The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, in partnership with Hawaiʻi Community College, was honored to host the UH Board of Regents last month.
A few regents were able to come early and learn how our campus combines language teaching and local environmental study through the gardens at Haleʻōlelo, home to Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.
The regents also toured our athletics facilities and learned directly from our student athletes what being a Vulcan athlete means to them both academically and personally.
At the board meeting itself, we featured exciting developments at our six colleges, all of which are helping us educate local students and raise up our community. Here are some highlights.
Our College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management is expanding the number of flight school partnerships in the aeronautical science program, and working to facilitate financial aid opportunities for flight school year.
The College of Arts and Sciences has launched its new bachelor of arts in administration of justice with an online pathway for law enforcement officers across the state. The inaugural cohort of 18 hails from Hawaiʻi Island, Honolulu, and Maui police departments, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement.
The Geoarcheology Laboratory housed at the College of Natural and Health Sciences has received nearly $1 million in federal funds to purchase new equipment for rapid, cost-effective analysis of volcanic eruptions. This equipment is extremely important in rapid response measures for public safety. Archaeological analyses of historical artifacts and students learning about that type of research will also benefit from the new equipment.
In response to increasing workforce needs for skilled professionals in the use of AI, especially in analytics, the College of Business and Economics is launching a new AI degree pathway, certificate program, and courses. All UH Hilo students are welcome to the certificate program and to take the courses that now have a new focus on technical skills needed for AI use in business, governance, and science fields.
The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy welcomed their first cohort for the new doctor of pharmacy extended online track created for working adults and others who can’t attend classes and labs full-time on campus. This is a much-needed option for people located throughout the state who cannot leave their island communities to stay in Hilo full time as they earn their degree.
Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani is making great strides in developing the Aanikoobiji National Native American Language Resource Center, a collaborative project supported by the U.S. Department of Education and led by UH Hilo as a consortium with the University of Alaska Southeast and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University in Wisconsin. Named after an Ojibwe term meaning “connecting generations,” the center is training and inspiring Indigenous leaders, for example, last summer, 22 Indigenous youth leaders from across the country attended the inaugural Next Generation Indigenous Language Leadership program held at UH Hilo.
UH Hilo is making great strides in expanding learning opportunities for our students and for research and community outreach activities. Much progress is also underway in student support and retention efforts, details of which I will share in a future column.
With aloha,
Bonnie D. Irwin
See related post: UH Hilo presentation to Board of Regents at their Feb 2026 meeting on campus