and symbiotic, thus ensuring a bright future for our university and Hawaiʻi Island.
Thank you all for being here to celebrate this important event for USGS, UH Hilo, and our East Hawaiʻi community. I look forward to all the exciting things to come.
Video of event by UH System News
Related post at UH Hilo Stories
Ground blessing held for new USGS research facility on UH Hilo campus